NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

INCIDENTS

Sagamore Hill NHS

Historic Walrus Tusk Stolen From Home

The National Park Service and local authorities are investigating the theft of a 15-inch-long walrus tusk that belonged to Theodore Roosevelt and was taken from his historic home at Sagamore Hill. The tusk, a valued part of the home's collection, was apparently removed from the fireplace mantel in the second floor guest room of the house in the sometime between February 9th and February 22nd. Park staff immediately notified law enforcement authorities in the regional office in Philadelphia, who are collaborating with the Old Brookville Police Department on the investigation. The walrus tusk, one of a pair of tusks that was exhibited in a bedroom on the second floor of the home, is 15 inches long, with a circumference of 5.5 inches. The rough outer surface has been polished and the tip has been carved and sharpened. The NPS is working with the FBI to have the tusk added to the FBI's national stolen art list. A reward of $1,000 is being offered to anyone with information leading to the return of the tusk. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the tusk is asked to contact NPS special agent Jeffrey Pascale at 215-597-9978. [Thomas Ross, Superintendent] NOTE: The on-line article includes a photo of the stolen tusk…

OTHER NEWS

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

National Capital Region - The NPS has issued its annual forecast for the peak cherry blossom period in Washington, predicting that it will occur during the first full week of April.

Washington Office - Chris Upton, a 37-year-old U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer, was shot and killed late last Friday night during a routine patrol of a recreation site on the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in Jasper County, Georgia. Guidance is provided for NPS employees on wearing black mourning bands.

Fire and Aviation Management - One of the highlights of the first-ever NPS Fire and Aviation Management Workshop, held in San Antonio, Texas, during the first week of February, was the presentation of a number of Department of the Interior aviation awards for outstanding service to both DOI and the NPS. The recipients and their citations are listed.

To see these and other stories posted on InsideNPS (or NPS Digest, its public version), click on one or the other of the following links (please note that not all stories in the former appear in the latter):

NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index

Non-NPS employees: HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/

NPS serious incident submission standards can be found at the following web site: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/notify" http://inside.nps.gov/notify

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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