Free Republic

Freddrick Parks fired the bullet that killed Khambell Manning last week during a wild shootout near Miami Carol City High School that had students trapped in the school and dogs and helicopters scouring the neighborhood for hours, police said Tuesday. Parks, 17, was taken into custody Tuesday morning by Miami Gardens and Miami-Dade police, and was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 16-year-old Khambell Manning. Parks also was charged with attempting to murder Manning’s friend, 17-year-old Tranard Gray.

The National Park Service is investigating a woman who appears to have traveled from New York to several Western states in recent weeks in order to paint pointless, embarrassingly unsightly drivel all over a bunch of America’s most pristine and most iconic national parks. The crap sketcher is Casey Nocket, Modern Hiker reports. Nocket, 21, left her trail of twaddle in nearly a dozen federally-protected parks including Yosemite National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Joshua Tree National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Roger Susanin) -- A little-known Metro Parks & Recreation regulation requires people pay $125 for a permit to take photos or shoot video at Nashville public parks.

This is the time every year where we see various "Best of..." and "Year in Review" write ups on every subject imaginable. This is done for two main reasons: 1) Most of the media folks want to take some time off around the holidays and these can be written in advance and 2) they're usually fun to read. As I always try to do, I'm going against the grain and neither of these apply here - my posts are never fun to read! My other reason for writing this post is that I wanted to follow up on another piece...

Gun owners who have a concealed-carry permit can now take their weapon into select city parks following a 4-1 vote by City Council on Tuesday night that repealed a 2009 policy that banned them. The resolution vote was preceded by 14 citizens voicing their opinions on the issue, most disagreeing with the lifting of the ban and those in the minority thanking the governing body for allowing Second Amendment rights to be preserved in Bristol.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been dragging myself along, super-tired from jet lag from the Eastern Seaboard time zone change (that Maine trip), losing hours of precious sleep due to plane delays and plane diversions, and then forcing myself to rise early (3 a.m. early) each day of the work week to sync my hours with the rest of my departmentÂ’s team currently located in London (you do the math). A fuzzy brain makes writing an article on a single subject quite a challenging prospect. So, Traveler Editor-in-Chief Kurt Repanshek suggested a Q&A article. I liked that...

Called to testify before the House Natural Resources, and Oversight and Government Reform committees, National Parks Service Director Jonathan Jarvis stood by his actions during the shutdown. The most serious challenge to Jarvis' actions came from Representative Rob Bishop (R-Utah) who accused him of violating the Anti-deficiency Act. This Act prohibits agencies from undertaking additional work during a lapse in funding such as occurred during the recent shutdown. Jarvis didn't deny that sending Park Rangers to barricade open air monuments and harass tourists violated this statute. “I will grant that the text of the statute would appear to prohibit the...

Betty Reid Soskin couldn't be more delighted to be dressing for work and getting ready to head into the office.Betty Reid Soskin couldn't be more delighted to be dressing for work and getting ready to head into the office. For Soskin, the "office" is the the visitor's center at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historic Park in Richmond, Calif., which has been shuttered since Oct. 1 because of the partial government shutdown. "I'm absolutely delighted," she told NBC Bay Area on Thursday morning, after Congress voted to end the shutdown late Wednesday night. "Right now, I'm...

House Republicans on Wednesday pilloried National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis for his handling of national park and land closures during the government shutdown, raising questions about whether the agency’s reputation has been sullied by images of landmarks being barricaded to keep the American people off their own land. A tense joint hearing of the House oversight and natural-resource committees took place Wednesday following allegations that the NPS and its rangers had allowed themselves to become a political arm of the Obama administration, erecting the barriers to score political points and remind Americans of the primacy of government stewardship.

National Park Service director Jarvis said he discussed closing the open-air monuments and memorials with the White House, as well as the secretary of the Interior Department.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam says a deal to open the Great Smoky Mountains National Park parks in Tennessee for the weekend came too late for the state to send money to the federal government. The price tag? $60,000 per day.

With the Parks' restrooms at the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC closed, a truckload of portable restrooms of the sort used at construction sites was donated by private citizens. NPS Rangers blocked these from being unloaded. “The President has instructed us to shutdown this site,” explained NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis. “As everyone knows, our efforts have been thwarted by aged veterans breaching our barricades. We certainly can't reward this disobedience by allowing bladder and bowel evacuation facilities near the Memorial.” Jarvis scoffed at the notion that this could be construed as vindictive. “Hah, these guys faced worse when...

SALT LAKE CITY — National Park Service workers were busy Friday preparing to open eight national recreations sites in Utah that were closed the past 11 days due to the federal government shutdown. Zion National Park opened Friday with limited services, according to a recorded message at the park's main telephone number. Trails that don't require permits and the Zion Mount Carmel Highway are open. Both visitor centers, the Kolob Caynon scenic drive, the south campground will open this afternoon, according to the recording. The park's shuttles will begin running Saturday morning.

Soooo I'm searching for info on a Civil War historic site and click on a National Park Service page presented  (high) in the Google results- yet all I get is this: "Because of the Federal Government Shutdown,  all national parks are closed  and the National Park Service webpages are not operating.  For more information, go to www.doi.gov" It costs less somehow to generate/post disingenuous Obama propaganda and close down all their other pages, then? And these messages are putting themselves up? That ain't how it works with my server- Just in case you missed that, a big, black banner promptly...

A semi carrying porta potties pulled up yesterday beside the WW II Memorial in Washington D.C.. The porta potties were donated by private citezens to help out the visiting veterans since the facilities are closed. However, the park rangers turned the truck away and they were not allowed to unload. Michele Tennery witnessed this event and was astonished that the rangers could be so heartless in their treatment of the veterans. Michele added, “The photos show the attempted delivery of Port-A-Johns by Don’s Johns. The NPS Ranger would not allow the Port-A-Johns to be left at the WWII Memorial site...

There are a lot of good comments on various news stories around the web blaming Obama for the issues of National Parks and monuments denying access to citizens. That's all well and good but the public must be educated as to WHY Obama is at fault. If they're not educated many will dismiss the Obama blame as just more politics. A simple statement on the comments of news stores can do wonders. For example: "The National Park system is under control of the Secretary of Interior. The Secretary of the Interior is part of Obama's cabinet. These types of orders...

Find a National Park nearby, using this map, and go enjoy it this weekend. It's yours.

The bus stopped along a road when a large herd of bison passed nearby, and seniors filed out to take photos. Almost immediately, an armed ranger came by and ordered them to get back in, saying they couldn’t “recreate.” The tour guide, who had paid a $300 fee the day before to bring the group into the park, argued that the seniors weren’t “recreating,” just taking photos.“She responded and said, ‘Sir, you are recreating,’ and her tone became very aggressive,” Vaillancourt said. The seniors quickly filed back onboard and the bus went to the Old Faithful Inn, the park’s premier...

We're going to have a little test that will determine if you are an a-hole. But first, let's have a look at the real Barack Obama. Let us review what kind of person he is. Obama is supposed to be the President of all of the United States and not just the President of his party. He is supposed to watch out for the general welfare of all of us. The Presidential Oath reads: "I, name, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and I will to the best...

This has to be read to be believed. A group of competitive trail riders, having just completed 75 and 50 mile endurance rides, were evicted from Talladega NF in the middle of the night. Exhausted horses and humans were forced to move trailers out of a pine grove in the dark under threat of fines and prosecutions. The local park rangers were sympathetic, but U.S. Marshals were brought in (no doubt at great expense) to ensure that the rangers caused as much pain as possible despite their personal sympathy. Coming soon to a government function near you . . ....