Flown out of county for medical care.
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A Pinedale
man survived a 500-foot drop when his car
went over a cliff above Fremont Lake, but
spent a cold night before contacting rescuers.
Lucas Corwin, 25, of Pinedale, was able
to call Tuesday about 10:45 a.m. setting off
a search by law enforcement agencies, firefighters
and personnel from Bridger-Teton
National Forest.
According to Sublette County Sheriff
K.C. Lehr, when the call came in he and
other law enforcement started walking the
rights-of-way on Skyline Drive north of
White Pine Ski Resort’s access road. Lehr
said he had walked nearly a mile past where
the crash occurred, searching for skid marks
or tracks showing where the vehicle had left
the road.
Lehr said at some point another officer
heard Corwin shouting for help. The crash
site was not visible from the road.
According to Wyoming Highway Patrol
Trooper Brandon Deckert, the Pontiac G6
“vaulted” almost 100 feet before hitting the
edge of a rock shelf. The vehicle then cartwheeled
end over end another 300 or 400
feet down the steep embankment.
There were no visible tracks or skid marks
from the vehicle from the road.
During the fall, Corwin, who was not
wearing a seatbelt, was ejected from the vehicle.
The crash occurred before dark Monday
night. Corwin managed to get into the
Local efforts to install fiber, health-care merger stall
PINEDALE – The items removed from
the Sublette County Commissioners’ May 22
meeting agenda were more telling than the
items that remained on the agenda.
All five commissioners including Chairman
David Burnett and commissioners
Doug Vickrey, Tom Noble, Joel Bousman
and Mack Rawhouser attended the meeting,
which was moved to Wednesday to accommodate
commissioners’ travel schedules.
One item on the agenda stated “Sublette
County Rural Health Care/ Sublette Center
– Information / announcement regarding
merger.” However, before the meeting began,
Burnett amended the agenda by removing the
item.
He later said a merger was voted on at
the Sublette Center’s regular board meeting,
passing with a 5-3 vote. Chairman Lynn Bernard
was absent from the meeting. Burnett
said Bernard and the Sublette Center’s attorney
Gaston Gosar questioned the proposed
merger and some of the conditions placed on
the merger.
Sublette County Rural Health Care District
Board member Bill Johnson said the delay is
unfortunate.
“We just wanted to merge for the sake of
the community,” Johnson said.
What was proposed is one company with
two divisions, he said. The Sublette Center’s
medical wing needs many upgrades and this
would have been a solution for all parties.
“We understood Bernard and Gaston were
prepared to make a spectacle at the commissioners’
meeting, so we just called it off,”
Johnson said.
On Tuesday, a majority of the players were
in attendance at the Senior Art Reception at
Aspen Grove.
“We were all talking about the merger
and very excited,” Johnson said. By the time
commissioners met Wednesday morning, the
entire deal was called off.
“It was a huge disappointment to all of
us,” Johnson said. “It needs to be done and
we have three boards in agreement. We
shouldn’t wait until another election and
things change.”
A call to Bernard was not returned as of
press time.
Broadband
Another project coming to a grinding halt
is the effort by the county and three municipalities
to get fiber optic through to Sublette
County.
During the Pinedale Town Council’s
budget workshop on May 21, Mayor Matt
Murdock skipped over a $1 million item for
broadband, saying the entire project was on
hold.
On Wednesday, an agenda item titled
“Broadband discussion” was also removed
from the commissioners’ agenda.
During the commissioners’ business
discussions, Noble, who has served on the
broadband consortium for nearly two years,
said it appears Union Wireless is moving forward
immediately, putting fiber in the ground
between Rock Springs and Pinedale. He said
the company reportedly is beginning near the
Museum of the Mountain Man this month.
Sublette County’s low population has
made laying fiber unprofitable for private
companies to invest in key infrastructure in
the past. However, the availability of several
federal grants to pay the way to get fiber to
outlying areas has served as motivation.
Union was two months ahead of Sublette
County’s consortium in the application process
for those grants, basically sucking the
wind out of any forward progress by the
county’s group.
Noble said Union appears to be following
the exact path that was put together with the
consortium.
Initially All-West’s request for proposal
was accepted as the best partner for the
Holly Dabb ph oto
Law enforcement officers piece together
the details of a crash Monday
evening that left the driver at the bottom
of a steep embankment until Tuesday
morning. Faint marks show where
the vehicle left the road, but didn’t
touch the ground for more than 100
feet before going over the edge.
crashed vehicle, despite back injuries. He remained
in the vehicle until Tuesday morning.
According to the National Weather Service,
temperatures fell to 21 degrees Fahrenheit
during the night. Corwin was able to
call for help Tuesday morning and give his
approximate location.
Once located, Sublette County Unified
Fire was called with ropes and a backboard.
Due to the long distance from the road, six
emergency responders carried the litter up
the steep slope that was slick from snow that
fell through the night. Even as the rescue
took place, low clouds with rain and snow
drifted over the area.
Once he was taken to the Pinedale Clinic,
Corwin was flown by helicopter. The highway
patrol did not know where he was transported.
Deckert said the cause of the crash was
“intentional.” No alcohol or drugs are suspected
in the crash. No citations were issued.
Corwin was fortunate to obtain any cell
service on the remote hill, Deckert said. The
vehicle owner is responsible for recovering
the vehicle.