More Vandalism at Saguaro National Park; This Time, the Rangers Respond to Media

My photos of graffiti vandalism two weeks ago at Saguaro National Park

More vandalism of cactuses was reported at Saguaro National Park, where odious graffiti vandals defaced giant saguaro cactuses two weeks ago.

Here's the link in today's Arizona Daily Star to the latest vandalism. 

This time, I see, the crack National Park Service PIO and rangers at Saguaro East actually responded to media inquiries on a Sunday -- rather than trying to cover up the vandalism, as they did two weeks ago when I first reported it to the local media hours after finishing a shift as a volunteer, during which the ranger on duty expressed no interest in my report until I later took it to the local paper and KOLD-TV.

(I was subsequently fired as a volunteer park mounted ranger for "approaching the media" and refusing to recant my sins, an act of official insolence and stupidity that created a considerable amount of hilarity in Tucson, including when the Park Service attempted to justify the firing by stating falsely that I hadn't followed unspecified "procedures" -- even though I had in fact spoken with the ranger on duty who blew me off and made a total of seven  fruitless phone calls to report the vandalism, including one to 9-1-1.)

Let's hope that this time, the rangers at Saguaro National Park decline to go onto their defensive crouches and perhaps redouble whatever efforts they have made to actually find the criminals, rather than trying to block the media and the public from knowing about the trouble. (Which, then as now, occurred in full public view, making the efforts of park rangers like Paul Austin and his trusty PIO Ms. Fisher look even more self-defeating). I also am somewhat surprised that, so far, Park Service headquarters in Washington has failed to take public notice of this disgrace.

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