Park Rangers

A MEMORABLE PLACEGhostly walk at GettysburgWe meet in a hotel parking lot in downtown Gettysburg and the three of us exchange greetings and begin to change into our uniforms. Two rebels and one Yankee. I pull on the wool trousers of the Union uniform similar to the ones my great-great-grandfather wore in 1863.We walk into a tavern called the Mine Shaft, which is where you traditionally start a ghost walk. Civil War re-enactors take a walk after the sun goes down and sleep on the battlefield on an anniversary such as this one. It is July 3 here in Gettysburg.

HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. -- Rich Ashburn enjoys the solitude of hiking and camping along the Appalachian Trail, but as he left yesterday morning on a four-day jaunt, he made a few changes in his routine.He decided to head north into Maryland from Harpers Ferry, instead of south toward the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, as he originally planned. He will camp near other people. And he is packing a can of Mace.Ashburn's anxiety was shared by many hikers along the Appalachian Trail after two women were found slain in their tent June 1 in the backwoods of Shenandoah National Park, their throats slashed.

A 29-year-old Annapolis woman was raped Tuesday by a man with a gun as she walked her dog in Quiet Waters Park, county police said.The woman entered the park with her dog about 9 a.m. and walked along a paved path that follows Hillsmere Drive. When she crossed to the far side of the park, police said, she was approached from behind by a man with a black semiautomatic pistol. The man placed the gun to her head, pulled her from the paved path to a secluded dirt path in the woods and assaulted her, police said.

The barred owl swiveled its head about, gripped Ranger John Wales' leather-gloved hand securely with its sharp talons and peered intently at his face."

Two women arrested after shop is damagedEDGEWOOD -- Sheriff's deputies arrested two women on burglary, theft and malicious destruction charges Tuesday night after several witnesses said a woman drove a brown pickup truck through a chain gate at Nelson & Wrenn Inc., an auto repair center near Routes 7 and 755, a sheriff's spokesman said yesterday.Howard Nelson, the repair shop's owner, recognized the description of the truck and driver that witnesses had given deputies, said Sgt. Edward Hopkins.

Jessica Marion blows by a defender and sends the ball ahead to 5-foot-11 Shannon Chaney who runs through everybody and sticks the ball in the net.Carina Sonberg dribbles around three people and gets the ball to Kristin Briggs who bolts through a crowd for a high percentage shot that disappears into the goal.Jill Harrison, Alicia Curran and Julie Tice control the midfield with amazing regularity.This is not a dream or a wild fantasy.These highly celebrated Anne Arundel county girls are actually playing on the same club soccer team every weekend these days.

Fifth-ranked Severna Park overpowered No. 14 Western team, 63-45, last night to gain a berth opposite unbeaten St. John's-Prospect Hall of Frederick in tonight's 8 o'clock title game at Essex Community College.In the 6 p.m. Hoops Division championship game, 16th-ranked Institute of Notre Dame will meet Randallstown.Facing a Western press most of the evening, Severna Park (4-2) got the ball up court more than enough times with almost a different person handling the ball every time to pick up its fourth straight victory.

Spaghetti saved the summer concerts in Downs Memorial Park. Or maybeit was the salad and garlic bread.One thing's for sure: Local residents and regulars at Cookie's Kitchen on Mountain Road consumed about 400 spaghetti dinners Saturday night at a fund-raiser that nettedsome $4,000 -- enough to keep folk, jazz and big band melodies floating over the Chesapeake Bay one more summer.Since soon after the Pasadena park on Pinehurst Road opened 10 years ago, hundreds of concert-goers, stargazers and picnickers have gathered Sunday nights at the band shell overlooking the bay. There, they've been entertained by barber shop quartets, military bands and even Hawaiian dancers.

"Bud" says his story is typical.The first time he tried it was back in 1972, lured by the promise of quick, easy money.Soon he found he was spending more and more money for bigger "beeps" and better highs. "Bud" soon abandoned all hope of ever breaking even. He fooled himself into believing that he was "just doing it torelax" or "to take his mind off of work."Twenty years later, "Bud" can be found most days wandering around a playground or hanging around in the shadows in the park "looking for something . . . anything."

Rangers at Susquehanna State Park near Havre de Grace closed the park's buildings last week, the final move in the park shutdown to the public for the next five months, said a spokesman for the Maryland Forest Park and Wildlife Service.Susquehanna is one of 18 state parks that are being completely or partially closed as a result of the state's cost-cutting and a state hiring freeze that began in August, said Steven Sholl, associate director for field operations with the state Forest Park and Wildlife Service, a division of the Department ofNatural Resources.

