Tragically, another person has died to to no cellphone coverage in Upstate NY. A trucker whose rig slid off the Adirondack Northway during Wednesday’s storm collapsed and died after walking through deep snow to check the truck. The death of Stewart W. Crookes, 60, of Canada, might have been prevented if there had been cell-phone coverage where his tractor-trailer truck skidded into the median near mile marker 108, Emergency Services Deputy Director Donald Jaquish said Thursday.

He got out and walked to the back of the 50-foot-long truck in waist-high snow, came around to his wife’s door and had an (apparent) heart attack.

Mr. Crookes’s wife, Donna, was in the passenger seat of the truck and tried to use her cell phone to call for help after he fell. But there was no service.

Mrs. Crookes told police that she kept squeezing the cell phone and punching the buttons to try to get it to work.

She eventually walked toward oncoming traffic in the blizzard and flagged down two passing motorists and asked them to call an ambulance when they could.

Both people drove five miles to get a signal at Lincoln Pond Rest Area.

Although the truck went off the Northway at about 6:30 p.m. in the Town of Moriah, it took 36 minutes for passing motorists to place a call.

A state trooper who arrived first administered CPR, Jaquish said.

At a press conference held Thursday, Elizabethtown Emergency Medical Technician Patty Bashaw, who responded with Advanced Life Support equipment, said CPR was in progress when she arrived.

“He was unresponsive, and there was no pulse. The fingers of both hands were frozen.”

Bashaw said that if Mrs. Crookes had been able to call 911 immediately, “it wouldn’t have hurt the situation; that’s for sure.”

The death is the second in a month on the Northway attributed to a lack of cell coverage.

As reported HERE on YW, Alfred B. Langner, 63, of Brooklyn died of hypothermia after his car went off the road Jan. 25 near mile marker 105 southbound and he wasn’t found for more than 24 hours. His wife, who survived, tried to use a cell phone to call for help but had no signal.

Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury) is working on a plan to install 100-foot and 75-foot-high cell towers along the remote sections of the Northway.

Although the Adirondack Park Agency approved 32 cell towers, each 38 feet high, they have been deemed inadequate by cellular providers who have refused to build them.

Little said Thursday that she’s working on getting at least temporary cell towers in place before another death can occur.

“It’s so distressful to think of another incident when a cell-phone tower could have been useful. We’re working on putting the cells on wheels (portable towers) up. They could be there in no time.”

She said they’re waiting for APA approval, but Gov. Eliot Spitzer could expedite the process.

“It will let us know where the holes in coverage are, whether they’re objectionable to people. We have momentum. But it’s unfortunate to have another death occur while we’re in the process.”

Assemblywomen Teresa Sayward (R-Willsboro) and Janet Duprey (R-Peru) have also been working on a solution to the Northway cell-service issue.

(Press Republican)

Take a moment out and send an email, or call one of the following Officials:

State Senator
Mrs. Elizabeth Little
305 West Bay Plaza
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
(518) 561-2430
E-mail Senator Elizabeth

Assemblywoman
Mrs. Teresa R. Sayward
113th Assembly District7559 Court St. Rm. 203
PO Box 217
Elizabethtown, NY 12932
518-873-3803
email: [email protected]

Governor:
Eliot Spitzer
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
518-474-8390
E-mail Governor Spitzer

Senator Charles E. Schumer’s Office
Phone: 212-486-4430
E-mail Senator Schumer

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Phone: (212) 688-6262
E-mail Senator Clinton

Senator Marty Golden
Phone: (718) 238-6044
Email: [email protected]

Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand
120 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5614
E-mail Congresswoman Gillibrand