NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Monday, March 5, 2001

                            *** NOTICE ***

Reports on winter storm impacts from parks in the Southeast, 
Mid-Atlantic and Northeast would be appreciated for incident summaries 
which will appear this week in the Morning Report. Ditto for parks in 
California and along the West Coast that are currently being struck by 
the strong Pacific Ocean storm.

INCIDENTS

01-072 - Grand Canyon NP (AZ) - Falling Fatality

On the evening of February 20th, South Rim District rangers received a 
report that a person might have fallen from the Rim Trail just at 
sunset. Several park visitors reported seeing a distinctively dressed 
woman standing at the edge of the canyon near Grandeur Point; when 
they returned approximately ten minutes later, all they found at the 
spot was a shoe and a pair of glasses. Although darkness had fallen 
and high winds were blowing, a hasty search was begun and a climbing 
team rappelled over the edge to check the ledges below. They were not 
able to determine a final point of rest, but found a number of impact 
points. The woman's body was located from the air the next morning at 
a spot about 400 feet below the point where she'd last been seen. 
Rangers were short-hauled to the site to confirm the fatality and 
coordinate the removal. Investigators have now confirmed the victim's 
identity as S.E., 18, from Ontario, California. Because 
this was an unwitnessed event, an investigation is being conducted to 
determine the cause of her fall. Ranger Leslie Carter was the incident 
commander and SA Joe Sumner is coordinating the investigation.  
[Patrick Hattaway, DR, South Rim District, GRCA, 3/1]

01-073 - Haleakala NP (HI) - Multiple SAR's

Kipahulu District rangers Jon Liakos and Roger Mayo were involved in a 
number of search and rescue operations during the weekend of February 
16th. On Friday night, police dispatchers reported a lost hiker. The 
man had gone hiking after dark without a flashlight, but had a cell 
phone with him. He called 911 around 8 p.m. to report that he was lost 
and that he had been using the flash on his camera to illuminate his 
way down the trail until the flash ran out. The two rangers found the 
man and a woman in a pasture, where they had stopped walking for fear 
of going over one of the cliffs in the area. Although unharmed, they 
missed their flight at an airport two-and-a-half hours away due to 
their calculation that they could drive out to the park, take a 
four-mile hike to the furthest waterfall, and still get back in time 
for a 9 p.m. departure. On Saturday, an emotionally disturbed 
17-year-old girl jumped off a cliff into a pool in Palikea Stream 
against the advice of her companions. She didn't clear the cliff and 
hit the back of her head on lava rocks, then landed in the water. When 
she came to the surface, she was convulsing. Cooperating association 
sales clerk Walter Pu called for an ambulance, took the girl's vital 
signs, and stabilized her until Liakos and Mayo could arrive. She was 
taken to Hana Medical Center, then flown to a hospital on Kahului. 
She's expected to fully recover from her injury. On Sunday night, Mayo 
received a report that a dozen Japanese nationals were overdue from a 
multi-day hike in the Haleakala wilderness area. He and Liakos 
conducted a hasty search of the Kaupo area, but learned around 8 a.m. 
that the group had left the area. [Mark Tanaka-Sanders, DR, Kipahulu 
District, HALE, 2/23]

01-074 - Martin Luther King, Jr. NHS (GA) - Fleeing Felon; Breaking    
         and Entering

On the morning of February 24th, Atlanta police attempted to stop a 
vehicle along the park's boundary for a minor traffic violation. The 
driver jumped from the vehicle and fled on foot into the park; the 
vehicle continued rolling and hit a pole. The man climbed a couple of 
fences and eventually trapped himself into a small area behind the 
historic Ebenezer Baptist Church. He then broke a window with his fist 
and entered the church, setting off alarms. A plastic gun was found in 
his vehicle, and it was unclear whether or not he was still armed. 
Rangers and city police set up a perimeter while city SWAT units 
entered the building and arrested him in the sanctuary. He was injured 
by broken glass from the window and had injured his leg when he fell 
through a ceiling in an attempt to hide in one of the church's bell 
towers. The church was reopened to visitors at 1 p.m. [Dan Albus, PR, 
MALU, 2/26]

01-075 - National Capital Parks (DC) - MVA with Fatality

A vehicle heading southbound on East Basin Drive at the Route 395 ramp 
adjacent to the Jefferson Memorial at 2:15 a.m. on February 23rd went 
off the road into the grass median, then struck a utility pole and 
came to rest on its roof. The operator and sole occupant, a 
22-year-old man from Chevy Chase, Maryland, was pronounced dead at the 
scene. USPP detectives are investigating. [Sgt. R. MacLean, USPP, NCR, 
2/26]

                    [Additional reports pending....]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Plan

No new information. Please check the NPS Fire Management Program 
Center web page (www.fire.nps.gov) for further information on fire 
plan projects.

Park Fires

No fires reported.

CULTURAL/NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No submissions.

INTERPRETATION AND VISITOR SERVICES

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No submissions.

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

INTERCHANGE

No submissions.

PARKS AND PEOPLE

Voyageurs NP (MN) - Rainy Lakes district ranger Dennis Kaleta retired 
on March 1st after 22 years of service in the NPS. He began his career 
as a fire control aid at Yellowstone NP in 1977. After seven seasons 
there, he moved on to Independence NHP, then worked successively at 
Acadia NP, Shenandoah NP, St. Croix NSR, Wrangell-St. Elias NP&P, 
Glacier Bay NP&P and Voyageurs NP. He and his wife, Ann, will make 
their home near Two Harbors. Their address: PO Box 312, Two Harbors, 
MN 55616. [VOYA]

                            *  *  *  *  *

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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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