NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Thursday, September 11, 2008
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INCIDENTS
Everglades NP
Helicopter Crashes Into Florida Bay
While preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Ike on Sunday, September 7th, rangers received a report of a downed helicopter in Florida Bay. Rangers Brandon Moore from the Flamingo District and Dan Kiger from the Florida Bay District responded to Nine Mile Bank and found a Robinson R-44 helicopter floating upside down in approximately two feet of water. The ship was reported missing on Saturday after taking off from Tamiami Airport. All four people onboard were found uninjured. They'd spent the night in the bay and were rescued by a Miami Dade Air Rescue helicopter. Due to high winds and sea conditions moving into the area, rangers anchored the helicopter in place and will coordinate recovery efforts after the storm passes. NTSB is investigating the cause of the crash. [Bonnie Foist, Chief Ranger]
Blue Ridge Parkway
Man Sentenced To Seven Years In Jail In Arson Case
On Thursday, September 4th, K.T. of Fairview, North Carolina, appeared before a federal judge and was sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to pay $12,000 in restitution following his guilty plea in an arson case from last year (click on the link below for the original report). On June 5, 2007, K.T. travelled to the Pisgah Inn, where he contacted his ex-girlfriend, an employee living in the inn's dormitory. The girlfriend told him to leave, which he did - but he returned after a few minutes, broke out the window to her room, poured gasoline into the room, pitched in the can and ignited the gas. The girlfriend and three others in the room at the time were able to extinguish the flames without anyone getting hurt. K.T. fled the scene and was arrested three days later when he was found at a local mental hospital. Initially, K.T. claimed he had nothing to do with the incident and was not there, but later recanted and confessed. K.T. pled guilty to arson, willful destruction of property, and breaking and entering. The investigation was conducted by parkway rangers, NPS special agent Kirby Styles and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted through the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of North Carolina. [Tim Francis, Pisgah District Ranger]
HYPERLINK "http://classicinside.nps.gov/headline.cfm?type=Incidents&id=3267" http://classicinside.nps.gov/headline.cfm?type=Incidents&id=3267
Bryce Canyon NP
Rangers Assist In Marijuana Plantation Raid
During the week of August 24th, rangers assisted officers from the Garfield County Sheriff's Office, Utah Department of Public Safety's SWAT, the Forest Service and several other local and state agencies with a marijuana garden eradication operation north of Panguitch, Utah, in Dixie National Forest. Rangers Mark Hnat and Bryan Adams from Bryce Canyon, along with ranger Grant Stolhand and field trainee Mark Cutler, worked alongside Utah DPS SWAT team members posing as hunters in order to monitor traffic in the area and performed reconnaissance patrols in order to locate a marijuana growing site. On August 29th, rangers Mike Zirwas (CARE), Jeff Kracht (GLCA), and Scott Larson (GLCA) joined Hnat and Adams in assisting the joint agency team assembled to raid the garden. Approximately 1500 plants, almost twp miles of irrigation piping, and associated equipment and supplies were removed from the area. This raid was one of seven raids in three days in southern Utah. Several arrests have been made in conjunction with these operations. [Mark Hnat, Deputy Chief Ranger]
Mojave NP
Marine Dies In Single-Vehicle Accident
A 21-year-old Marine from Twenty-nine Palms died in a single-vehicle crash while traveling east on Morningstar Mine Road on the evening of September 7th. The driver, J.V., was found dead in his car by a passerby who saw J.V.'s 2006 Pontiac Solstice lying in a ditch off the road. Captain Nic Tuntland drove a park engine to the scene and determined that J.V. had died of his injuries prior to his arrival. The California Highway Patrol investigated. According to their report, J.V. was heading east on Morning Star Mine Road when his car left the road as he went around a curve. As he attempted to get back on the road, the car skidded and began to roll across the roadway and into the open desert on the north side of the road. [Kirk Gebicke, Supervisory Park Ranger]
OTHER NEWS
Other stories can be read on InsideNPS at one or the other of these two sites:
NPS readers - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index
Non-NPS readers - HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/
Please note that both publications carry a combined NIFC/NPS fire report. That is generally posted around 8 a.m. Eastern.
Among the stories in today's edition are the following:
Flight 93 NM - On this, the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Flight 93 National Memorial partners are holding commemorative activities at the site, remembering “Their Courage - Our Commitment.”
White House - President Bush has directed that all flags be flown at half staff on September 11th - Patriot Day - from sunrise until sunset. A link to his proclamation is included.
NPS Alumni - Long-time National Park Service employee James H. ‘Jim' Charleton passed away, Tuesday, August 26th, at DePaul Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia.
Denver Service Center - Bob Steinholtz, retired NPS landscape architect and a certifiable “legend in the trails community,” passed away on August 18th.
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Submission standards for the Morning Report can be found at the following web site:
HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363
Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).
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