RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
                           MORNING REPORT

Attention: Directorate
           Regional and Park Chief Rangers, USPP, BIFC, FLETC
           Ranger Activities Division Information Network

Day/Date:  Tuesday, May 12, 1992

INCIDENTS

92-181 - Canyon de Chelly (Arizona) - Suspected Homicide

At 8:00 a.m. on the morning of May 9th, a park visitor entered the visitor
center and reported that there was a body lying in the parking lot at Spyder
Rock overlook.  Chief ranger Doug Roe and ranger Cal Bahe met the visitor,
who identified himself as P.W. of Long Beach, California.  P.W.,
a freelance photographer, said that he'd found the body of a young Navajo
man in the overlook parking lot when he arrived there at 7:40 to photograph
the canyon.  The rangers and two Navajo police officers drove to the
overlook and found the victim.  He had been beaten severely about the head
and apparently had been dropped off in the parking area within the previous
few hours.  There was no identification on the body, but investigators were
later able to identify him as D.H. of Chinle.  The scene was
secured and a search was begun for possible evidence.  The body was
eventually removed and the area was reopened to the public.  Navajo police
say that they'd received a report of a Navajo being beaten and possibly
stabbed around 1:00 a.m. that morning; they found blood at the reported
scene of the beating, but had found neither victim nor suspects.  It is
believed that this incident is related to a similar stabbing death that
occurred in the same general area about one month ago.  D.H. was a suspect
in that homicide.  [Doug Roe, CR, CACH, via telefax from Capt. Jim Radney,
RAD/SWRO, 5/11]

92-182 - Southwest Areas - ARPA Task Force Cases

The joint, inter-agency (NPS, BLM, USFS, FBI and IRS) ARPA task force
working out of Santa Fe continues to make headway against people engaged in
illegal collection and trafficking in artifacts taken from federal lands. 
Three cases have recently concluded or are about to conclude:

* D.K. of Las Cruces, New Mexico, has plead guilty to a misdemeanor
  ARPA violation and agreed to a negotiated plea settlement in which he
  will be sentenced to a year's probation, payment of $1,100 restitution
  to the government, and payment of court costs.  D.K. was caught metal-
  detecting and digging artifacts on federal lands earlier this year.

* G.W. of Phoenix, Arizona, has pled guilty to a misdemeanor ARPA
  violation of trafficking in artifacts.  G.W. was sentenced to a year's
  supervised probation and ordered to forfeit $6,000 and his fully-paid-for
  Nissan Stanza 4x4 wagon.  Investigators, who were aware of G.W.'s
  interest in procuring artifacts, offered to sell him pots which were
  taken from Zion NP.  G.W. agreed, and was sold several pots which
  were from outside the park.

* P.W. of Farmington, New Mexico, pled guilty to one count
  of felony ARPA trafficking.  The court has accepted a plea bargain, but
  sentencing is still pending.  NPS and BLM agents seized over 200
  artifacts from P.W.'s residence, most of them taken from BLM lands
  in the Farmington area.

More task force actions are pending.  [Bill Tanner, RAD/SWRO, 5/11]

92-183 - Denali (Alaska) - Rescues

On May 11th, three mountaineers were rescued and airlifted off Mount
McKinley by park rangers and a high-altitude Lama helicopter on contract to
the NPS.  Just after 2:00 p.m. that afternoon, D.H. came into the
ranger station at 14,000 feet on the mountain and said that his two climbing
partners were in trouble at 17,500 feet.  T.R., 43, of Ridgecrest,
California, was suffering from high-altitude cerebral edema, pulmonary edema
and frostbite on both feet and his nose; R.R., 56, also of
Ridgecrest, was suffering from frostbite on his feet.  The Lama was called
and flew from Talkeetna to the 14,000-foot level to pick up ranger Ron
Johnson and volunteer Julie Culberson and drop off ranger Daryl Miller to
man the ranger station.  Pilot Bill Ramsey flew Johnson and Culberson to
17,500 feet, where they stabilized the patients and loaded them on the
helicopter.  While Ramsey flew the patients to 14,000 feet, Johnson and
Culberson and a French guide who had assisted them traversed to a better
landing area for pickup.  Before the rangers were picked up, however, a
second rescue call came in.  T.D.H., 39, of Bellvue, Washington,
had fallen at about 15,800 feet on the head wall of the West Buttress route. 
His partner, who was leading as they descended, fell; T.D.H. arrested the
fall, but broke his right arm and scraped his face in the process.  The
climbers were not using the fixed lines on the headwall.  Johnson and
Culberson were flown to 15,600 feet, climbed up to T.D.H., stabilized him,
and brought him to the helicopter.  All three patients were then flown from
14,000 feet to 7,200 feet, where a fixed-wing air taxi took them to
Talkeetna and eventually to Humana Hospital in Anchorage.  District ranger
J.D. Swed and ranger Roger Robinson flew communications cover throughout the
entire operation.  The injured were off the mountain by 6:00 p.m., less than
four hours after first notification.  The rescues brought to four the number
of climbers taken off the mountain this month by the Lama.  An SCA working
for the NPS was flown off late last week with frostbite in his hands. 
[cc:Mail message from John Quinley, RAD/ARO, 5/11]

