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

[jweider]

Too bad it wasn't erupting at the time. Now that would have been funny!

[AlexFTW]

"Duuude! *hic* That is one effin' big-*hic* urinal!"

[ie]

I hope they're not food service workers...

[hegdehog]

The world is full of pigs like this. Unfortunately, it's not legal to simply push them in. Plus, it would clog the caldera.

[SpeedRoach]

Did they wash their hands before going back to work?

[crawfora]

Have any posters who think this is no big deal ever been to Yellowstone? A caldera is a dangerous and beautiful place. The crust around the geyers is very delicate and can break without warning. Boiling water is under the surface. Little changes can effect the geyser as well. Use to be, before laws were enacted to prohibit such practices, people would shove large rocks or other items in the vent to watch the geyser shoot it up into the air when it erupted. Then one became permently blocked by a too-big rock some yahoo shoved down it. Millions of people visit Old Faithful every year. The place has to be protected so everyone can enjoy it.

Since it is a very seismically active area, you never know when an earthquake will hit that will end Old Faithful's timely runs forever. Have some respect.

Go to Yellowstone, experience the power and then post.

[OceanSize]

I totally agree. I just posted much the same message. If you've ever been, you realize that the crust around the geyser is extremely fragile. The trails are important in order to keep tourists from quickly ruining the geology for the rest of us.

[philss]

the real issue here is not the peeing it is the damage done by walking out onto the cone of the geyser
the area around a geyser is very fragile and walking on it destroys the ground
I have been to old faithful and there are plenty of signs warning against walking on the geysers and explaining what I just said
being employees of the park they should have known better and should have had more respect for this natural wonder
banned for life would seem a more appropiate punishment for them since they should have known better

[Ira7]

Nahhh--the real issue is the peeing.

It wouldn't be a news story if it was just about damaging the ground.

[LauraD]

The legal issue is walking on the ground.

It's news, however, because it's hilarious.

[jl4141]

Another example of HuffPo's yellow journalism!

[Virginia Plain]

Peabrains!

[Ira7]

As a man, I don't see how you could RESIST doing that.

You should have seen what I did at Mt. Rushmore.

[rf dude]

They were lucky - they missed

the weenie roast...
--

[DSOTM]

Three years probation for urinating, are kidding me.

[quiviran]

I'm predicting serious bladder issues.

[kareemachan]

And for taking things out of a restricted area - probably was breaking off pieces of the rock formations around there or some such stupid thing. Yo, dude, see those cameras up there? It's called video monitoring for just this reason.

[jl4141]

And one of the requirements for the probationer is to pee into a cup once a month or so. Oh, the irony!

[rabiddog6708]

Most guys have peed outdoors at least once in their life, if not more. Though, in a National Park, these two could have done this nearly anywhere else, so I have little sympathy for their plight.

[dinglebe]

For some of us, it's a serious matter. It's no blessing to go through life with an undersized bladder and overactive kidneys! I once peed into a trash can at the top of the observation tower in Gatlinburg, TN.

[LauraD]

ROFL!!! That's effin hilarious.

For your information, though - there's a public restroom right behind the gift shop.

[rextrek]

Yellowstone is bound to EXPLODE one day soon...and ENTITY help us when it does......the great Caldera will change the face of America and the world,and kill 100's of 1000's of people (if not millions)

[Tyler-Durden]

just what we need!

[Virginia Plain]

Will the wingnuts blame that on President Obama?

Just wondered.

[LauraD]

I like to think that's tragic, and although I'm a humanist, I don't know maybe I'm just losing my faith in humanity, but I find myself thinking "well, we're about due for a decent herd-thinning."

Actually, I find myself thinking that quite frequently. Most often in line at the grocery store trying to not hear the idiot in front of my who's screaming into their cell phone, driving down the highway trying to avoid people who clearly think they can drive but in reality are rather poor at it, and anytime I'm watching Fox News.

[dinglebe]

An explosive eruption could potentially result in the death of everyone in America to the Atlantic shore. Subsequent loss of food production due to devastation of food growing regions and "volcanic winter" could threaten human existence period.

[sinope]

So Old Faithful can dish it out but it can't take it.

[Virginia Plain]

:-)