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Fluoride
Trad climber
Hollywood, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 17, 2009 - 07:02pm PT
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From the LA Times:
Man hurls thousands of golf balls inside national park
September 17, 2009 | 3:38 pm
A man claiming that he was paying tribute to dead golfers tossed up to 3,000 golf balls into the biggest sand trap he could find — Joshua Tree National Park.
But where 57-year-old Douglas Jones saw commemoration, park rangers saw wholesale littering. He now faces possible jail time and other sanctions.
"Sometime around 2007, our rangers began discovering large quantities of golf balls in some turnout areas of the park," said park spokesman Joe Zarki. "We were wondering what was going on here. There were also some tennis balls involved."
Rangers also found cans of fruit and vegetables left in the desert along with park literature tossed about.
"He would collect permits from backcountry permit boxes and throw them all over," Zarki said. "There was no rhyme or reason to it."
On Aug. 17, rangers finally caught up with the La Quinta man, who immediately confessed.
"He said he did it because he wanted to honor all the golfers who had died," Zarki said. "He left the cans of fruit and vegetables supposedly for the assistance of stranded hikers."
And the park permits and literature?
"He wanted to leave his mark," Zarki said.
Contrary to what rangers originally thought, Jones wasn't chipping golf balls into the desert with a club. He was hurling them from his car.
The balls, numbering between 2,000 and 3,000, were unlikely to pose a threat unless a hapless animal mistook one for an egg and tried to swallow it, Zarki said. But the cleanup was a different story.
"We estimate we spent about 373 staff hours or about $9,000 on this case," he said.
Jones was cited for littering, feeding wildlife and abandoning property. He will appear before a federal judge later this month. If found guilty, he could be fined, sent to jail or banished from the park.
Jones was unavailable for comment Thursday. He lives with his 84-year-old father, Douglas, who didn't know about the incident until a reporter called him.
"It certainly sounds strange," his father said. "He hikes out in Joshua Tree every three months or so and he golfs maybe once a week. But I don't know where he would get that many golf balls."
He did, however, note that his son works at a local golf course.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Sep 17, 2009 - 07:03pm PT
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If this guy has been in touch with Chicken Skinner, and visited the Valley...
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Richard
climber
Bend, OR.
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Sep 17, 2009 - 07:12pm PT
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Clearly the dunes in Death Valley are a bigger sand trap, He was just lazy and didn't want to drive that far!
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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Sep 17, 2009 - 07:14pm PT
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I'm waiting to see if he is charged with theft of golf balls next.
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MisterE
Trad climber
Canoga Bark! CA
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Sep 17, 2009 - 07:22pm PT
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See, people brains get cooked in the high desert!
They just
go off randomly
it's simply a matter of heat-induced short-circuiting.
That, and all the sand, it goes on and on, and it gets in everything, and the wind...
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Sep 17, 2009 - 07:28pm PT
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Hell, that's less than one ball for each climb. I thought some of those climbs took a lot of balls.
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Barcus
Trad climber
San Luis Obispo, Ca.
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Sep 17, 2009 - 07:31pm PT
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He apparently played with his balls all over the park.
Some guy's got all the luck!
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AM
climber
DLFA
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Sep 17, 2009 - 07:43pm PT
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go back to burning man
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Sep 17, 2009 - 07:53pm PT
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Maybe dude's just a really crappy golfer and can't keep his ball on the fairway, no matter how hard he tries. It's not as easy as it looks.
I don't have an explanation for the tennis balls.
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looking sketchy there...
Social climber
Latitute 33
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Sep 17, 2009 - 08:14pm PT
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Yup, making him pick them all up sounds like an appropriate punishment (plus a fine to pay for someone to supervise his efforts).
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville
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Sep 17, 2009 - 08:41pm PT
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Now that takes balls.
I want to know how they would achieve "banished from the park"?
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GDavis
Trad climber
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Sep 17, 2009 - 08:53pm PT
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Madness in the Mongoloid Valley.
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Bamm_Bamm
Social climber
Out in the Wilderness looking for Dr. F
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Sep 17, 2009 - 08:54pm PT
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You can go ahead and laugh all you want but I think spending $9,000 for "investigation costs" was the right thing to do.
In fact, there are some that would say $3 per ball is cheap for an investigation of this magnitude.
We can all sleep better at night knowing the "Great Golf Ball Caper" has been solved.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Sep 17, 2009 - 09:24pm PT
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Judge should make him clean them all up, but without using his hands!
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Sep 17, 2009 - 11:04pm PT
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Dude had issues with white people. He was heard to say he thought the golf balls were "honkie eggs", and it was up to him to get rid of them.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Sep 17, 2009 - 11:28pm PT
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I hate to be sexist, but don't care if I am. Some men have the most bizarre behaviour.
But Most Men have the best sense of humor EVAH. Word ! At least our Taco men. Peace, Lynnie
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travelin_light
Trad climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Sep 17, 2009 - 11:49pm PT
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I heard Obama called him a jackass.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Sep 18, 2009 - 12:07am PT
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I heard a jackass called him an obamanation.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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Sep 18, 2009 - 02:55am PT
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what an idiot,
everybody knows you are supposed to take your garbage can full of golf balls to lake tahoe.
right into emerald bay, from high atop a nice 5.9
i would recomend about a seven iron, it gets windy up there.
fresh air, confused tourons...
name a better activity?
aim for that cornball paddle wheeler
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superbum
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Sep 18, 2009 - 03:39am PT
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I say leave the balls and use the $9,000 to empty the f*#king trash and recycling in Hidden Valley CG! F*#k.
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