NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, August 16, 2012

INCIDENTS

Yellowstone NP

Former Employee Sentenced For Embezzlement

On August 9th, D.N., a former Yellowstone National Park employee, was sentenced to one year probation, fined $1,200, and ordered to pay $7,429 in restitution for embezzlement of government money. An investigation by the National Park Service's Investigative Services Branch revealed that D.N. stole money from Yellowstone's fee collection program in 2007. D.N. worked in the park finance office from 2003 until 2007. [Investigative Services Branch]

Blue Ridge Parkway

Trail Runner Finds Body Of Suicide Victim

On Monday afternoon, rangers were notified of a possible suicide along the park's Mountains to Sea Trail. A trail runner found the man a few feet off the trail and asked a passing motorist to call authorities. Rangers and officers from the Buncombe County Sheriff Department found a 52-year-old Asheville man with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. His vehicle was parked at a roadside pullout that accesses the Mountains to Sea Trail. The man left a note with instructions for his family, plus a last will and testament that he had prepared. Although the family mentioned he had bouts with depression and was taking medication, he had never exhibited or mentioned any suicidal tendencies. [Tim Francis, Pisgah District Ranger]

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/):

Great Smoky Mountains NP - Great Smoky Mountains National Park recently held a special day camp, called “Happy Trails,” aimed at providing educational and recreational activities for people with special needs from surrounding communities.

Organ Pipe Cactus NM - More of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is now open to the public than is closed, an important milestone in the challenging borderlands environment of the past decade. The change in zoning, returning over 62,000 acres to “open” status, was based on an interagency risk assessment conducted last month.

Park Facility Management Division - The Climate Friendly Parks Program welcomes four National Capital Region parks into the program -- C&O Canal National Historical Park, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Prince William Forest Park and Rock Creek Park. 

* * * *

The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced with the support of the Office of the Assistant Director for Information Resources and the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

--- ### ---