Thoughts From An Angry Park Ranger
- Complaining about the Mainland - 17th August, 2024
- New island designation – is it just greenwash? - 26th April, 2024
- Police and Crime Commissioners – a solution or a problem? - 21st April, 2024
Sometimes people online confuse The Ranger with a US Park Ranger – although he’s very far from it. In real life there’s no such confusion: he really doesn’t look or sound like such a person. But it’s amazing how similar the experiences of his American counterparts can be, and yet how different. Have a look at this ranger rant from Don Oneppo, ranger at Landsford Canal State Park, South Carolina an anonymous ranger who posted on craigslist. S/he strikes some very familiar chords with this ranger, even though s/he’s a very long way from the environment that British countryside managers work in. They don’t often have to deal with
…tweekers and gun toting survivalists who hate the government or want to use the wilderness as a place to stash sh*t for the Armageddon
…but more than a few UK rangers will recognise this cry from the heart:
Being a park ranger used to mean a lot of PR, giving directions, occasional search and rescue, first aid, and a periodic encounter with some idiot who drank too much. But now it means responding to the same calls any department handles in an urban area… domestics, more of what we classify as “disorderly conduct” offenses, and generally more people being rude and obnoxious…
Read the article to see some of the strange things this poor officer has to deal with. We hope your winter season is more peaceful – it sounds as though you need the rest!
EDIT: Original article is no longer online, but this link is to a copy on the CMA website (PDF), or go to the source at craigslist.
Thanks for the correction, Gord – and greetings from a colleague across the pond. I got the posting via your worthy blog too, so I’ll correct the attribution. I did wonder what a ranger in a 270 acre canal park was doing spending all day recovering a body from a 500 foot cliff!
This rant was not written by Ranger Don Oneppo. It was originally posted on craigslist last month and was simply e-mailed to the blogger Buford. I made the same mistake when I quoted it in my blog.
Original Posting
http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/slc/203274705.html