NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Friday, October 13, 2000

ALMANAC

On this date in 1792, Freemasons and the commissioners of the District 
of Columbia laid the cornerstone for the White House.  It would not be 
occupied until President John Adams moved there from Philadelphia in 
November 1800.

INCIDENTS

00-645 - Scotts Bluff NM (NE) - Rockslide

For the third time in three years, a major rockslide has closed the 
Saddle Rock trail. The recent wet snow and rain that fell on the park 
evidently contributed to the rockslide, which occurred on the evenings 
of October 6th and 7th. A large rock about the size of four large dump 
trucks fell at a pivotal point on the trail; several tons of rock and 
sand also fell and blocked the trail about 700 feet above the plain. 
The large rock is extremely unstable, which will make clearing the 
slide very difficult. The location is inaccessible to large equipment. 
Blasting is only a limited option due to the risk of causing serious 
additional slides. The trail is one of the most heavily used trails in 
the park and the only one to the summit of the bluff. Park staff have 
contacted experts for advice on clearing the trail, which will be 
closed indefinitely. [Eric Haugland, PR, SCBL, 10/11]

00-646 - Zion NP (UT) - Rescue

Four men between the ages of 30 and 50 entered Pine Creek Canyon on 
the afternoon of October 10th. It was rainy that day, with a 60% 
chance of thunderstorms. A short time after they entered the canyon 
and had made several rappels, a flash flood came down the drainage. 
The men were able to climb to safety on an eight-foot-high pinnacle. 
Their cries for help were heard and reported to park dispatch. Ten 
members of the park's SAR team were mobilized and were able to reach a 
point on the rim directly above and across the drainage from the 
stranded party. The four men were evacuated via a tag line from the 
pinnacle to the other side of the flooded creek; they were then helped 
to the rim and up another pitch until they reached a point where they 
could walk out. The leader of the party was subsequently issued a 
citation for creating a hazardous condition. [Kevin Killian, IC, ZION, 
10/11]

00-647 - Zion NP (UT) - Rescue

On October 11th, an air and ground search was begun for a four-person 
party that was overdue from an overnight trip through the Narrows. 
Rain caused the Virgin River to increase in flow from 50 to 250 cubic 
feet per second. A search helicopter located the party that afternoon 
in the Narrows section of the river's canyon near the exit of Mystery 
Canyon. Ground searchers contacted the party and escorted them out of 
the canyon. The foursome stayed on an isolated area of high ground 
within the canyon until the river flow dropped to a level that they 
could manage. [Cindy Purcell, IC, ZION, 10/11]

00-648 - North Cascades NP (WA) - Search 

On September 30th, C.Y.M., 48, of Vancouver, B.C., became 
separated from his companions while on a day hike near Hozomeen. He 
left the trail to obtain water at a nearby stream, but was unable to 
find it again. C.Y.M. then climbed what he described as a "small peak", 
built a bonfire, and spent the night. A search for him was begun the 
next day and concluded when C.Y.M. returned to Hozomeen after following 
a stream to that location. Ranger Margaret Goodro was the IC. [Hugh 
Dougher, DR, NOCA, 10/11]

00-649 - Cuyahoga Valley NRA (OH) - Attempted Suicide; Life Saved

Park dispatch received a call on October 8th from a local park, 
advising that a 17-year-old male driving a white Chevy Corsica had 
threatened suicide and might be headed to the Blue Hen Falls area. 
During the previous 24 hours, he had assaulted his mother, attempted 
to strangle his girlfriend, then attempted suicide by hanging. Park 
volunteers who had just finished hiking the Blue Hen Falls trail saw 
the man and vehicle in the parking lot there. Ranger Blane Dolges 
arrived on scene and kept an eye on the car until a Metroparks ranger 
arrived to assist. The two rangers then approached the vehicle, where 
they saw the man cutting his wrists. They pulled him from the car; 
ranger Richard Vasquez dressed and bandaged his wrists. He was then 
taken to a hospital and held for observation. Rangers recovered two 
knives and two razors from his person and the car. [Mosie Welch, DR, 
North District, CUVA, 10/10]

00-650 - Fire Island NS (NY) - Body Found

On the afternoon of October 3rd, a visitor saw what he thought was a 
body rolling in the surf four miles west of the Wilderness Visitor 
Center and notified resource management specialist Jim Ebert. Rangers 
responded to the area. The body was removed from the surf and left 
just below the high water mark. County homicide detectives, the 
medical examiner and crime scene investigators arrived and 
investigated. The victim was later identified as Joseph Glover, 
reported missing from a boating accident in Moriches Inlet about seven 
miles from the point where his body was found. Foul play is not 
suspected. [Jay Lippert, DR, West District, FIIS, 10/4]

CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No submissions.

