2 Yellowstone Workers Fired For Peeing In Geyser

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Two seasonal Yellowstone National Park concession workers have been fired after a live webcam caught them urinating into the Old Faithful geyser.

Park spokesman Al Nash says a 23-year-old man on Tuesday was fined $750 and placed on three years of unsupervised probation for urinating, being off trail in a restricted area and taking items from the area. The man also was banned from Yellowstone for two years.

The second employee's case is pending.

The park's dispatch center was called after someone watching a webcam on the geyser saw six employees leaving the trail and walking on Old Faithful on May 4.

The geyser was not erupting at the time.

Xanterra Parks & Resorts general manager Jim McCaleb says the former concession workers were hired at the Old Faithful Inn and that such incidents were rare.

Comments

[avshanbh]

was wondering why it was yellow at times.

[LeeCalif]

I wish they would have been SEER ed in a Special Way.

[suec03]

I think you meant SEREd if you are referring to countertorture training. SEERed would be rated for energy efficiency as an air conditioner.

[wadenelson1]

"seared" as in briefly scalded or burned on the outside perhaps?

But my vote is for the air conditioner rating.

[Skyhawk]

Oh what a relief it is.

[wadenelson1]

Anyone who's ever worked at a low paying, seasonal job dealing with TOURISTS knows exactly why these two did it. So they could snicker every single time tourists talked about getting sprayed by Old Faithful.

Why do you think the waiters in France are rude. The gap between the rich and the working poor has grown so large that the MAJORITY of service workers now resent their customers.

Henry Ford tried to make sure his employees were all paid WELL ENOUGH that they could afford to buy one of his cars. With the current CEO's, not so much. Try and buy a car working at Yellowstone, OR afford health insurance, Or, or, or.

At least half of the National Park employees themselves are independently wealthy folks who are out to try and do some good and preserve these lands, cause even the GOVERNMENT jobs there don't pay well enough to enjoy a middle class living.

[shespeaks]

Yes, it is important. It's about respect, of which there is precious little in evidence, it seems. These guys probably throw their hamburger wrappers out the window, do donuts with ATV's in wildflower meadows, and spray paint outcroppings with their initials. Let 'em have it. Maybe there's a chance this was really a first and they'll stop at peeing on national treasures before they get to the Lincoln Memorial. One reformed punk is not a bad thing.

[Tundrapat]

Easy there, Glenn Beck. It's a looong cry from a young collegian getting a laugh at a geyser to vandalising the Lincoln Memorial.

Unless you think we should also start limiting the wildlife of Yellowstone from urinating on their natural terrain, I don't see what the huge deal is. Was a bathroom available? Sure Was it indecent. Sure, if only slightly so and generally innocuous (I'm guessing they made sure that no one else was standing nearby, no small children whose parents would suddenly have some explaining to do, etc.).

[shespeaks]

Ok. I'm in kind of a "pissy" mood today, truth be told. Don't anybody litter in my path.

[icemilkcoffee]

This is ridiculous. Peeing is not at all the same thing as throwing trash out the window. Peeing is an entirely natural act. In nature animals, including human beings- pee when we feel the urge to. Pee is totally biodegradeable. In fact it is good for the plants. It's more environmentally sound to pee on the soil than flush it away to the sewage plant with more precious fresh water.

[LMPE]

The first time that I ever saw an image of a geyser was in a cartoon when I was really young. Since I didn't know the word, I called it a "water volcano".

[Cycadeoidea]

That's kind of what it is.

[BlueZoo]

Lighten up people! The real "crime" here isn't the urinating but walking in the areas that are very dangerous due to a thin crust that forms around the geysers. They were very lucky! They must have been looking for the "Darwin Award!"

[Lurker50]

Human beings screw up everything...think about it...

[stanschurman]

$750.00 & 3 years probation for urinating on Old Faithful? Give me a break. Only in the uptight USA would they impose such a penalty for such an innocuous offense.

[surfcitysteven]

People with no respect deserve this punishment.

[Cycadeoidea]

It's the symbolism that counts. Kind of like peeing on the Statue of Liberty, or Mount Rushmore.

[MIDave]

There seems to be a big argument developing about whether there should be any penalty for peeing on the Constitution. Let's wait and see how that turns out.

[HotheadPaisen]

How bout if it was your front porch? Fine?

[NoblesseOblige]

And, W peed on the whole country and got away with it.

[KIVPossum]

Good lord, Old Faithful pumps out enough water a few ounces of pee isn't going to do any damage.

I assume they did it between eruptions. If they did it while it was erupting, they have my admiration...

[Cynth]

Hey, a little peeing here, a little peeing there, and pretty soon we'll be re-naming the geyser Old Pee-ful. ;-)

[samuelpablo]

Thanks for giving me something new to add to my list of "things to do before I die".....

[surfcitysteven]

Beware of scalding. Old faithfull is not so predictable anymore.

[AbeMartin]

Great location for a pee-cam. This had to be installed under the previous administration--at Larry Craig's sugggestion.

[jeffrey678]

Will stimulus money be used to disinfect the Old faithful ? Who is charge of that job ? They should make them clean it out.

[suec03]

Remember that Old Faithful geyser and its geyser pool are not sterile, cement constructions. There are living things in the geyser pool water that would be killed by disinfection. Disinfection is not an option.

[redraspberry]

Would have been a great time for an unfaithful timely eruption.....

[american-dolt]

Headline News!