NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

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INCIDENTS

Great Smoky Mountains NP

Newfound Gap Road Closed Due To Downed Trees

Newfound Gap Road was closed between Gatlinburg and Cherokee all day yesterday while park crews worked to clear an estimated 200 trees that were blown down overnight by high winds. Most of the trees fell within a mile of the state line just south of Newfound Gap in North Carolina. Crews worked until dark last night in an effort to get the road open by this morning. For current information on the road's status, the public can call 865-436-1200 and get an automated message that is updated promptly as conditions change. [Bob Miller, Management Assistant]

Glacier NP

Global Warming Awareness Demonstration

On the afternoon of Saturday, April 14th, members of the National Resource Defense Council exercised their First Amendment rights in a peaceful demonstration in the park. The group applied for and received a special use permit to assemble for the purpose of “global warming awareness” under the title of “Step it Up 2007.” Approximately 110 members of the group gathered in the town of West Glacier, entered the park, and marched two-and-a-half miles along the Going to the Sun Road to Apgar Village. The park managed the event under the incident command system, with ranger Brad Blickhan as the incident commander. Rangers and Glacier's special park use manager coordinated with event organizers and state and local law enforcement and emergency service providers. Rangers utilized proactive radar enforcement (radar signs and high visibility patrols) and traffic control while the group marched along the route safely and without incident. After a group photo along Lake McDonald, the group disbanded around 4:30 p.m. [Brad Blichan, Lake McDonald Area Ranger]

Vicksburg NMP

Kidnapping Convictions Upheld In Circuit Court

A Texas man's conviction for his role in the kidnapping of two teenagers from the park in 2005 has been upheld by a federal appeals court. On April 10th, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of R.S., who was one of two people sentenced in the case. R.S., then a resident of Coolidge, Texas, was sentenced in 2006 to 20 years in prison on one count of kidnapping and 12 years and five months on one count of carjacking. A.T. of Florence, South Carolina, received a nine-year sentence on the same two charges. A.T. was tried separately and was convicted. She was not a party to Tuesday's appeal. The pair also was ordered to pay $4,873 in restitution for damages to the victim's car during the kidnapping. According to the court record, R.S. and A.T. were staying in a hotel near the Mississippi River when, on May 1, 2005, they walked to the Louisiana Circle overlook and forced S.G. and H.P. at knifepoint to drive away with them. Authorities said the teenagers were eating breakfast in a car on a Sunday before going to church. They were reported missing by their families later in the day. H.P.'s Dodge Neon was driven to South Carolina, where it was involved in an accident on Interstate 26 near Laurens. There, S.G. freed himself and told a state trooper who had responded to the accident that he and H.P. were captives, according to the court record. A.T. and R.S. were arrested at the scene. The 5th Circuit dismissed R.S.'s arguments that the lower court erred in allowing evidence of carjacking and robbery to be used to convict him of kidnapping. "The evidence was part of a single criminal episode, and therefore was intrinsic to the kidnapping charge," the court said. "Additionally, because kidnapping and carjacking have distinctive elements, there is no double jeopardy violation." The 5th Circuit rejected R.S.'s claim that the Mississippi court should have disallowed the statements S.G. and H.P. made to emergency personnel after the South Carolina accident. "The statements, however, were made immediately after the car accident, while the teenagers were still in R.S.'s clutches; they were plainly admissible as excited utterances," the court said. An "excited utterance" is exempt from the normal rule against hearsay evidence. The courts have defined an excited utterance as statements made by someone "under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition" and are trustworthy because the speaker would have no time to make up a lie. Click on “More Information” below to see the original incident report. [Associated Press]

HYPERLINK "http://classicinside.nps.gov/headline.cfm?type=Incidents&id=1886" http://classicinside.nps.gov/headline.cfm?type=Incidents&id=1886

OTHER NEWS

The following stories can be read on either the InsideNPS web site (if you are within the National Park Service) or at the InsideNPS public ‘news digest' site (if you are outside of the NPS). The web sites appear below:

Home of FDR NHS - The park has acquired an important 334-acre tract of land that once constituted the heart of President Roosevelt's estate and was the site of several tree plantations that he himself developed.

San Juan NHS - On March 27th, the park removed historic iron and bronze cannons that date back to between the 16th and 19th centuries from Castillo San Crist—bal as part of a cannon conservation project.

Denali NP - The portion of the road between the Savage River (Mile 15) and the Teklanika River Rest Area at Mile 30 opened for travel by private vehicles on Sunday, April 15th.

PWRO - In early March, the Student Conservation Association presented Regional Director Jon Jarvis with one of its awards for "active conservation leadership and in the spirit of enduring partnership."

To see the above articles, go to InsideNPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/) or NPS Digest ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/). For NPS incident reporting standards, go to HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Edited by Bill Halainen ( Bill_Halainen@nps.gov, 570-426-2430).

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