NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

BLACKBERRY EDITION

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

===============================================================================================================

INCIDENTS

Gettysburg NMP

Significant Vandalism to Three Monuments

Around 7 a.m. on February 16th, the Adams County 911 center relayed a citizen report of vandalism to two monuments located along the Emmitsburg Road. Rangers and the park's monument preservation crew responded and found two monuments toppled over within a half mile stretch of the road. A sweep of other sections of the park led to the discovery that a third monument in the Devils Den area had also been pulled over. In each case, vandals had looped a rope or cable over the top of a monument and used a large vehicle to pull it off its base. The monuments involved included those for the 11th Massachusetts, the 114th Pennsylvania and the 4th New York regiments. The cost of repairs has been estimated to be in the $60,000 to $80,000 range. [Brion FitzGerald, Chief Ranger]

Everglades NP

Suicide Prevented

On Monday, February 13th, the park received a “be on the lookout” message for a man from Maine who'd told his family that he'd gone to south Florida to commit suicide. Within minutes of receipt of this message, rangers determined that the man in question may have been seen earlier in the day by a park research employee. A ranger responded and found the man where he'd last been seen at the park entrance. The man had two knives in his possession and told her that he still wanted to kill himself. She was able to engage him in conversation for an extended period of time, during which backup arrived from other districts and from Miami-Dade PD. The man was taken into custody without incident and transported to Miami-Dade for mental evaluation. [Bonnie Foist, Chief Ranger]

* * * * *

Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.

--- ### ---