Utah ancient rock: US scouts could face charges

A group of boy scouts of America have filmed themselves toppling a 170 million year old red rock in Goblin Valley State Park and celebrating afterwards.

Their excuse for such action was that they were potentially preventing the rock from toppling over by itself and causing injury to someone.

Having taken a look at the video, although the stone may have been somewhat loose, it takes the boy scout of America some effort to topple it.

As a consequence of their actions, the scout leader is now facing criminal charges, and rightly so imo.

Criminal charges are being considered against a US scout leader who toppled an ancient rock formation in Utah, sparking an international outcry.

To undertake such an act on a site of historical importance is shameful at the very least. Personally I think it is out and out criminal vandalism.

Being a former scout all I can say is, Shame on them for bringing shame on the scout movement.

www.bbc.co.uk...

I hope they get prison time. That was just plain stupid.

reply to post by Restricted


Prison time? For pushing over a rock?
I agree it was a stupid thing to do, pay a fine, do some service work and use that as example for others to learn from via publicity from the news story. That way everybody comes out ahead. No need for draconian measures here. Had they spray painted some aboriginal rock art well, firing squad comes to mind for that.

In their defense there was a story about a family in Colorado I think that was killed by falling rocks. That may have been in their thoughts.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


And the difference is what exactly? Destruction is destruction.

Cobaltic1978
A group of boy scouts of America have filmed themselves toppling a 170 million year old red rock in Goblin Valley State Park and celebrating afterwards.

They were scout troop leaders, not boy scouts...and some really red neck looking ones too. I think max fines would do just fine...like 10k

reply to post by Restricted


Plain stupid yes, prison time I'm not so sure of.

Surely the answer was to bring attention to the fact that the stone was loose, but as I said it took some effort to topple it anyway.

I cannot imagine any of my scout leaders encouraging such behaviour, but maybe the scout movement has changed?

Restricted
reply to post by Asktheanimals

 

And the difference is what exactly? Destruction is destruction.

That is the same but what is the best possible outcome for this stupid act?
- To punish someone for the sake of punishing them or
- To publicize a message that these natural formations are a national treasure and should be respected?

The less it happens in the future is what matters now, what's done is done.
Protecting these natural assets should be the main concern.

The problem is that no punishment really works anymore. They take out loans for fines and prison has become a badge of honor. Do the Boy Scouts have a prison badge?

Who cares, if there had been a hard rain storm and it toppled over no one would.

Nothing was actually damaged. A rock was in one place and now it's in another place.

SevenBeans777


Who cares, if there had been a hard rain storm and it toppled over no one would.

Nature affecting itself is one thing. Deliberate destruction is entirely another.

reply to post by Restricted


What was destroyed???

People moving a rock to prevent it from harming other people is nature effecting itself.

While the actions of these scouts in altering the landscape of this national park is shameful to say the least, agitating for prison time is a little over the top.

Certainly an appropriate fine could be measured out, as well as requiring the offenders to do mandatory community service in parkland conservation work for an appropriate time.

Some class time spent learning about leaving things as you find them, and required work in the field cleaning up messes where park visitors have not left things as they found them could very well get the message across.

Additionally, separately as an action by Scout leadership, they should either be required to start over on all their Scout accomplishments, merit badges, or whatever, as well as required by the Scout leadership to lecture at scout gatherings about land conservation and leaving things how you found them.

Turn the whole thing into a learning lesson where everyone can benefit while also applying punitive measures.

If the park service had said themselves that this was a hazard to visitors and moved the rock, once again, I doubt anyone would care.

I know for a fact that they routinely move rocks.

I wonder how much ancient rocks were moved to make way for Americas city's, it's just a microcosm of the macrocosm here however much I don't condone it.

Is it just me or is it just a rock ?

No ones gonna say it?


OK I will!

I HOPE THOSE TWO HILL BILLY A$$ MUNCHES FACE "STONING" AS PUNISHMENT.


NO WHERE IN MY HAND BOOK DID IT SAY GO RUIN NATURAL WONDERS!

OK I'm done.


Pun intended.

GreyGoo
I wonder how much ancient rocks were moved to make way for Americas city's, it's just a microcosm of the macrocosm here however much I don't condone it.

Actually you make a very valid point.

At the end of the day it's still just a stupid rock.
2nd

This is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with this country and humanity as a whole.

Stoning for pushing over a rock? Thousands of dollar fines?
Was anything destroyed?
Did they kill some endangered species?
We're they dumping toxic waste?
Was anyone hurt?

Nope.

Some people should just go kill themselves to save the rest of us from their stupid.

SevenBeans777
If the park service had said themselves that this was a hazard to visitors and moved the rock, once again, I doubt anyone would care.

I know for a fact that they routinely move rocks.

edit on 19-10-2013 by SevenBeans777 because: (no reason given)

I concur with your sentiments, but for someone to come along outside of the services and assist nature, then that's a totally diferent concept.