Briefly
Snowboarder hits tree, dies at ski resort
Breckenridge, Colo. A 42-year-old snowboarder hit a tree at the Breckenridge ski area and died Friday, the third accidental death this season at a Colorado resort.
The snowboarder, Curt Hubbell of Castle Rock, was wearing a protective helmet and apparently died of internal injuries, according to the coroner. An autopsy was scheduled for next week.
Alexander Jensen, 12, of Wylie, Texas, died Tuesday in Denver after hitting a tree while snowboarding at Winter Park a day earlier.
Ashley Stamp, a 13-year-old ski racer from Steamboat Springs, died Dec. 19 when she was struck by a snowmobile at Vail before a race.
Desert museum loses artifacts to thieves
Daggett, Calif. Burglars looted a Mojave Desert museum of its most prized possessions, including antique dolls and Native American artifacts on loan from local families.
The thieves made sure an alarm system was disabled before clearing out the glass display cases in the Daggett Museum, said curator Beryl Bell, who discovered the losses when she went to feed her goldfish on Christmas Day.
“It’s really heartbreaking for a small museum,” Bell said Wednesday.
Stolen Native American artifacts included a basket appraised at $3,500, a Navajo sash and two clay Acoma pots that had never been appraised but are very valuable, said Leslie Lloyd, the president of the Daggett Historical Society, which runs the museum.
The thieves also took antique dolls, model trains and other toys, farming implements and examples of rocks from the area, Lloyd said.
She said the burglars left no fingerprints and took steps to disable the alarm system even though it wasn’t operational at the time.
“This appeared to be a very neat operation and it appeared they had a shopping list,” she said.
Survivor of six-story fall tried to leap roof-to-roof
Orlando, Fla. A teenager fell six stories Friday after trying to leap from one parking garage to another, but suffered only a broken shoulder and other fractures.
Timothy Bargfrede, 18, of Longwood, and a friend realized they were at the wrong parking garage, so the friend jumped from one roof to the other, about a 2 1/2 -foot leap, Orlando police Lt. Orlando Rolon said.
Bargfrede fell when he tried to jump, and became wedged six stories down between the two buildings. Firefighters had to cut through the concrete to free him, Rolon said.
“He’s very lucky to be alive,” said his father, Tim Bargfrede.
Priciest N.Y. home is on Long Island: $45 million
Wainscott, N.Y New York’s most expensive home is no longer a posh Manhattan high rise – that title now moves to the state’s other tract of astronomically priced real estate.
An 18,000-square-foot Hamptons retreat has been sold for $45 million, situated on 25 acres of waterfront property on eastern Long Island. Known as Burnt Point, it has 14 bathrooms and is equipped with geothermal air conditioning.
The buyer was Stewart Rahr, CEO of Kinsey Inc., a pharmaceutical distributor.
The sale, first reported Thursday in the New York Post, comes just weeks after billionaire News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch paid $44 million for a Manhattan penthouse where Laurance S. Rockefeller once lived.
The Murdoch purchase held the previous record for a home sale in the state, the Post said.
Three machine guns found near Fort Riley
Milford, Kan. A fisherman found a heavy machine gun on the ice of a creek near Fort Riley, and sheriff’s deputies later found two more.
The three Browning .50-caliber guns were all in working condition, Geary County Sheriff’s Lt. Sandy Popovich said, but none was loaded.
Sheriff Jim Jensen said he did not know how the guns got there, and the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division is looking into the matter.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers owns the land, Jensen said, and soldiers from Fort Riley have used it for training. All three guns were found in an area accessible to the public.