Mine accident kills trona worker

GREEN RIVER - For the second time in just over a year, a Green River trona miner has been crushed to death by a piece of equipment while working underground at the OCI Wyoming LP Big Island Mine and Refinery.

Terry Bigler of Green River died from massive chest trauma in the accident, which occurred about 3:30 p.m. Monday.

Officials said Bigler died after being struck by a forklift while working in the mine's underground maintenance shop. Bigler, 47, was pronounced dead in the emergency room at Memorial Hospital in Rock Springs about an hour later, Sweetwater County Coroner Dale Majhanovich said.

"OCI Wyoming LP extends our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of our co-worker… We will make every effort to support them," OCI Wyoming site manager Tim Morrison said in a four-paragraph statement issued by the company Tuesday.

State Mining Inspector Don Stauffenberg said Tuesday state investigators and officials from the federal Mine Safety Health Administration were at the plant site late Monday and all day Tuesday investigating.

"Basically, he was pinned between two pieces of equipment… At this point, that's about all we can say until we investigate further," he said in a phone interview.

The fatality follows the Feb. 1, 2004 death of Green River City Councilman Keith Hodges at the OCI facility. Hodges, an underground miner, was struck and crushed to death by a boom on the continuous mining machine on which he was working.

Engineer calls gym unsafe, closes it

RIVERTON - The gym at Lincoln Elementary School has been closed after a structural engineer deemed it unsafe due to termite damage.

The gym is used both for physical education and as a lunchroom.

Superintendent Craig Beck said students will eat in their classrooms. Meanwhile, he hopes that warm, springtime weather will enable more outdoor physical education.

Swimming at the Riverton Aquatic Center is also part of the springtime P.E. program, and that is expected to help the situation. But Beck said students might lose some P.E. time.

The school is on the state's list of schools that need to be replaced.

Bush appoints Cheyenne woman to board

President Bush has appointed a Cheyenne woman to the U.S. Access Board, a leading federal agency on accessibility to buildings for people with disabilities.

Tricia Mason will be sworn in as a board member at a meeting of the board on May 11, according to a press release from the agency.

Mason is a community programs specialist for the Wyoming Governor's Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities. She also serves as national president of the Little People of America, a nonprofit group for people of short stature and their families.

Companies propose new man camps

RAWLINS - Two companies have asked Carbon County for permission to build man camps to house workers for the booming gas fields.

County Planner Steve Adams is pursuing a conditional use permit for one of the camps on a square-mile piece of land 20 miles south of Interstate 80 and a quarter-mile west of Wyoming 789.

The site was previously used for a man camp from 1978-80. No buildings remain from that era, but the site still has a septic system, water and electricity.

About 180 people would live in the camp in far western Carbon County, according to Adams, who declined to say which companies have been interested.

He estimated the camp would be operational a year or a little longer, and said it would be dismantled when it is no longer needed.