NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Friday, January 23, 1998

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

INCIDENTS

96-331 - Natchez Trace Parkway (MS/AL/TN) - Follow-up on Homicide

On June 29, 1996, ranger Charles Cuvelier was patrolling the West Florida
Boundary parking area when he discovered the body of E.W., 32, of
Brandon, Mississippi.  E.W. had died from a gunshot wound to the head. 
Investigation led to the arrest of H.C., also of Brandon, who pled
guilty to manslaughter last October and has since received a 20-year prison
sentence.  [Tim Francis, ACR, NATR, 1/21]

98-33 - Independence NHP (PA) - Special Event

Secretary Babbitt joined local dignitaries at the park for a memorial
ceremony for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on January 19th.  Secretary Babbitt
gently tapped the Liberty Bell twelve times as the kickoff for a nationwide
bell ringing tribute.  Babbitt was also the featured speaker at the King Day
luncheon following the ceremony, billed by the organizers as the largest
event of its kind in the nation.  [Phil Sheridan, INDE, 1/20]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No entries.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Correction - Morning Report readers are awfully sharp for early in the day. 
It's a rare occasion when a typo slips by all of you, particularly if it has
an unintended but amusing result (i.e., placing parks in wrong states).  Such
was the case yesterday, when an inadvertent selection during the spell check
process caused the Center for Disease Control to end up as the Center for
Decease Control.  There was, of course, no intent to defame that estimable
organization, whose control of the former results in fewer of the latter. 
Thanks to those of you who picked up the error.  [Editor]

PHS Update - The Public Health Service (WASO) will be providing the Morning
Report with periodic updates on important health issues which should be of
concern to some or all NPS employees.  Today's is on pfiesteria, a toxin that
can be found in fish.  Pfiesteria was first identified in 1991 in North
Carolina and was again seen last summer in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and
Virginia.  It gained widespread publicity because of large fish kills and the
development of open sores on many other fish.  It's a very complex organism
that is similar to the marine organism that causes "red tides;" under most
conditions, it is innocuous, but produces a powerful toxin under conditions
of high temperature, low dissolved oxygen, and high nutrient loading.  Human
health complaints have occurred as a result of skin contact with or
inhalation of the toxin.  Well-documented effects linked to pfiesteria have
occurred in laboratory conditions, where researchers were working with the
organism in close proximity and in high concentrations.  Other complaints
were made by fishermen, a water skier, and persons monitoring fish kills. 
They included skin lesions and neurological effects such as headaches and
light-headedness.  Although there appears to be a causal relationship between
pfiesteria exposure in marine waters and health complaints, this relationship
has not yet been verified.  Never the less, prudence is appropriate when
potentially exposed to pfiesteria toxin:

Do not handle fish with lesions unless necessary.  If it proves to be
necessary, wear impermeable gloves.

Avoid swimming or skiing in an area where a fish kill is occurring
and/or fish with open lesions are being reported.

Because of uncertainty regarding consumer health risks, you should take
normal precautions and use common sense.  Never eat fish that exhibit
evidence of sores or disease, or fish that seem diseased or dying when
caught.

Completely cook fin fish and crabs.  Normal precautions should be taken
when eating raw shellfish.

If you have any questions, please contact your regional public health
consultant or park sanitarian, or call WASO PHS for more information at
202-565-1120.  [Jerry Johnson, PHS/WASO]

MEMORANDA

No entries.

EXCHANGE

No entries.

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 submission was sent along by David
Rothenburger, Yellowstone NP: 

"We all strive for safety, prosperity, comfort, long life, and dullness.  The
deer strives with his supple legs, the cowman with trap and poison, the
statesman with pen, most of us with machines, votes and dollars, but it all
comes to the same thing: peace in our time.  A measure of success in this is
all well enough, and perhaps is a requisite to objective thinking, but too
much safety seems to yield only to danger in the long run.  Perhaps this is
behind Thoreau's dictum: In wilderness is the salvation of the world. 
Perhaps this is the hidden meaning in the howl of the wolf, long known among
mountains, but seldom perceived among men."

Aldo Leopold, "A Sand County Almanac"

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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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