Jury awards couple $18M

CHEYENNE - A jury has awarded a Colorado Springs couple more than $18 million for injuries from a crash at the intersection of Interstates 25 and 80.

A tractor-trailer struck a 1993 BMW driven by Peter Brohpy on July 25, 2006. The truck's right rear wheel went into the left rear wheel well of the BMW, causing the car to spin across the interstate. Another tractor-trailer then crashed into the car.

Denver attorney Gary Ceriani said Brohpy suffered severe brain damage in the crash, and that Brohpy now uses a wheelchair and can barely speak.

Wyoming District Court documents show that a jury found negligence on the part of the trucking company, Omaha, Neb.-based Werner Enterprises, and the truck driver, Cheryl Neal. The jury did not find Brohpy negligent.

The jury awarded Brohpy $15.8 million and his wife, Kate Brohpy, $2.3 million for loss of her husband's future income.

"It's absolutely the right decision," Ceriani said of the jury verdict.

Ceriani said Brohpy, an Irishman who managed pubs and bars, had traveled to Cheyenne on a business trip. He was headed back to Denver with four others when the crash occurred.

Attorneys for Werner Enterprises and Neal had argued that Brohpy did not properly yield to the tractor-trailer, according to court documents.

An attorney for Werner Enterprises declined to comment.

Tribal rec center will have to wait

WASHINGTON - Members of Wyoming's Northern Arapaho Tribe will have to wait a while for a new youth recreation center.

Leaders of the tribe traveled to Washington this week to ask for $1.5 million for a new center after the recent deaths of three teenage girls on the Wind River Indian Reservation. They said the center would be a place for young people to gather.

The request came too late for this year's spending bills, however. Members of the Wyoming delegation have already submitted their requests for state project funding.

Tribal spokesman Donovan Antelope said that news was disappointing, but Arapaho leaders had better meetings at federal agencies that could possibly fund other tribal projects.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., said the senator will review the request next year.

Agency warns of roaring creeks

CODY - Visitors to the backcountry in the Big Horn Mountains are being cautioned to watch out for high water levels in creeks and rivers.

Warm weather is melting off mountain snow and causing rivers and creeks to rise.

Will Young, a fisheries biologist and hydrologist with Bighorn National Forest, said the creek near Shell has reached levels unseen in almost 70 years.

He says Shell Creek is running at almost 1,000 cubic feet of water per second.

There's still plenty of snow higher up in the mountains. Young said some hikers are still reporting chest-deep snow at 9,000 feet.