Obama’s Park Service Removes Handles From National Parks Water Fountains

SERIOUSLY? National Park Service spitefully removes handles from water
fountains

By Marshall Connolly, Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
10/8/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Investegations considered; this won’t end well for the NPS.

The National Park Service has tried to close Mount Vernon, the home of
George and Martha Washington, as part of the government showdown. The
problem -the site is privately owned. The list of outrages against the
NPS is growing.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – Until very recently, the National
Park Service was one of the least-loathed government agencies in the
country. Now, with orders from on high to keep the public from
visiting beloved parks and monuments the agency is developing a poor
reputation.

Park rangers have very diverse jobs, providing everything from
policing to the janitorial duties required to keep public parks and
memorials open, safe and enjoyable. However, they have recently been
compared to the Gestapo (hyperbole) as they actively work to keep
people from enjoying public spaces.

According to a report in the Newburyport Daily News, tourists at
Yellowstone National Park were actually detained under armed guard and
locked in their hotels when the government shutdown started on October
1st. The paper explained that foreign tourists with poor English
skills actually thought they were under arrest because of their harsh
treatment.

When the tourists were allowed to leave by bus, they were forbidden to
stop anywhere during the 2.5 hour drive out of the park, not even at
public restrooms along the way.

In other places, park rangers have issued tickets to people who have
ignored signs and barricades and threatened others with arrest.

At Mount Vernon, the privately-owned and managed historic home of
George and Martha Washington, NPS authorities erected barricades to
keep people from parking at the site. The site is privately owned and
funded, but the NPS technically co-owns part of the parking lot and a
bus turnaround. Of course, since it is a parking lot, it requires no
maintenance. Nonetheless, the NPS is spending more money and resources
keeping people out of such places than it would spend by simply
allowing the public to use them.

Republicans contend that the NPS, which is part of the executive
branch, is under orders to make life difficult for would-be parkgoers
as part of a broader political plan by the Obama administration to
turn public opinion against Republicans. Both parties blame the other
for the shutdown and so far appear unwilling to negotiate.

Meanwhile, the American people are disgusted with the antics. These
sites belong to the American people and nobody should be barred from
entry. Notably, the citizens of this nation have paid for the
maintenance of these sites by their taxes, and there is no rebate or
reduction forthcoming. Since the American people are being charged
full price for these locations in spite of the shutdown, they should
also enjoy access.

Senior Republicans have said they may open a formal investigation into
the mass closures and the barring of people from places where no
significant maintenance or security is required. Small children’s
parks, hiking trails, and outdoor monuments remain closed despite the
minimal investment needed to maintain them, if any.

It what looks like a spiteful move, the NPS even removed handles from
water spigots along the Chesapeake and Ohio canal where bikers and
joggers exercise as well as along the Great Allegheny Passage, just to
ensure people don’t get any water from them.

Instead of saving money, the NPS is expending additional resources to
go out of its way to close such locations and to make people
miserable.

There’s really no scenario where this ends well for the NPS. First,
several of their workers have lost their wages, workers are working
without pay, and when the dust settles, heads will roll in subsequent
investigations. The NPS is making itself unpopular with the American
public, which is stewing for vengeance as the weather turns cold and
bitter.

“The socialist movement takes great pains to circulate frequently new labels for its ideally constructed state.
Each worn-out label is replaced by another which raises hopes of an ultimate solution of the insoluble basic
problem of Socialism, until it becomes obvious that nothing has been changed but the name.
The most recent slogan is “State Capitalism.”[Fascism] It is not commonly realized that this covers nothing more
than what used to be called Planned Economy and State Socialism, and that State Capitalism, Planned Economy,
and State Socialism diverge only in non-essentials from the “classic” ideal of egalitarian Socialism. – Ludwig von Mises (1922)

Source:  www.rec.crafts.metalworking.narkive.com/lad8mu91/national-park-service-spitefully-removes-handles-from-water-fountains