NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Friday, September 12, 2008
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INCIDENTS
Southeast/Intermountain Regions
Preparations For Hurricane Ike Underway Along Gulf Coast
Preparations are in full swing for Hurricane Ike, both in potentially affected parks and at the national level. The Central incident management team will be deployed to Texas at the request of Padre Island NS. The Service has been tasked with its fourth FEMA search and rescue mission assignment this year and is staging 21 two-person boat crews with an urban search and rescue task force in Houston. The NPS has also updated a law enforcement roster in case there's a need to provide personnel for safety and security missions. Meanwhile, the following reports have been received from parks along Ike's route:
Everglades NP/Dry Tortugas NP - All areas of Everglades NP reopened for visitation on Thursday morning. Dry Tortugas continued to feel the impacts of Ike yesterday and remains closed. Four employees remained sheltered at Fort Jefferson, and the rest were en route to the park from Orlando. The M/V Fort Jefferson was set to return to the park yesterday.
Gulf Islands NS - The Florida District is experiencing significant coastal impacts from Ike. Since Wednesday, numerous overwashes and breaches have occurred due to storm surge and the action of waves over 10-feet high in the Santa Rosa, Fort Pickens, Perdido Key, and possibly Okaloosa units. Conditions are not known on the Mississippi District islands. The National Hurricane Center has issued a tropical storm warning for the Mississippi coast. Coastal flooding and shore erosion are expected to continue through at least today. The park is back under ICS and the following closures are in effect or planned:
The Mississippi District is being upgraded to Hurricane Operational Preparedness Level 5 , or OPL-5, which mandates full district closure and employee release.
The Florida District is at OPL-3 (partial district closure).
The Santa Rosa, Fort Pickens, and Okaloosa Units in Florida are closed.
The Perdido Key Unit is closed east of Johnson Beach. The remainder of the unit was to be closed at sunset yesterday unless conditions warranted an earlier closure. An evaluation will be made this morning to determine whether the Johnson Beach section will reopen.
The Davis Bayou Unit and the islands in Mississippi closed at 4 p.m. yesterday and district employees were released at that time. The status of these closures will be reevaluated today pending the anticipated lifting of the tropical storm warning.
Jean Lafitte NHP&P - The park has activated its hurricane action plan for the second time this month. The area began feeling the affects of Hurricane Ike on Thursday, with outer bands coming onshore with high winds and heavy rain. Park units in Lafayette and Thibodaux will be closed on Friday and Saturday; the park site in Eunice has been closed since Hurricane Gustav passed and remains closed. Employees in those sites were released from duty at close of business yesterday. The Jefferson Parish emergency operations center yesterday ordered evacuations of lower portions of that parish. This order directly affects the Barataria Unit, so unit will be closed on Friday. It will reopen on Saturday, weather permitting. As of the time of the report (Thursday afternoon), plans were to keep park headquarters, the French Quarter Visitor Center, Chalmette Battlefield, and New Orleans Jazz NHP open. Two teams of sawyers who are in the park cleaning up after Hurricane Gustav have suspended operations until the severe weather passes. They will remain in the area and plan to finish up their 14-day detail to the park.
[Dean Ross, WASO; John Hughes, JELA; Larry Perez, EVER/DRTO; Clay Jordan, GUIS]
Yellowstone NP
Convicted Sex Offender Returned To Prison
On June 17th, the park's communications center received a 911 call from a person in Gardiner, Montana, reporting a possibly intoxicated man driving a commercial laundry delivery and pickup van. A ‘be on the lookout' message that was broadcast to Mammoth rangers and Park County deputies was overheard by park employees who'd seen the vehicle and called in its location and direction of travel. About ten minutes later, the park's deputy chief ranger for operations spotted it behind the Mammoth Clinic and contacted the driver, identified as R.W., 36, of Bozeman, Montana. R.W. had the odor of an alcoholic beverage about him and a field investigation showed probable cause to believe that we was operating the truck while under the influence of alcohol. R.W. was arrested and charged with two counts of DUI and one count of providing false information. He pled guilty to one count of DUI and the other charges were dropped pursuant to a plea agreement with the assistant U.S. attorney. R.W. was sentenced to 30 days in jail and turned over to a US marshal. Park special agents and rangers investigation the case soon learned that in 2007 R.W. had been convicted in Sweet Grass County, Montana, on two felony counts of sexual assault and sentenced to ten years in prison. All but 197 days had been suspended and R.W. had been ordered released under the supervision of state probation/parole officers. The probation included a “zero tolerance policy for any illegal drug or alcohol use” - which meant that he'd be subject to being returned to prison if he was caught with alcohol in his possession or system. NPS investigators were able to find facts showing that R.W. had consumed up to a pint of vodka per day, regularly drove the laundry vehicle from Bozeman to the park while intoxicated, and was consistently noncompliant with the judge's probation order. The combination of alcohol and a history of sex offenses made it clear that lack of inhibitions and an inability to control impulses while intoxicated made him a danger to the community. With information provided by the NPS, a state probation/parole officer placed a detainer on R.W. On August 19th, he appeared before a state district judge. The Sweetgrass County attorney presented the revocation case, which was based primarily on the NPS DUI conviction and follow-up investigation and testimony, including statements by the NPS supervisory special agent. The district judge revoked R.W.'s probation and returned him to the state prison system to serve the balance of his sentence, a total of eight years and four months. He will not be eligible for probation/parole for about four years. [Brian Smith, Special Agent in Charge, IMR]
New River Gorge NR
Ohio Man Jumps To Death From New River Gorge Bridge
A Fayette County deputy discovered a car parked on the New River Gorge Bridge's southbound shoulder just after 4 a.m. on September 9th. A suicide note and two sealed, stamped letters addressed to the operator's parents and fiancé were found inside the car along with a Mapquest map from his home to the bridge. Rangers were summoned and a search was begun along the banks of the New River. The body of the 25-year-old Ohio man was found among the boulders between the CSX railroad tracks and the river around 8 a.m. A joint investigation is being conducted by the county and the park. [Chuck Noll, Law Enforcement Specialist]
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:
US Park Police - The Park Police provided comprehensive support and security for yesterday's ceremonies marking the seventh anniversary of the September 11th attacks, including the dedication of the new memorial at the Pentagon honoring those killed in the building and on Flight 77.
Delaware Water Gap NRA - Susan Kopczynski will retire the week of October 1st after 40 years as a historian for the National Park Service.
Santa Monica Mountains NRA - Arnie Miller served the NPS for 15 years before retiring in 2004 as education specialist, building lasting partnerships with schools, teachers, community groups and other stakeholders to bring children out to the park.
Training Calendar - A listing of upcoming training courses offered by the NPS and its partners across the nation. New on today's listing is a COR/COTR training in Honolulu in November.
Events Calendar - Today's listing of upcoming NPS and NPS-related events across the nation. Added today is the 75th anniversary CCC reunion at Shenandoah later this month.
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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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