Breaking the law in yosemite

[AdamF 0]

Here s a news link to an article on the "overzealous behaviour of the Yosemite law enforcment community". The link requires a subscrption.

http://www.latimes.com/search/dispatcher.front?Query=yosemite&target=article&x=19&y=4

Same old story...jail for jay walking, four-figure fines for things like public consumption of alcohol. This time it's grandmothers and tourists, not BASE jumpers.

Gardner/ABP board members---here is some ammo!

I read the article in my local paper (not the LA Times). If someone can source an all-access copy online, please post the link. If not, I'll scan it and post it later in the WE.


Happy Holidays

Adam Filippino
Consolidated Rigging

[base428 1]

Here are the articles.....although this probably won't be a surprise to BASE jumpers (PDF's are attached for your archives)

Breaking Law Is No Walk in Park

Some Yosemite visitors and workers say rangers can be overzealous in enforcing rules. Officials say their good deeds far exceed any lapses.

By Julie Cart
Times Staff Writer

December 13, 2004
----------------------
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK — The evening had begun so well. After wine and dinner at the elegant Ahwahnee Hotel last year, Australian tourists Margaret and Andre Vischer stepped into the frigid High Sierra night and into their rental car.

As they drove through the first dark intersection, neither of them noticed the park ranger's vehicle. Andre, 58, recalled seeing a stop sign and lightly touching the brakes but not coming to a full stop.

After they were pulled over by the rangers, Vischer said he told them about the bottle of wine he and his wife had shared during their four-hour dinner. Both Vischers were given Breathalyzer tests. Andre's blood alcohol registered .08, the minimum at which a person is considered legally drunk. Margaret tested at .06.

Andre was frisked, handcuffed, read his rights and taken away by two rangers. Another ranger drove the couple's rental car while Margaret remained at the side of the road where a male ranger frisked her, handcuffed her and took her to Yosemite's small jail to spend the night. There, she was fingerprinted, photographed, questioned and told to strip, shower and put on an orange jumpsuit.

When Margaret asked why she was being jailed even though her blood-alcohol level was under the legal limit and she was not driving, she said rangers told her they considered her a danger to herself and others. The next day she was released without being charged.

The couple spent Margaret's 60th birthday a few days later at the park's federal courthouse, where Andre pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and paid a $2,500 fine.

"The whole thing was totally intimidating and humiliating and totally unnecessary," Margaret Vischer said in a recent telephone interview from the couple's home in Sydney.

Cam Sholly, Yosemite's deputy chief ranger, said the decision to arrest Margaret Vischer was discretionary. "This was a fine line between taking someone into custody for their own safety and releasing someone whose judgment is impaired to a degree that they could be a danger to themselves," he said.

But Margaret Vischer's story has a familiar ring to other visitors, employees and defense attorneys with similar accounts of alleged overzealous policing in a place where people come to relax and expect to be treated like guests. Most of the people who have questioned the conduct of park rangers acknowledged doing something out of line. Nonetheless, they contend that the treatment by park rangers was out of proportion to the minor infractions they committed and out of place in a national park.

Beth Shilliday, a 35-year-old assignment editor for KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles, said she was treated for a concussion and bruises after rangers threw her to the ground while arresting her on suspicion of drunk driving and possession of a small amount of marijuana. Her car and others were stopped during a search for a missing child in August.

Park officials told The Times, which like KTLA-TV is owned by the Tribune Co., that Shilliday was intoxicated and uncooperative, and whatever injuries she suffered she caused herself. Shilliday has pleaded not guilty and her case is pending in Yosemite's federal court. Meanwhile, the park has launched an internal investigation into the rangers' behavior.

Leah Sesto, an 18-year-old clerk in the park in 2000, said she was dragged out of bed by rangers and arrested on suspicion of being drunk a few hours after friends had escorted her to her room. "It was the first time I'd ever had anything to drink," said Sesto, who described herself as "a goody-goody church kid."

She pleaded guilty to being under the influence of alcohol.

Interviewed at the park, Yosemite Supt. Mike Tollefson vigorously defended his rangers, saying their daily unheralded efforts to save lives and keep the park and visitors safe far outstrip occasional judgment errors.

"I would adamantly disagree that there is a zero tolerance policy in this park," Tollefson said. "We certainly have problems periodically. Of the complaints we get, law enforcement is the minority, but we take those the most seriously."

