NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, February 5, 2009

INCIDENTS

Yosemite NP

Man Pleads Guilty To Poaching In Park

Rangers from the Wawona, Valley and Mather Districts were staking out an illegal tree stand inside the park's boundary last October 4th when a hunter armed with a rifle climbed into the stand. The rangers watched the man - later identified as P.B., 62, of Merced, California - for another hour, then took him into custody without incident. On Tuesday, February 3rd, P.B. pled guilty to one count of hunting within the park (16 USC 60) and one count of possession of a weapon (36 CFR 2.4(a)(1)(i)). P.B. was sentenced to 36 months of unsupervised probation, ordered to pay a $5,000 fine , and required to forfeit his rifle, deer stand, rifle case, rifle scope and hunting knife. P.B. received credit for three days of time served and agreed to stay out of the park for the duration of his probation. [Steve Yu, Special Agent]

Natchez Trace Parkway

Taser Employed During Arrest

On the afternoon of January 1st, rangers conducted a plainclothes operation to deter disorderly conduct in park areas around Ridgeland, Mississippi. The focus was on problems of public sexual misconduct, solicitation and indecent exposure which were known to be occurring at several park sites and on park trails. During the operation, rangers Patrick Gagnon and James Purcell encountered J.C. of Ridgeland engaged in an illegal activity. Purcell was compelled to use his taser on J.C. while the rangers were attempting to arrest him. Neither J.C. nor the rangers involved were injured during the incident. [Allen Etheridge, Chief Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS:

Office of Public Affairs - The National Park Service has developed a web site to help plan visits to NPS areas that preserve African American Heritage. A link is provided.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7323" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7323

NPS/FLETC - A safety alert has been issued regarding possible malfunction of some Federal Cartridge Company 12 gauge buckshot rounds.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7324" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7324

Intermountain Region - Memorial services for career ranger and park manager Pete Hart, 67, who died on January 30th, have been set for next week in Livingston, Montana, and for late May in Medora, North Dakota.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=2242" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=2242

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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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