Park entrance fees may rise
national
WASHINGTON
(AP) — The Clinton
administration is
proposing to charge
entrance lees at national recre
ation areas that now are free and
wants to more than double some
fees for using campsites and oth
er public facilities, offic ials said
Thursday.
The administration asked Con
gress to enact the new fees, which
conservation groups called unrea
sonable. as a way to pay for main
taining and enhancing public
recreation lands.
Clinton's 1994 budget called
for an increase of nearly $5H mil
lion in increased entrance fees to
recreation areas and higher fees
for camping, picnicking and use
of boat ramps and beaches.
Some facilities that now are
free — day-use picnic areas,
national monuments, and lakes
— would lie available only for a
fee. The new fees would be no
greater than $.3. administration
officials told the House Natural
Resources subcommittee on
parks, forests and public lands.
"In order for the president's
economic program to succeed,
everyone must contribute, and
the increases must lie fair and rea
sonable." said David Mofitt.
National Park Service assistant
director for visitor services. "It is
not our intention to charge for
every drinking fountain, but
where several services and facil
ities are provided in an area, we
could charge a user fee."
The increases would apply to
national parks as well as public
land* managed by the Army
Corps of Engineers, the Forest
Service, the Fish and Wildlife
Service and the Bureau of Land
Management
Some familiar programs would
!>•• affected
•The Golden Eagle passport,
now S25 a year for unlimited
entry to any national park, would
cost $:1S next year ami $50 in four
years.
•The annual park pass, pro
viding unlimited admission to
any one park for a year, would
rise from the current $10 or $15.
depending on the park, to $15 or
$20 and eventually to $:i().
•The fee for a single entry to
a national park now $5 per tar
at most parks and S10 at Yel
lowstone. Grand Teton and
Grand Canyon would gradual
ly increase to $lf> at all |wrks after
1994.
• Back country tampers would
have to pay fees.
The administration also would
amend existing law that prohibits
t barging fees for use of most boat
launching ramps and camp
grounds that do not have running
water, access roods, picnic tables
and other amenities.
The Notional Parks and Con
servation Association, a private
group devoted to protecting the
national parks, said the govern
ment should shift some of the
increase from the public to com
mercial entities who operate on
public land
William Chandler, speaking for
the association, suggested the
government obtain higher fees
r
from concessionaires and tour
operators who use the parks for
economic: gain, private utility
companies that run phone and
power lines across parks, and
other commercial users like
movie companies
"At Yosemite. 12.000 bus tours
enter the park each year; these
tour operators pay no license
fee.” he said.
Subcommit tie* Chairman
Bruce Vento. D-Mintv, and the
Sierra Club criticized the admin
istration for pushing the recre
ational fee increases while drop
ping higher fees for grazing and
mining on public lands from the
budget process
Administration officials have
vowed to pursue higher mining
and grazing fees outside the bud
get process, but Vento said the
decision puts lawmakers in a dif
ficult position.
"We're being asked to raise
entrance and user fees on the
American people while at the
same time letting consumptive,
for-profit enterprises that use
public lands off the hook." he
said.
Interior Secrutary Bruce Bab
bitt is beginning meetings in the
West to determine how much to
raise the below-mnrket fees that
ranchers pay for grazing their
herds on public lands and how
to improve the land.
The administration also is
Itacking legislation to charge roy
alties from mining companies
that now pay nothing for gold
and other minerals they extract
from federally owned lands
Battle flag removed
from Alabama Capitol
MONTGOMKRY. Ala (API — New Gov Jim Folsom banned
the Confederate battle flag from the state Capitol dome Thurs
day, a move hailed bv bla< k leaders who bail v iuwwl the ban
ner ns a rat i*! symbol
"This has been a divisive issue in our state, and I Indicne it
is time we put it behind us and move our state forward." Fol
som said at a news i onfereni e
Folsom immediately had the Ameru an and state flags raised
atop the dome He ordered the Confederate battle flag lie flow n
across the street front the Capitol at the First White House of
the Con federal y.
State Rep. George Perdue, t hairman of the House black Cau
cus, praised Folsom's die ision.
"We have maintained all along the ('onfederate battle flag
should lie relegated to some kind of historical display or muse
um We have never maintained one should forget one s her
itage." Perdue, IP Birmingham. said
But Norman Dasinger of |ai ksonville. lieutenant i ommander
of the Sons off Confederate Veterans, said the decision will cost
Folsom votes in the PPM governor's rai e
'He is pest a coward lie's playing politics w ith our heritage."
Dasinger said
Folsom's dei ision also drew critic ism front the White House
Assim mtion. a volunteer group which manages the First White
House of the Confederal s for the state Assoi iation Regent
(Cameron Napier of Montgomery said she opposes flying the flag
on a pole outside the house
She said the battle flag is displayed inside the house, hut the
first flag of the (Confederm v. the Stars and Bars, flies on the Hag
pole in front tie* ause that was the only flag the (Confederal y had
when Montgomery served as its (Capitol The i apital moved to
Kit hmond. Vn . in May lHfil. two months lie fore the (Confed
eral v adopted the battle flag
“Having the battle flag out front on a pole is mat i urate, and
we can't have that,” she said
The Confederate battle flag, with a blue X over a red field,
is frequently used by the ku kins Klan and other while suprema
cist groups.
Battle flags have been issues in three other Southern states:
Georgia. Mississippi and South (Carolina
UA students
wary after
body found
in dormitory
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) —
Students at the University of
Alaska Fairbanks didn't even
bother to lock their dormitory
doors before this week.
Then, the bloodied body of a
woman was found in a dormito
ry bathtub tn tlie lirst campus
killing in two decades.
“You don't have to l>«* in a big
citv for this to happen," said Ben
nie Williams, a graduate student
from Washington. D C.
Williams, a resident assistant
in the dormitory complex, called
the slaying "a wake-up call."
especially for students from Alas
ka's remote villages,
“I think the main thing is peo
ple have to learn that you have to
be careful," he said.
Sophie A Sergio w as killed by
a single gunshot. The killer was
still at large Thursday and the
motive for the attack was
unknown, police said.
Crimes like that weren't sup
posed to happen at the 9,000-stu
dent university nestled among
the rugged pine and birch forests
of Alaska's Interior.
Rose Pedi chose Fairbanks for
her son. Eric, because she want
ed him far away from the vio
lence in the Boston area
“It's a little unnerving because
I figure how much danger can
you l»e in up there?" Pedi said by
telephone from Warehatn. Mass.
"So what do you do? How do you
protect your children?"
Sergie. a 20-vear-old from the
southwest Alaska village of Pitkas
Point, had taken a year off from
school to work and was visiting
a friend at the university when
she was slain.
4TH ANNIVERSARY SALE
Now Through May 16th Every CD in the Store Is On Sale
KIM PENSYL
Eyos of WotMlor
GflP
GW»
DAVE SAMUELS
Del Sol
lee rite op U