NICE TRY

The budget impasse was becoming known as the Washington fight that closed down the Grand Canyon, and Arizona Governor Fife Symington was having none of it. Friday morning, Symington ordered National Guard troops to the canyon to "render assistance" until furloughed National Park Service workers return. A few hours later, the Interior Department ordered the governor to stand down. If the Guard did it for the Grand Canyon, Interior's lawyers reasoned, they would have to do it for all 369 parks and monuments in the country. "Once that started snowballing, you couldn't control it," said Park Service spokesman David Barna in Washington. "People who want to see Independence Hall want to see it as bad as the people who want to see the Grand Canyon."