Got an e-mail yesterday from the U.S. Park Ranger in charge of Saguaro National Park West. I had contacted him at the end of Weird Arizona Trip 3 concerning the odd little woman I caught illegally collecting rocks from the Signal Hill area and he was providing me an update on the case. Using the Maxwell Smart-like surveillance photographs and the license-plate number I had sent him, he had been able to track the woman down. She was cited for swiping natural resources.
A friend of mine gave me a hard time for turning the woman in just for collecting a few rocks. But let's face it, she was stealing from a national park. It's theft, punishable under federal law. Not to mention she was robbing an area distinguished by its irreplaceable petroglyphs.
I don't want to sound like somebody's stodgy old grandpa, but if I have to, I will: It's my park, too. And when I go there, I want to see all of it, including the rocks. I mean, what's a national park made of, anyway? ... Continued
