NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Friday, April 3, 2009

INCIDENTS

Buffalo NR

Rangers Respond To Drunken Campground Brawl

In the early morning hours of March 21st, Midwest Regional Ozark Communication Center, the park's dispatch office, advised rangers of a violent altercation among a group of about seven campers at Rush Campground, a remote area in the Lower Buffalo District. MROCC advised that the reporting party, an unrelated camper, had fled the campground for his own safety. Rangers Noel Mays and Kevin Moses responded with deputies from the Marion County Sheriff's Office (MCSO). Upon arrival, they were met by several other campers who told them that the group in question had departed the campground within the last half hour. While rangers were inspecting the campsite and securing witness statements, MCSO dispatch reported that four members of the party had just arrived at their office to report the incident and that several had sustained injuries, including blunt trauma from a large stick and superficial knife injuries. Mays and Moses, along with ranger Karl Sommerhauser and LES Jeff West, met with the four people at MCSO, two of whom were reporting to have been injured but declined medical treatment. Shortly thereafter, officers from nearby Flippin Police Department arrested a fifth member of the party for DUI and transported her and her two companions to MCSO. Rangers remained at MCSO until 6 a.m., interviewing the members of the camping party, and determined that two of them (who are engaged to be married) had engaged in a physical altercation with two other members of the camping party, a married couple, wherein an all-out drunken brawl ensued involving sticks, fists, knives, and motor vehicles. The investigation continues at this time with ongoing interviews. Moses and West are conferring with the park's Assistant United States Attorney's Office and possible assault and disorderly conduct charges are pending. [Kevin Moses, Lower Buffalo District Ranger]

Blue Ridge Parkway

Body Of Suicide Victim Found At Piedmont Overlook

The Carroll County Sheriff's Office contacted park dispatch on Wednesday afternoon and told rangers to be on the lookout for a suicidal man. He'd contacted his family members, told him he was on the parkway, and said he was going to kill himself. County deputies found the body of M.S., 39, over an embankment at the Piedmont overlook. Evidence at the scene indicated that he'd died from a self-inflicted gunshot. The park is leading the investigation, with assistance from county authorities. [Bobby D. Miller, Plateau District Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

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

Centennial Initiative - On March 26th, Acting Director Dan Wenk issued a memorandum with an update on the Centennial Challenge to the National Leadership Council. It provided details and the programs accomplishments and present status. In 2008, the Centennial Challenge received $24.6 million, which the Service's partners leveraged to more than $52 million in total investment.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7513" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7513

Fire and Aviation Management - The 2008 NPS Fire & Aviation photo contest is open for entries through May 1st. Submit your best NPS wildland fire, structural fire, or aviation photo.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7506" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7506

Colorado NM - Ann Elder, the park's chief of resource management, was taken from this life suddenly on March 31st as a result of complications from emergency surgery.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=2289" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=2289

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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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