NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Tuesday, March 15, 1994

Broadcast: By 0900 ET

INCIDENTS

94-118 - Shenandoah (Virginia) - Search; Employee Injury

Just before 6 p.m. on March 11th, the park received a report that two
students from a Smithsonian Institute Conservation and Research Center study
group had failed to return from a data collecting hike on the Knob Mountain
trail.  The two women - J.E., 25, and B.A.R., 22,
both of Philadelphia - had started from Elkwallow Wayside that morning and
were to have completed the two-mile circuit and returned to Skyline Drive by
1:30 p.m.  Indications were that both women were dressed appropriately for
the weather.  Afternoon temperatures were in the high 40s to low 50s, but
dropped into the teens at night.  The area was contained and three search
teams were deployed in the Jeremy's Run/Knob Mountain area.  Snow cover
ranging from six to eighteen inches hampered search efforts, as did stream
runoff along the Jeremy's Run trail.  Rangers located two sets of footprints
in the snow around 7 p.m. and followed them throughout the backcountry area. 
They found the two women off the Jeremy's Run trail at 2:40 a.m.  Both were
wet and cold, but were otherwise in good condition.  They had to be carried
across eight thigh-deep stream crossings while being evacuated.  During the
search, ranger Janice Pauley lost her footing on glaze ice and slid about 50
feet down the trail before striking a tree and suffering complete fractures
of the radius and ulna of her left arm.  Pauley was evacuated and taken to a
hospital in Luray; she underwent surgery to repair the broken bones at a
second hospital.  Ranger Bill Cardwell was the incident commander for the
search.  [Dispatch, SHEN, 3/14]

94-119 - Petroglyphs (New Mexico) - Assault on Ranger

On the afternoon of March 13th, interpretive ranger Mike Medrano was
contacted near the visitor center by Dr. H.C., a park inholder. 
H.C. was verbally abusive, made threatening statements and briefly pointed
a handgun at Medrano before leaving the area.  H.C. lives on property
adjacent to the visitor center; although he had previously expressed his
unhappiness with the prospect of future federal acquisition of his two-acre
residential property, he had not displayed any tendency towards violence. 
Medrano was the only NPS employee on duty at the time, and therefore
requested assistance from chief ranger Reed McCluskey and Albuquerque
police.  H.C. returned to the scene after the Albuquerque officer arrived. 
He did not have his gun, but carried two long wooden staffs.  He continued
to be abusive, confrontational, and threatening, and at times acted
irrationally, breaking a window in a nearby building.  He eventually left
the area without injuring anyone.  After other officers arrived, H.C. was
contacted by phone and asked to return to the park.  He did so and continued
his threatening and abusive behavior until arrested by the Albuquerque
offices and charged with aggravated assault.  Other charges are pending. 
[Reed McCluskey, PETR, 3/13]

94-120 - Chickasaw (Oklahoma) - Double Fatality

On the afternoon of March 8th, a VIP host notified rangers of the lack of
activity in a recreational vehicle which had been parked in the Rock Springs
campground for almost two weeks.  Investigation led to the discovery of the
bodies of V.H. and C.H., ages 67 and 70, of Athens, Texas.  They
were found casually dressed in night clothes and lying in bed.  Death had
apparently occurred three days previously.  There was no sign of theft,
forcible entry or violence.  An inspection of the vehicle revealed a faulty
exhaust system, which had permitted fumes to enter the camper.  Autopsies
indicated that the two had six times the normal amount of carbon monoxide in
their bodies.  It appears that the RV's generator had been used to run a
small heater just prior to their deaths.  [Steve Miller, CR, CHIC, 3/11]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No field reports today.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No notes.

MEMORANDA

No memoranda.

IN CONGRESS

The following activities will be taking place in Congress during coming
weeks on matters of interest or consequence to the National Park Service. 
If you would like further information on any of these hearings or bills,
please contact Dottie in WASO Legislation at 202-208-3636.

Upcoming Hearings

3/17 -- House Natural Resources' Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests
and Public Lands (Vento): Mark-up of H.R. 2843, to establish
Wheeling National Heritage Area in West Virginia; and H.R. 1104
and H.R. 3498, to establish an historic district commission at
Great Falls.

3/22 -- House Natural Resources' Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests
and Public Lands (Vento): Hearing on H.R. 3707, to establish an
American Heritage Areas Partnership Program in the Department of
Interior; and H.R. 2416, to provide for "the preservation,
interpretation, development and beneficial use of natural,
cultural, historic and scenic resources that are a source of
values important to the people of the U.S. through a national
partnership system of heritage areas."

3/24 -- House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related
Agencies (Yates): Hearing on NPS FY 95 budget request.  

5/11 -- Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related
Agencies (Byrd): Hearing on NPS FY 95 budget request.

Prepared by WASO Division of Ranger Activities

Telephone: 202-208-4874
Telefax:   202-208-6756
cc:Mail:   WASO Ranger Activities
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