Mount Rushmore Employees Head Back to Work - Keystone, SD
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 43° 52.561 W 103° 27.239
13T E 624208 N 4859264
"Mount Rushmore federal park employees head back to work since partial government shutdown is temporarily lifted" - KOTA-TV
Waymark Code: WM101C0
Location: South Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 02/08/2019
Views: 12
County of site: Pennington County
Location: 3 mi. W of Keystone off U.S. 16A
Erected by: Gutzon Borglum
Date erected: 1927 until October 1941
Park office phone: (605) 574-2523
"KEYSTONE, S.D. (KOTA TV) - The government shutdown is over...temporarily. President Donald Trump announced on Friday about agreeing to a temporary deal to allow furloughed employees to go back to work. Several federal employees at Mount Rushmore are happy to be walking in.
"This is how several park employees at Mount Rushmore are feeling after being furloughed for 35 days. Due to the partial government shutdown, the visitor center, the information center and the bookstore were all closed. Even the light to brighten up the monument at night was turned off.
"The Mount Rushmore Society says the shutdown put a halt to the end of the year inventory work and even reviewing possible new hirees and interns.
'"We sponsor summer interns you know that are also looking to figure out where they want to spend their summer getting their experience. And so it's just a big hiccup you know a lot of the operations. So we will see how quickly everybody comes back together," says Diana Saathoff, Mount Rushmore Society CEO.
"The shutdown also affects their revenue. Most of their revenue comes from purchases at the bookstores.
"But the 60 furloughed park employees were ready to put on their uniforms again. On Saturday, some employees cleared pathways at the monument to prepare for visits. One park worker says many employees could not wait to be back at their job.
'"Everybody, the whole staff at Mount Rushmore is very happy to be here. We're excited to be serving the American public. It's an honor always to be representing the national park service at Mt. Rushmore," says Maureen McGee-Ballinger, Mount Rushmore National Memorial Chief of Interpretation and Education.
"McGee-Ballinger says every year visitors from the Black Hills Stock Show tend to take a break and make a detour to Mount Rushmore. So she is very happy to have the park open right now to give visitors the full experience.
"President Trump says the government will resume the debate about the wall on February 15th." ~ KOTA-TV, Territory ABC, By Alexus Davila, Jen. 28, 2019