Despite its bucolic setting amid towering granite walls and waterfalls, Yosemite National Park is subject to the same social ills that police contend with elsewhere. In the mid-1980s, a report from the Interior Department's inspector general found a prostitution ring operating at the Ahwahnee Hotel and estimated that 85% of the park's commercial workforce used illegal drugs.

Five years ago, three tourists and a nature guide were slain just outside the park. In October, a manhunt for another multiple killer led to a remote section of the park where the suspect started a 2,000-acre fire before fatally shooting himself.

"If you let your guard down, we might lose a ranger here in Yosemite. I don't want that to happen," Sholly said.

Today, 50 full-time rangers are responsible for enforcing the law in the 1,200-square-mile park. They deal with assaults, thefts, arson, illegal hunting and vandalism. Park officials said there have been more than 4,600 citations this year and 306 arrests, higher than last year's tally but well below the record high of 846 arrests in 1992.

Tollefson said he stresses the importance of getting out of patrol cars and interacting more with visitors. "Our job here is to educate and to articulate why the park is important," he said.

Yet much of the criticism of law enforcement practices in the park centers on the way rangers respond to people who question why they're being stopped.

"One of the things I see as a pattern is people being arrested for mouthing off to rangers," said Carrie Leonetti, an assistant federal public defender who represents people arrested in the park. "Time and time again I have clients tell me that they are arrested for asking questions such as, 'Am I being detained?' "

John Reynolds, former director of the Park Service's Western region, which includes Yosemite, said in a recent interview that the park has long had a reputation for no-nonsense policing.

"Yosemite was upsetting from a number of points of view," said Reynolds, who resigned in 2000. "There was a fair amount of concern — unsubstantiated concern — at the regional office level."

Employees of the park's concessionaire say rangers shadow them waiting for the slightest infraction and talk about "sleeping with one eye open." Climbers who gather here to scale the park's famous granite walls joke about "getting tooled in the Valley."

Tollefson acknowledged there have been conflicts with climbers, whom he said "are at the edge in a variety of ways."

A chat room on a website for park rangers offers a different take on those relations.

"Search the pack and get the drugs," reads one anonymous entry. "Who cares if you have consent. No one is going to believe a Deadhead over a Ranger. Worthless scumbag deserves what he gets."

Drugs and alcohol figure into many arrests in the park, said Sholly, pointing out that there are as many as 20 establishments in Yosemite where alcohol is served or sold at various times of year.

He said rangers would be derelict if they were not on the lookout for drunk drivers, given the park's winding roads, distracting scenery and wandering wildlife.

Yet critics contend that rangers, at times, can pose the greatest threat. Don Squires, an Alameda County Superior Court judge, said he witnessed such an incident in the summer of 2000.

According to Squires and official reports, a group of British soldiers was drinking beer at a crowded outdoor cafe in Yosemite Valley. The young men were singing raucously, Squires said, but he and his wife, who were chaperoning several young children, saw nothing but bonhomie on a "lovely afternoon."

However, after a patron complained that one of the soldiers "mooned" someone in the crowd, Squires said rangers quickly intervened, hogtying and striking one of the soldiers as they dragged him off the deck.

"It was an excessive use of force and an outrageous abuse of authority," Squires said. "I was stone-cold sober just a few feet away with an uninterrupted view, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was a terrible thing for kids to see."

The soldier pleaded guilty to being under the influence of alcohol, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

It's not always visitors who run afoul of Yosemite rangers.

Park workers complain they have been charged with public drunkenness simply for drinking a beer on the front steps of employee dormitories or as they walked from their rooms to nearby bathrooms. One young woman was stopped after leaving a party in July and charged with "internal possession' of alcohol," a reference to the contents of her stomach. The charge was dismissed.

Stories like that abound in the valley, said Greg Johnson, vice president of the local Service Employees International Union, which represents concessions employees in the park.

Tollefson disagreed. "I don't think we have rangers hiding in the bushes waiting for concessions employees to do something wrong," the park superintendent said.

Yet some employees say fear of harassment causes them to live outside the park, entailing longer commutes and higher rents. "I moved away from my home of eight years because of it," said Bryan Kay, 33, who lived and worked in the valley and volunteered on the park's search and rescue team. "I packed my bags. I said, 'I'm moving to America.' Now I commute an hour and a half to my job."


