NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, December 12, 2008

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INCIDENTS

Antietam NB

Special Event - Annual Battlefield Illumination

The park held its 20th annual memorial illumination on Saturday, December 6th. Nearly 1200 volunteers placed and lighted 23,110 luminaries (candles inside paper sacks weighted down with sand) throughout the battlefield. Each candle represented a soldier who was killed, wounded or reported missing following the September 17, 1862 battle. Event sponsors included the NPS, the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the American Business Women's Association. Approximately 1,900 cars and buses drove through the park to view the candles from 5:00 p.m. until midnight. An opening ceremony was held at the Maryland Monument, with remarks by Superintendent J.W. Howard; Congressman Roscoe Bartlett; representatives of both Maryland U.S. Senators; Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley; Ms. Georgene Charles, Chairperson; and Kevin Graff, 20-year volunteer. The Ebenezer AME Choir provided musical selections again this year at the ceremony. Volunteers who participated in all 20 years were recognized at the ceremony. There were no incidents during the event, which was spared the icy conditions which occurred east of Antietam and Washington County, but not the cold temperatures. Event operations, traffic control and security for the event was provided by Antietam staff, rangers from several other National Capital Region parks, Maryland State Highway Administration personnel, Washington County Sheriff's Department officers, and Hagerstown REACT. [Ed Wenschhof, Chief Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. The internal, NPS-only version of InsideNPS can be found at: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index . The public version, called NPS Digest, can be found at: HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/

Director's Office - Director Bomar yesterday unveiled a new book - Kids Passport to Your National Parks Companion - that is designed to make national parks more meaningful to young visitors.

National Partnership Office - Applications for National Park Foundation transportation scholar grants are due by January 9th.

Blue Ridge Parkway - John Garrison, Blue Ridge Parkway's chief ranger, has announced his retirement from the Service, effective January 3rd.

Training Calendar - A listing of upcoming training courses offered by the NPS and its partners across the nation. Added today are Capital Training Center courses on creating electronic federal resumes and KSA's, managing employee performance, facilitation skills, embracing change and team building dynamics.

Events Calendar - Today's listing of upcoming NPS and NPS-related events across the nation. Added to this week's calendar is the NPS EMS conference, which will be held in Dallas in April

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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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