Posted on 10/08/2013 11:24:37 AM PDT by llevrok
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.
“We’ve become a country of fear, guns and control,” said Vaillancourt, who grew up in Lawrence. “It was like they brought out the armed forces. Nobody was saying, ‘we’re sorry,’ it was all like — ” as she clenched her fist and banged it against her forearm.
Vaillancourt took part in a nine-day tour of western parks and sites along with about four dozen senior citizen tourists. One of the highlights of the tour was to be Yellowstone, where they arrived just as the shutdown went into effect.
Rangers systematically sent visitors out of the park, though some groups that had hotel reservations — such as Vaillancourt’s — were allowed to stay for two days. Those two days started out on a sour note, she said.
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 lodge located adjacent to the park’s most famous site, Old Faithful geyser. That was as close as they could get to the famous site — barricades were erected around Old Faithful, and the seniors were locked inside the hotel, where armed rangers stayed at the door.
“They looked like Hulk Hogans, armed. They told us you can’t go outside,” she said. “Some of the Asians who were on the tour said, ‘Oh my God, are we under arrest?’ They felt like they were criminals.”
By Oct. 3 the park, which sees an average of 4,500 visitors a day, was nearly empty. The remaining hotel visitors were required to leave.
As the bus made its 2.5-hour journey out of Yellowstone, the tour guide made arrangements to stop at a full-service bathroom at an in-park dude ranch he had done business with in the past. Though the bus had its own small bathroom, Vaillancourt said seniors were looking for a more comfortable place to stop. But no stop was made — Vaillancourt said the dude ranch had been warned that its license to operate would be revoked if it allowed the bus to stop. So the bus continued on to Livingston, Mont., a gateway city to the park.
The bus trip made headlines in Livingston, where the local newspaper Livingston Enterprise interviewed the tour guide, Gordon Hodgson, who accused the park service of “Gestapo tactics.”
“The national parks belong to the people,” he told the Enterprise. “This isn’t right.”
Calls to Yellowstone’s communications office were not returned, as most of the personnel have been furloughed.
Many of the foreign visitors were shocked and dismayed by what had happened and how they were treated, Vaillancourt said.
“A lot of people who were foreign said they wouldn’t come back (to America),” she said.
The National Parks’ aggressive actions have spawned significant criticism in western states. Governors in park-rich states such as Arizona have been thwarted in their efforts to fund partial reopenings of parks. The Washington Times quoted an unnamed Park Service official who said park law enforcement personnel were instructed to “make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.”
The experience brought up many feelings in Vaillancourt. What struck her most was a widely circulated story about a group of World War II veterans who were on a trip to Washington, D.C., to see the World War II memorial when the shutdown began. The memorial was barricaded and guards were posted, but the vets pushed their way in.
That reminded her of her father, a World War II veteran who spent three years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
“My father took a lot of crap from the Japanese,” she recalled, her eyes welling with tears. “Every day they made him bow to the Japanese flag. But he stood up to them.
“He always said to stand up for what you believe in, and don’t let them push you around,” she said, adding she was sad to see “fear, guns and control” turned on citizens in her own country.
I suppose it's too much to expect, but I hope the tourists took lots of photographs of the Obama Hoods in action, and eventually will share them with an embarrassed American citizenry.
What are the odds of creating a website where hundreds of thousands of Americans can apologize to all the foreign guests?
We could forward a copy with a couple of thousand signatures to the Tour Bus company to share with their victims, and a link to a web site for the remaining signatures. But not all the passengers on that bus were foreign guests. We have to assume the Americans aboard were the elderly, perhaps even Obama voters. That they meekly accepted the antics of the Obama goons is just as embarrassing.
I wish there were some way I could write, personally, a sincere apology to every foreign tourist on that bus, apologizing for our incompetent president, and his growing armed army of goons.
Suppose they opened all the Parks and beaches on federal land...
...and nobody came?
I will never again go to a national Park or beach. The temptation to kick the Obamagoon where it hurts would be too overwhelming.
And those that do not should be fired.
If you ever want to escape the People’s Republic of Memphis, come live in sanity with us in Williamson County. And don’t forget to add the RINO Gov. Haslam in your profile! ;-)
How about the Socialist-controlled Executive and Senate?
The House can't 'shut Government down." Only the Executive can do that.
And CRs(Continuing resolutions) would not be necessary, if the Socialist-controlled Executive and Senate had allowed the budgets of the last 5 years to be passed, according to law. A Budget by date certain is the law.
As the "jabba the Hutt" on Fox's The Five loves to say, "Obamacare is the Law!"
So is passing a budget on time!
The difference is, considering how Obamacare was "passed," its legality is still debatable.
They got the road cleared but most picnic areas were down and the one they opened was so packed it was impossible to get a spot. We drove around to find another and saw a large space that was empty. It was for overnight camping but had plenty of tables. We stopped and started taking our stuff out. A park ranger came up to us and said he had to leave because we weren't “camping”.
I asked how much was the camping permit ($10) and I'd pay it. He said no, we had to actually camp and to picnic we needed to go to those areas. I said, they are closed and no one is here.
His response? “I don't care”. Frankly he's lucky he's still alive. Before we left both my wife and I gave him a tongue lashing and he threatened to call “the police”. I said, “please do, they might not be as STUPID as you, you overpaid piece of $%$$#^*_P(*(*(U)*UT#E#E%!!!!”
Lost all respect for NPS after that.
And those that do not should be fired.If you ever want to escape the People’s Republic of Memphis, come live in sanity with us in Williamson County. And don’t forget to add the RINO Gov. Haslam in your profile! ;-)
Unfortunately a physical disability & family support prevents me from leaving the peoples republic(like the phrase!) of Memphis.
I did hear Haslam’s response to the shutdown. It didn’t surprise me...another Lamar Alexander Republican.
They’re no less arrogant than any other FedGov drone.
The states need to seize the National Parks from FedGov.
I always thought that state land seized by the feds for “National parks” was a bad idea. Didn’t teddy r start this?
Why would you let the fed own part of your state?
After I posted this today, I got thinking about Nevada. Some where I read that 80% of the state (or some high percent) is federal land (tribal reservations, parks,DoD reserves etc). That being so, how in the hell is that state even open to the population?
For the sake of argument, what are these park rangers and police supposed to do, ignore their orders, and lose their careers and everything else it is so hard to hold on to these days due to this current administration?
You think these rangers and park police want to turn these vets away? Some of them ARE vets. But they can’t refuse to do their jobs as easily as you think.
Law enforcement is a niche job. You can’t just walk away from it and land another making the same pay and bennies. So throwing it away is not a real option.
That's exactly what I would expect anyone with courage and integrity to do. That they stay on the job following whatever orders they are given to keep their comforts shows they're nothing more than whores.
That's what it means to be a 'good German'...
“Guarding the camps is a niche job. You can’t just walk away from it and lad a better job. Besides, it’s just those Tea Party nut jobs we are arresting. Real Americans listen to their Prresident and don’t start trouble. “
The line has been crossed people, simple as that. We are on the other side of the Rubicon now.
So it begins.
In Obama’s case its ‘ill douche”.
> In Obama’s case its ‘ill douche”.
LOL!
Yes, he’s a DB fur certain shure.
Jack Booted Thugs!!!
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