Posted on 10/15/2013 3:44:35 PM PDT by llevrok
PORT ANGELES, WASH. — People who pulled into a ranger station at Olympic National Park over the weekend were given $125 tickets for "violation of closure" — entering the park during the government shutdown.
Three of the cars were a group of international students from Peninsula College led by host Kelly Sanders, a teacher from Port Angeles, the Peninsula Daily News reported Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1bU12WZ ).
They pulled off Highway 101 at Lake Crescent, got out and posed for a picture behind the Storm King Ranger Station when Ranger Jennifer Jackson pulled up and wrote all three drivers tickets. Each carries the $125 fine.
The students from Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and China were puzzled, Sanders said.
"I didn't know how to explain it to them because I can't really understand why all this happened myself," Sanders said Monday.
"I know they were surprised that we would get a ticket for trying to go for a hike."
The driveway into the Storm King lot was partially blocked by orange road cones and a sandwich board with a sign stuck to it with duct tape reading, "Because of the federal government shutdown, this National Park Service facility is closed," Sanders said.
"It was a really wide opening —wide enough I could get my car through easily," said Leanne Potts of Sequim, who also received a $125 citation from Jackson.
Potts set out that morning for a hike up the Mount Storm King Trail with her friend, Laura Clemons.
"If I knew I was going to get a ticket, I probably wouldn't have gone in there," she said.
Both Potts and Sanders were confused by the wording on the sign.
"When I think of facilities, I think of buildings or bathrooms or features or something," Potts said.
"I just assumed that it meant the bathrooms were closed, not that I would be breaking the law," Sanders said.
Ranger Jackson was sympathetic and said she wasn't being paid during the shutdown.
"She said she was just doing her job," Sanders said of Jackson. "I understand that she thought that was her job. It just seemed a little excessive."
"She did say, 'Feel free to complain. We welcome your complaints,'" Potts said.
I will now have lost any respect for these ranger types I may have had in the past.
They are behaving like thugs.
These are OUR parks and monuments. The govt DOESN’T OWN them; we do.
This really angers me. We need to channel our outrage and work against any Demorat candidate at the lowest local levels.
Trees, squirrels and the view are now considered facilities. Just another ranger making things difficult for the taxpayer. Ranger Witch intentionally set the cones far enough apart for vehicles to enter and picked up a new ticket pad just for such as this. The more money a park generates, the more money they get the following year’s budget. If they can’t generate money from entry fees, they’ll generate money from tickets via We the People trespassing upon We the People’s lands.
Did you mean Woodie Guthrie????
Arlo’s father did that song....
Would rip this ticket up and throw it on the ground in front of this bitch.
The people of the government, by the government and for the government shall not prosper on his Earth.
- Barack Obama.
could those two words be "Clear" and "Cut" ?
Ranger Jackson - Twerk.
Well there you go, they were here legally, What the hell were they thinking
coming here Legally! No wonder Obama fined them.
Say what I say: "We lost a war."
On another thread I mentioned I had some difficult issues with a NPS cop and noted so did others, long before the shutdown.
What I’d like to add, from my experience then is the NPS does not have a LEO chain of command like the FBI and other professional police agencies.
Park cops report to the park superintendent, who reports to the regional director. Couple this with the fact the NPS was overun with tree hugger type leftists beginning in the 90’s that are now in upper management positions, and just what else can be expected?
They are not professional cops, they are leftist goons gleefully following any order given that makes someone elses life miserable.
Oh shut up Ranger Jackson. Do something productive and find Yogi Bear and Boo Boo a picnic basket.
Nope.
I wonder what fine you’ll get if you light the ticket on fire and drop it in front of them.
She was just FOLLOWING ORDERS !
If you rip up the ticket and throw it in a trash can you’ll get another ticket for “Unlawful Use of Government Trash Containers”.
Look at your local city council to see if you can find any party affiliation attached to them.
Odds are that you can't because that's how the Libs infect our cities and counties.
OMgosh, It’s PAT!
“Ranger Jackson was sympathetic and said she wasn’t being paid during the shutdown.”
If she’s not being paid, why is she there and what authority does she have? She’s just another unemployed smuck as far as I can see.
Then fire up a Zippo lighter on it.
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