At first glance, the O'Malley administration's proposed cuts at the Department of Natural Resources for the remainder of the fiscal year seem rather mild. Eliminate the helicopter and its crew, and remove 23 vacant slots at Natural Resources Police for a total savings of $1.9 million. On first glance, it's a quick fix and fairly bloodless, unless, of course, you're the whirlybird guys. But it's not quite that simple. It never is. And it's up to you to stop it. Simply put, Natural Resources Police is a shell of its former self.

Democrat Martin O'Malley portrayed Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday as a pro-sprawl governor who has slashed the budget and staff of Maryland's park system while failing to preserve much open space. During a news conference at North Point State Park in Baltimore County, O'Malley said that as governor his goal would be to protect 150,000 acres of land from development, more than twice the acreage preserved by Ehrlich over his four years in office. "There has been a sad playbook that has been followed in our National Park Service for the last six years - reducing park rangers, jacking up fees and not taking care of our national parks," O'Malley said.

Let's pause for applause here as summer opens with a Bush administration declaration that conserving the condition and quality of national parks is a higher priority than making them available for recreational use. A gambit by the snowmobile, water scooter and ATV crowd that might have allowed them access to such serene protected places as Assateague National Seashore and Greenbelt National Park - environmental and aesthetic damage notwithstanding -...

SIERRA CHINCUA, Mexico -- With assault rifles over their shoulders and body armor strapped to their chests, Roberto Paleo and his 17 officers are among the world's most heavily armed park rangers. Yet they guard one of nature's most delicate creatures - the monarch butterfly. The rangers say they need the weapons to protect the winter nesting grounds of millions of orange and black winged butterflies from armed gangs of illegal loggers in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. The monarchs are not listed as endangered, but scientists say the deforestation could threaten their existence.

IN BALTIMORE COUNTY Assateague rangers search for Cockeysville woman ASSATEAGUE ISLAND - Park rangers were looking yesterday for a 24-year-old Cockeysville woman last seen with a man whose body was found on an Assateague Island beach early Sunday. Surfers found the man's body near a Hummer mired in the sand. Park rangers think the driver was driving off-road when the Hummer crashed and flipped over. Missing is Jennifer Holly Ashe, 24, of Cockeysville. Police said that according to witnesses, Ashe was last seen leaving to go driving with the man who was found dead.

FORT WORTH, Texas - On a routine patrol through Big Bend National Park on the Texas-Mexico border, law officer Cary Brown pulled over a speeding pickup truck and found an antsy driver with a two-way radio - and more than $2 million worth of marijuana. Narcotics interdiction is a major part of Brown's job, but the 26-year law-enforcement veteran doesn't work for the U.S. Border Patrol or any other agency typically connected with such a mission. Brown is a National Park Service ranger, and it has been a long time since he and the 40 other park rangers have been able to focus on illegal camping and other such violations as they patrol about 300 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.

A Naval Academy midshipman charged with possessing a homemade bomb on Assateague Island is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate next month in Salisbury, federal authorities said. The midshipman, Freeman E.B. Tidaback, 20, drove with classmates Brian W. Ackerson, 19, and Alexander J. Eli Powell, 20, to the Eastern Shore island Saturday, where they built a large campfire on the beach. When park rangers approached the group, they found alcohol and a plastic container filled with gasoline and an electrical "ignition system," law enforcement officials said.

A Naval Academy midshipman charged with possessing a homemade bomb on Assateague Island is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate next month in Salisbury, federal authorities said. The midshipman, Freeman E.B. Tidaback, 20, drove with classmates Brian W. Ackerson, 19, and Alexander J. Eli Powell, 20, to the Eastern Shore island Saturday, where they built a large campfire on the beach. When park rangers approached the group, they found alcohol and a plastic container filled with gasoline and an electrical "ignition system," law enforcement officials said.

ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Ariz. - Until recently, this vast park 130 miles west of Tucson and cheek-to-cheek with Mexico was known for its 26 varieties of cactus and stunning high-desert views. But during the past year, Organ Pipe has become a place where someone toting a backpack or driving a camper might be involved in something more than sightseeing. Park officials estimate that illegal users of the back country outnumber legitimate overnight hikers and campers 10 to 1. So far this year, there have been 25 major drug and alien smuggling incidents.

A MEMORABLE PLACEGhostly walk at GettysburgWe meet in a hotel parking lot in downtown Gettysburg and the three of us exchange greetings and begin to change into our uniforms. Two rebels and one Yankee. I pull on the wool trousers of the Union uniform similar to the ones my great-great-grandfather wore in 1863.We walk into a tavern called the Mine Shaft, which is where you traditionally start a ghost walk. Civil War re-enactors take a walk after the sun goes down and sleep on the battlefield on an anniversary such as this one. It is July 3 here in Gettysburg.