NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
INCIDENTS
New River Gorge NR
Rangers Respond To Shots Fired At Domestic Disturbance
On the evening of the Fourth of July, rangers patrolled through the community of Thayer, one of many unincorporated communities within the boundaries of the park. Thayer is located in a remote section of the park in Fayette County, West Virginia. Rangers Mark Faherty and Dave Sanders noted numerous small crowds of revelers moving about the community and decided to stay in the area. Fayette County 911 center's call board lit up suddenly with multiple simultaneous reports of fighting, assaults, and shots being fired. One report indicated that an individual had shot at a van as it attempted to run him over in front of a private residence.
The rangers were so close that they were able to secure the scene, separate the involved parties, and begin victim and witness interviews within minutes of the initial call. The rangers' investigation revealed that all those involved were related. The rangers were told that a fight broke out when family members intervened in a domestic dispute involving a 29-year-old man who had pulled a machete on his girlfriend and pushed his 13-year-old nephew. After a brief altercation between the machete man and the juvenile's father, the man ran to his van and accelerated towards the father and son as well as numerous others in the road. The van struck one man, knocking him down a hillside, before the juvenile's father, truly irritated at this point, fired multiple rounds from a .38 special revolver at the van. No one was injured by the gunfire.
The driver was then pulled from the van by his own father and beaten with a stick before the driver was able to escape the ire of his father. The driver of the van ran into the woods and called 911 for help. He got it. In addition to Rangers Faherty and Sanders, Rangers Greg Adkins and Harry Perkowski, West Virginia state troopers, Fayette County sheriff's deputies, and EMS were soon on scene. The driver of the van was taken into custody by the state police and faces multiple charges, likely including attempted vehicular homicide. The investigation is ongoing.
[Jeff West, Chief Ranger]
Lake Mead NRA
Search In Progress For Missing Man
Rangers are searching for a man who was last seen in the water in the Boulder Basin of Lake Mead.
On the afternoon of July 5th, park dispatch received a call from a person who reported that a man had jumped off a boat into the water and failed to resurface. Witnesses said he was wearing a lifejacket, but it came off when he jumped into the water.
Rangers, Coast Guard personnel, and Nevada Department of Wildlife game wardens responded and began searching for the missing man, who is believed to be about a half mile from the shoreline in an area that is 80 to 160 feet deep.
Crews are continuing to search the area. The incident is under investigation.
[Public Affairs Office]
Lake Mead NRA
Body Of Teenager Recovered From Lake Mohave
The body of a 17-year-old boy from North Las Vegas was recovered from Lake Mohave on July 1st.
The boy went underwater while swimming across Morning Star Cove on the previous afternoon and failed to resurface. He was with a group of friends who were cliff jumping in the Placer Cove area who'd decided to try to swim across Morning Star Cove to another cliff about 50 yards away. The teen started having difficulties. Two other friends took turns trying to help him to safety, but they could not hold on and he went underwater.
Rangers conducted an immediate search. Using sonar, search crews located what they believed to be the body around 7:30 p.m. on June 30th. Since there is little to no visibility underwater at night, the search was postponed until daylight.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Search and Rescue divers located the body underwater late on the morning of July 1st. He was not wearing a life jacket.
[Public Affairs Office]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers):
Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division - On July 18th, the National Park Service will join people and organizations around the world in the celebration of World Listening Day, which was established to promote the practice of listening, environmental awareness, and acoustic ecology.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs - A rededication ceremony was held last month at the General Grant Tree, a national shrine in memory of the men and women of the country's armed forces. This event was part of the celebration of Kings Canyon National Park's 75th anniversary.
Isle Royale NP - On June 27th, the park and Michigan DNR joined forces to band three peregrine chicks on Passage Island. Peregrine falcons returned to the island three years ago after a 63-year absence.
Intermountain Region - Lori Rome, chief of interpretation at Capitol Reef National Park in Utah, begins an 18-month detail with the American Battle Monuments Commission in Normandy, France, later this month.
To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites:
NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index
Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/
The Morning Report is produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov).
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