Open Letter defames inholders

“The Pilgrims have broken the law, openly, deliberately, repeatedly,” writes Candelaria. “They exhibit no regard for the law, for proper process, for legitimate authority, or for the rights of others. Their concerns are for themselves at the expense of anyone else,” he continues.

It is important to note that the Pilgrims have not been charged with any crime, there has been no trial, nor have they been found guilty by a jury or judge.

The letter was sent in response to a concerned citizen in New Mexico, Denise, who had written a letter of support for the Pilgrim family. “This is such a sad and unwarranted situation. And quite truthfully the NPS is acting very silly, and out of bounds,” said the letter. The letter was sent to WSEN, with the request that it be passed on to the Pilgrim family. It was also carbon copied to the NPS at Wrangell-St. Elias.

The next day Denise received a reply from Bev Goad at the Copper Center office saying “Thank you for your interest. I am attaching a response from the superintendent of WrangellSt. Elias National Park & Preserve. (See attached file: Open letter on Pilgrims.doc). The attached file was a Microsoft Word document, with no date or official NPS letterhead, but signed by Gary Candelaria, Superintendent.

The letter followed a week of intense media coverage. Alaska Public Radio had done two segments, KTUU Television aired an 11 minute feature story, WorldNetDaily ran a two part story entitled Park Wars, and the Anchorage Daily News ran a story about the Pilgrims.

“It is easy to be carried away by the surface emotion of the Pilgrim story within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve,” starts the letter from Candelaria. “This is especially so when all one has to base an opinion upon is inflammatory half-truths and biased reporting. The Pilgrims have been present¬ed as an innocent, harmless group of people just trying to live a peaceful rural life in the Alaska wilderness. The truth is somewhat different from that idyllic image.”What outraged Denise was this paragraph:

“For another thing, the Pilgrims do not yet own the land they are living upon. In fact, they have not made a payment to the holder of their deed of trust since last year and are in danger of being foreclosed. They have refused to pay their creditor since January, and have also refused to leave his land. Within the town of McCarthy, they are squatting upon land owned by two elderly women who reside in Anchorage, some 250 miles away. The women have sent certified letters asking them to leave the land, but the family has refused. They have cleared the trees on the land and have moved substantial amounts of their private property on the land. They did these things without even the courtesy of determining who owned the land and asking the permission of the rightful owners.”

Denise’s reply, in part:

Mr. Candelaria, with all due respect intended — if the Pilgrim family are in arrears on their land payment, or if they have extended onto another parties deeded property it is simply none of YOUR business and that factor should NOT have been included in any stand by National Park Service. Especially not a penned letter from someone holding the position of Superinten¬dent who finishes his letter: "We will do so without prejudice or malice, with all due respect and care for the safety and rights of others, and as profes¬sionals and public employees. But act we must, and will."

You have, in the first paragraph shown clear cut and dried prejudice and malice. How can you later claim to have none?

Why include such defamatory remarks that are plainly not within your jurisdiction, that should have no bearing on the situation, that any professional with any moral conscience would NOT have included in a letter intended for widespread distribution?

...NO government employee has the right to send out derogatory remarks pertaining to financial or civil situations about any individual or family. To do so shows clear bias, prejudice and is an injustice. It likewise shows that a clear defining line has been crossed between what your job is, and what it isn't, and I truly believe you should be terminated from your position for having done so.

At the very least you owe them an apology for that terrible impropriety.”

Denise was not the only person to respond to the Superintendent’s letter. Ann, from West Virginia, had this to say:

Did you REALLY have to further your cause by saying the family was late in their payments to the seller. IS THAT YOUR/MY BUSINESS and does THAT justify your actions against that American family in your mind?

Pitiful, shameful of you to write such but par for the course for an NPS employee trying to justify their sick actions!

At one point in the letter, Candelaria referred to park lands as “special and even sacred places, held in trust for now and the future as part of our national heritage.” This prompted a response from Chuck Cushman, Founder and Director of the American Land Rights Association.”

Somehow the Park Service must be held responsible for their attacks on personalities and their willingness to tear people down with rumors, threaten violence (swat teams, set teams, etc) and their willingness to use their power to abuse the rights to honest citizens. They really don't care what Congress says. They have their "mission."

One of our members sent me a message a few years ago that said, "The preservationists (in this case the Park Service) have become like a new religion, a new paganism, that worships trees and sacrifices people." I believe the Park Service has come to believe they can do no wrong. That only they know the right path. In the process they are destroying a special culture and segment of our population as they wage war on rural America and carry out its destruction. I wonder if the Bush Interior Department has the will to rein in this outofcontrol bureaucracy.

As a final note, the holder of the deed of trust says that the Pilgrims have made all current payments and are in no danger of foreclosure. WSEN has on file a copy of the Cashier Checks which include a time/date stamp from the bank and predates the Candelaria letter.

The Candelaria letter was given to the NPS interpretive staff at Kennicott to show to anyone who inquires about the Pilgrims, as the employees have been instructed not to give their own opinions.