NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Monday, October 30, 1995

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

95-707 - Everglades (Florida) - Burglaries

Some time during the night of October 19th, thieves entered and burglarized the
Key Largo ranger station.  They broke open locked cabinets and stole two sets
of night vision equipment, a .357 pistol, and a camcorder.  They also took
three sets of body armor, two maglites, a VCR, a uniform badge, and a badge
with credentials from the office.  Cameras, radios, computers and a fax machine
were left untouched.  Two nights later, thieves burglarized the Reefcomber
motel, a property next to the ranger station which the park has acquired; they
broke into a room used to store maintenance supplies and took NPS issue green
coveralls, a Goretex parka, and a yellow nylon initial attack pack.  All serial
numbers have been entered into NCIC and information on the break-in has been
provided to local, state and federal agencies in the Keys and the Miami area. 
The investigation is continuing.  [LES, EVER]

95-708 - Yosemite (California) - Attempted Armed Robbery, Assault

Valley rangers responded to a report of an attempted strong arm robbery on
Sentinel Bridge on October 20th.  A woman was attacked form behind by a man who
grabbed her face, pushed her into the bridge railing, and attempted to remove a
Vivitar camera which was hanging around her neck.  Her husband grabbed the
attacker, got him into a headlock and wrestled him to the ground.  The man was
able to break free, however, and ran away.  Rangers immediately set up a
perimeter and took the suspected assailant into custody within 15 minutes of
the attack.  He was positively identified as the attacker, and was charged with
assault and with attempted robbery by force or fear.  [Cameron Sholly, YOSE]

95-709 - C&O Canal (D.C./Maryland) - Resource Theft Conviction

On October 16th, R.P. of Leesburg, Virginia, plead guilty in
Frederick County circuit court to one count of felony theft stemming from an
investigation into theft and illegal logging in the park.  R.P. was
sentenced to four years in prison, with all but 18 months suspended; the
sentence is to run consecutively to one he is currently serving in Virginia
which will expire in the spring of 1997.  The plea agreement and conviction
followed a lengthy joint investigation by park personnel, FBI agents and county
investigators into the theft of farm equipment from private lands and the
logging and sale of pawlownia trees from the Point of Rocks area of the park
last year.  Pawlownia wood is in high demand on the Asian market for use in
high quality furniture.  Rangers John Bailey and Kevin FitzGerald and natural
resource management specialists Dianne Ingram and Bill Spinrad solidified the
case with the FBI through the use of GPS equipment to locate and map the 25
plus tree stumps in an area where the elimination of adjacent privately owned
property was critical in making the case.  [CRO, CHOH]

95-710 - Grand Canyon (Arizona) - Fraud

The Fred Harvey Company advised park investigators on October 12th of a
fraudulent practice being used by a tour company.  Visitors were showing up at
the lodge expecting reservations for rooms booked for them by a company known
as "National Park Tours" with a business address of 1851 East 1st Street #900,
Santa Ana, California.  Investigators determined that the company solicits
business through travel magazines using an 800 number (1-800-634-0933), and
that they had also found a way to intercept calls to the park lodges by using
800 numbers.  Calls would go to the "tour group", which would take the caller's
credit card numbers to book a reservation in one of the park lodges.  They
would then call the victim back and tell him or her that the reservation had
been made (even providing a phony confirmation number), call the lodge to make
a reservation and get the right price, then bill the victim.  The problem
occurred when the lodge failed to ever receive payment from "National Park
Tours" for any reservations and would accordingly cancel them.  The
unsuspecting victims would not be notified because the only address given on
the reservations was "National Park Tours", and would only find out about the
cancellation upon arrival in the park.  Grand Canyon Lodges is trying to
provide rooms at no charge to these visitors.  There have been about 80 victims
to date.  So far, "National Park Tours" has collected approximately $16,400
from them.  If you need any information on this scam, please contact criminal
investigator Franco Sidoti at either 520-638-7830 or 520-638-7805.  [Franco
Sidoti, GRCA]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No field reports today.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No notes.

OBSERVATIONS

Today we conclude the extended series of quotes from George Hartzog's book and
turn to the numerous submissions sent in from the field in recent weeks. 
Today's comes from Deanne Adams in Columbia Cascades SSO; although not directly
about the NPS, it has to do with federal budgets and lends some perspective on
differing perceptions of just what constitutes "long range" fiscal planning:

"In the Rio Grande Valley, (an) elder from Zuni pueblo listened to a Bureau of
Land Management official describe the agency's latest fiscal budget and how it
would affect public land policy in the West.  'Any questions?' he asked.  The
elder raised his hand and said, 'Sir I'd like to know what your short-term
fiscal plans are - for the next 500 years.'

                                        Terry Tempest Williams, "Utne
                                        Reader", July-August 1995

Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation and
support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.

Telephone: 202-208-4874
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