<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18812"></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" id=role_body bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 rightMargin=7 topMargin=7><FONT id=role_document color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial> <DIV>During the 1976 presidential campaign, Gerald Ford was at Old Faithful to give a nationally televised speech. Yes, talk about changes in attitudes, changes in security. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Ford's speech was advertised well in advance. Bleachers were built for the crowd, as was a platform and podium for the president. All the news media was there (which I guess in 1976 means NBC, CBS, ABC and maybe nothing else) with their big vans and antennas. Sure there was security -- it included such things as National Capitol Police on horseback, ranger-naturalists (me!) handing out program brochures (yes, the presidential program, not the NPS program). Somebody was talking about a helicopter moving up and down every time Old Faithful had preplay. Well, I was one of those uniformed sorts and I don't recall that. I do recall Ford timing his speech along with coaching so that when the thing finally erupted (only a minute or two "late"), the speech got to [paraphrase] "great wonders such as this."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Hundreds if not thousands of people. No real access restrictions that I recall, certainly people all over the place. Yes, there were "observers" atop the Inn and such, but...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Well, I guess I'm getting old. I feel the restrictions that resulted from Obama's visit were ridiculous. I sure am glad I wasn't part of a family on my once-in-a-lifetime visit, one day in paradise. Closing a place such as Old Faithful on a free-entry weekend was absolutely stupid.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>And if Obama hears that -- good.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Scott Bryan</DIV></FONT><DIV CLASS="aol_ad_footer" ID="b8f7e386bfdc7b9f9f435293459519f1"><br/><font style="color:black;font:normal 10pt arial,san-serif;"> <hr style="margin-top:10px"/></font></DIV></BODY></HTML>