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Meeting To Focus On Ranger Revival

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By CARL ORTH, The Suncoast News

Published: February 17, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - After an abrupt end to its park ranger program in November, the Pasco County Parks and Recreation Department hopes to revive the volunteer patrols.

Would-be rangers can attend a meeting March 4, said Rick Buckman, the county parks and recreation director. The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. at Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park Environmental Education Center, 10500 Wilderness Park Blvd.

"We will be discussing the community's interest in various potential ranger programs and look at ways we might make this happen," Buckman said.

A few of the 14 original rangers never quit or have returned to assist the department, Buckman said.

"These folks either still had their uniforms or asked for them back, and they are reporting directly to the supervisors of the parks they are patrolling, such as Anclote River Park and the other coastal parks, Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park and Crews Lake Park," Buckman wrote in a Feb. 11 e-mail.

The revamped ranger program might focus more on education, public relations and basic patrol, according to Buckman.

The department's volunteer coordinator, Vinny Buscetta, has retired since the end of the earlier ranger program, complicating the task of reorganizing it.

At the March 4 meeting, "We will need to give some thought as to how we will coordinate this program within our department," Buckman said.

The former ranger chief, Paul Van Schaick, said he intends to be at next month's meeting.

"Basically I wish them luck and having as good a program as we had," Van Schaick said last week. "It would be great for the community."

But Van Schaick, who has started a government watchdog Web site since ending the ranger program, shared doubts about its revival prospects.

"They county officials never wanted a ranger program in the first place," Van Schaick said. "What they wanted is people in T-shirts giving out directions. That's not a ranger program."

The original mission included providing some measure of safety and protection for park visitors, said Van Schaick, a former Massachusetts State Police officer.

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