Smooth ride

Rally Week was relatively calm this year, with few arrests, no fatalities and a generally cheerful atmosphere throughout the county. The official traffic count is not yet in, but Lieutenant Tim Boumeester of Wyoming Highway Patrol is not expecting the numbers to be high.

“From past experience and working the rally for numerous years, it did not appear to be as busy as years past,” he says.

Between August 2 and 11, Crook and Weston Counties saw 16 crashes.

“Thirteen of them were in Crook County,” he says. “We did not have any fatalities.”

A serious crash on Rally Wednesday involved a motorcycle carrying two people and a deer. The crash took place on Hwy 14 at mile marker 183.5 at around 2 p.m. “Both of those individuals were Life Flighted,” he says.

Another of the local crashes involved a motorcycle being rear-ended near road construction in the Moorcroft area, Boumeester adds.

In terms of arrests, Highway Patrol made six during the same timeframe across the two counties.

“Three of the arrests were for DUI, one was for a warrant and the others were drug-related offenses,” he says.

Of the six arrests, two were located in Crook County, both involving DUIs. One took place on Sand Creek Road and the other on the frontage road by Beulah, both later on in the week.

Sheriff Jeff Hodge also reports a “really quiet” week for his department, while Police Chief Marty Noonan says there were “zero incidents” in Sundance and the event went very smoothly.