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Boy Scout Found: March 20
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T O P I C
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Discussion Started: 03-20-2007, 12:32 PM
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A boy scout who had been missing since the weekend has been found. Use this WXII12.com forum to share your comments. Comments are subject to approval and editing before posting. We may use your comment on air.
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View Messages: [newest first] | [oldest first]
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MrSparex
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03-26-2007, 11:03 PM
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Obviously a lot of people had "minded their own business". The kid had not been found and days had passed...he could have been where we were looking and could have been dying right there. NOBODY WAS LOOKING WHERE WE WERE LOOKING. It takes a lot of people to search over 20,000 acres! You lose your kid in the woods for a few days and then say "I don't want you looking for him". You really think that asking someone to turn a key in a lock is asking too much? Do you honestly believe that asking a Park Ranger (who is going to be there anyway) if he would let us out of the park if we returned after closing time is out of order? Should every reasonable effort to find a lost child in the woods not be made? The fact is that the area we were searching was considerably out of the area they were searching. It was very possible though he could have walked that far and it's an area that we knew well...so we searched. You say we should have minded our own business? Let's here the rest of your story...go ahead and post why my discussion hit a nerve with you. Tell your REAL story and let everyone else know why and let them decide themselves.
IMHO
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AdvocateD
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03-24-2007, 8:10 AM
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I think MrSparex tried to do the right thing by helping search for the boy. Obvoiusly there was already a search party and plan in place. And I don't believe that he was asked to participate in the search. Special acommodations were not in order. The moral of the story is that if you mind your own business you will be happier. The search group had already requested that no more people come to the site because more would hamper the search.
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sassey24
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03-23-2007, 2:37 PM
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The child is very lucky that he was found unharmed and safe for which I am sure his parents are thankful. But he needs discipline NOT rewards such as being on the Oprah show,the President calling,offers for the Tonight Show and Kinney Chesney concert tickets,dinner,a limo ride and even to play basketball with Kinney Chesney. He as well as his parents need behavior modification. His parents should take those concert tickets and auction them off,give the monies to the rescue teams that spend long hours,money and physical efforts trying to find him.
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MrSparex
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03-22-2007, 8:09 PM
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I returned home from Gatlinburg on Sunday night around 8:30 and heard the news that a young boy had been lost in Doughton Park area. I immediately loaded my backpack and went alone toward Doughton Park to search. I was amazed to find hundreds of people on Longbottom Road but almost nobody searching on the other side...so I went to the Parkway entrance to Doughton Park. I saw two crash trucks from State Road fire department searching, a man from Elkin and one Alleghany Deputy Sheriff. I didn't pass a single vehicle on the parkway other than a friend's truck which was parked on the side of the road. I found him by walking about a mile into the woods. He was out searching with a friend of his. We didn't pass, hear or see anyone else despite that we searched for hours. Monday we returned with the plan to search along the sides of the Mountain to Sea trail (MST) that begins just outside Doughton Park (on the Parkway) and goes about six miles through the woods to Stone Mountain park. Here's where I got very aggravated...We brought two vehicles so that we could leave one on the Parkway and one at Stone Mountain Park. We found a Park Ranger and informed him what we were doing and he tried to discourage our search by telling us the boy was lost over four miles away. However that's not far for a young scout to walk in two days! We then asked if they were planning on locking the gate at seven o'clock since the search was ongoing. He informed us that they would still lock the gate and they would not let us out if we were not back in time. We had to call in a third searcher to leave a third vehicle outside the gate because they were not willing to help us out at all. We had to greatly narrow and shorten our search and the apathy of the Park Ranger was disgraceful. The three of us had taken off work to help and was met with resistance at every turn. If this ever happens again...I have decided to pretend that I'm the only one looking and go from there.
IMHO
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booger1
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03-22-2007, 1:59 PM
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glad he's safe - but...... needs a good old fashioned butt whipping! probably was homesick from not getting to sit inside and play video games! actually had to go outside - imagine that!
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Mom2aking
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03-22-2007, 1:29 PM
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I am happy for this family that Michael was found safe. However, I think instead of all this publicity he should be punished! He is 12 years old, and that makes him old enough to know better than to pull a stunt like this. I think is it ridiculous that he is being made out to be some "miracle" getting calls from Oprah, Ellen, The President, etc. He needs to be punished and NOT rewarded for this type of behavior. Has anyone thought about other children who may be watching this? I am sure some of them would love to meet Oprah, go to a Kenny Chesney concert, etc. What are we teaching them? That this is OK, and once you are found you will be rewarded for making a stupid, careless, decision?
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Gatsby
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03-22-2007, 11:23 AM
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Some tought boy scout...He was trying to hitchike himself home. Shame on him and on everyone else who has made him seem heroic. God forbid if anyone else in Wilkes County had been injured over the weekend. There wouldn't have been anyone to help them since they were looking for a kid who didn't follow the rules.
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haysmom
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03-22-2007, 9:52 AM
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I'm glad he's ok but, I think this boy's parents should pay most of the bill considering their child hid from searchers for 3 days. I don't think any more attention should be given to him locally or nationally.
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Kwaddell
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03-22-2007, 8:42 AM
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I feel this child was not lost he was simply hiding and did not want to be found. As a parent I cannot understand why you would bribe a child for $5 to go on an overnight camping trip especially when he treatend to hitchhike home. The news media needs to spend air time disussing the dangers of "running away" not give kids the idea you will receive gifts from celebritys and national attention and everything will be "ok".
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Bail
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03-22-2007, 7:49 AM
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I think the important thing now is to learn from what happened. How can things be improved so that when someone gets lost again they can be found quicker and easier. In a time when we put low jack system on a air compressor so we can find it anywhere in the world. Why cant we find our most precious thing. There is technology that could be used but it hasn't been put together yet for that purpose. I was watching a program some time ago on the Discovery Channel i believe about Cell phones. And when they got to the dangers one struck me as jaw dropping. There is a program which is illegal that can catch your signal when you walk bye and with a lap top and gps program track your location from anywhere. Even turn on the phone and monitor the room. I believe in the hands of a rescue team this could be used for a very affordable search system. All the person would need is a cell phone with a good battery. The rescue team would need a computer with the program and some type signal booster or transmitter for remote area with out cell phone signal. I believe the money saved in time spent looking and lives this could save would be well worth the cost to put this together. I present this idea here in hope that someone that can make it happen will read this. I really believe it could prove to be a useful idea for something most people today keep on them.
Kindest Regards Kenneth Roop
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