Tour Guide accuses Yellowstone Park Rangers of “Gestapo tactics”

Legal Insurrection ^ | 10-8-2013 | William A. Jacobson

[servo1969]

Foreign tourists locked in hotel under armed guard thought they were under arrest.

Yellowstone National Park is among a number of popular destination closed by the National Park Service as a result of the scale-back.

Some tourists and a tour guide are complaining about rough handling by park rangers of tourists in the park at the time of closure.

A New Hampshire tourist, along with many foreign tourists, were in Yellowstone National Park when the “shutdown” went into effect, and were met with armed park rangers who detained the group to the extent that the foreign tourists thought they were under arrest. The rangers stopped them from taking photos, and told them they were not allowed to “recreate” while in the park.

The Newburyport (MA) Daily News reports on the trip (h/t realmyiq2xu):

Pat Vaillancourt went on a trip last week that was intended to showcase some of America’s greatest treasures.

Instead, the Salisbury resident said she and others on her tour bus witnessed an ugly spectacle that made her embarrassed, angry and heartbroken for her country. Vaillancourt was one of thousands of people who found themselves in a national park as the federal government shutdown went into effect on Oct. 1.

For many hours her tour group, which included senior citizen visitors from Japan, Australia, Canada and the United States, were locked in a Yellowstone National Park hotel under armed guard.

The tourists were treated harshly by armed park employees, she said, so much so that some of the foreign tourists with limited English skills thought they were under arrest.

When finally allowed to leave, the bus was not allowed to halt at all along the 2.5-hour trip out of the park, not even to stop at private bathrooms that were open along the route.

When the seniors exited the bus, they were not allowed to take pictures of a herd of bison:

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 Livingston (MT) Enterprise interviewed the Tour Guide:

The tour director, Gordon Hodgson of Utah, learned his group would not be allowed to walk on any of the boardwalks located just outside their hotel, or visit any other geyser basins in the area.

Hodgson said the group was scheduled to spend two nights at the Inn. When they got up on Tuesday morning, they headed out to see Yellowstone for the day, planning to return to the Inn for their second night’s stay later in the day. Hodgson said they headed north out of Old Faithful and pulled over to let passengers out to take photos of bison.

Hodgson said in a phone interview Monday that a ranger pulled up behind the bus and told him he would have to get everyone back on the bus — recreation in Yellowstone was not allowed.

“She told me you need to return to your hotel and stay there,” Hodgson said. “This is just Gestapo tactics. We paid a lot to get in. All these people wanted to do was take some pictures.”

Hodgson said the ranger told him he could be convicted of trespassing if he disobeyed.

I don’t think this was “Gestapo” tactics, but it was rough treatment considering people already were in the park. Since the Park Service knew some scale back in funding was coming, more orderly plans could have been made to deal with people in the park and to ensure their exit in an orderly and respectful manner.

[mojito]

Dear Mr. and Mrs. America,

This is the face of your government.

Enjoy!

And then ask yourself: Would it really be such a bad thing to shut these people down, permanently?

[silverleaf]

he’s a renter living on federal property and the police ought to be escortng him off the property like every other citizen is being treated

and take the keys to Air Force One

No more joyrides to million dollar fundraisers in NYC and Hollywood

[headsonpikes]

This is just the type of behavior that leads to a compelling argument for:

"Heads On Pikes"

Don't say I never expressed my concern!

[Charles Henrickson]

DUmmie FUnnies 10-07-13 ("This Land's Not Your Land": DUmmies down with Obama's park shutdown)

THIS LAND'S NOT YOUR LAND
Tune: "This Land Is Your Land"
As sung by King Obama

This land's not your land, this land is my land
Shut down or open, it comes from my hand
From Barack Obama to the bitter clingers:
This land's not made for you to see

If you go driving an interstate highway
And see an orange cone, you'll do it my way
You will obey me and not go forward
This land's not made for you to see

This land's not your land, this land is my land
Shut down or open, it comes from my hand
From Barack Obama to the bitter clingers:
This land's not made for you to see

You'll want to travel and go to Mount Rushmore
But at Rapid City, you won't go much more
Guards will surround you, their voices sounding:
This land's not made for you to see

This land's not your land, this land is my land
Shut down or open, it comes from my hand
From Barack Obama to the bitter clingers:
This land's not made for you to see