92-184 - Jean Lafitte (Louisiana) - Burglaries

During the past week, two burglaries took place at a structure on Decatur
Street which is currently being renovated by Denver Service Center
personnel.  On May 4th, a person or persons entered the courtyard of the
building by climbing over a wall, then entered through an unlocked interior
door.  Two telephones and a phone answering machine were removed.  The next
day, a citizen contacted the park and reported that he had purchased the
equipment from an unidentified person on the street.  When he played the
message on the answering machine, he realized that the equipment was the
property of the NPS and voluntarily returned it to the park.  On May 6th,
the building was entered a second time, apparently in the same manner.  Two
IBM personal computers with monitor and keyboards valued at $5,000 were
removed.  The computers were the property of a contractor working for DSC. 
A door leading to the street which had been nailed and boarded shut from the
inside was forced open to remove the items.  Scissors which were used to
remove the boards were left behind and are now in custody as evidence.  The
New Orleans police department is assisting in the investigation.  Nothing of
value remains in the building and steps are being taken to prevent future
entry over the walls.  The park has also initiated efforts to reward the
citizen who returned the telephone and answering machine.  [Jim Carson, CR,
JELA, via CompuServe message from Jim Radney, RAD/SWRO, 5/11]

92-185 - Wrangell-St. Elias (Alaska) - Aircraft Crash

Three people on their way to go bungee jumping from a 238-foot-high bridge
over the Kuskulana River were injured slightly when their Cessna 182 crashed
20 miles east of Chitina on the afternoon of May 9th.  The pilot planned to
land on an airstrip, but it was too muddy so he landed on the road instead. 
The right wing hit trees, destroying the aircraft.  [cc:Mail message from
John Quinley, RAD/ARO, 5/11]

92-186 - Denali (Alaska) - Midair Crash; No Fatalities or Injuries

On May 9th, two sightseeing aircraft collided in midair near Mount McKinley,
clipping about three feet off the wing of a Cessna 172 and damaging the
landing gear of a Cessna 185.  Both planes flew safely to Talkeetna.  A
total of ten people were on board the two aircraft, including four
schoolchildren in one plane and three Florida tourists in the other.
The C-185 is owned by Getting Aviation, an NPS concessioner; the C-172 was rented
from an Anchorage aero club.  The commercial aircraft pilot had her radio
tuned to 122.7, the frequency used by pilots in that area.  The other pilot
did not.  The planes were at about 9,200 feet when they collided.  [cc:Mail
message from John Quinley, RAD/ARO, 5/11]

FIRE ACTIVITY

                *** No fire report this morning ***

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No field reports today.

STAFF STATUS

Division Chief: Brady at regional chief rangers' meeting, Alexandria, VA
(5/12-45/13).

Branch of Resource and Visitor Protection:  Martin and most of branch staff
(intermittently) at regional chief rangers' meeting, Alexandria, VA (5/12-5/13);
Schamp at semi-automatic weapons test, FLETC, Glynco, GA (5/11-5/22).

Branch of Fire and Aviation: Hurd and Erskine at regional chief rangers'
meeting, Alexandria, VA (5/11-5/15); Farrel at regional safety managers'
meeting (5/14-5/15); Norum at National Fire Danger Advisory Group meeting,
Kansas City, KS (5/11-5/15); Mattingly coordinating Alpine IHC season start-up,
WICA, Hot Springs, SD (5/7-5/20); Cook on IHC detail to Sequoia-Kings
Canyon for remainder of summer.

Prepared by WASO Division of Ranger Activities

Telephone:  Branch of R&VP - FTS 268-4874/6039 or 202-208-4874/6039
            Branch of F&A (WASO) - FTS 268-5572/5573 or 202-208-5572/5573

Telefax:    Branch of R&VP - FTS 268-6756 or 202-208-6756
            Branch of F&A (WASO) - FTS 268-5977 or 202-208-5977

CompuServe: Branch of R&VP - WASO-RANGER
            Branch of F&A (WASO) - WASO-FIRE-WO

cc:Mail     Branch of R&VP - WASO Ranger Activities
            Branch of F&A (WASO) - WASO Fire and Aviation