The female mountain lion had a bloody nose, but her hide bore no other signs of trauma. York, a biologist at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, found the big cat lying motionless near the canyon's South Rim. He was determined to learn why she died.

Epidemic experts can only speculate about what happened next. When York cut into the lion, he must have released a cloud of bacteria and breathed in. On Nov. 2, York was found dead, a 21st-century victim of plague, the disease that in the Middle Ages turned Europe into a vast mortuary. He was 37.

"What will be the next emerging disease? The one we least expect," says David Morens of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Word of York's death flew among those who worked at the famed natural attraction, which draws 5 million visitors a year. For public health experts, it provoked concerns that plague might make a comeback. Experts from the National Park Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Arizona Department of Health converged on the park.

Fortunately, their investigation found only 49 people who had come in contact with York. All were treated with antibiotics. None became ill, says David Wong, a National Park Service epidemiologist.

"We identified his contacts even before the autopsy results were in," Wong says. "Within minutes, we were calling folks to tell them to come in. We opened the clinic on a Sunday."

The investigators who combed occupied areas of the park also were relieved to find no evidence of the rodent die-offs that prompt plague-infected fleas to leap to people and feast on them instead of the animals, Wong says. Massive flea migrations, prompted by widespread rodent deaths, caused Black Death in Europe during the Middle Ages.

Both York and the mountain lion had pneumonic plague, a lung infection that spreads through a cough or a sneeze.

"Pneumonic plague is a highly fatal disease," Wong says. "The death rate can be as high as 50% even with treatment."

Concerned about big cats

York was widely known for trapping and collaring big cats to study their movements and protect them from encroaching humans, says Charles Higgens, director of public health for the National Park Service.

York's friends say he could make a mountain lion trap with toothpicks, says Launie York, the biologist's mother. She says her son loved the woods around the family farm and was forever storing specimens in the family freezer.

"We had a saying here: 'If it's in a black plastic bag, don't open it. It isn't dinner,' " she says.

Before his fatal encounter with the mountain lion, York got to know the big cat well. During his two years at the park, York tracked, trapped and collared her. When she gave birth to three kittens, he ear-tagged them so that he could identify them when they were old enough for their own telemetry collars.

Then, on Oct. 25, the lion's collar sent out a mortality signal, indicating that she hadn't moved in 24 hours. When York located her carcass, her kittens were nowhere to be found. His notes suggest that he believed she may have been killed in a fight with a male, because of blood pooled around her nose. But York wasn't satisfied with guesswork, so he decided to do an autopsy at his home.

Ambushed by germs

Although plague is endemic west of the Mississippi — brought here in the 1800s by flea-infested rats on ships ferrying Chinese railroad workers to the USA — York had little reason to suspect it. Mountain lions usually stalk bigger game than rodents. But this lion had kittens that had to learn to hunt.

When York became ill, he visited the park's clinic, Wong says. On Oct. 30, clinic staff diagnosed a flu-like illness and sent him home. It was there, three days later, that a roommate found him lying motionless on the couch.

Wong says York's toughness and self-sufficiency may have cost him his life. "He was a tough guy. He gutted out more than you or I or almost anyone else would."

He says the case has prompted the National Park Service to begin working with colleagues at the CDC and at state and local health departments to identify diseases within the park system that might pose a risk to the 276 million people who visit every year, as well as the many people who might be exposed once park visitors return home.

From the Alaska bush country to the rugged coasts of Hawaii's Molokai island, Lake Mead National Recreation Area cultural resources chief Rosie Pepito has worked in some of the world's most remote locales.

It was only when her Blackberry started functioning again after a 60-mile trek on an Alaskan dirt road that she learned she had won national recognition last month.

Pepito was one of just three National Park Service employees to win the Appleman-Judd-Lewis Awards in September, honoring excellence in cultural resource management.

"It was quite a shock," Pepito said. "I was pleasantly surprised."

Pepito joined Lake Mead in 1997 after previous stints at Joshua Tree and Yosemite national parks. Yosemite beckoned her toward the Park Service in 1985, with the encouragement of rangers who noted her regular visits.

"I loved the outdoors — the scenery," Pepito said.

She frequently escapes to the Alaska wilderness as part of a National Park Service cultural resources team. There she sees wolves, eagles, grizzlies and black bears, who on her latest trip were preparing for hibernation.

Her recent work focused on the historic Kennecott Mines, where she was tasked with moving and cataloging heavy mining artifacts. The trek was not easy. She said her group experienced two flat tires on a preliminary trip. There was also no outside communication. Nonetheless, she called the trip amazing.

Pepito's work also helped her meet her husband, when she was assigned to work eight months in the Kalapaupa National Historic Park, a colony where victims of Hansen's disease or leprosy were sent in the 19th century. Her future husband was the chief ranger.

