NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Thursday, May 21, 2009
INCIDENTS
Gulf Islands NS
Search For Missing Boater Scaled Back
On Tuesday, the multi-agency search for off-duty Ocean Springs police officer Stephen Bond, missing since the boat he was in capsized on Sunday, reached a peak, both within and outside park boundaries, despite the challenges imposed by a six- to seven-foot chop throughout the search area. The NPS employed a 41-foot vessel and two smaller patrol boats to search the waters surrounding the four islands within the search area and to transport personnel to search the islands by foot and ATV. The NPS-led teams were comprised of twelve park employees and nine employees from Ocean Springs PD. No clues were found. On Wednesday, the participating agencies - the park, the Coast Guard, and state and local agencies - begun scaling back search efforts, with the Coast Guard focusing on an area about 20 miles off-shore in the Gulf of Mexico, based on ocean current modeling. The accident is believed to have occurred within park waters roughly a mile off of Horn Island and the investigation is therefore being conducted jointly by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and the NPS. [Clayton Jordan, Chief Ranger]
Amistad NRA
Statutory Rape Charges Filed In Park Incident
On the morning of May 5th, ranger Chris Kuykendall found a vehicle with open beer cans and a condom box in plain view parked in the Governors Landing day use area. Soon after, he saw a 28-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl emerging from a nearby pit toilet building. The intoxicated man admitted to having sex with the girl in the building. The girl at first said that she had been picked up by the man from her high school, then forced to have sex in the park. She later recanted her story, saying that the sexual contact had been consensual. The Val Verde County Sheriff's Office was called in to assist with the investigation and has charged the man with sexual assault - statutory rape. Rangers Scott Suchocki and Jim Cannon assisted with the case. [Regina Klein Dissler, Chief Ranger]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS:
Natural Resource Program Center - As the world's premiere conservation agency, how will the NPS perpetuate natural systems and processes, conserve biodiversity and protect our cultural and historic heritage in the face of climate change? The answers will depend on the best available scientific data and analyses as well as firm and realistic policy positions.
HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7715" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=7715
Washington Office - A memorial service for Merrie Hinson will be held at the Old Superintents House in Yosemite on the afternoon of June 5th.
HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=2355" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=2355
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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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