[Mike]

from bridget – 07/10/2005
Hi Guys,
This is a more complete account of the husband and wife team. Gosh, it has come from Hong Kong. Thanks Doug.
Bridget

Sun Jul 10, 2005 10:25 am

Bridget
Here is an article about the husband -wife team that were killed.
Cheers, Doug

CWD researchers killed in snowy highway crash
By MEAD GRUVER
Associated Press

CHEYENNE — Husband-and-wife wildlife veterinarians who were
nationally prominent experts on chronic wasting disease and
brucellosis were killed in a snowy-weather crash on U.S. 287 in
northern Colorado, authorities confirmed Thursday.

Tom Thorne and Beth Williams, both of rural Albany County, Wyo.,
died when their pickup truck hit a jackknifed trailer Wednesday
night, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and
Colorado Highway Patrol.

Williams, 53, had taught at the University of Wyoming since 1982 and
was also familiar with wildlife diseases. “She was probably the
foremost chronic wasting disease expert in the country,” Game and
Fish spokesman Al Langston said.

Thorne, 63, was acting director of the Wyoming Game and Fish
Department for nine months in 2002 and 2003. He worked in the
department for 35 years before retiring in 2003 and was a prominent
researcher of chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, as well as of
brucellosis in bison and elk.

The accident happened around 10 p.m. on snowpacked pavement near
Virginia Dale a few miles south of the Wyoming line, according to
Colorado State Trooper Scott Boskovich.

Both vehicles had been going at least 10 mph below the speed limit.
After spinning out of control and coming to a stop in the northbound
lanes, the trailer was struck by Williams’ and Thorne’s 2002 Ford
pickup, which was wedged underneath, according to Master Trooper Ron
Watkins.

The rig driver, Bruce Gustin, 45, of Divide, Colo., was unhurt.
Neither drug nor alcohol use was suspected.

Tom Buchanan, vice president for academic affairs at the University
of Wyoming, said he was saddened to hear of the deaths. “She will be
missed by her colleagues her students and her friends who include
everyone who cares about wildlife and ranching in the Rocky Mountain
West,” he said of Williams in a prepared statement.

Williams earned a bachelor’s in zoology from the University of
Maryland-College Park, followed by a doctorate of veterinary
medicine from Purdue in 1977 and a doctorate in veterinary pathology
from Colorado State University in 1981.

She earned several honors during her 22 years at the University of
Wyoming, including the Wildlife Disease Association’s Distinguished
Service Award in 1996 and, in 1999, the Wyoming Game Warden
Association’s award for outstanding assistance to wildlife law
enforcement.

Thorne was one of three finalists for Game and Fish director in
2003. Previously he was assistant chief and chief of the
department’s Services Division, and branch chief of the state’s
Wildlife Veterinary Research Services.

Over the years he was also vice president of the Wildlife Disease
Association, chairman of the Advisory Council for the American
Association of Wildlife Veterinarians, and chairman of the U.S.
Health Association’s Wildlife Diseases Committee.

He held a bachelor’s degree in zoology and doctorate in veterinary
medicine from Oklahoma State University.

Chronic wasting disease is similar to mad cow disease, causing brain
wasting and eventually death. It emerged in Colorado and Wyoming
more than 30 years ago and has been found in recent years as far
away as Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Brucellosis is a bacterial disease that can cause cattle to abort
their calves. It is common in elk and bison in northwest Wyoming and
Yellowstone National Park. Brucellosis also has been detected in a
handful of cattle herds in Wyoming over the past year, causing the
state to lose its federal status as a brucellosis-free state.

Copyright © 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.