Treatment of Yellowstone Tour Group Draws Complaints

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Some tourists to Yellowstone National Park are complaining about their treatment by National Park Service rangers when the park was closed down last week because of the partial federal shutdown.

One tour guide operator went so far as to say rangers used "Gestapo tactics" in the treatment of his tour group.

Pat Vaillancourt, of Salisbury, Mass., was a member of the tour group. She says some foreign members of the group felt they were under arrest because armed rangers ordered them confined to the lodge when the park was closed Oct. 1.

Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash says rangers didn't confine guests to the lodge but prevented them from getting close to Old Faithful geyser and other park attractions.