Hiker missing for 3 days found alive and “hungry”
A hiker missing since Sunday in the Mummy Range of Rocky Mountain National Park was found alive Wednesday, “tired and hungry,” according to park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson.
Hillel Ben-Avi, an Austin, Texas, radiologist, was spotted from a helicopter about 1:50 p.m. waving a makeshift flag in the Hague Creek area of the rugged mountain range, about 3 miles north of where ranger Jeff Christensen died July 29.
Ben-Avi was flown to the park’s helibase at Upper Beaver Meadows for some basic medical care, then taken by ambulance to the Estes Park Medical Center, “tired and hungry and dehydrated,” Patterson said.
“He was in good condition and very good spirits,” she said.
Ben-Avi was last seen by his brother near the summit of 13,502-foot Fairchild Mountain about 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Park rangers received two cellphone calls from Ben-Avi late Sunday afternoon, but reception was marginal.
Wednesday’s search involved about 100 people, two dog teams and two helicopters, park officials said.
AIR FORCE ACADEMY
Investigators review alleged cadet attack
The Air Force Academy is investigating allegations that a cadet pushed another out a dorm window, causing him to fall 30 feet and break his back, the school confirmed Wednesday.
The victim’s father, Charles Khan of St. Louis, said his son Nicholas was attacked in March because he had reported the older cadet, who since has graduated, for sexually harassing a female cadet.
Academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker said investigators were trying to determine whether there was evidence to support a charge of aggravated assault in the incident.
The name of the former cadet, who is assigned to Hill Air Force Base in Utah, was not released.
Charles Khan, in a telephone interview Wednesday, said trouble began when his son intervened on behalf of a female freshman who allegedly had been pressured by the senior to have sex. When the female broke off the relationship, the senior blamed Nicholas Khan.
According to the father’s account, on March 13 the senior came to Nicholas Khan’s room and told his roommate to leave. Once inside, he saw a written report on the harassment that Khan was preparing and became enraged.
He grabbed scissors, ripped out the window screen and called Khan over, telling him someone was calling for him. Then he allegedly threw him out the window.
COLORADO
State panel kills plan to overhaul Medicaid
A proposal to overhaul the state’s $3 billion Medicaid system – potentially saving money but also placing a five-year cap on federal funds – was killed by a legislative committee Wednesday.
After a morning hearing, the joint Health and Human Services Committee rejected the proposed Colorado Family Care plan, by a 15-5 vote.
“We preserved our state’s safety net today,” said Lorez Meinhold, director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, a coalition of health care advocacy groups. The proposal was devised in response to President Bush’s call for sweeping, money-saving changes to Medicaid.
Medicaid is a federal and state partnership that in Colorado provides health care to poor children, the disabled and those in nursing homes.
ARAPAHOE COUNTY
16-year-old girl reports sex assault
A 16-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in the 7300 block of South Frasier Street while walking to her girlfriend’s house to catch a bus to school early Wednesday, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The victim told deputies that a Hispanic man took her under a bridge about 6 a.m. He forcibly removed her clothes and attempted unsuccessfully to have sexual intercourse with her, said a statement from the Sheriff’s Office.
The suspect was described as 35 to 40 years old, 5 feet 8 inches, and 245 pounds, wearing a black-and-red checked shirt, bluejeans with a large rectangular belt buckle, a tan ball cap and a red bandanna over his face.
WASHINGTON
Tancredo urges care on AF religion guides
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., in a letter sent Wednesday to a senior Air Force official, urged the Air Force not to create an environment that is “hostile to religious expression” while implementing recently drafted religion guidelines.
“Given that military commanders are already faced with numerous responsibilities, I sincerely hope that implementation of the guidelines will not transform commanders into sensitivity police who are preoccupied with the individual prayer habits of servicemen – some of whom may be in harm’s way,” Tancredo wrote in a letter to Maj. Gen. Scott S. Custer, the director of legislative liaison for the Air Force.
