Felony Charges Filed in Utah Rock Tumbling Vandalism

[dmax]

I could be mistaken, but, didnt Gypsy's drawing at Fontana Dam give him a felony?
This scout leader could have been cubby's, ranger, joes etc... Scout leader. It's starting to make sense to me now how things like this happen.

[Doctari]

I hope I'm wrong, but I'd bet I'm not: These yahoos will get almost off Scott free. They may get a warning, with the judge saying something like "well, I (sort of) wish you hadn't done that, but it was only a rock"
The Scouts in their care will then learn a valuable lesson, you can destroy anything you want as long as you claim to be doing the "greater good"
Watched the full video, they did it for the fun of it, "we did it to save lives" was an afterthought! Nothing more!

As to the ample posts here: "There are plenty of those formations in the area!" along with a "its not a big deal" attitude, is what makes me believe that nothing will happen.
To those who feel there are many formations / no big deal: There are a lot of cars in your area, how about I come & smash up yours because it MAY be a hazard, , , , someday. Yea, that's what I thought! NO! IT'S NO DIFFERENT!

[Dogwood]

Time for some trivia. Where did the phrase Scott free come from?

[bfayer]

Time for some trivia. Where did the phrase Scott free come from?

I means not paying your taxes. Old English bastardization of a viking word for tax. If you did a favor for the crown, you would not have to pay your share of taxes.

[dmax]

It's not the scout masters fault. He shouldn't get in trouble. It's how he was raised. He didn't know any better. He was never taught right from wrong .........

[atmilkman]

It's not the scout masters fault. He shouldn't get in trouble. It's how he was raised. He didn't know any better. He was never taught right from wrong .........

Just like his daddy before him and his granddaddy before him.

[rocketsocks]

Forget the community service and weekend "jail". 10 days in an ordinary county lockup ought to do quite well as a deterrent against future misdeeds and as punishment. Not too expensive and they could even be charged for meals and administrative costs as some jurisdictions do. Felony is a stretch, more like a misdemeanor it would seem.

The group "W" bench

whad ya get kid?
...I didn't get nothin, I had to pay $50 dollars, and pick up all the rocks
[and they all moved away]

...and charged with "Gobblin toplin"
[and they all moved back.

[colorado_rob]

As to the ample posts here: "There are plenty of those formations in the area!" along with a "its not a big deal" attitude, is what makes me believe that nothing will happen.
To those who feel there are many formations / no big deal: There are a lot of cars in your area, how about I come & smash up yours because it MAY be a hazard, , , , someday. Yea, that's what I thought! NO! IT'S NO DIFFERENT!

You might have misunderstood at least some of us... It IS indeed a big deal from a crime standpoint, the morons should be severely punished indeed (big fine, comm. service, etc). I do agree they will probably not be. We're talking the state of Utah here, about as red as it gets. If that were California, they might go to jail.

Anyway, my "it's not a big deal" was more from a loss of hoodoo/formation standpoint; I was saying that from this standpoint, one missing hoodoo will not even be noticed, it really is only a marginal loss of park beauty. Of course if lots of folks did this that would be bad. But really, this seems like an isolated incident. Not many people are as dumb as those morons.

My analogy: what if someone came along and cut down a tree along the AT where it is not legal to do so? How much loss of beauty would there be??? wouldn't be noticed. unless it was a really nice tree, of course. Not really a great analogy, but my point is GVSP is really not that special, though tourist do like it for some reason, I guess because there are paved roads and big parking lots in the park.

The whole SE part of Utah is glorious, GVSP is a tiny little piece of uniqueness, but pales in comparison to all else out there. SE Utah is my favorite playground, and that of all of my circle of outdoor enthusiasts, at least from October through April (too hot may-September). One trip to GVSP is a must, but I doubt if many people go back there.

[MuddyWaters]

The unfortunate thing to me, is they really didnt do anything that a significant portion of americans would have also done.

We have a country that would rather watch "dancing with the stars" and "american idol" than address the ways their elected officials have raped them.

[SunnyWalker]

I worked in prisons for 20 years and the rationalizations used by these two men to escape responsibility sounds real familiar to me. (Heard this a lot from inmates). I think their actions were disgusting and hope the Judge makes an example of them.

[Wise Old Owl]

Dmax - I can't believe you posted that.

[Dogwood]

I means not paying your taxes. Old English bastardization of a viking word for tax. If you did a favor for the crown, you would not have to pay your share of taxes.

You're right. I thought the origin came from the Dred Scott Decision but it goes back further than that. What through me off is that your origin is spelled "scot" which comes from the Norse "skot" while it was written here as "Scott." You go on to the Bonus round while I must settle for a 1 yr subscription in the Cheese of the Month Club. cheesy smile.

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/6309

[atmilkman]

I worked in prisons for 20 years and the rationalizations used by these two men to escape responsibility sounds real familiar to me. (Heard this a lot from inmates). I think their actions were disgusting and hope the Judge makes an example of them.

Their next step is to pick up the Bible and start reading it and find God. Another last minute prison tactic before you go see the judge.

[Dogwood]

These "goblin toppling Neanderthals" better hope they don't have a jury trail with WB Users serving jury duty.

[fins1838]

Hang em high. (I like how they threw in the children getting hurt thing, just like politicians).

[fins1838]

I hope I'm wrong, but I'd bet I'm not: These yahoos will get almost off Scott free. They may get a warning, with the judge saying something like "well, I (sort of) wish you hadn't done that, but it was only a rock"
The Scouts in their care will then learn a valuable lesson, you can destroy anything you want as long as you claim to be doing the "greater good"
Watched the full video, they did it for the fun of it, "we did it to save lives" was an afterthought! Nothing more!

As to the ample posts here: "There are plenty of those formations in the area!" along with a "its not a big deal" attitude, is what makes me believe that nothing will happen.
To those who feel there are many formations / no big deal: There are a lot of cars in your area, how about I come & smash up yours because it MAY be a hazard, , , , someday. Yea, that's what I thought! NO! IT'S NO DIFFERENT!

You nailed it. Said perfectly.

[bfayer]

I still think the felony charges are an attempt to get these guys guy to take a plea. The Scouts need to see these jerks accept responsibility for their actions. Taking the plea would do that.

As for establishing a cost for the damage they did, that is actually the easy part. The legal standard is not if the damage can be restored (we all know it can't), but if it could what would it cost to put it back the way they found it or a close as possible. (make it whole). So if you add up the cost of an engineer, a geologist, a helicopter, riggers, etc. It's easy to set a cost the court can work with.

If I was the prosecutor I would pile it on, add the cost of an environmental impact study, all the equipment cost, the cost of an archeological study to make sure the equipment would not damage any ancient Native American sites, etc, etc, etc.

By the time I was done, they would be looking at charges that add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. All they would need to do, plead guilty to the misdemeanor charges, pay a relatively small fine, do community service, and most importantly stand up in court and admit they were stupid.

[waasj]

Seeing the video, I don't think anyone was ever in any real danger here. I think the yahoos in question might have been trying to make it appear to be an act in the best interest of the greater community. As some one posted, if you were to roll all of the "dangerous looking" ones off, it would take several years. This area is unique and needs to be preserved. I have been there, and one thing I did NOT see was alot of the capstones laying around having fallen off their bases. These things are not fragile or perilous, these guys were not commiting this act in the interest of public safety, they wanted to see a rock roll down a hill.

[Teacher & Snacktime]

If they wanted to insure their charges safety, perhaps they could have .... oh I don't know....walked AROUND it !

[imscotty]

Just found myself wondering whatever happened to these two jerks... so I Googled the answer, they got off way too easy...

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...each-plea-deal