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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Wednesday, June 4, 2014 INCIDENTS Indiana Dunes NL Court Confirms Park Jurisdiction In PWC Use Case In March of 2012, Ranger Frank Quinto saw a man, later identified as R.C., 57, of Dune Acres, Indidana, riding a personal watercraft (PWC) along the Lake Michigan shoreline inside the boundary of the park. Knowing he was spotted and that PWCs are prohibited within the park, R.C. anchored near the beach and left the area. As darkness fell that day, he returned to the public beach near the town of Dune Acres with an all-terrain utility vehicle and loaded the watercraft onto a trailer. When contacted by Quinto, R.C. said that he received permission to operate the PWC and drive on the beach from the chief ranger and superintendent, an assertion that was refuted when the chief ranger arrived on scene a minute later. R.C. received violation notices for the operation of the PWC as well as launching/recovering a watercraft in an unauthorized location and driving off of the road. In June of 2012, R.C. appeared in federal district court and pled not guilty to all charges. R.C., a longstanding proponent of PWC use in the lakeshore, entered into a series of delaying tactics to prolong the case until July of 2013, when a bench trial was held. During that trial, R.C.'s attorney moved for dismissal of the charges based upon his opinion that the National Park Service does not have jurisdiction on the beaches within the park. In answering the motion for dismissal, the U.S. Attorney's Office responded with citations of case law going back for nearly 75 years that supported the United States' authority to regulate the use of lands and waters within the boundaries of national parks. In January of 2014, a federal judge found that the National Park Service does have jurisdiction over the beach within the boundary of the park and found R.C. guilty on all three counts. He was sentenced to fines totaling $275. This case serves as an important event in the history of the park. Since the establishment of the national lakeshore, local resident have long argued that the park does not have legal jurisdiction along Lake Michigan and have regularly threatened civil suits to assert private property rights over public lands. This was the first case that actually tested that opinion and confirmed that the NPS has the authority to regulate activities taking place within park boundaries along Lake Michigan. [Mike Bremer, Chief Ranger] New River Gorge NR Woman Jumps To Her Death From New River Gorge Bridge Early last Saturday morning, Fayette County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a report of a vehicle parked on the New River Gorge Bridge. As they approached the vehicle, a woman leaped from the 876-foot-high bridge. Rangers were notified and began search operations. Search teams working their way along the river banks located the woman's body in the river within an hour. She was extricated from the water and taken by NPS patrol boat to the Fayette Station boat launch. The NPS and Fayette County Sheriff's office are investigating the incident. INCLUDEPICTURE "https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" \* MERGEFORMATINET [Jeff West, Chief Ranger] 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 Communications - Director Jarvis will hold a webchat today from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern. This webchat will focus on the employee viewpoint survey and what's being done to address the results. Office of Communications - Director Jarvis has added a new blog post entry about the recently-announced LGBT theme study. A link is included. Youth Programs Division - A national YCC field assessment is being conducted to help the NPS assess progress towards meeting program goals and identify key areas for improvement. Responses are due by July 2nd. Washington Office - The 2013 Green Parks performance brief, which reports on the National Park Service's progress in meeting the Green Parks Plan, is now out. A link is provided. Intermountain Region - Mark Foust, a 26 year veteran of the National Park Service, has been named superintendent of Dinosaur National Monument in northeastern Utah and northwestern Colorado. Carlsbad Caverns NP - David Kayser, the park's cultural resource leader and museum curator, is retiring after a 30-year career with the National Park Service. 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). --- ### --- |