Sheriff, wife unhurt in accident

Sheriff Ken Furlong and his wife Phyllis escaped injury Monday when their car rolled over after sliding on black ice south of Mina, 154 miles southeast of Carson City.

"We're fine," Sheriff Furlong said Wednesday from Mesquite where he's attending the Nevada Sheriffs & Chiefs Annual Conference this week.

Furlong said he was attempting to get onto Highway 95 in Mina when his Ford Expedition hit black ice and began to slide.

"The whole rear end just slid ... off the side of the road, and when it hit the ditches it flipped onto its driver's side," he said. "When I looked up at Phyllis above me, she was still buckled in, still holding her coffee. She did not even spill a drop."

Furlong said a passersby stopped and the Nevada Highway Patrol and Mineral County deputies responded.

The Ford is Furlong's personal vehicle, not a county-owned car.

Furlong said Undersheriff Steve Albertsen was not far behind in another car. They transferred their things into Albertsen's car and rode the rest of the way to the conference with him.

"I was only going about 35 mph," he said. "Incidentally, the weather was so bad, I had my GPS on and we were averaging 38 miles an hour. It took us 13 hours to get here because of the storm."

He said they battled snow the entire route.

"That's one of the heavier snowstorms I have seen that covered this region of Nevada in my lifetime," he said. "It was like we were moving right with the storm."