NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, February 24, 2011

INCIDENTS

Colonial NHP

Woman Dies In Apparent Suicide From Bridge

Rangers responded to a 911 call reporting a person falling off a bridge over the Colonial Parkway just after 10 a.m. on Tuesday. When they arrived at the scene, located where the Merrimac Trail crosses the parkway, they found an injured 67-year-old woman and began administering CPR. Williamsburg FD paramedics arrived shortly thereafter and pronounced her dead. Williamsburg PD officers are handling the investigation and the death appears to be a suicide. The final disposition of the death investigation is pending the results of the medical examiner's report. A portion of the parkway was closed temporarily during the investigation. A critical incident stress management counselor was in the park at the time of the incident to assist employees who were involved with a fatal vehicle crash on the Colonial Parkway three days earlier. [James M. Perry, Public Affairs Officer]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/):

National Park of American Samoa - The National Park of American Samoa has released four postcards that illustrate the beauty of American Samoa and the national park's significance. The postcard images include Samoan culture, fruit bats, coral, fish, and Pola Island.

Hawaii Volcanoes NP - The park dedicated its new Visitor Emergency Operations Center last Friday. The $5.8 million structure is home base for nearly 25 staff, including law enforcement and eruption duty rangers, fire managers, and dispatchers for the 24-hour Pacific Area Communication Center. Photo.

Blue Ridge Parkway - Susan Gonshor has been selected as the chief of interpretation and education for Blue Ridge Parkway, where she will manage a complex program that serves over 16 million visitors each year. Photo.

Office of Communications - Jo A. Pendry, chief of commercial services for the National Park Service, will move to a new position as special assistant to Associate Director for Business Services Kate Stevenson. Photo.

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of Communications and 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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