NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, August 6, 2015

INCIDENTS

Lake Mead NRA

Bodies Of Two People Found In Stuck Minivan

The bodies of a man and woman from Golden Valley, Arizona, were found near Greggs Hideout in Lake Mead National Recreation Area on Sunday, August 2nd.

Park dispatch received a call just before 5 p.m. reporting that bodies of the two people were found in a minivan by a third party who was passing through.

Mohave County Sheriff's Office deputies and National Park Service rangers responded and located the pair in a minivan that was stuck in the dirt on Salt Spring Wash Road. They appeared to have died from environmental exposure. Only two bottles of water were found at the scene and there was no cell phone coverage in the area.

The Mohave County Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death and confirm the victims' identities. The incident is under investigation.

[Public Affairs Office]

Badlands NP

Rangers Intervene In Serious Campground Altercation

Late on the evening of August 2nd, Rangers Justin Cawiezel, Danny Baker and Tyson Nehring, with assistance from the South Dakota Highway Patrol officers and Jackson County Sheriff's Office deputies, responded to the Cedar Pass Campground after a report that a domestic altercation had occurred between a man - identified as J.D.C. - and his girlfriend, in which J.D.C. threatened to kill her. 

Rangers and officers found a loaded .45 caliber handgun, knives and pepper spray at the campsite. They intercepted J.D.C. and his son at the intersection of Highway 377 and the entrance road to the Cedar Pass Campground within minutes.  

J.D.C. was detained by rangers and told them that he did not have a handgun in his possession as reported by the girlfriend.  However, he later admitted to hiding the10mm handgun, which was recovered by rangers.

With no physical evidence of domestic assault, both parties were separated. J.D.C. was charged with disorderly conduct and scheduled for a mandatory court appearance in Rapid City.

[Casey J. Osback, Chief Ranger]

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):

Cultural Resources - Today marks the 50th anniversary of the historic Voting Rights Act, passed on August 6, 1965, and generally considered the most successful piece of civil rights legislation ever adopted by the United States Congress. The National Park Service has developed a new website to commemorate this anniversary.

White Sands NM - White Sands National Monument's neighbor, Holloman Air Force Base, hosts a Big Give competition each year to give back to their community. The park was one of this year's beneficiaries.

Ulysses S Grant NHS - Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site has partnered with the YMCA of Greater St. Louis in the development of a weeklong “1863 and Me: The Civil War Experience” day camp.

Intermountain Region - Chris Ryan, a 29-year veteran of the NPS, has been selected as the new superintendent of Amistad National Recreation Area in Del Rio, Texas. He assumes his new duties immediately.

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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