NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Monday, March 22, 2010

INCIDENTS

Lava Beds NM

Convicted Felon With Firearm And Ballistic Vest Arrested In Park

On the morning of March 11th, two park maintenance employees reported a suspicious man hiding in the woods and pointing a gun at them as they drove past on Medicine Lake Road. The man's vehicle was parked on the side of the road with the driver's side door and trunk wide open. Rangers Terry Harris and Travis Hall responded and passed a Honda Civic matching the description of the suspect vehicle. The rangers turned around and pursued. Before they could catch up, the driver had completed a U-turn and was heading back towards them. He came to a quick stop directly in front of the rangers' vehicle, but refused to comply with the rangers' subsequent commands. He then began a sequence of vehicle maneuvers which resulted in an armed standoff. When he was finally taken into custody, he was found to have a loaded pistol holstered on his waist belt, with 30 additional rounds of ammo around his waist, and to be wearing a ballistic vest. While on scene, the rangers were informed by local law enforcement and the DEA that the man was currently under investigation for threats he made against officers and federal agents via the internet and that he was believed to be capable of carrying out his threats. The man was transported to a Tulelake PD holding cell to sort out further details with the DEA and ATF agents. While being held, he was able to make his escape by using a Bible and jamming it into the cell door. Hall saw him bolt from the cell and into a locked storage room. A Tulelake officer, a Siskiyou County deputy and Hall gained entry into the room and had a brief struggle with the man. Hall employed three drive stuns to get the man under control and back into his cell. On the afternoon of March 11th, the man was transported by state officers from Tulelake to Sacramento, California. The transport time was approximately five hours. When they arrived in Sacramento, the state officers discovered that the man was on the verge of destroying and nearly escaping from the ASP cuffs that had been used during transport. On the following day, the DEA, ATF, and Tulelake PD conducted a search of the man's home and recovered several handguns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, another ballistic vest, several marijuana plants, and a computer. The man is a convicted felon and is being held in Sacramento on multiple charges. Many agencies continue to be involved in the case, including the National Park Service, DEA, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Tulelake PD, the Siskiyou County Sherriff's Office, and the US Attorney's Office. This story has received local and national media attention due to the severe threats made against local and federal agents. [Travis Hall, Lead Park Ranger]

Great Smoky Mountains NP

Contractors Work To Remove Slide On Little River Road

A construction company has been hired to repair last Thursday's rockslide, which is currently blocking the west end of Little River Road. Heavy equipment began arriving on Thursday night and crews started work early on Friday. They plan to work from first light to sunset each day until the work is completed. Once the material at the base of the slide is cleared away, a crane will be brought in which will be used to scrape away at the material still clinging to the face of the slide to bring down any rocks that are likely to come down later. When the contractor has brought down all the loose material, park managers and a geotechnical engineering consultant will inspect the site to be sure it is safe to reopen the road. The park expected the road to be ready to reopen by Sunday evening, unless complications showed up that required installation of rock bolts to stabilize the rock face. [Bob Miller, Management Assistant]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS:

Department of the Interior - Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969, died on Saturday, March 20th. He was 90. Secretary Salazar has paid tribute to him as a "pioneer and visionary in protecting America's natural resources and cultural heritage."

Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services - NPS special agent Susan Morton, a National Park Service employee since 1984, died at her home in Tucson, Arizona on Thursday, March 18th. Photo.

Alaska Region - Jeff Bennett, a GIS specialist in the Alaska Regional Office, was found dead on Sunday, March 14th, in the wreckage of his Antares MA-32 ultralight aircraft near Anchorage.

Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs - This week's update on past and upcoming hearings and the status of legislation pertinent to the National Park Service.

To see these and other stories posted on InsideNPS (or NPS Digest, its public version), click on one or the other of the following links (please note that not all stories in the former appear in the latter):

NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index

Non-NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/

NPS serious incident submission standards can be found at the following web site: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/notify" http://inside.nps.gov/notify

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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