Semi carrying sulfuric acid rolls and spills; driver hurt
Cañon City – A semi tractor-trailer carrying large containers of sulfuric acid rolled at the western entrance of Cañon City on Sunday afternoon, injuring the driver, authorities say.
The driver, whose identity was not released, was flown to a Pueblo hospital in a helicopter with a severely broken leg following the 1:44 p.m. accident, said Sgt. Robert Hill of the Cañon City Police Department.
One of several large plastic containers was pierced and about 20 gallons of the liquid acid spilled into the ground when the truck rolled onto its top in the one-vehicle accident, said Dave Marshall, battalion chief of the Cañon City Fire District.
Hazardous-materials workers were using heavy equipment to dig into the ground to remove the acid, Marshall said. They will be working today to get all of the toxic materials, he said.
He said the spill did not threaten groundwater or streams or rivers.
The truck is owned by a Pennsylvania company named TRL, Marshall said. The cause of the accident is under investigation, Hill said.
DOUGLAS COUNTY
Motorist in chase arrested after crash
A man crashed and was arrested after leading Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies on a high- speed chase late Sunday night, authorities say.
After a deputy tried to pull the man over for a traffic violation, he led the officer on a chase from Founders Parkway to Interstate 25 near Castle Rock, said Ron Hanavan, Douglas County Sheriff’s spokesman.
The man crashed when he tried to turn from I-25 to Lincoln Avenue, Hanavan said. The man, whose identity has not been released, suffered minor injuries, he said.
TUCSON
Fugitive wanted in Telluride arrested
A Colorado fugitive wanted on charges of receiving stolen property was arrested in Tucson on Saturday by agents with the U.S. Marshals Service.
James Arthur Hogue, 46, was wanted on three felony warrants, according to a Marshals Service news release.
The charges stem from an investigation launched in early January by Colorado authorities, who reportedly found thousands of dollars worth of high-end merchandise hidden in a secret room in Hogue’s Telluride-area home.
Warrants were issued on charges of receiving stolen property, and a hunt for him began. The investigation led authorities to Tucson.
U.S. marshals, with assistance from local law enforcement, found Hogue on Saturday at a bookstore, where he was surfing the Internet.
He was booked into the Pima County Jail. He is awaiting extradition to San Miguel County.
MILFORD, Neb.
Songwriter on bill at Cattlemen’s Ball
Country artist Phil Vassar will perform at the Cattlemen’s Ball on June 3 at Riverside Park, event organizers announced.
Vassar is an award-winning songwriter and pianist who has written Top Ten hits for Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw and Jo Dee Messina. Vassar’s own hit songs include “Just Another Day in Paradise” and “Carlene.”
The Cattlemen’s Ball is held each year to showcase rural Nebraska, promote beef in a healthy diet and raise money for medical research.
It has raised more than $1.4 million for cancer research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Eppley Cancer Center.
The 2005 event sold out several months in advance with 3,339 tickets sold. For tickets or information, call 1-888-562-3602.
WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK, S.D.
Elk get radio collars in management study
Fifty-three elk in Wind Cave National Park have been fitted with radio collars as part of a three-year study of their movement in the Black Hills National Forest.
The collars use global-positioning coordinates to track the elk. Data collected in the study will be used to prepare an environmental-impact statement on elk management in the forest, which is located in southwest South Dakota and northeast Wyoming, park officials said.
The collars are to remain on the elk until December, when they will be released remotely.
SALT LAKE CITY
Divorce tab costly, marriage panel finds
Utah’s 9,517 divorces in 2003 cost the state nearly $124 million and the federal government about $173 million in child support, food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, according to the state’s marriage commission, which laid out the cost of divorce to taxpayers at the commission’s annual meeting Saturday.
One member says those kinds of costs are what prompted the commission’s creation in 1998 – the first of its kind in the nation.
