NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

BLACKBERRY EDITION

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

INCIDENTS

Gulf Coast Areas

Update on Hurricane Recovery Operations

Jean Lafitte NHP&P/New Orleans Jazz NHP

The Eastern IMT (Gordon Wissinger, IC) is charged with both assisting the employees of the two parks and with overseeing the overall NPS response to the hurricane.

Employee Assistance Branch - Branch members continued to work on toolkits for employee assistance and prepared them for mailing. They are working to coordinate a meeting of points of contact of affected parks on the long-term mental health contract and are responding to employee requests for assistance as needed.

Resources and Facilities Branch - Developments by area:

Barataria - Crews continued saw work on the canoe trail system through use of the LE staff for boat transportation. Crews continue clearing trees, brush and household debris from the Lower Kenta and Millaudon canoe trails in the canal system. They began tree and debris removal on the marsh overlook trail and the adjoining canal.

Chalmette - Ventilation continued at the Malus-Beauregard House and the Superintendent's Lodge. Crew members completed cleaning comfort stations. Technical specialists evaluated the Malus-Beauregard house, Carriage house, Superintendent's lodge, and the brick walls around the cemetery and are developing an immediate remedial action plan. Chipping and tree removal continued throughout the grounds.

Cane River - The NPS saw crew continued with hazard historic tree trimming work to restore the cultural landscape in the Oakland Plantation. The historic preservation crew began work on the square crib restoration. They continued work on the mule barn and began epoxy repairs to the mule barn posts.

Law Enforcement Branch - Two LE operated boats for saw crews will be traveling through Barataria canoe trails to clear them so that researchers can return to their stations. LE continued its presence at Barataria Preserve to counter increased illegal dumping of household debris. They continued to patrol Chalmette for incident personnel security. LE took more after-action photographs. They continued boat patrols to assess hunting camps. They continued night shift activities such as maintaining security at the ICP.

Gulf Islands NS

A Type 3 team (Rich Degnan, IC) assumed management of the incident on Saturday, October 16th.

The Davis Bayou unit partially opened to visitors on Monday. All islands remain closed to the public, but waterways are open. Kitchen cabinet and window installation on one housing unit will occur this week. Work will continue on the fuel dock at Davis Bayou, which is 50% completed with one tank already in place. The team will develop a scope of work for the government boat dock at Davis Bayou. The footbridge at the campground was to be completed yesterday. The Davis Bayou temporary contact station will be installed by the weekend. Contracts are being awarded for the West Ship Island boat dock repair and work will begin on the pier today. Debris removal will be completed at Fort Massachusetts on Tuesday. Debris piles will be removed from Ship Island once the LCM boat is repaired. Contracts for the demolition and fencing at Horn Island will be awarded by the weekend.

Additional Information

A web site has been established as a repository for official documents related to hurricane recovery operations: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/waso/waso.cfm?prg=15&lv=1" http://inside.nps.gov/waso/waso.cfm?prg=15&lv=1.

[Randy Sutton, IO, IMT, JELA/JAZZ]

Organ Pipe Cactus NM

Homicide Victim Found in Park

On the morning of October 1st, a Mexican national came upon a body just north of the border and within the park. He alerted Mexican authorities, who in turn contacted local Customs and Border Protection agents, who in turn notified the NPS and Pima County Sheriff's Department. The victim had evidently been dead between three and six days. Evidence at the scene indicated that he'd been shot several times in a manner consistent with an execution-style slaying. The victim has since been identified as a US citizen. The county's homicide unit is still withholding identification pending follow-through on other investigative leads and the notification of relatives. Based on the identification, rangers were able to determine that a vehicle in which the victim was a passenger had been stopped by rangers for a traffic violation on September 25th, just five days prior to the discovery of the body. At that time, the victim was detained by rangers on an outstanding warrant, but was released when it was found that Maricopa County would not facilitate extradition. The driver of that vehicle was issued a citation for possession of marijuana. [Fred Patton, Chief Ranger]

Gulf Islands NS

Assist on Domestic Dispute

While outside the park on the evening of Tuesday, October 11th, rangers assigned to the incident management team overheard a radio call about a domestic at the Ocean Springs Wal-Mart and responded. Entering the parking lot, they saw the suspect vehicle, which was being followed by Wal-Mart security. The rangers stopped the car, separated the parties and frisked them for weapons. After Ocean Springs Police Department officers arrived, the names of both subjects were run through NCIC. The man had felony warrants for a probation violation and manufacturing and possessing methamphetamine. He also had a small amount of marijuana in his possession. The woman admitted to being on pre-trial diversion for a methamphetamine possession charge. Ocean Springs officers took the man into custody for extradition to Louisiana. [Barb Stewart, IO, Eastern IMT]

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Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.

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