Two hours east of Reno is Winnemucca, a town of about 7, 800 in Humboldt County. Humboldt and the surrounding counties of Pershing and Lander are some of the most sparsely populated areas in Nevada. Here, suicide rates are higher, and community leaders know that. They've worked years at strategies to prevent suicides. In 2017, the counties saw only one or two suicides. The strategies seemed to be working. Then, in a one month span in the fall of 2018, they saw 13. Why?
Two hours east of Reno is Winnemucca, a town of about 7, 800 in Humboldt County. Humboldt and the surrounding counties of Pershing and Lander are some of the most sparsely populated areas in Nevada. Here, suicide rates are higher, and community leaders know that. They've worked years at strategies to prevent suicides. In 2017, the counties saw only one or two suicides. The strategies seemed to be working. Then, in a one month span in the fall of 2018, they saw 13. Why?
Searching the wash
In late March I followed Wendy Cox as she searched for her partner of 17 years, William “Sky” Pilgrim, and posted missing person flyers around the washes in Vegas.
Her and her partner had been homeless on and off for three years. They were living in a structure they had built in the tunnels of the washes when, on March 12, record rainfall hit Vegas, and the water rose in the washes.
With two feet left before the tunnel filled, they tied a rope to each other and jumped off the structure. At some point the rope broke. She made it out but he didn’t.
Two others living in the tunnels died and another woman, in addition to Sky, is still missing. She spent about four hours Monday posting flyers and looking through debris. It was her third day combing through the washes looking for something of his, or him.
Senior Pageant
Contestants come to Las Vegas to compete for Miss Senior Universe.
Black Canyon for RJ MAGAZINE
Black Canyon is a water trail that launches from the Hoover Dam and ends at Willow Beach.
