NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
                           MORNING REPORT

To:        All National Park Service Areas and Offices

From:      Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office

Day/Date:  Tuesday, June 23, 1998

INCIDENTS

98-309 - Great Smoky Mountains (NC/TN) - Follow-up on Shooting of Ranger

Additional information on the death of ranger Joe Kolodski has been provided
by the park, the Department of Justice, and the FBI.  The following contains
particulars on the incident and the person charged with the murder; please
see the end of the report for specifics on the funeral and ways in which you
can express condolences.  

J.L., Sr., 47, of Cherokee, North Carolina, was charged yesterday
with the first degree murder of Kolodski (18 USC 1111) in federal court in
the Western District of North Carolina.  J.L., a gardener and maintenance
worker for the Oconaluftee Indian Village, faces a maximum penalty of death
or life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.  J.L. was ordered detained
pending a detention hearing set for today.  

The affidavit filed by the FBI establishes the chronology of events.  At
about 2:20 p.m. on Sunday, rangers from Great Smoky Mountains NP and Blue
Ridge Parkway responded to a report of a man with a rifle walking along the
parkway in the vicinity of Big Witch overlook near Cherokee, North Carolina. 
Kolodski arrived first on the scene and reported via radio that he'd spotted
the man with his rifle.  While other rangers were en route, Kolodski began to
make plans via radio to cordon off the area.  The next person to arrive was
ranger Anthony Welch.  Welch pulled his marked patrol car behind Kolodski's
marked vehicle.  As he pulled up, Welch saw Kolodski standing on the road
next to his car's front door, talking on the radio.  As Welch started to get
his shotgun, he heard a loud gunshot.  He looked toward Kolodski and saw him
fall to the pavement.  At 2:50 p.m., Welch called on his radio, reported that
an officer was down, and that he needed an ambulance.  He then took cover
behind his car.  From that position, he heard at least one more gunshot and
saw his front passenger window shatter.  Welch looked in the direction of the
gunshots and saw a man standing in the woods about 25 yards away.  Although
bushes and shrubs obscured him from the waist down, Welch could see him 
clearly and made direct eye contact with him.  The man was not wearing a
shirt.  Welch fired his shotgun at the man once, then got back into his car
and backed up about 100 yards.  After he backed up, he heard several more
gunshots, but did not see where they hit.  Kolodski was evacuated to the
University of Tennessee hospital, where he was pronounced dead from a single
gunshot wound which had pierced his body armor and struck him in the chest. 
A massive search was begun for his assailant.  Around 6 p.m., David Ensley, a
game warden for the Cherokee Indian Fish and Wildlife Management Agency saw
J.L. walking down the road near Bunches Creek on the Cherokee reservation. 
The location was close to the point where Kolodski had been killed.  He had
on blue jeans and boots, but was not wearing a shirt.  J.L. was wet,
scratched and had bug bites on him.  Ensley detained J.L. until Welch
arrived on scene and positively identified him as the person he'd fired at
earlier in the afternoon.  A crime scene search of the area near where
Kolodski was killed led to the discovery of two expended 7.62 rifle casings
on the ground at the point where Welch had seen J.L..  A tracking dog
followed the trail left by J.L. from the scene of the shooting through the
wooded areas near the parkway.  Several quality footprints were observed in
the dirt and mud and appeared to exactly match the boots which had been taken
from J.L..  The tracking dog led searchers to a rifle located about 300
yards from the site of the shooting.  It was a Finnish Caistlarvt Model 91,
bolt action 7.62 caliber rifle; several spent rounds were on the ground
nearby.  The affidavit also reports two other related sightings of a man
meeting J.L.'s description which had occurred that day at the overlook.

Two visitors from Florida saw a man sitting at a picnic table at the overlook
prior to the shooting.  The man had no shirt on, was wearing blue jeans, and
had a rifle matching the description of the Caistlarvt.  Sometime thereafter,
Minnesota visitor John Yust and his two children were sitting in their car at
the overlook when he saw a man walk toward their parked car.  The man had no
shirt on and was wearing blue jeans and carrying a rifle.  Yust described the
man as of Native American ancestry, about 40 years old, and with short hair. 
The main pointed the gun in the window of Yust's car; Yust grabbed the barrel
of the gun, pushed it outside the window, rolled up the window, and drove
away.  He later called the police and reported the incident.  Officers and
agents subsequently conducted a consent search of J.L.'s house and found
several spent rounds that appeared to be 7.62 caliber.  Based on this
information, the FBI filed the affidavit, stating that there was probable
cause to believe that J.L. had killed Kolodski.

Participating in the joint investigation were the National Park Service, FBI,
Forest Service, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, North Carolina
Highway Patrol, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Cherokee Indian
Police, Cherokee Indian Fish and Wildlife Management Agency, and sheriff's
departments in Jackson, Swain, Haywood and Buncombe Counties.  

Arrangements for burial and memorial services are incomplete at this time. 
Although the family has expressed deep appreciation for all the support
received from the NPS community, preliminary discussions with them suggest
that their strong preference is for a small community service at the First
Baptist Church in Bryson City, North Carolina, possibly tomorrow morning. 
Bryson City is a small, closely-knit community, and the family has many
friends who will want to be with them at the church.  The church has limited
seating.  Following the service, his body will be transported to the family
home in Pennsylvania for a private family service, followed by cremation. 
The family has asked that NO flowers be sent to either ceremony.  A memorial
fund has been established by the park's friends group for Kolodski's three
children.  Those wishing to make contributions should make out their checks
to "Friends of GRSMNP" and specify that it is in memory of Joseph Kolodski. 
Contributions should be sent to: Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National
Park, 130 West Bruce Street, Suite #1, Sevierville, TN 37862.  Condolences
may be sent to his wife, F.T., care of the park: Great Smoky
Mountains NP, 107 Park Headquarters Road, Gatlinburg, TN 37738.  

Critical incident stress debriefing teams are currently in the two parks
meeting with park staff.  Several meetings have already been held.  You can
express your support to them by sending messages to park staff.

[Jason Houck, CR, GRSM; James Russell, SA, FBI; Mark Calloway, United States
Attorney, Western District of North Carolina; 6/22]

[Additional incident summaries, along with fire reports and other
information, will appear in a supplemental Morning Report which will appear
later today]

                            *  *  *  *  *

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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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