Paintball wars at Devil's Den?

[gary]

Disgusting. There are other wooded and stone cropped areas where they can have their little wars but to conduct such activity on hallowed ground is disrespectful of the men who fought, bled and died there and to visitors who wish to see it untouched. I'd sentence the culprits to reenacting Civil War punishments. Barrel shirts, ride the horse, strung up by the thumbs, carrying the rail, all seem appropriate to me.

[samgrant]

Can they be apprehended? What efforts have been made?

I'm not familiar with "paintball' are there soluble and insoluble varieties?

At any rate, this behavior should be curtailed by the local authorities.

As this is a "National" park, perhaps the Feds could be called in, if they are not too busy pursuing phantom terrorists (and if it would not violate States Rights).

[gary]

Federal property, federal laws. However, no federal resources.

[tomh]

SamGrant, Gary,

This was an isolated incident and activity like this is not condoned by the rangers or local police. The problem is, areas like Devil's Den and Culp's Hill are off the county roads and not visible unless the Park Patrol drives through them. Devil's Kitchen is accessible by foot only and the Rangers really don't have time or personnel available to add it to the patrols. Park watch adds to the manpower available to patrol, but that is limited as well.

With a park the size of G'Burg, it is virtually impossible to monitor all of the park all of the time. To me, the problem is the fact that the vandals, whether paintballers or hammer wielding mutants, never learned respect for anything other than themselves and view the park as a playground that is here solely for their entertainment. The problem starts with their parents, whose child rearing techniques do not instill any respect for others but only creates new members of the entitlement generation.

I am one of those rude strangers who does not mind pointing this out to parents of unruly children when they are visiting "my" park <grin>. This summer I confronted a well heeled gentleman who was standing by watching his children jump from grave marker to grave marker, shrieking loudly, in the National Cemetary. When I approached him and pointed out the "Respect and Silence Please" markers at all the entrances and requested that he rein in his little darlings while they were in the most hallowed area of the battlefield he got rather upset and told me to mind my business. When I suggested that we take a walk across the street to see what the rangers might think about his children's noisy irreverent activity he stormed off in a huff, with his little darlings in tow. As I walked away from the area, nearly every tourist that I passed quietly thanked me for stepping in. I found myself thinking that it is parents like this "gentleman" who provide us with the future vandals that damage the markers and monuments and have drunken frat parties on the more secluded areas of the battlefield.

Anyway, sorry about the rant but this is yet another of my hot button topics.

Merry Christmas and Happy holidays to all,
Keep your heads down and your powder dry in 2006,
TomH

[samgrant]

Originally Posted by tomh

SamGrant, Gary,

This was an isolated incident and activity like this is not condoned by the rangers or local police. The problem is, areas like Devil's Den and Culp's Hill are off the county roads and not visible unless the Park Patrol drives through them. Devil's Kitchen is accessible by foot only and the Rangers really don't have time or personnel available to add it to the patrols. Park watch adds to the manpower available to patrol, but that is limited as well.

With a park the size of G'Burg, it is virtually impossible to monitor all of the park all of the time. To me, the problem is the fact that the vandals, whether paintballers or hammer wielding mutants, never learned respect for anything other than themselves and view the park as a playground that is here solely for their entertainment. The problem starts with their parents, whose child rearing techniques do not instill any respect for others but only creates new members of the entitlement generation.

I am one of those rude strangers who does not mind pointing this out to parents of unruly children when they are visiting "my" park <grin>. This summer I confronted a well heeled gentleman who was standing by watching his children jump from grave marker to grave marker, shrieking loudly, in the National Cemetary. When I approached him and pointed out the "Respect and Silence Please" markers at all the entrances and requested that he rein in his little darlings while they were in the most hallowed area of the battlefield he got rather upset and told me to mind my business. When I suggested that we take a walk across the street to see what the rangers might think about his children's noisy irreverent activity he stormed off in a huff, with his little darlings in tow. As I walked away from the area, nearly every tourist that I passed quietly thanked me for stepping in. I found myself thinking that it is parents like this "gentleman" who provide us with the future vandals that damage the markers and monuments and have drunken frat parties on the more secluded areas of the battlefield.

Anyway, sorry about the rant but this is yet another of my hot button topics.

Merry Christmas and Happy holidays to all,
Keep your heads down and your powder dry in 2006,
TomH

You did the right thing TomH, and I admire you for speaking up.