NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Tuesday, March 4, 1997

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

96-692 - Lake Meredith NRA (Texas) - Follow-up on Fatal Boating Accident

On the afternoon of March 1st, two Texas game wardens on routine patrol
discovered the body of nine-year-old Pa.B. in the lake near
Dolomite Point.  Pa.B., his father, R.B., and his brothers, Ph.B.,
eleven, and B.B., eight, drowned when their 14-foot boat capsized in high
winds on the lake on December 14th.  The body of B.B. has not yet been
found.  Following the discovery of Pa.B.'s body, an intensive search of the
area was begun for B.B., utilizing SAR dog teams, aircraft, and additional
boats and personnel.  That search is still underway.  All three of the
victims found to date were wearing life jackets.  [John Benjamin,
Superintendent, LAMR, 3/3]

97-74 - Gulf Islands NS (Mississippi/Florida) - Follow-up on Employee Death 

Park maintenance worker Robert Johnson, 50, suffered a massive heart attack
while driving home from work on February 28th and apparently died within
minutes of suffering the attack.  Robert had worked in the park's maintenance
division since March, 1974.  His good nature, intelligence, and hard work
ethic made him an exceptional worker and friend.  Funeral arrangements are
incomplete at this time.  Robert is survived by his wife and son.  [Mark
Lewis, DR, GUIS, 3/3]

97-76 - Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHS (Kentucky) - Storm Impacts

The park received 9.35 inches of rain over the period from March 1st to the
3rd.  The basin area of the park was flooded by a knee-deep pool of water
covering three acres on Saturday, March 1st.  Sections of the Sinking Spring
retaining wall and the split rail fence encircling the area were destroyed by
water spilling over the top of the stairwell.  A portion of the Boundary Oak
retaining wall was also destroyed by runoff; wooden foot bridges over the
Boundary Oak trail were relocated by the raging torrent, and trails were
severely damaged, with sections completely washed away.  Damage to the park
has been estimated at approximately $25,000.  Rain continued to fall on
Sunday and Monday.  The governor has declared a state of emergency, and
efforts are underway to have much of Kentucky declared a disaster area. 
[Karren Brown, Superintendent, ABLI, 3/3]

97-77 - Grand Canyon NP (Arizona) - Suicide

A 21-year-old employee of Fred Harvey, the park concessioner, walked away
from her job at 9 a.m. on the morning of March 1st.  She was reportedly
despondent.  The park subsequently received a report from hikers that a woman
had fallen near the Bright Angel trail and was not moving.  Responding
rangers found that it was the concession employee and that she had died from
injuries incurred in the fall.  The death has been ruled a suicide, as tracks
matching the tread on her boots were found leading to the rim, then back,
then off the edge.  [Chuck Sypher, IC, GRCA, 3/3]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No submissions.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

No submissions.

MEMORANDA

No submissions.

EXCHANGE

No submissions.

OBSERVATIONS

This section, which appears intermittently in the Morning Report, contains
observations regarding the National Park Service, the System and the several
professions of park employees.  Today's contribution was sent in by Susan
Bloomfield:

"Thoreau read Wordsworth, Muir read Thoreau, Teddy Roosevelt read Muir, and
you got national parks.  It took a century for this to happen, for artistic
values to percolate down to where honoring the relation of people's
imagination to the land, or beauty, or to wild things, was issued in
legislation."
     
                                   Robert Hass, poet laureate of the
                                   United States, excerpted from an
                                   article in the March/April edition
                                   of "Mother Jones" magazine

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Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation and
support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.

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