- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Thursday, January 22, 1998
- Date: Thurs, 22 Jan 1998
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Thursday, January 22, 1998
Broadcast: By 1000 ET
INCIDENTS
98-30 - Vicksburg NMP (MS) - Serious Vandalism
On the afternoon of Sunday, January 18th, two visitors jogging in the park
saw a pickup truck driving slowly along the tour road near the Logan Monument
on Union Avenue. The truck turned at the intersection as the joggers
approached and traveled out of view. Within moments, the joggers heard a
single "pop," similar to the sound made when a paper bag filled with air
bursts. When they reached the Logan Monument, they saw that there were
bright yellow splotches of paint on the surface of the historic bronze statue
and stone work. As they continued, they saw that a number of other monuments
had similar splotches of bright yellow and orange paint. They reported the
vandalism to ranger Eddie Wells, who immediately made a thorough sweep of the
park. Neither the vehicle nor its occupants could be located. Rangers
subsequently determined that 56 historic monuments had been vandalized by
paint balls shot from a paint ball gun. Several of the monuments were struck
more than once. The chief of maintenance was contacted; he inspected the
monuments and recommended that a high pressure water spray be employed to
remove the paint, since some of it appeared to be water soluble. Using
spotlights for illumination, rangers Wells, Tim Mauch and Phil Swartz worked
into the night washing the monuments from a slip-on fire pumper, hoping to
remove the paint before it could cause permanent damage. A Monday morning
inspection revealed that eleven granite monuments still showed visible stains
after washing. The memorials so impacted had rough, unpolished surfaces. It
appears that compounds in the paint penetrated the stone and discolored the
surfaces. It's not known if the damage will prove to be permanent, or if it
can be corrected without causing further damage to the monuments. The park's
monument restoration crew is currently investigating appropriate treatments.
An investigation is underway. [Greg Zeman, Chief of Operations, VICK, 1/20]
98-31 - Ocmulgee NM (GA) - Theft by Employee
In December, ranger Jimmy Barna and a seasonal ranger determined that large
denomination bills were missing from the park's donation box. Superintendent
Jim David authorized the placing of "bait" money in the box in an effort to
determine who might be stealing from the box. On December 14th, Barna placed
three bills in the box whose serial numbers had been recorded. That
afternoon, he found that a $20 bill had been taken. He interviewed a
seasonal park guide on duty at the visitor center, received permission for a
consent search, and recovered the bill. The employee confessed to the theft
after being confronted with a photocopy of the bill. The employee asked
David if he could resign, but David refused and instead demanded his badge
and keys and terminated him for misconduct. The case has been turned over to
the U.S. attorney for possible prosecution. This was Barna's third week on
the job as a new career-conditional employee. [Guy LaChine, CR, OCMU, 1/21]
98-32 - Hot Springs NP (AR) - Bomb Threat
On Tuesday, January 20th, the city of Hot Springs received a telephoned bomb
threat against the Hot Springs Mountain Tower, a concession-operated
observation tower and gift shop in the park. The facility and parking lot
were evacuated and sealed off. An explosives sniffing dog team from
Jacksonville Air Force Base was brought in to search the structure the
following morning. The dog alerted on a wall-mounted speaker box several
times. An emergency ordnance disposal team was summoned from the Army's Pine
Bluff Arsenal. The team employed a portable x-ray machine to inspect the
box. X-ray images showed nothing suspicious, so the box was opened and
inspected. No explosives were found. The tower was reopened for business.
[Rod Harris, CR, HOSP, 1/21]
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
No entries.
OPERATIONAL NOTES
Reservation Service Contract - Biospherics, Inc., of Beltsville, Maryland,
has been selected as the new national reservation service contractor.
Biospherics will provide camping and tour reservations to park visitors via a
toll-free number. Under the contract, advanced information technology will
be used to connect 25 national park sites to their reservation center. The
contract requires that the service be on-line by March 15th to accommodate
reservations for the coming summer season. Visitors will be able to make
camping and tour reservations up to three months in advance, beginning on the
15th of each month. Biospherics is a publicly held firm which specializes in
large, advanced federal and state call information centers. [Carol Anthony,
Public Affairs, WASO]
Correction/Clarification - Tuesday's Morning Report carried a report about an
incident at Chamizal in which one of two illegal aliens who were stopped in
the park by Border Patrol agents was subsequently shot and killed. The
19-year-old's name was Francisco Javier Flores Zenteno. He was first referred
to by his full name in the original report from the park, then as Flores in
later references. His full name was shortened to Francisco Zenteno in the
version which appeared in the Morning Report, but second references used
Flores, as in the original submission. This has caused some confusion as to
whether one or two men were involved. Only Flores Zenteno was shot.
[Editor]
MEMORANDA
No entries.
EXCHANGE
Exchange - Ocmulgee NM has three Point Blank body armor vests available - one
male, size 42-44L, just over five years old, with two NPS gray covers; one
female, size large, also just over five years old but worn only once, with
two gray covers; one male, size 42-44L, at least ten years old, with worn out
white cover. They also have .38 special ammunition they can part with.
Contact Guy LaChine at the park.
WEB DIRECTORY
The Morning Report periodically runs a listing of Worldwide Web sites of use
to NPS employees in the course of their work. Please send along entries -
and corrections, in case of address errors - to the editor.
Thanks to the following for providing this week's additions:
Anonymous - Most of the new legal resource listings were sent along as
a cc:Mail attachment by someone who didn't include his/her name on the
document. Whoever you are, thanks. Would you send along a note?
Chris Perry, WASO - Servicewide intake training program.
