NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Friday, March 27, 1998

Broadcast: By 1000 ET

                        *** NOTICE ***

The Thursday Morning Report was sent just after 8 a.m. EST yesterday, but, as
of this writing (9 a.m. Friday), still has not been disseminated Servicewide
due to a problem in the hub in Philadelphia.  Today's edition is coming out
at 10:30 a.m. EST.  Please see the Operations Note below regarding other
recent Morning Report dissemination problems.

INCIDENTS

98-120 - Jefferson NEM (MO) - Assault on Ranger

Ranger Walter Merritt was heading home from an evening shift at work just
after midnight on March 23rd when a 16-year-old male, apparently disgruntled
by Merritt's "non-aggressive" driving, repeatedly harassed and tracked him
down several miles of I-55, then produced a firearm and fired six 9mm rounds
at Merritt's vehicle.  None of the rounds struck Merritt, but all hit his
vehicle - three entered the passenger side door, the fourth passed through
the door window and the windshield, the fifth struck the side mirror, and the
last creased the right support post and molding of the windshield.  Although
Merritt was in full uniform with defensive equipment, he opted for evasive
action.  The juvenile then left the interstate, but not before Merritt was
able to get both the vehicle's description and its license plate number.  He
reported the incident to St. Louis city police.  Officers from that
department and the Bel Ridge police department responded quickly and arrested
the juvenile at his home within a matter of hours.  The vehicle was
impounded; a 9mm shell casing was recovered, but the firearm has not yet been
found.  The juvenile, who is facing certification as an adult by the state of
Missouri, has been charged with first degree felony assault on a law
enforcement officer and remains in custody pending a series of hearings.  The
U.S. attorney's office is closely monitoring the progression of the state's
case for further developments.  [J.L. Weddle, CI, JEFF, 3/25]

98-121 - Grand Canyon (AZ) - Search and Rescue

Rangers received a report of an overdue party on the Hermit Trail around 8
p.m. on the evening of March 25th.  S.C., 22, of Seal Rock, Oregon,
had been left behind by her four male companions while on a day hike.  An
impending winter storm with rain and snow raised concerns about her ability
to survive through the night.  Containment, investigation and hasty teams
worked through the night to find S.C.  A hasty team found her off of the
trail at daylight the following morning.  Although she'd spent the night out
without either food or shelter, she was in good health.  [Matt Vandzura, IC,
GRCA, 3/26]  

                    [Additional reports pending...]

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

No entries.

OPERATIONAL NOTES

Morning Report Dissemination Problems - Several problems regarding
dissemination of the Morning Report have cropped up over recent months.  Hubs
in Seattle, San Francisco, and at AOD in Reston, Virginia, have experienced
intermittent failures in the standard routing system for transmitting the
Morning Report, and system operators - despite considerable and laudable
efforts - have so far been unable to locate the gremlin (or gremlins) causing
the problem.  The Morning Report linkage is as follows: It is prepared at
Delaware Water Gap, then routed through the hub in Philadelphia to the hub in
the Washington Office.  From that central juncture, it is disseminated to the
dozen or so primary hubs throughout the system, then sent down to parks, then
to either bulletin boards or individual addresses.  This sounds cumbersome,
but is actually a logical, fast-moving and effective dissemination system -
when it works.  One problem is that any break in the chain means an
interruption in service; another problem appears to be that the number of
people on the system, the volume of traffic, the interfaces between
variations in cc:Mail software, and other complexities inherent to electronic
communications can cause gremlins to crop up that are neither easy to track
down nor easy to purge.  Please bear with us and stay tuned.  [Editor]

IBP Baseline - Special Directive 95-10 requires the completion of a survey of
all incidental business permits (IBPs).  A request for same has been
disseminated Servicewide.  Survey forms have been coming in for the past
year, but it is now necessary to establish a baseline or count of IBPs to
utilize when analyzing the on-hand data.  New IBP holders will not be
required to report until next season, but an accurate count is needed now. 
If possible, please send Laurie Shaffer at NP-DEN3 a cc:Mail message with the
following info:

          park name
          total number of IBPs issued by the park
          list of services authorized under IBPs
          estimate of cost recovery for 1997
          park contact and phone number

Thank you for your assistance.  [Laurie Shaffer]

GPRA Reporting - Due to technical difficulties beyond the Service's control,
the Performance Management Data System used for GPRA reporting is running
slow in spite of all efforts to fix it.  Please be patient and keep trying to
enter your data in to meet the March 27th park deadline.  Regions and central
offices need park data in order to build their entries.  Thanks.  [Heather
Huyck]

MEMORANDA

No entries.

EXCHANGE

No entries.

                            *  *  *  *  *

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.

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