Day/date: October 29, 1987




                                 FIELD INCIDENT REPORT

Incident type: Fatality
Log number: 87-256
Date/time of incident: 10/28, 10am   Date/time received: 10/29, 9am
Park: Virgin Islands     Location:  Hawk's Nest Bay
Reported by: Dick Maeter, Supt. (through Don Russell, SERO)
Received by: Melissa Warner, WASO

Summary:
J.P. was a passenger on a cruise ship which had arrived in St. John's.
He joined several other tourists who had rented a sailboat. The group
anchored the sailboat and decided to swim ashore. J.P. was the last one to
get into the water. One of the other swimmers looked back and saw that J.P.
was making no progress. The swimmer returned and found J.P. floating
face down in the water wearing a lifejacket. The swimmer pulled J.P. to
shore and another started CPR. Authorities were notified and transported
J.P. to St. John's Clinic where he was pronounced dead. His wife, daughter,
and grandson were passengers on the cruise ship.

Persons involved:
Name                                 Address             DOB or age
J.P.                               Beach Rest, NY            83



Executive News Svc.

10/23 0319  Rushmore-Greenpeace

MOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMORIAL, S.D. (AP) -- Misdemeanor charges for
illegally climbing Mount Rushmore were filed against five men who tried to hang
a giant banner from the monument to protest acid rain.

"It is a violation of federal law and we aren't going to be having people use
Mount Rushmore as an advertising billboard up here for their own personal
views," Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Mandel said Thursday.

The men were affiliated with the environmental group Greenpeace.

The 160-foot by 50-foot white banner said "We the people say no to acid rain"
in blue letters and the name Greenpeace in green letters. Authorities arrested
the climbers before the two-section banner could be put in place on the granite
carvings.

The men appeared late Thursday afternoon before U.S. District Judge Richard
Battey in Rapid City. Four were charged with illegally climbing Mount Rushmore;
the fifth was charged with aiding and abetting in the illegal climbing of Mount
Rushmore, said Mandel.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $500 fine.

Mandel said it was too early to say if charges might be filed against others.

"It's certainly not impossible, but I have yet to see a report on this, it's
something we had to deal with on short order today so we dealt with those who
were obviously involved," Mandel said.

Battey set bond at #1,000 cash for each defendant. An arraignment is
scheduled Nov. 19 before U.S. Magistrate Thomas Parker.

"We're trying to get our message across," Eileen Price of Greenpeace said
re the men were taken into custody.

She identified them as Greenpeace climbers S.L., 32, and R.H.,
22, both of Chicago, and K.H. of Toronto, Canada. Greenpeace
volunteers P.T., 42, of Fort Washington, Md., helped the climbers
from the top of Mount Rushmore, and M.R. of Berkeley, Calif., maintained
two-way radio contact from the ground, she said.

Mount Rushmore is in the Black Hills near Rapid City.

Greenpeace chose Mount Rushmore because it's "highly visible" and a national
symbol that represents all the people, Ms. Price said.

Congressional bills to regulate industrial emissions that contribute to acid
rain have been blocked consistently by auto and coal interests, she said.

The four people who tried to unfurl the banner had camped atop Mount Rushmore
since Tuesday night, Ms. Price said. The three climbers and their helper climbed
undetected Tuesday night and set up camp, planning how to display the banner,
she said.

"We were completely surprised" by the action, Dan Wenk, Mount Rushmore
superintendent, said in a telephone interview.

Trained climbers hired by the Pennington County Sheriff's Department aided
National Park Service workers in getting the climbers off the monument.
Authorities found out about the climbers shortly after 7 a.m. and worked hard to
make sure no one was injured, Wenk said.

"They were going over the side of the faces about 7 a.m.," he said. "We sent
a law enforcement ranger up the hill to talk with them."

The park service officials then discovered it was Greenpeace but were not
aware of the climbers' purpose for about an hour, according to Wenk.

The men coordinating the climbers on top of the memorial and at the visitors
after were nabbed, and one climber was arrested when he rappelled to a point
where he could be reached from the ground, Wenk said.

The other two could not be reached safely, he said, so a sheriff's department
climber was sent to tell them they were under arrest and that authorities would
remove the banner, Wenk said, "and they cooperated."

One of the Greenpeace climbers returned to the top of the monument and the
other rappelled to the ground, he said.

The climbers started hanging half the banner about 10 a.m. A few minutes
later, some of the banner's letters could be seen, but it was not unfolding
clearly, so one of the climbers rappelled to the bottom of the banner. Shortly
after 10:30, authorities started cutting the ropes that held the banner, and it
fell to the rocks below the monument.

Twelve people representing Greenpeace began arriving in South Dakota as early
as last week, Ms. Price said. She called reporters Thursday morning as the
climbers were trying to unfurl the banner, but others, including an NBC
television news crew, had equipment set up early Thursday.

She said some reporters and photographers found out about the demonstration.
When asked if it was to have been kept secret, Ms. Price said, "Well, it was
supposed to have been."

Greenpeace is an international organization that uses non-violent direct
action to try to protect the environment, she said. The group deals with marine
mammals, disarmament and other issues.

Greenpeace members were aware of the laws against climbing Mount Rushmore,
Ms. Price said. The climbers were veterans of other Greenpeace actions,
including climbing the Statue of Liberty to protest nuclear weapons testing, she
said.

Wenk said it's not unusual for people to try to climb the monument. "Most of
the people who have tried to climb Mount Rushmore previously have not been
climbing for a specific purpose," he said. "We'll be looking at our security for
the memorial."

When asked if there were security problems, Wenk said, "I'd say the answer's
rather obvious."

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