NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT


To:         All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:       Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:   Wednesday, April 18, 2001

INCIDENTS

01-056 - Cape Hatteras NS (NC) - Theft Arrest

On Thursday, April 12th, several windsurfers in the Buxton area 
reported thefts of windsurfing equipment. That afternoon, one of the 
victims saw 20-year-old S.S. of Charleston, South Carolina, 
windsurfing on equipment that had been stolen earlier in the day and 
reported his sighting to rangers and Dare County deputies. Ranger Mark 
White, acting on the victim's description of S.S., tracked him to the 
Haulover area of Cape Hatteras at about 4:30 p.m.  There he arrested 
S.S. and recovered approximately $3,000 worth of stolen equipment. 
S.S. currently faces state charges of felony breaking and entering, 
felony larceny, and felony possession of stolen property, and federal 
charges of felony possession of stolen property and felony possession 
of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.  [CRO, CAHA, 4/16]

01-057 - North Cascades NP (WA) - Assist; Body Recovery

At the request of the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office, district ranger 
Hugh Dougher and trails worker Artie Olson flew to the 10,300-foot 
level of Mount Baker on April 11th and employed mountain rescue skills 
to recover the body of 24-year-old F.H. F.H. and a companion 
disappeared while climbing the 10,578-foot volcano two weeks ago. No 
signs of F.H.'s companion have yet been found. The mountain is located 
just west of the park. [Pete Cowan, CR, NOCA, 4/12]

01-058 - Kennesaw Mountain NBP (GA) - Suicide

On the morning of April 3rd, the park was notified that a body had 
been found hanging from a tree in the park near Cheatham Hill. The 
victim was identified as a 22-year-old man from Acworth, Georgia. 
Investigators learned that he suffered from severe depression and that 
he'd called his parents the night before and told them that he was 
going to kill himself. As an April Fool's joke, his girlfriend and 
best friend had told him that they were dating; even though they later 
told him it was just a joke, he took it seriously. His car had been 
found in the park late the previous night, but searchers were unable 
to find him due to inclement weather. It appears that he committed 
suicide around midnight. The park and Cobb PD are continuing their 
investigation. [Lloyd Morris, CR, KEMO, 4/12]

01-059 - Natchez Trace Parkway (MS/AL/TN) - Probable Suicide

Ridgeland DR Charles Cuvelier came upon a man slumped over the wheel 
of a parked vehicle at the Reservoir Overlook just past 6:30 p.m. on 
April 11th. Cuvelier checked and found that the man was dead. There 
was no weapon in the vehicle and the man had no wounds, but Cuvelier 
found a bottle of pills and a suicide note. The cause of death remains 
under investigation. [Jackie Henman, ACR, NATR, 4/13]

                   [Additional reports pending....]

FIRE MANAGEMENT

National Fire Plan

The ten-year comprehensive strategy core team will reconvene Thursday 
and Friday in Denver to complete its work. Members of the core team 
include representatives from the states and the five federal fire 
management agencies. Bill Pierce of the National Park Service will 
represent the Department of the Interior.  The final document is 
scheduled for submittal to Congress on May 1st.    

Status of NPS hires for fire jobs, as of April 12th: Temporary 
positions - 739 total, 262 hired to date; career/seasonal positions - 
235 total, 153 hired to date; permanent positions - 416 total, 232 
hired to date. That works out to 647 hired to date out of a total of 
1,390 positions (47%).

Park Fires

No fires reported.

Park Fire Danger

Very High       Hawaii Volcanoes NP
High            Everglades NP

[Debee Schwarz, NPS Fire Information, WASO; NPS Situation Summary 
Report, 4/17]

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Court Decision - On December 15, 2000, the United States Court of 
Appeals for the Federal Circuit  held that federal law enforcement 
officers who have vested under 5 USC 8337(a) (which is five years) and 
subsequently become disabled are entitled to a retirement computation 
under 5 U.S.C. 8337(d)(1) that takes into account their enhanced law 
enforcement retirement status (6c) . If the computation under section 
8337(d)(1) is higher than the general disability computation under 
section 8339(g), then the law enforcement officer receives the higher 
of the two. This holding reverses an Office of Personnel Management 
policy that limited federal law enforcement officers to the lower 
disability computation in spite of their enhanced law enforcement 
retirement status.  Pitsker v. OPM., 234 F.3d 1378 (Fed. Cir. 2000).  
[Don Usher, FLETC]

Address Change - The email address for the NPS office at FLETC has 
changed. Instead of sending email to WASO FLETC, please direct your 
messages to Wiley Golden/WASO/NPS. [NPS/FLETC]

ADDITIONAL SECTIONS

Regular sections not appearing today but available at all times for 
submissions:

Natural/Cultural Resource Management - Significant developments in 
these fields.
Interpretation/Visitor Services - Significant developments in these 
fields.
Memoranda - Memoranda from WASO to the field on all operational 
matters.
Interchange - Requests or offers from any park or office for 
materials, information or any other operational needs.
Parks and People - Reports on people (job openings, retirements, etc.) 
and parks (significant happenings of any kind).
Hot Links - Web addresses for NPS-related sites.
Film at 11 - Reports on current or upcoming print or electronic media 
stories on the NPS.

                            *  *  *  *  *

Distribution of the Morning Report is through a mailing list managed 
by park, office and/or regional cc:Mail hub coordinators.  Please 
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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