NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

INCIDENTS

Everglades NP

Illegal Alien Traffickers Convicted And Deported

Early last June 11th, rangers were advised that illegal migrants had been dropped off on the beaches of Cape Sable. While mobilizing, responding rangers saw two large vessels and a personal watercraft entering the Flamingo marina - an action that immediately raised suspicions, as personal watercraft are prohibited in the Everglades and large vessels are uncommon in Florida Bay's shallow waters. Further investigation revealed enough evidence to detain the nine people on the three vessels on suspicion of smuggling the illegal migrants. Rangers picked up the 27 migrants from Cape Sable and turned them and the nine suspected smugglers over to Border Patrol, but no criminal charges were ever filed against the alleged smugglers by the Border Patrol. On January 28th, rangers Tony Terry and Cindy Morris testified in Immigration Court in Miami against two of the suspected smugglers. Both individuals, I.G.-M. and J.C., were found guilty of aiding and abetting illegal alien trafficking and sentenced to deportation. The two men have long been suspected by rangers as the leaders of a smuggling ring that has resulted in an average of two landings per year on the capes for the last several years. [Cynthia L. Morris, Park Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

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

Servicewide - Visitation statistics for 2008 are out. Overall, there were approximately 275 million visits Servicewide, about the same as last year. Since 1916, there have been 11.7 billion visits to the National Park System.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7359" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7359

Yellowstone NP - A bull elk well known to fall visitors to Mammoth Hot Springs has died as the result of a freak accident.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7357" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7357

Andersonville NHS - An event on the bicentennial of Lincoln's birthday featured a press conference in which a Lincoln re-enactor took questions from the media and the audience. Awards were also presented to two park friends.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7358" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7358

Jimmy Carter NHS - President Carter spoke to a capacity President's Day crowd in the park's auditorium this past Monday, talking about how he was elected and his administration's successes and setbacks.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=ParkNewsEvents&id=25250" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=ParkNewsEvents&id=25250

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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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