Posted on 03/20/2007 8:15:14 AM PDT by Lonely NY Conservative
No details yet....
Amen and Amen!! God is good and prayers have been answered.
That too! :) - thanks!
It isn't like he was a tenderfoot. He had made first class. He should have known basic safety rules in the woods.
He also knows how to find his way without a compass (requirement 1), and would have been on at least 3 previous overnight campouts (requirement 3)
http://usscouts.org/advance/boyscout/bsrank4.html
He cost the taxpayers a lot of money.
A coward but I don't think he was a terrorist. He was never able to articulate why he did it. He claimed a few things but they never managed to take root. Paul Hill killed because of abortion. I think Rudolph just wanted to kill which is ironic because he wasn't very successful at that end. Gang-bangers kill more people than Rudolph did. He could have killed a LOT of people but he was just a loser at it.
Actually, it helps them to concentrate. My son is ADHD but we don't medicate. They claim they can raise his IQ points by 15 points with Ritalin. We'll see how he does in Algebra next year.
Good news indeed! I hate to say this but with all the dogs they had looking for him its obvious none of them were hunting dogs..........
There are 2,432,849 square yards in a circle of half-mile radius. That's why "Stay put!" is Rule #2, for those who've ignored Rule #1, "Don't wander off alone."
"Something is just not right".
I agree. Something about this story does not ring true and sends up red flags. The "sleeping in" part seems very out of kilter with scout protocol and with any group that age. I am glad he is safe and hope the truth will come out on this whole misadventure!
Sounds right to me. It's steep rough terrain. He's one lucky kid and his parents are very fortunate of the outcome.
When I was about 13 years old I hiked with my dad and a friend into a remote area of the Smokies to trout fish. This was in 1969 or 70 I think. We hadn't seen the morning paper when we started out and we were greeted by Rangers and National Guards. It seems a 8-10 year old boy named Dennis Martin got lost the day before. He was never found despite a massive search lasting several weeks. That night and the next it poured down rain. He could have been lying 5 feet off the trail and 50 people could have walked past and not seen him.
A few years back I again I hiked the same trail up to an area called Spence Field. I was coming back down late in the afternoon and was nearing the parking area when I saw a woman running toward me in a panic. She asked me if I had up to the top I said yes. She asked if I saw two boys up there. I said no and asked how old they were. She said something like 8 & 10. I bit my tongue and said stay put while I get the rangers another man was coming by on horse back and he headed up the trail to look for them. I suspect they went to the wrong field by taking a wrong trail. The hike is 10 miles round trip and has several forks in the trail that can take you miles from where you're headed. She was a lucky mom.
The Appalachians are no place to let your kids go exploring alone. They can be very unforgiving in any season. Searches are difficult due to terrain and dense foliage especially in spring, summer, and fall. Honestly anyone hiking in there should take at least a light pack with a change of clothes, poncho, disposable lighter, plenty of food such as candy bars, peppermint etc, and plenty of water. Don't drink form the streams unless you find a spring head. Otherwise consider the water contaminated.
Also take about 30 feet of good strong string capable of holding the pack up. If you get lost and need to stay put then you need to secure the pack by hanging it from a tree limb so the bears don't steal it.
Or the troop practiced social promotion.
He set his personal goal at 11 to be an Eagle before 15. He turns 15 on September 16th. I think he can make it!
Sure you shouldn't be over at DU with the other liberals? The parents need to give him a big hug, a big spanking, and then another big hug.
You are more than a bit over the top with that comment. The BSA is very careful about adult leaders. I know, I am one.
There isn't enough information for me to draw the conclusion you have.
I wanted to let you know that he did not wander away while he was at camp alone with a scout leader...that he wandered away after the entire group had eaten their lunch together. I don't conclude that he never went farther than 1/2 mile away from camp just because he was found at that distance today.
Who knows where exactly he was or what he was doing for all his time...they said he had some scratches on him and looked like someone who had been wandering in the woods. Also heard that the exact area where he appeared was the most rugged terrain and the most densely wooded part of the area.
I will reserve judgement until I know more. It's a huge leap to cast suspicion on a scout leader. That is, from what I've heard so far. I'll wait.
It's fairly easy to lose someone in our forests, and our vegetation is MUCH less dense than yours.
I'm guessing that estrogen is just not overly familiar with the training we go through and the importance of 2-deep for many reasons.
But...the troop broke a cardinal rule by allowing a single leader to remain in camp with a scout. I'm sure that their council will be dealing with that when the time comes.
There is no evidence that the boy was trying to escape. The scouts were all back in camp and had lunch before he went missing.
We grew up in the Piedmont of Virginia and used to camp all the time in the Blue Ridge mountains with our scout troop. One day, my brother got separated from us for about 12 hours during an orienteering exercise. The main concern our leaders had was that he would come across some moonshiners or wander in to someone's patch of weed. Luckily, he made it to a farmstead that was about 3 mountains away and they dropped him off at our campsite.
In our troop, if there isn't enough adults to maintain "two-deep" in a split situation, everyone stays together...no exceptions.
And we have our share of ADD types.
I think the park ranger spokeswoman said his rank was webelo (sorry if I misspelled).
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