It seemed like a good idea at the time….
Two Boy Scout leaders got into trouble when they toppled an ancient rock formation in Utah’s Goblin Valley State Park. The rock was loose and they were afraid it would fall on someone if they didn’t do something. In hindsight they realize they should have told a ranger instead of taking the matter into their own hands, but instead one of the fellows pushed it over. That was bad enough, but the other one videotaped it and put in on Facebook. By the time he realized that was a bad move, it was too late — someone had already posted it on YouTube and it had gone viral.
Utah has launched a criminal investigation, and the Boy Scouts are condemning the two. The video does make them look bad, but I feel sorry for them. What about you?
It goes against the respect I have for state and national parks. Most of the parks exist to preserve natural conditions — including fragile features such as this. All too often, people don’t know the rules of the parks they visit. From the park brochure: “Vandalism – It is unlawful to mutilate or deface any natural or constructed feature or structure. Please help keep our parks beautiful.”
Last month, the guy who toppled the rock filed a personal injury lawsuit related to a 2009 accident, claiming he’s “endure(d) great pain and suffering, disability, impairment, loss of joy of life.” I imagine, if the case goes to trial, this video will be used to show otherwise.
No, I don’t feel sorry for them.
Thanks for telling me about the lawsuit. I looked it up: http://now.msn.com/glenn-taylor-man-who-pushed-over-goblin-boulder-in-utah-state-park-has-injury-lawsuit-pending
That lessens my sympathy a little bit. My guess is he won’t do very well with his lawsuit.
I don’t. That boulder has been there for eons possibly and would have found its own place in the scheme of things eventually. Or perhaps, it was its karma that these lads had to push it off its perch and causing some other changes at the micro level. I would not encourage disturbing existence of this kind.
I think we all agree we should discourage actions like this. I think the three of them were incredibly stupid. I feel sorry for them because of that. That doesn’t mean they should go scot free.
NO!!! I don’t feel sorry for them. It’s reprehensible what they did. That formation & many others just like it there, accessible to the public, had been there for millions of years without falling on anyone. They gleefully pushed it over & couldn’t wait to put it on Facebook where all crazy videos are put.
Our CAMEL ROCK near the highway on the way to Santa Fe was vandalized about 20 years ago & I haven’t got over that yet. It’s a millions of years formation that looked like a kneeling camel. People pushed off the rock that formed the hump. Grrrrrrrrrr 🙁 I always looked at it in it’s original state but don’t look since then.
That fake story about how they did it for “safety measures” was to cover their asses.
For the record that formation was 170 million years old.
Again, I feel sorry for them because of their stupidity. I don’t condone their actions.
I seem to recall seeing that story line (a few days ago) on our national newspaper website but I didn’t look at it. Now searched for it and found the story and the video…
I do not feel sorry for them either, after looking at the information you and readers have made.
So many precious objects are destroyed that will never be retrieved from all over the world and to have fellows, maybe do it for fun, not great…I note now they are upset about how it has been successfully (sadly) spread further than they imagined.
One has to be especially careful nowadays — a good portion of the world may end up watching. That’s not always a bad thing.