NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT
  
  
  To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices
  
  From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
  
  Day/Date:   Friday, February 11, 2000
  
  ALMANAC
  
  On this day in 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln left Springfield, 
  Illinois, for Washington, never to return to the only home he had ever 
  owned.  It is now Lincoln Home National Historic Site.
  
  INCIDENTS
  
  00-041 - Grand Canyon NP (AZ) - Theft Arrest
  
  On January 27th, rangers on the South Rim investigated a series of 
  concession hotel room thefts. Cash, ranging in amounts from $80 to 
  $200, was taken from the suitcases of numerous victims. Rangers 
  determined a likely suspect and MO and set up a sting operation with 
  the assistance of a park special agent and the cooperation of the 
  hotel. Marked bills were placed in a suitcase in a hotel room that 
  appeared to be occupied. A hotel maid entered, cleaned and left the 
  room. She was contacted shortly thereafter and found to have over $900 
  in cash inside one of her boots. The maid admitted stealing money from 
  six different hotel rooms that day. She has been charged with six 
  counts of larceny. [Kent Delbon, Lead PR, South Rim District, GRCA, 
  2/10]
  
  00-042 - Antietam NB (MD) - Probable Suicide
  
  A man's body was found at the base of the park's 80-foot observation 
  tower on the afternoon of February 9th by members of a state highway 
  crew. Rangers and state troopers are investigating. Preliminary 
  investigation indicates that the death was a suicide. The name of the 
  60-year-old victim is being withheld pending notification of next of 
  kin. [Thomas Jones, PR, ANTI, 2/9]
  
  CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
  
  New River Gorge NR (WV) - Cultural Resource Inventory
  
  In 1998, the park reorganized its Branch of Visitor Protection from a 
  district operation to a unit operation.  The two units formed were the 
  protection unit and the resource stewardship unit, each under an 
  assistant chief ranger.  In 1999, two patrol rangers from protection 
  completed six-month details with resource stewardship.  Frank Sellers 
  and Regina Carrico, both commissioned GS-9 protection rangers, 
  conducted cultural resource inventories of threatened and impacted 
  sites throughout the 85,000 acres of the three parks administered by 
  New River NR.  Sellers began a detail to revisit, document and assess 
  conditions on hundreds of archeological sites in the park briefly 
  outlined in a 1970s era university research document called the 
  Marshall Study.  He digitally photographed each site, recorded 
  locations with GPS, completed a West Virginia Archeological Society 
  site report on each location, and downloaded all the information into 
  the park's GIS computer.  All of his data was placed on a CD-ROM and 
  made available to the cultural resource specialist and all protection 
  rangers in the park.  Sellers program is in a Powerpoint presentation 
  that has been given to several local education and school groups.  
  This program was also presented at the West Virginia Archeological 
  Society's annual meeting at the state capital in September, 1999, 
  where it was enthusiastically received by the professional 
  archeologists in attendance.  Carrico's project was to document 
  historical sites within the parks that pre-dated 1873, the year the 
  C&O Railroad began timber and coal operations in the area and forever 
  changed the culture of the New River Gorge region.  Her project 
  followed Sellers' format, with all her information and data stored on 
  CD-ROM and in the park's GIS computer.  Carrico has also conducted 
  training for all protection ranger staff in the park and is scheduled 
  for out-of-park group presentations to school and educational groups 
  this year.  Both projects were conducted under the guidelines and 
  oversight of the park's cultural resource management specialist, John 
  Whitehurst, with all recorded data supplied to the West Virginia State 
  Historic Preservation Office.  (Duncan Hollar, Assistant Chief, 
  Resource Stewardship, NERI)
  
  OPERATIONAL NOTES
  
  Court Ruling - The Ninth Circuit has ruled that a person who erects a 
  tent on public lands, with or without permission to do so, has a 
  reasonable expectation of privacy (REP) for the contents of the tent. 
  Law enforcement officers discovered the tent at a marijuana plantation 
  on Bureau of Land Management land.  The tent, hidden in heavy 
  vegetation and closed on all four sides, was entered without a 
  warrant.  A prescription medicine bottle was located inside that 
  identified the owner.  The Ninth Circuit decided, without oral 
  argument, that the owner had REP in the tent based on its location, 
  the fact that it was closed on all sides, and that he had left his 
  medicine inside.  The fact that the owner was engaged in an illegal 
  activity was discounted as a factor in deciding REP.  The court also 
  noted that public land, unlike private land, is frequently unmarked 
  and may appear open to camping. No evidence was offered detailing BLM 
  regulations that would have prohibited such camping.  This case is an 
  extension of United States v. Gooch, 6 F.3d 673 (9th Cir. 1993), in 
  which the Ninth Circuit held that a subject can have REP in a tent 
  located in a public campground.  United States v. Sandoval, No. 
  98-30130 (9th Cir. 1/24/00). For more information about these or other 
  court decisions, contact FLETC legal instructor and lawyer Don Usher 
  via cc:Mail at NP-WASO.
  
  MEMORANDA
  
  No submissions.
  
  PARKS AND PEOPLE
  
  National Capital Parks (DC) - Deputy chief Alvin D. Hinton, commander 
  of USPP's Operations Division, retired on January 29th after 30 years 
  of service. Deputy chief is the third-highest-ranking position in the 
  Park Police, and Hinton commanded the largest operational segment of 
  the force. Hinton joined the Park Police in June, 1969, and 
  subsequently held positions as motorcycle officer, commander of the 
  Criminal Investigations Branch, assistant commander and commander of 
  the New York Field Office, law enforcement specialist for NCR, 
  commander of West District, commander of the Training Branch, and 
  commander of the Field Offices Division. During his tenure as deputy 
  chief, he was in charge of law enforcement activities for "The Million 
  Man March," NATO's fiftieth anniversary, and the celebration of the 
  millennium. He received his retirement badge at a ceremony at a full 
  USPP staff meeting on February 2nd. Hinton will become the new chief 
  of police for the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. 
  [Sgt. R. MacLean, USPP, NCR]
  
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  address requests pertaining to receipt of the Morning Report to your 
  servicing hub coordinator.  The Morning Report is also available on 
  the web at http://www.nps.gov/morningreport
  
  Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the 
  cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.
  
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