INTERPRETATION AND VISITOR SERVICES

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Special Park Use Forms - The three special park use application 
forms - the general application (10-930), short filming application 
(10-931), and long filming application (10-932) - that were reviewed 
by the NLC and received Federal Register comments earlier this year 
have received final NPS and OMB approval and have gone into effect. 
The final forms are being distributed electronically and will not be 
available in hard copy. The forms have also been posted on the NPS 
internet web site for public use. The two filming forms have been made 
available to the film industry through their federal representatives. 
Electronic copies of the forms are available from your regional 
special park use coordinator. Questions should be addressed to Dick 
Young at 757-898-7846 or via cc:Mail at Dick S. Young and NP-COLO. 
[Dick Young, COLO]

Court Ruling - The U.S. District Court in Spokane has issued its 
ruling in Torrison v. Baker, a case in which a property owner 
adjoining Lake Roosevelt NRA sued the park over the removal of a 
private dock located on public lands and a portion of the deck that 
encroached on public land. The plaintiffs challenged the Service's 
authority to require the removal of these structures. The court ruled 
in favor of the NPS on both issues. The court concluded that the park 
is in fact a unit of the national park system and is to be managed 
accordingly, and that Congress has given the NPS the authority to 
manage units of the system. Specifically, the court concluded that "it 
follows that the Park Service does have the power to demand the 
removal of private structures that encroach upon Lake Roosevelt 
National Recreation Area." This is an important ruling, as it will 
likely clear up some of the questions about NPS authority that have 
existed since the park's early days. [Vaughn Baker, Superintendent, 
LARO]

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

INTERCHANGE

No submissions.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Washington Office (DC) - The National Park Service lost two very good 
friends over the past few days - former Representative Sidney Yates 
(D-IL) and Representative Bruce Vento (D-MN). 

Rep. Yates passed away on October 5th at the age of 91.  He was first 
elected to the House of Representatives in 1948 and served 24 terms 
before retiring last year.  During his service in Congress, Rep. Yates 
served as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Interior 
Appropriations.  In this position, the congressman worked hard to 
insure adequate funding for national parks and other public lands.  He 
also championed efforts to promote funding for the arts and humanities 
programs.  Rep. Yates is survived by his wife, Adeline, a son, 
Stephen, and three grandchildren. The Chicago Sun-Times had this to 
say about him: "From his perch as the Interior appropriations 
subcommittee chairman, Yates was a protector of museums, the arts and 
humanities as well as the national parks, forests and waterways, from 
the coasts to the Lake Michigan shoreline... Yates was a political 
Medici. He was a proud liberal, the last of the New Deal Democrats to 
prowl the House floor. He never deviated... Yates' legacy includes a 
lesson for politicians of all stripes. Convictions count."

Rep. Vento died on October 10th in St. Paul, Minnesota, at age 60.  He 
began his service in 1977 in the House of Representatives.  He had 
announced earlier this year that he would not run for reelection this 
fall.  Rep. Vento served as chairman of the House Subcommittee on 
National Parks and Public Lands from 1985 to 1995.  Vento, a vigorous 
protector of parks and the National Park Service, was always proud of 
being a high school science teacher.  He was also proud of his work 
for protecting parks and saving the wilderness of the Boundary Water 
Canoe Area in northern Minnesota.  He had great respect for the NPS 
and its employees, and great love of fishing and his family.  A 
memorial service will be held in St. Paul today.  Rep. Vento is 
survived by his second wife, Susan Lynch Vento, three sons from his 
first marriage, and four grandchildren. The St. Paul Pioneer Press ran 
an editorial on Rep. Vento on Wednesday: "Vento was a straightforward 
man...a talker and a fighter, a partisan and a patriot, a union man 
and sophisticated scientist...(As the) powerful chair of the Natural 
Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands for 
more than 10 years, Vento reached the peak of his national influence 
on the future of the country' s wild places. His work there resulted 
in protection of hundreds of thousands of acres of public land - 
ranging from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to the 
Minnesota National Wildlife Refuge - and the enactment of more than 
300 laws preserving the environment...Although Vento was a technical 
master of the art of lawmaking in such arcane specialties as banking 
reform, he remained deeply committed to the kind of public service 
where working for ordinary families' dreams and hopes was more than a 
biennial campaign slogan. It was a high calling, well-answered by 
Bruce Vento."

[Don Hellman, WASO, Heather Huyck, COLO, with excerpts from the cited 
newspapers]

                            *  *  *  *  *

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

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