####################################
####################################

The Role of Rangers in Yosemite Park

December 18, 2004

I was taken aback by the Dec. 13 article, "Breaking Law Is No Walk in Park," which suggested that Yosemite National Park rangers were overzealous in enforcing rules. I am sorry that some visitors to Yosemite have had negative experiences with park rangers and glad that the instances are being investigated. However, I feel strongly that the article misrepresents the behavior of Yosemite's rangers as a whole.

For more than three years I worked in Yosemite National Park as an interpretive ranger. Although my main job was to teach about the park, I often worked with or around law enforcement officers.

Continually, I was struck by how much law enforcement they did through education. I saw them in the backcountry, explaining how to camp with the least impact to the resource, and in the "frontcountry," explaining how to keep black bears wild. I even saw them on the road, explaining how a speed limit is there for both public safety and for wildlife. The law enforcement rangers did this constantly despite having to deal with the full spectrum of urban crime, despite being overworked and understaffed, and even though it was supposed to be their weekend. In short, they were dedicated to educating the public.

Caroline Deppe

Los Angeles

*

As an former park employee, I applaud this article on the "overzealous policing" by the National Park Service law enforcement. I lived in the park for four years, maintaining an excellent work status with not a spot on my criminal record. That was until I was arrested for walking home under the influence of alcohol. My frustration isn't only centered on the rangers, but also on the federal prosecutors who vehemently push decent people into criminal status. Given a zero tolerance probation, I found myself being harassed at work and in my residence. Rangers would even patrol outside my window.

Are these "their daily unheralded efforts to save lives and keep the park and visitors safe" that Yosemite Supt. Mike Tollefson speaks of?

The collusion between rangers and prosecutors turn any minute infraction into a criminal situation, which the average employee can't fight in court. I encourage everyone who has been railroaded by rangers and prosecutors to write to Tollefson and help him see what's really going on.

Joel Bisson

Mammoth Lakes

(c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted. <==For the media only

[K763 0]

Is it just my perspective, or do these rangers seem to have a grude against anyone actually hjaving fun and enjoying the Parks? Why do people let their own fears or baises dicatate to them what should be legal or illegal?

For a "free country", this seems to be normal, and that is quite alarming.

Peace,
K

[NickDG 23]

It's the standard law enforcement dilemma. Most people entering police work do so with some sense of civic duty. It's the innocence of the young. After a few years the culture of the work teaches you that everyone is a threat and a bad person. People who commit crimes are bad, people who report crimes are bad, anyone you come in contact with is bad.

Making every little thing a federal case, as described up-board, is how the NPS justifies their own existence, in terms of numbers and budget. Most federal agencies spend most of their time doing that. The bigger the budget, the bigger the manpower rolls, the more power you have to yield, and that gets you more money and power. And power is what it's all about.

I certainly don't want to throw gasoline on a feud that seems to be cooling, but no matter what good things may happen in the future, the way the NPS have treated BASE jumpers in the past has been all wrong. And any history of that relationship will always begin there . . .

And Karen is right, the more we criminalize small transgressions, the more we lose our spirit. Attached is an old cartoon I ran in The Fixed Object Journal. It's a fantasy flashback to a time Park Rangers first came in contact with BASE jumpers, and it shows how easily it could have all went the other way, it would have took just one enlightened Ranger . . .

NickD BASE 194

[leroydb 0]

Its the 1st unwritten rule in any organization. Be it the FBI or the boy scouts. You must do what ever it takes to keep that organization going. Usually it is by gaining more power, money, and or resources.

Funny enough it sorta seems that Base jumpers and the NPS both have the same goal, continuation of each groups existance.

Quote

Making every little thing a federal case, as described up-board, is how the NPS justifies their own existence, in terms of numbers and budget. Most federal agencies spend most of their time doing that. The bigger the budget, the bigger the manpower rolls, the more power you have to yield, and that gets you more money and power. And power is what it's all about.

Leroy


..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio...

[tfelber 0]

I read the Terminal Velocity article from the "World Famous" thread and then this thread and I just have to wonder...

How can rope jumping be legal in Yosemite and BASEing illegal??? That makes no sense to me.

I realize one could say I was climbing and I slipped, good thing I had a rope tied on, but you could also say I was climbing and I slipped good thing I had my rig on!

