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Briefs

One body recovered from Utah avalanche

By Times wire
Published January 17, 2005

SALT LAKE CITY - Search teams digging through tons of snow Sunday found the body of one of five people feared buried by a powerful avalanche in an area skiers had been warned to avoid.

The victim was identified as Shane Maixner, 27, of Sandpoint, Idaho. His body was found under 4 feet of snow after trained dogs alerted the teams searching the area of Friday's slide, Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said at a news conference.

"If anybody could have survived, it would have been Shane," his father, Joel Maixner, said from his North Dakota home. "He was in excellent condition. But the sheriff told me his head and chest were slammed into a tree. He died without a fight."

Seven people have been killed in Utah avalanches this winter - more than any year since the state started keeping records in 1951. It's still relatively early in the season.

Edmunds said other clothing - sweat shirts and gloves - was discovered in Sunday's search, possibly indicating more victims.

WASHINGTON - The White House has no hard feelings against CBS News in the aftermath of an investigation of circumstances surrounding a report on President Bush's service in the Air National Guard, presidential counselor Dan Bartlett said Sunday.

Bartlett told Fox News Sunday that he had a brief meeting with CBS News President Andrew Heyward in which the network executive said he wanted to make sure stories are accurate and hoped the network and the White House could have a good relationship during the next four years.

An independent review released Monday said 60 Minutes Wednesday rushed a story to air last fall that questioned Bush's National Guard service in the 1970s and then defended it when holes became apparent in the authentication of documents on which the story was based. CBS responded by firing three news executives and a producer.

"I think the facts came out, and I think that this investigation shows that people are being held account," Bartlett said. "I am glad, and I'm sure the president is, that he's no longer going to be on the ballot, so there's no more elections for President Bush, so this may be the last time we have to deal with the Guard issue."

WEST TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Water levels remained well above flood stage along the Wabash River in southwestern Indiana on Sunday as residents and National Guard troops sandbagged to protect against leaking levees.

About 32,000 sandbags have been made available to shore up a levee in West Terre Haute where the crest was expected to be the highest since 1950, according to the State Emergency Management Agency Web site. Nearly 100 National Guard troops were helping, said SEMA spokesman Alden Taylor.

Two sections of a levee in the town gave way or were swamped by floodwaters Saturday that reached more than 13 feet above the 14-foot flood stage, officials said. No damage was reported done to houses, SEMA said, but about 120 people were evacuated.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Rescuers searched the turbulent Bering Sea on Sunday for three crew members missing from a crab boat that sank, killing two of the other three people aboard.

The Coast Guard also was searching for a crewman who washed overboard from another crab boat Saturday, the same day the 92-foot Big Valley sank.

"We are not giving up hope of finding anyone alive," Chief Petty Officer Darrell Wilson said Sunday. "We have been surprised many times in the past. No one can discount the will of people to survive."

The Big Valley and the 134-foot Sultan were after snow crab, a fishery that opened to commercial vessels Saturday amid stormy seas and up to 40 mph winds. The Big Valley sank 70 miles west of St. Paul Island, about 750 miles west of Anchorage.

The three crewmen found were wearing bulky survival suits, but two of them died. Cache Seel, 30, of Kodiak, was recovering at a Saint Paul hospital after he was found floating in a life raft.

Also missing was a crewman who was washed off the Sultan 150 miles northwest of St. Paul Island.

32 MEN FOUND IN CARGO CONTAINERS: Thirty-two Chinese men were found inside two cargo containers on a ship arriving at the Port of Los Angeles from Hong Kong, authorities said. The suspected illegal immigrants were discovered Saturday night when a crane operator saw three men climb out of a container on the Panamanian-flagged NYK Athena, said Los Angeles Port Police Lt. Titus Smith.

[Last modified January 17, 2005, 01:06:09]