"State steps in over arrest by national park rangers"

""If we allow the federal government to do that without some kind of memorandum or some kind of legal basis, then when does it stop?" Parnell said.

The announcement came after rangers arrested Jim Wilde Sept. 16 about 50 miles upstream of Circle on the Yukon. The rangers' boat approached Wilde's and they demanded to conduct a boat safety check, Wilde, a 50-year resident of Alaska, said Thursday by phone from his home in Central.

Wilde said it was unsafe for the rangers to attempt to board his 21-foot Woolridge, loaded with 200 gallons of fuel and hunting gear for a two-week trip, in the middle of the rushing Yukon.

"There ain't a cop anywhere in the modern world that would expect you to pull over in the middle of the highway," Wilde said. "Same in a river."

Wilde shouted at the rangers, he said, and then piloted his boat to the riverbank."

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