But this issue has been ongoing for quite some while and it seems there has been little or no progress since the JD demonstration jump. We are living in the US and we do have the ability as a group of people to make and change laws. Why are we having such a problem getting this fairly recent law overturned?

BASE jumping has no more of a negative impact on the environment than hiking or climbing. And people die hiking and climbing. And emergency services have to be utilized to deal with those incidents. So what's the real issue here?

[base428 1]

There IS a lot happening behind the scenes from the ABP (Alliance of Backcountry Parachutists) in regards to legal jumping in National Parks. The ABP has just been somewhat silent on this forum over the last 3-4 months. I'm sure we'll divulge more soon enough. Maybe Gardner wants to give everyone an overview?

As for the "rope jumps" performed in Yosemite, I read that the NPS was not happy with them and they were looking for a way to shut them down as well. Typical.

Cya.

(c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted. <==For the media only

[NickDG 23]

>>As for the "rope jumps" performed in Yosemite, I read that the NPS was not happy with them and they were looking for a way to shut them down as well. Typical. <<

The NPS will make give Rope Jumping a legal nod for a trial period, but impose a bunch of impossible rules for rope jumpers to follow. After a few weeks they'll present the list of infractions, and then shut down rope jumping forever . . .

This strategy is outlined in the Ranger Manual under the following section(s);

Section 9: The NPS owns the National Parks by virtue of the fact we have the keys.
Subpart 27: Screw everyone else.

NickD BASE 194

[TomAiello 26]

It would be difficult to outlaw rope jumping without banning climbing, since leader falls are essentially short rope jumps.

Climbing has a long and rich history in the Valley. And the NPS has taken some steps to try to rid their nice little park of those grungy climbers. Fortunately (from my perspective, not the NPS') some of those grungy climbers who used to dive dumpsters in Camp 4 in the 60's grew up and started little companies (like Patagonia, Black Diamond, Royal Robbins, Wild Things, etc.), some of which grew into rather larger concerns. When the NPS tried to take legal action (in the 90's) they found a rather more professional (and well funded) set of climbers opposing them.

I think that funding has a whole lot to do with these kinds of issues. Remember when the NPS tried to ban the replacement of fixed climbing anchors (bolts)? REI put in a call to their Senator (Slade Gorton, R-WA), who shut down the NPS budget until they reconsidered.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[NickDG 23]

>>It would be difficult to outlaw rope jumping without banning climbing, since leader falls are essentially short rope jumps. <<

Parachute jumps in the Parks are legal too, when it's an emergency . . .

NickD BASE 194

[leroydb 0]

saving ur life is an emergency right? lol haha

Leroy


..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio...

[Faber 0]

Quote

>>It would be difficult to outlaw rope jumping without banning climbing, since leader falls are essentially short rope jumps. <<

Parachute jumps in the Parks are legal too, when it's an emergency . . .

must rember a weapon to hunt dangerus BASEjumpers off the cliff

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[pgpilot 0]

There is a thread here:

http://ww4.web-partners.com/forums/Thread.cfm?CFApp=3&Thread_ID=10304&mc=48

sorry don't know clicky technology...
Where paraglider pilots are complaining about the same stuff...
Perhaps an alliance is in order.
Paraglider pilots have the strength of the USHGA behind them, about 11,000 members strong.
-M.

[Faber 0]

http://ww4.web-partners.com/forums/Thread.cfm?CFApp=3&Thread_ID=10304&mc=48

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[Bigwallmaster 0]

A little story about NPS Park Rangers.

They are poorly trained when it comes to law enforcement. I was on a climbing trip about 5 years ago. My cronies and I had been in the park less than 30 minutes when we got hassled. We had been drinking, but none of us was legally drunk. They hauled us off anyhow. They also found a bag of mushrooms and some dope in my buddies car. Okay here's why I think the rangers are idiots; 2 days later after we got out of jail and the court hearing was done, we went to the impound yard to get my buddies car, and there on the front seat was the shrooms and dope!!

And yes, we stayed, we climbed, and we shroomed!!!

Cheers,

J.P.

