NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

INCIDENTS

Yellowstone NP

Yellowstone Employee Fatally Shot At Home Outside Park

On the afternoon of March 27th, park dispatch received a 911 call from park employee Debi Roberts, 59, reporting that an ex-boyfriend was trying to break into her house in Gardiner, located outside the park, and that he had a gun.

Yellowstone rangers were closest to the scene and responded under the terms of an MOU with the Park County Sheriff's Office. Deputies from the sheriff's office also responded, but were miles out of position.

Minutes later, another 911 call came from one of Roberts' neighbors reporting that she had been shot and was bleeding and unconscious but breathing. The caller reported that the shooter might still be in the house and that he may have also been shot.  

Yellowstone rangers were first to arrive on scene and confirmed that the shooter was in a bedroom in Roberts' house and appeared to be dead. They secured the scene and began providing ALS care to Roberts, but she did not survive.  

When county deputies arrived, they took over the scene and the investigation. The initial investigation indicates a murder-suicide committed by Steve Cole, 63.  

Debi Roberts was a long-term maintenance employee in the Mammoth area of Yellowstone.   

Services will be held today at 6 p.m. at the Gardiner High School gymnasium. A reception will be held in the Gardiner Community Center after the service.  All are invited to attend.

[Bonnie Schwartz, Deputy Chief Ranger]

Curecanti NRA

Dive Team Assists In Recovery Of Plane Crash Victims

On the afternoon of March 22nd, a single-engine Socata TBM700 carrying five passengers crashed into Ridgway Reservoir just north of Ridgway, Colorado. The Ouray County Sheriff's Office and Colorado Parks and Wildlife requested assistance from Curecanti's dive team in reaching the plane.

The dive team responded the next day along with employees of the NPS Submerged Resources Center.  Using the expertise and specialized equipment ( HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VideoRay_UROVs" VideoRay ROV, Klein HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidescan_sonar" side-scan sonar) of the SRC dive team, the NPS was able to evaluate the wreckage and create a scaled map of the aircraft, debris field and shoreline. 

This assistance proved instrumental to the recovery efforts and the plane was salvaged on Thursday, March 27th, with all five victims still onboard. 

Curecanti dive team members stayed on scene; their boat served as a safety vessel during the recovery operation and they assisted the Colorado State Patrol with hazardous material cleanup after the recovery.        

[Melissa Post, Park Ranger/Park Dive Officer]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers):

Office of Relevancy, Diversity and Inclusion - The Office of Relevancy, Diversity, and Inclusion and the Office of Communications are joining together to create a video that honors the voices of all our employees - what we think of as the real or invisible NPS. Your participation is solicited.

Office of Communications - The NPS and the American Architectural Foundation have announced a new partnership to promote Save America's Treasures, a grant program that preserves nationally significant historic properties and collections for future generations of Americans.

National Capital Parks East - Four NPS sites dedicated to the legacy of American women teamed up to produce a month-long program series for Women's History Month 2014.

Everglades NP - After ten years of outstanding leadership Dan Kimball, superintendent of Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks, is hanging up his flat hat and heading to Arizona. 

Bandelier NM - Bandelier National Monument, the Los Alamos Historical Society, the Pajarito Environmental Education Center, and more than 150 members of the community of Los Alamos held a "Celebration of Life" for Dorothy Hoard in the park last Tuesday.

To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites:

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

Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/

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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