Cell phone saves man after fall

ROCK SPRINGS -- Sometimes it really pays to have a cell phone.

A Rock Springs man injured in a fall from the slopes of White Mountain on Sunday was able to use his cell phone to call for help, most likely saving his life, according to Sweetwater County Sheriff's Department officials.

Undersheriff Craig Jackson said 38-year-old Mitchell Reay was looking for a knife he lost while deer hunting earlier this month along the slopes of White Mountain northwest of Rock Springs.

Reay said while at the top of a cliff, he lost his footing, fell about 30 feet to the bottom of a steep draw and was badly injured.

Reay used his cell phone to call the sheriff's department's dispatch center around 3:30 p.m. Sunday. He was able to describe his location -- a White Mountain landmark known as the Waterfall -- to rescue workers, who found him at the base of the cliff.

Officials said Reay was carried out of the draw and down the mountain on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance. He was transported to Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County with ankle and knee injuries.

"There is little doubt in my mind that cell phone saved his life," Jackson said.

"Without it, no one would have known he was in trouble or where he was," Jackson continued. "It got down to about 20 degrees Sunday night and hypothermia would have been a real threat."

Judge denies lower bond

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A judge has denied a lower bond for a Loveland, Colo., man accused of attacking and trying to sexually assault two female hikers, including one from Wyoming.

Thirty-eight-year-old James Jud Bondsteel is being held in Larimer County jail on $100,000 bond. State District Judge Dave Williams Friday denied his request for a $50,000 surety bond after hearing from the hikers.

One woman told Williams that Bondsteel held a knife to her throat and cut her arm. The women say they fought off their attacker with a hiking stick.

The two were hiking in the Roosevelt National Forest northwest of Fort Collins on Sept. 13. The women have been identified only as a 46-year-old from Casper and a 38-year-old from Eaton, Colo.

Bondsteel's preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 12.

Gov requests disaster declaration

CHEYENNE -- Gov. Dave Freudenthal has asked the federal government for help in securing federal disaster relief funds for agricultural producers in Big Horn, Park, Platte and Sheridan counties.

Freudenthal wrote late last week to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack asking for help in getting the agribusiness disaster declaration for the counties.

Freudenthal said a severe freeze in early October caused crop damage to producers in the counties. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will investigate the request and provide assistance if it decides it's warranted.