[Bigwallmaster 0]

BASE jumping has no more of a negative impact on the environment than hiking or climbing. And people die hiking and climbing. And emergency services have to be utilized to deal with those incidents. So what's the real issue here?
----------------------------------------------------------

I am in full support of making BASE in Yosemite legal. And I agreee with what you said; in fact climbing has much more of an impact on the environment than BASE. If you have ever done a wall in Yosemite, you'll know that some of the belays smell like latrines, and the base of the walls. . . . .huh! Lets just say there is more than enough garbage to make it unsightly. But as a fair and balanced person, I can understand why the NPS doesn't want parachutes popping off EL Cap on a busy summer day. There is a traffic problem in the park, and let's face it, your everyday day Joe is naturally pretty shocked when they see someone parachuting off of a Yosemite wall. The area around El Cap meadow can be very congested with pedestrian foot and bike traffic. A distracted driver could cause an accident. But at the very least, NPS could make it legal for BASE during the early morning hours before the heavy traffic begins. Not to mention making it legal to jump other sites in the valley, where spectators aren't an issue.

The bottom line is that the NPS hasn't done a very good at being fair and balanced in the design of their laws, let alone the enforcement of these laws. It will be very interesting to watch happens in light of the "behind the scenes" issues that 428 mentioned.

Cheers,

Bigwall

[TomAiello 26]

Quote

...I can understand why the NPS doesn't want parachutes popping off...on a busy summer day.

This argument disappears in some other National Parks, where private vehicles are not allowed during peak season.

Just as a point of reference, something like 85% of YOSAR dollars are spent on run of the mill "lost hiker" calls. Climbing and BASE make up a percentage of their time small enough to be relatively inconsequential. Plus, the YOSAR guys actually _like_ getting climbing calls--it's a heck of a lot less boring than walking 2 miles past Mirror Lake because Uncle Fred got lost while playing mountain man.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[peterk 0]

How many people on here have taken the time to send a letter to the NPS/Yosemite/etc concerning backcountry parachuting?

I agree it is more fun to make fun of LeRoy, but it isn't very productive.

---------------
Peter
BASE - The Ultimate Victimless Crime

[base428 1]

Listen to the Yosemite NPS on my answering machine WAV file....priceless.

(c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted. <==For the media only

[TomAiello 26]

Quote

How many people on here have taken the time to send a letter to the NPS/Yosemite/etc concerning backcountry parachuting?

Check. More than one letter. Since I'm a believer in representative democracy I've also written my Congressmen and Senators.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[NickDG 23]

>>I can understand why the NPS doesn't want parachutes popping off EL Cap on a busy summer day. There is a traffic problem in the park, and let's face it, your everyday day Joe is naturally pretty shocked when they see someone parachuting off of a Yosemite wall.<<

I agree with you on this one. I fully realize they can't open the park to every wacko with a use issue. However, what makes us a bit different, and why we deserve a bit more consideration, is we can't do these kinds of high cliff jumps anywhere else in the USA.

And I know that over time the traffic and gawking problems could be managed, just like they control things around other attractions.

In the meantime, I think jumping Half Dome could be made legal right now without the problems mentioned above.

NickD BASE 194

[TomAiello 26]

Just a note to anyone following this:

I'm leaving site names in because they are very relevant to particular considerations for the NPS (i.e. there is traffic in some places but not in others).

We know that, historically, these sites were once jumped, before the park service banned jumping on its lands. As we all know, no one has jumped any of these sites since that time without being arrested.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[NickDG 23]

>>Listen to the Yosemite NPS on my answering machine WAV file....priceless. <<

That's a classic . . .

I guess Jan Davis is still fresh in their minds.

I will give that Ranger credit however; he seemed more concerned with your safety, then busting you.

It's a start . . . And I'd love to see something good happen in the Park stemming from this beautiful person's passing. I'm thinking, in hindsight, the way Jan's death occurred, how it involved both Rangers and BASE jumpers from the get go, and how hard it was taken in the BASE community, may have humanized us a bit more in the eyes of the NPS.

NickD BASE 194

[TomAiello 26]

Jason, I don't know if I ever told you this, but...

A while ago, I had a roommate who was a seasonal ranger in Yosemite (he was getting his Ph.D. during the rest of the year). I played that for him, and the next summer, when I was in Yosemite, he introduced me to the guy who left that message. We talked about BASE a bit. It was interesing.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Bigwallmaster 0]

Oops. I didn't even realize I had posted a site name. Sorry about that.