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- <text id=89TT1086>
- <title>
- Apr. 24, 1989: American Notes:Colorado
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- Apr. 24, 1989 The Rat Race
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 25
- American Notes
- COLORADO
- Danger on the Slopes
- </hdr><body>
- <p> Kari Meylor never knew what hit her. The eleven-year-old
- skier was standing at the bottom of a hill, her back to the
- slope, at Winter Park, Colo., last Feb. 17. Suddenly another
- skier, Howard Hidle, 31, came hurtling down the hill. He
- barreled into Kari, the force of the collision throwing him 20
- ft. into a stack of ski racks. Kari died the next day. A week
- after that incident, Terrence Coghlan, 38, crashed into Russell
- Wittman, 8, in Steamboat Springs, Colo., shattering the boy's
- right leg.
- </p>
- <p> Hidle and Coghlan may be the first skiers in U.S. history to
- have felony charges filed against them for accidents on the
- slopes. Accused of manslaughter and child abuse, Hidle, who
- surrendered to authorities last week, could be sentenced to a
- total of 24 years in prison. If convicted, Coghlan, charged
- with second-degree assault, child abuse and reckless
- endangerment, could go to jail for up to 16 years.
- </p>
- <p> Until these suits were brought, most ski accidents had been
- handled as civil cases, not criminal proceedings. Grand County
- District Attorney Gregory Long, who filed the charges against
- both men, says resorts do their best to protect skiers by
- erecting barriers and posting warning signs at dangerous spots.
- "There's usually only one person at fault in collisions," says
- Long. "The skier himself."
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
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