Some of the colonists' descendants still live there. As the community has died off, Pepito has catalogued their belongings, returning each year.

"We want to preserve the whole history of what happened there," Pepito said.

She called the effort logistically challenging.

"The only way to get in is to take mules, hike down steep cliffs or fly," Pepito said.

That was not her only work in Hawaii. On the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, she was sent to Oahu to conduct pre-interviews with veterans of the attack.

"We were trying to capture as much oral history as possible, prepare them to relive a moment in their lives that was so traumatic," Pepito said, recalling that she was prepared with a box of tissues. "They were just pouring their hearts out about what happened."

Pepito majored in physical anthropology. Much of Pepito's expertise has been derived from on-the-job training, working with what she called renowned anthropologists and archaeologists in the field.

"Rosie just has outstanding skills in working with people to develop common objectives and a shared purpose to get things done," said Kent Turner, Lake Mead's chief of resource management. "The award recognizes the amount of dedication and enthusiasm she brings to the job."

Pepito listed undertaking a complete survey of underwater resources at Lake Mead as one of her biggest accomplishments. She also spent six years getting Spirit Mountain eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

The sacred mountain, located in Lake Mead's Christmas Tree Pass, is considered the spiritual birthplace for six tribes in a region stretching all the way to Mexico. To attain the listing, she first had to fully understand its historical significance.

"I worked with tribal elders and got to learn their traditions and see how they used the land," Pepito said.

And that was just one facet of her efforts toward compiling an ethnographic assessment for all of Southern Nevada. She acknowledged that at times such work can be tedious.

"You're dealing with the bureaucracy, making sure you have funding," Pepito said. "It's hard sitting in the office."

But she said she loves being in the field and working with her peers.

"My favorite part is getting to know so many people," she said.

source: lasvegassun.com

Criminal complaints against both City Clerk Pamella Malmstrom and City Councilwoman Linda Strickland have been dismissed by the district attorney's and attorney general's offices, respectively, after being forwarded there by the city.

Prosecutors did not find evidence to support either charge.

City Attorney Dave Olsen last month sent both cases to the higher levels after receiving them from the Boulder City Police Department. He said prosecuting a city council member would be a conflict of interest.

Roy Theiss, a city employee, filed the complaint against Strickland Sept. 4, accusing her of violating City Code article 2, section 11, stating that the council is "not to interfere in appointments or removals."

In a letter to Olsen, Chief Deputy Attorney General Hafen said the charter section, which says no council member should give orders to subordinates of the city manager, "may be constitutionally vague and therefore unenforceable."

The incident report filed with the Police Department and an Aug. 28 e-mail Theiss sent to City Manager Vicki Mayes state that two hours before the Aug. 26 City Council meeting, Strickland directed Theiss to play a DVD at the meeting, without consulting Mayes.

The recording Theiss played showed the City Council at a Feb. 12 meeting voting to hire a consultant to study the landfill. Strickland said she asked the DVD be played to remind council members on which measure they voted.

Theiss in the Aug. 28 e-mail to Mayes said he worried his job had been compromised because of the poor quality of the DVD. The incident report states Theiss "was advised to file an information report" after Mayes contacted Olsen. Theiss Oct. 14 said Mayes assured him his job had not been jeopardized.

Chief Deputy Attorney General Conrad Hafen said he couldn't prosecute Strickland because there wasn't enough information, and he sent the case back to Olsen last month.

"We couldn't prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt," he said.

Strickland said she thought the complaint was irrelevant.

"I don't hold it against him (for filing the complaint)," she said. "If he really thought I violated the charter, he had the right. I have a concern when someone's trying to prosecute me for something that does not apply."

As for the complaint against Malmstrom, filed Sept. 18 by resident Joe Roche, Olsen said he would have dismissed the case himself.

"I wouldn't be able to assert probable cause she committed any kind of crime," he said.

Roche, who owns a Las Vegas recycling company and lives in Boulder City, alleged Malmstrom violated state election law in July by appointing him and several others to ballot committees without the approval of the City Council.

The Clark County Commission in June charged Malmstrom with finding committees to write general election ballot arguments for and against a property tax to benefit the Boulder City Hospital and to have them appointed by the council. She appointed the committees herself.

Roche in his complaint claimed Malmstrom violated Nevada Revised Statutes 295.121, 295.217 and 293.800.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent said he dismissed the case because Malmstrom didn't break a law.

"Because of the statute, there's no duty imposed on that person to do anything," he said. "It doesn't appear there was any intent for her to violate the law."

Malmstrom declined to comment on the matter.

source: lasvegassun.com