NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

INCIDENTS

Blue Ridge Parkway

Searchers Find Body Of Missing Man

On the evening of January 2nd, rangers came upon a vehicle on the parkway that was associated with a 61-year-old man who'd been reported missing from the nearby town of Staunton. A search was begun for him, but was hampered by freezing rain and thick fog.

On the following morning, an interagency search was launched that included the park, the Augusta County Sheriff's Office and the Virginia State Police (including a VSP helicopter). A joint decision was subsequently made to hold off on further ground-based searches until extreme cold temperatures moved out of the area.

Twenty-six searchers and five dogs searched the area near the vehicle on January 9th. Late that morning, a body was discovered below the shoulder of the southbound lane of the parkway about a mile-and-a-half from the vehicle's location. Evidence at the scene suggested that he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

[Kurt W. Speers, Ridge District Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's InsideNPS. To see the full text, 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 Morning Report web page ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/):

United States Park Police - The Park Police recently installed a new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system in their dispatch center in Washington, DC. A second system is now online in the San Francisco Field Office.

Southeast Region - The winter storm that has brought ice, snow, strong winds and subfreezing temperatures to most of the Deep South has caused widespread closures throughout Southeast Region.

Congaree NP - Congaree National Park's Harry Hampton Visitor Center auditorium was packed with new citizens, friends, family and park staff for the park's first ever naturalization ceremony on Friday, January 24th.

Andersonville NHS - A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on January 17th for "Victory From Within: The American Prisoner of War Experience," a new traveling exhibit.

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The Morning Report is produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov).

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