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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Monday, May 15, 2006 =============================================================================================================== NOTICE The White House Flags Ordered to Half-Staff By order of President Bush and in accord with Public Law 103-322, all United States flags are to be flown at half staff today (Monday, May 15th) in honor of Peace Officers Memorial Day. The flag is to be returned to full staff on Tuesday. INCIDENTS Scotts Bluff NM Major Rock Slide Closes Park Trail A major rock slide covered a portion of the Saddle Rock trail some time during the night of May 10th. The slide occurred between Scotts Spring and the tunnel. This area has seen several rock slides over the past twelve years, with three of these slides each closing the trail for several days. The trail remains open from the visitor center to Scotts Spring and from the summit parking lot to the foot tunnel. The cleanup operations will begin on Monday, May 22nd, and is expected to takes several days. About a thousand cubic yards of material currently covers the trail. [Robert Manasek, Resource Management Specialist] Colonial NHP Follow-up on Fatal Accident The park received a report of a vehicle in Jones Mill Pond off the Colonial Parkway at 6:30 a.m. on May 11th. Rangers, York County deputies, and York County fire and EMS personnel responded. A 1985 Nissan station wagon was found upside down in about five to six feet of water. The driver and sole occupant - a 44-year-old man from Newport News - was found inside and had died prior to the arrival of emergency personnel. The parkway was closed for about three hours while rangers investigated the accident and the body and vehicle were removed. Initial investigation by the rangers revealed that he'd been heading westbound on the parkway when he failed to negotiate a gradual curve and drove directly into the pond without making any attempt to brake or maneuver. The medical examiner will be performing an autopsy to determine the cause of death and whether or not either drugs or alcohol were involved. [Tom Nash, Chief Ranger] Lake Mead NRA Two Drownings Reported Over Weekend Two drownings occurred in the park this past weekend - the first on Friday afternoon, the second on Saturday evening. The first incident was reported just after 5 p.m. on Friday. A visitor notified park dispatch that a 39-year-old man had been swimming off a houseboat north of Echo Bay on the Arizona side of the lake when he went underwater and failed to resurface. The missing swimmer was part of a group of about 30 visitors from California on three houseboats. Rangers were on scene within a half hour and began dive operations in an effort to find his body; at the time of the report, the search was still underway. On Saturday evening, dispatch received another call reporting a possible drowning, this time a 16-year-old man from North Las Vegas. Rangers were told that he and a friend went swimming from the Government Wash area on the Nevada side of the lake out towards an island. The boy began having difficulty and called for help. Two other young men in the party swam out to him, but were unable to keep him from disappearing beneath the surface. Rangers searched the area for several hours on Saturday night, but were unable to find him. The park's dive team is searching for his body. [Roxanne Dey, Public Affairs Specialist] OTHER NEWS H5N1 Pandemic Influenza Preparation and Response Plan released: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4449" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4449 * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |