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Huckleberries Online

Ex-Yosemite chief belittled workers, mainly women

In this July 28, 2014, file photo, then-Yosemite National Park Superintendent Don Neubacher speaks in El Portal, Calif. Neubacher created a hostile workplace by belittling employees, using words such as stupid, bozo and lazy, and showing gender bias against women, a new report says. (Mark Crosse / Fresno Bee via AP)
In this July 28, 2014, file photo, then-Yosemite National Park Superintendent Don Neubacher speaks in El Portal, Calif. Neubacher created a hostile workplace by belittling employees, using words such as stupid, bozo and lazy, and showing gender bias against women, a new report says. (Mark Crosse / Fresno Bee via AP)

Neubacher headed the California park for nearly seven years and spent 37 years with the National Park Service. Yosemite is one of the nation’s oldest and most popular national parks, drawing more than 4 million visitors a year.

In a report to be made public Monday, the Interior Department’s inspector general said more than half of 71 employees interviewed said they had witnessed Neubacher undermine a team member’s competence or performance, often ridiculing ideas as “dopey” or “stupid” or saying they would make park managers “look like bozos.”

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report in advance of its release on Monday.

At one point, Neubaucher said a subordinate “knows I am going to shoot her if we do this,” the report said. More here.



Huckleberries Online

D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.