Out-of-bounds skier killed by avalanche

A skier was killed Saturday when he was buried in an avalanche in an out-of-bounds area at the Crystal Mountain ski resort.

The avalanche occurred about 3 p.m. when the victim and a male companion were in an area that was roped off and marked as permanently closed to skiing, said Tiana Enger, marketing director for the ski resort.

The area is on the back side of the resort and actually within the boundary of Mount Rainier National Park, she said. The ski area is just east of the park.

The victim was wearing a transponder, which helped rescuers narrow the search, but he was unconscious and not breathing and could not be revived, Enger said.

The second skier was not hurt.

Names, ages, hometowns and other details about the two skiers were not immediately available.

Enger said it was not known how the avalanche was triggered.

Olympia

Lottery calls it quits for Quinto

Washington Lottery officials announced Thursday they are retiring the card-themed Quinto game after the drawing on March 17.

“The game is ending at a time when our customers have asked for more winning opportunities,” state Lottery director Chris Liu said. “We always look for new and exciting ways to bring Washington more chances to win and give more players a winning experience.”

Liu said the state’s new game will be announced in coming weeks.

Introduced in 1990, Quinto generated more than $570 million in revenue for the state, lottery officials said.

THOMPSON FALLS, Mont.

Prevention sought for bighorn collisions

At least 25 bighorn sheep were killed by vehicles on state Highway 200 east of here between January and April of last year, prompting an unusual collaboration to help protect the herd.

The Federal Highway Administration, Montana Department of Transportation, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, American Wildlands and the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep joined forces to address the problem.

Since 1985, 281 bighorn sheep have been killed on the highway east of Thompson Falls. Sixty-two percent were killed in two specific locations: between mile markers 58 and 59 and mile markers 64 and 65.

“We knew these collisions were a problem,” said Kim Davitt of American Wildlands. “So we collectively developed solutions that can protect the bighorn sheep herd and keep the road safer for all of us.”

One of the first actions will be for Fish, Wildlife and Parks to place salt blocks to try to lure sheep away from the roadway.

“Mineral deposits are important to bighorn sheep, and they have discovered the increased availability of salt along the roadway. Our attempt is to place salt blocks in strategic locations to hopefully attract bighorns and keep them away from the highway,” said Bruce Sterling, a biologist with the state wildlife agency.

Another step was the purchase of four variable message signs to warn motorists of the potential danger. The message boards were funded jointly by the partners and will be placed on Highway 200 in the two areas identified with the highest sheep death rates.

Before last winter, the size of the Thompson Falls bighorn herd was estimated to be 225 sheep. The population is strong enough to withstand recent mortality rates, but if the mortality trend continues the herd size would suffer, wildlife officials say.

CASPER, Wyo.

Escaped convicts found in Canada

A bad tire led to the capture of an escaped Wyoming killer and his stepson in a town about 120 miles northeast of Vancouver, B.C., authorities said.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested Shannon Parazoo and Alonzo Howard Durgin without incident Friday after pulling them over outside of Merritt, B.C., said Cpl. Kyra Monson.

The fugitives walked away from the Casper Re-Entry Center’s work-release program on Feb. 9. The Marshals Service had been searching for them in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

Parazoo, 43, was serving a 20- to 30-year sentence for a 1985 murder. Durgin, 28, was convicted in 1997 of aggravated robbery and aggravated assault.

REEDSPORT, Ore.

Groups unite over buoy power system

A power cooperative in the Northwest and a company in New Jersey have agreed to work together on a wave-energy field off the coast of Southern Oregon that utilizes buoys.

The buoys are moored loosely to the seabed, and the natural motion of the waves causes the buoys to move up and down. Then a mechanical device uses that movement to drive an electric generator, according to the Web site of Ocean Power Technologies.

Ocean Power Technologies, headquartered in Pennington, N.J., plans to place the first of its buoys about 2.5 miles off the coast about 164 feet deep.

Under the agreement, Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative would provide much of the financing for the buoy to be deployed near Winchester Bay. It would also buy the power generated by the 2-megawatt unit.

PNGC Power is a power-generating cooperative that serves 15 distribution cooperatives in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Nevada and Wyoming.

The two enterprises said in a press release that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave preliminary approval Feb. 15 for up to 50 megawatts of power to be generated from the site.

Reedsport Mayor Keith Tymchuk said the company envisions as many as 200 of the buoys eventually in the wave park.