If you oppose me, I'll make you suffer
Come near memorials, I'll put up a buffer
I am Obama, I am your land lord
This land's not made for you to see

This land's not your land, this land is my land
Shut down or open, it comes from my hand
From Barack Obama to the bitter clingers:
This land's not made for you to see

If you go looking, you'll see a sign there
And on the sign it says: "There's No Trespassing"
And on the other side: "No Looking or Nothing!"
Both sides were made for you to see

This land's not your land, this land is my land
Shut down or open, it comes from my hand
From Barack Obama to the bitter clingers:
This land's not made for you to see

At the Redwood Forest, in the land of the Canyons
By the Gulfstream Waters, you'll see my minions
As they stand there guarding, you'll stand there wond'ring:
Is this land safe for me to see?

This land's not your land, this land is my land
Shut down or open, it comes from my hand
From Barack Obama to the bitter clingers:
This land's not made for you to see

No one can stop me, my mind is made up
As I go putting my Barrycades up
Nobody living can make me give your land back
This land's not made for you to see

New voices:

But King Obama, this land is our land
So shut your piehole, you can go pound sand
From the bitter clingers to Barack Obama:
This land was founded to be free

This land ain't your land, this land is our land
So shut your piehole, you can go pound sand
From the bitter clingers to Barack Obama:
This land was founded to be free

[Robert DeLong]

not allowed to “recreate” while in the park

I wonder if that applies to the bears and other wildlife in the park?

[silverleaf]

where is Clark W. Griswald when we need him?

[silverleaf]

Ranger Bob acting like a very baaaaad man
Calling Yogi and Boo Boo!
Time to arm bears!

[mcshot]

I hope names are being taken so these enemies of the people can be held accountable. They may demand respect but they haven’t earned it and don’t deserve it. Can’t wait until I can tell the first one I see what A—holes they are.

[henkster]

“Have any of the MSM covered this crap?”

And the hammer hits the nail squarely on the head. This is the conduct of a totalitarian state. Period. “It can’t happen here.”

Oh yes, it can. It is happening now. You would think it would get 24/7 coverage. It would if it were a Republican in the White House. But the fact it isn’t tells me all I need to know.

Welcome to communism, comrades. The Republic is dead. I don’t think this killed it. It actually died when 0bama was elected. What were are seeing now is just how it plays out. And will get worse and worse every day.

For a few years now Freepers have been posting about how 0bama is going to come up with some scheme to get “elected” to a “third term.” I thought that was tin-foil hat delusional. Today, I put on the hat.

[Las Vegas Ron]

I wonder where the “cops can do no wrong crowd” is

[liberalh8ter]

It appears we've identified the first of the brown shirts......a.k.a. Park Rangers.

[Rodamala]

"Thou Shall Not Recreate"

Thus, it is deemed by His Holiest of all that is Holy, The One, our Savior, Fearless Dear Leader, His Purple-Lipped Magnificence, Barry Soetoro.

[sand88]

Didn’t take them anytime at all to devolve to being jackboots, did it?

I am certain that the PTB in the Nazi Park Service make sure only hard-core leftists are hired.

The NPS needs to be dissolved. All NPS Nazis need to be fired, their pensions revoked and ALL assets seized.

They have shown themselves to be enemies of our Constitution.

[Rodamala]

I made this:

(Click the picture for the whole story in a thread I started last Friday... details at #34)

[sport]

I don’t like it myself, but this is the stuff those who voted for him voted for. They say that it was Blacks that put him in office, but I have seem more obama/Biden 2012 stickers on vehicles driven and occupied by Whites than I have seen on vehicles driven by Blacks and by a wide margin. I even saw a Ford pickup with a “U.S. Air Force Retired” on one side of the tailgate and a “Obama/Biden 2012” sticker on the other side of the tailgate in Brandon , Florida. It was being driven by a White man. And now they are getting what they voted for.

[Neidermeyer]

HEY HEY ... we're just browsing ,, not recreating ... Is this thing an odd or an end?

[Big Red Badger]

clamper,

I think the USA we grew up in is Gone.
We have been Soldout.
We have watched it happen and it will never be the same.

[mason-dixon]

There are NPS park rangers & NPS armed park rangers with police powers.