Dozens of Searchers Look for 13-Year-Old Boy Scout Who Fell Into River at Yellowstone Nat'l Park

COX.Net AP Story ^ | June 25, 2005 | unattributed

[SandRat]

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- Dozens of searchers Saturday looked for a 13-year-old Boy Scout who came here with his troop and fell into the fast-moving Yellowstone River.

The National Park Service said the search for the boy lost his balance and fell in the water around 6:30 p.m. Friday, and the search included park personnel, about 100 volunteers and a park helicopter.

The incident came just days after 11-year-old Scout Brennan Hawkins was found in good condition after spending four days wandering the Utah wilderness.

The name of the boy missing in Wyoming was not immediately released. He fell into the river as he and friends tried to throw a log into the water, ---

[stands2reason]

Looks like the AP is beginning a narrative....

[unbalanced but fair]

Okay...the boy fell into the river at 6:30 and the park wasn't notified until 10:00 when the scouts came out? What happened to "Be Prepared?" No numbers to call, no means of communication,? Sounds like carelessness on the part of the leaders.

[Textide]

Eventually there will be an Amber Alert/Missing children channel on cable. That'd have its good and bad points.

[SandRat]

Missing Scout

[MMcC]

Wow... it took all the way to the 3rd post before we started looking for someone to blame. We're slipping.

[possumdawg]

Yep...Boy Scouts are considered a Christian organization and therefore must be punished. I am a Scouter and both my boys are Scouts. You can be prepared; however, nature has a way of showing you what you forgot..

[South40]

Sad story. The last time I was in Yosemite a man dove in to the Merced River to save his dog. The dog ended up saving himself but the man drowned.

[ErnBatavia]

If I'd have gotten here earlier, it wouldn't have taken until number 3...

When I was a Boy Scout, the adult leaders were fully in charge and knew how to do it. Maybe it's just that this was 45 years ago, but I do know that there was NO WAY any of us young chirrens were going to be allowed to get close enough to a water hazard that could suck us away.

...Sounds like a leadership problem to me, too....that's also my take on this tragic situation.

[UPcrawfish]

Being a Scout Leader and planner of what we call "high adventures"... The time lag is very possible and understandable. They have likely backpacked/hiked into a remote area of the park. They are miles away from any reliable communications and on foot, it may well have taken a couple of hours to get back to make contact with the park rangers.

Trips I have planned into the Boundry Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) have found us 35 miles into the area, in a canoe, that took us 3 days to get there and 3 to get out.. No cell service and NO motorized access (float planes) allowed.

[MMcC]

Sounds like an accident to me. These things happen when you actually let boys start growing up and becoming men.

At 13 I was out with friends camping MILES away from any adult. Today my parents would probably be locked up for child abuse for letting me do that.

This is a tragic accident, but it's just that, an accident.

[possumdawg]

Don't know the location well enough to say the leadership was faulty; however, I can say, we have hiked and camped in some really remote places and if someone was injured it would have taken hours to get to a location where cell phones could get a signal..Hospitals and fire departments were all hours away too..We have gone days without access to any type of communications with the outside world. I will wait and see what the whole story is before I pass judgment.

[unbalanced but fair]

someone to blame

As a former scout leader I simply asked the questions anyone would ask. Leaders are responsible for the scouts in their charge.

[b4its2late]

Not good.

[Ichneumon]

The National Park Service said the search for the boy lost his balance and fell in the water around 6:30 p.m. Friday

So the search lost his balance, eh?

It's been a long time since the AP showed any signs of fact-checking their articles, but for the past several months it seems that they don't even bother proofreading them anymore...

I've seen bloggers that are more professional than the AP has been recently.

[taxesareforever]

They are miles away from any reliable communications and on foot, it may well have taken a couple of hours to get back to make contact with the park rangers.

Cell phones? Is this part of being a Boy Scout, hiking without a cell phone in the group?

[ErnBatavia]

Of course when I was Scouting in the 1950's the theory of "cell phones" was Science Fiction - we kids would get yelled at (and given the time, the leaders were all World War II vets) if we endangered ourselves.

I often silently thanked those men as I cruised through USMC Boot Camp in 1966.

[ErnBatavia]

Is this part of being a Boy Scout, hiking without a cell phone in the group?

You forgot about the GPS devices....I'll bet my welfare check that there are a half dozen at every Scout Camp in 2005. (I love my little handheld, tho....my Mapping merit badge could've been a lot less of a struggle)

[tomkat]

prayers...