Phil Young, SWSO - Jemez Pueblo home page, which has many ARPA and
NAGPRA laws listed and will soon add court decisions.
Dwayne Collier, SOAr - CDC site, which has information on
immunizations, diseases, NIOSH, biosafety, injury prevention, etc.
Documents on same can be ordered from the web site.
Cathy Bonser, REDW - A site where you can obtain most government
standard forms (SFs).
All new entries are marked with asterisks.
NPS SITES
Congressional Affairs office http://www.nps.gov/legal
Training and Development office http://www.nps.gov/training
NPS Web page development info http://www.nps.gov/helpdesk
(user name: NPS, password: Mather)
Current VIP opportunities http://www.nps.gov/volunteer
Press releases, park news, more http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/pressrm.htm
Q&A with volunteer NPS historians http://www.nps.gov/crweb1/history/askhist.htm
Geologists-in-Parks program http://www.aqd.nps.gov/natnet/grd/geojob/geojob.htm
Harpers Ferry wayside exhibits http://www.nps.gov/waysite
NPS safety info http://www.nps.gov/riskmgmt
NCR Museum Resource Center http://www.nps.gov/mrc
National Center for Preservation
Technology and Training http://www.cr.nps.gov/npctt
NPS training opportunities http://www.nps.gov/training
NPS strategic plan http://www.nps.gov - InfoZone, Park Planning
NPS "Courier" magazine http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/courier/index.htm
NPS intake training program http://www.nps.gov/intake
DOI SITES
DOI address directory http://www.doi.gov/cgi-bin/mailsrch
DOI jobs listings http://www.usgs.gov/doi/avads/index.html
DOI IG reports http://www.gpo.ucop.edu/search/ig.html
DOI payroll, Denver http://www.dasc.doi.gov
DOI safety http://safety.doi.gov
DOI recreation lakes commission http://www.doi.gov.nrls
OTHER AGENCY SITES
Comptroller General decisions http://www.gpo.ucop.edu/search/gaocd.html
GAO reports http://www.gpo.ucop.edu/search/gao.html
OPM jobs listings http://www.usajobs.opm.gov
USDA graduate school http://www.grad.usda.gov
Thrift Savings Plan http://www.tsp.gov
New legislation (NECTEA) re:
funding for park roads http://www.fhwa.dot.gov
OPM locality pay rates http://www.opm.gov/pay/index.htm
CFR and Federal Register info http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr
FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection http://www.ftc.gov
IG networks http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/ignet
Fed Employees News Digest http://www.clubfed.com
Wildland fire information http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/fire
National registry for EMTs http://www.nremt.org
Center for Decease Control http://www.cdc.gov
Standard government forms * http://web1.whs.osd.mil/icdhome/SFEFORMS.HTM
CONGRESSIONAL SITES
All Senate offices, committees http://www.senate.gov
All House offices, committees http://www.house.gov
Bills, reports, related info http://thomas.loc.gov
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SITES
Exotic invasive species http://www.aqd.nps.gov/npci
Malformed amphibians reports http://www.npwrc.org/narcam
Mineral developments near parks http://www.aqd.nps.gov/facts/fadjacen.htm
LEGAL SITES
United States Code http://law.house.gov/usc.htm
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/
Code of Federal Regulations http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr
Federal Register http://www.nara/fedreg/fedreg.html
http://www.access.gpo.gove/su_docs/
Federal Acquisition Regulations http://www.gsa.gov/far/current/html/toc.html
Executive Orders http://www.arnet.gov/References/References.html
OMB Circulars http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OMB/
Supreme Court cases http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/supct.table.html
Federal Circuit cases http://www.law.emory.edu/fedcircuit/
http://www.gao.gov/decisions/decision.htm
http://www.law.vill.edu/Fed-Ct/fedcourt.html
FLRA cases http://febbbs.access.gpo.gov/libs/flra_dec.html
MSPB cases http://www.access.gpo.gov/mspb
FLETC legal updates http://wwww.sbaonline.sba.gov/ignet/library /legalupd/legalupd.html
Environmental law http://www.law.indiana.edu/law/v-lib/envlaw.html
Ethics issues http://www.usoge.gov/
Federal laws in general http://www.fedworld.gov
http://fedlaw.gsa. gov
ARPA/NAGPRA laws * http://www.nmia/com/~quasho
Info on legal issues http://www.Lawcheck.com/main.html
Laws, court rulings, related info http://www.findlaw.com
ENFORCEMENT INFORMATION SITES
Environmental contract fraud info http://www.echotech.com
http://www.afce.org
http://www.fraud.org
Investigation hotline http://www.netrail.net/~hotline/investigations
Info on militia groups, etc. http://www.splcenter.org
OTHER RELEVANT SITES
Student Conservation Association http://www.sca-inc.org
George Wright Society http://www.portup.com/~gws/home.html
GWS park-related links http://www.portup.com/~gws.gwsnet.html
Links to NPs worldwide http://149.170.210.2/~keith/links.htm
Links to park-related topics http://hum.amu.edu.pl/~zbzw/ph/pnp/pnp.htm
National Center for Accessibility http://www.indiana.edu/~nca
Recycled content procurement http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/procure.html
http://www.metrokc.gov/oppis/recyclea.html
http://www.pnl.gov/esp/greenguide
http://fcn.state.fl.us/bpsr/drc_notice.html
Telephone directory searches http://www.pc411.com/pc411v2.html
* * * * *
Distribution of the Morning Report is through a mailing list managed by park,
office and/or field area cc:Mail hub coordinators. Please address requests
pertaining to receipt of the Morning Report to your servicing hub
coordinator.
Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation and
support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.
--- ### ---