Stop at Olympic National Park, get $125 ticket

People who pulled into a ranger station at Olympic National Park over the weekend were given $125 tickets for "violation of closure" — entering the park during the government shutdown. Three of the cars were a group of international students from Peninsula College led by host Kelly Sanders, a teacher from Port Angeles, the Peninsula Daily News reported Tuesday. They pulled off Highway 101 at Lake Crescent, got out and posed for a picture behind the Storm King Ranger Station when Ranger Jennifer Jackson pulled up and wrote all three drivers tickets. Each carries the $125 fine. The students from Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and China were puzzled, Sanders said. "I didn't know how to explain it to them because I can't really understand why all this happened myself," Sanders said Monday. "I know they were surprised that we would get a ticket for trying to go for a hike." The driveway into the Storm King lot was partially blocked by orange road cones and a sandwich board with a sign stuck to it with duct tape reading, "Because of the federal government shutdown, this National Park Service facility is closed," Sanders said. "It was a really wide opening —wide enough I could get my car through easily," said Leanne Potts of Sequim, who also received a $125 citation from Jackson. Both Potts and Sanders were confused by the wording on the sign. "When I think of facilities, I think of buildings or bathrooms or features or something," Potts said. "I just assumed that it meant the bathrooms were closed, not that I would be breaking the law," Sanders said...more