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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Monday, August 28, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS South Florida Parks Preparations Begin For Hurricane Ernesto Due to the possible imminent arrival of Hurricane Ernesto, both Dry Tortugas and Everglades began putting their hurricane plans into effect yesterday. The storm is expected to threaten the Florida coast on early Tuesday. Dry Tortugas completed preparations and closed to the public at 3 p.m. on Sunday. All licensed commercial transport to the park, including ferry boats and seaplane services, has been suspended until the park reopens. Everglades closed to boaters at midnight on Sunday and closed fully to all visitors at 6 a.m. this morning. Park staff hope to complete all preparations by close of business this afternoon. Both parks will remain closed until the threat has passed. [Larry Perez, Incident Information Officer] Grand Canyon NP River Permit Fraud Conspiracy Conviction On August 14th, S.S., 61, of Diamond Bar, California, pled guilty to three counts of conspiring to fraudulently obtain noncommercial river permits through Grand Canyon National Park. S.S. was using the identities of deceased or fictitious people to obtain permits. As a result of the plea agreement, S.S. was sentenced to 30 days in jail, placed on probation for five years (during which he is banned from all National Park Service areas), and ordered to pay $15,000 to the Grand Canyon Search and Rescue Fund. “We are pleased with the outcome of this case and feel it reflects the serious nature of the offense committed,” said superintendent Joseph Alston. “In this case, S.S. put his personal interests in front of thousands of others who have waited years for the opportunity for a river trip. We hope this sentence serves as a deterrent to others who have tried to abuse the system.” The plea agreement stemmed from a two-year-long investigation that included rangers from Grand Canyon, investigators from Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon, and personnel from the Grand Canyon permits office. A second defendant and co-conspirator will be tried in November. [Michael McGinnis, River District Ranger] Grand Canyon NP Skeletal Remains Found, Identified Skeletal remains found in a drainage below the South Rim earlier this month have been identified as those of R.R., a 46-year-old Phoenix man who has been missing since September, 2005. The remains were identified by a forensic odontologist. R.R. was staying at Mather Campground on the South Rim when he disappeared. A large scale search was conducted that included areas around Mather Campground, areas adjacent to the campground, and along the Rim, Bright Angel, South Kaibab, Hermit and Tonto trails. Aircraft, search dogs and technical search teams covered all areas where they believed that R.R. might have hiked. R.R.'s remains were found by a backcountry ranger during a routine patrol earlier this month. They were recovered last week and taken to the county medical examiner's office for identification. No determination has yet been made regarding the cause of death. An investigation is underway. [Maureen Oltrogge, Public Affairs Officer] Big Thicket NP Rangers Recover Body of Drowning Victim On the morning of Sunday, August 13th, rangers recovered the body of a 58-year-old man who'd drowned in the Neches River. On Saturday evening, the man had been reported overdue from a fishing trip on either the Angelina or Neches Rivers. Agents from Texas Parks and Wildlife and a Big Thicket ranger conducted a hasty search that night of the nearby public boat ramps on both rivers, but did not find the man's vehicle. On Sunday morning, his truck was located at a private boat ramp just downstream of Dam B on the Neches River. The NPS took the lead in organizing and conducting a boat search of the river. Rangers Mike Hughes and Keith Flanery located and recovered the body from a recirculating pool just below the dam spillway. They transported the body to the Tyler County side of the river and turned it over to the Tyler County Sheriff's Department, which handled the death investigation. The Corp of Engineers maintains jurisdiction on the river for about 250 yards below the dam - beyond that, the river falls within the jurisdiction of Big Thicket. The Corps shutdown the dam's spillway, making it possible for rangers to find the sunken boat on the river bottom immediately below the spillway. The boat was hooked, pulled to the surface and towed to shore. [Keith Flanery, District Ranger] OTHER NEWS Other news of interest from today's edition of InsideNPS, which can be found at this address if your inside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/) and at this address if you're outside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/). Note that not all articles that appear in the former make it into the latter: Servicewide - Lead story on the launching of the National Park Centennial Challenge. Servicewide - NY Times editorial on the importance of preserving the national parks. * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |