# Boy Scouts destroy Goblin Rock Formation



## Nick (Oct 18, 2013)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/18/goblin-valley-boy-scout-leaders-destroy-rock_n_4122488.html





> The "goblin" the group knocked over, also known as a "hoodoo," forms when a harder rock sits atop softer rock. Over millions of years, the harder rock on top protects the softer stone directly beneath it. The soft matter elsewhere erodes, leaving behind a pinnacle. Rocks in Goblin Valley date back to the late Jurassic period, around 160 million years ago.


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## ScottySkis (Oct 18, 2013)

They use cannabis that what boy Scouts do .


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## thetrailboss (Oct 18, 2013)

Complete idiots


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## wa-loaf (Oct 18, 2013)

Hope those idiots get booted from the scouts.


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## Rikka (Oct 18, 2013)

Ass hats......


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## skiNEwhere (Oct 18, 2013)

A felony, and little chance to get a good job later in life for pushing a rock over? Give me a break. Was this stupid as hell? Yes, but this was about as victimless of a "crime" as you can get. I'd like to see them try to explain this crime in prison.

The highest level they should be held accountable is to the boy scouts, and maybe have to pick up trash in the park

Like Nick said in another post, when people get wrapped up in a case, logic can get thrown out the window, and it looks like that is what happening here.

I'll have little faith in the justice system if they actually got charged with a felony. Hope I'm not stirring the pot too much here, rant over


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## thetrailboss (Oct 18, 2013)

And FWIW these were Scout leaders....not Scouts.


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## Edd (Oct 19, 2013)

skiNEwhere said:


> A felony, and little chance to get a good job later in life for pushing a rock over? Give me a break. Was this stupid as hell? Yes, but this was about as victimless of a "crime" as you can get. I'd like to see them try to explain this crime in prison.
> 
> The highest level they should be held accountable is to the boy scouts, and maybe have to pick up trash in the park
> 
> ...



I agree with you regarding the felony but this is offensively stupid. There's gotta be a legal disincentive; perhaps a heavy fine.


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## wa-loaf (Oct 19, 2013)

So the guy who pushed the rock over is suing someone for disability due to a car accident ...

http://www.kutv.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_7578.shtml

I think that case is about to be tossed out. :uzi:


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## Trekchick (Oct 19, 2013)

This profile page of Dave Hall was posted on a story about this. 
https://www.facebook.com/ppldave?fref=ts

Notice his job: 
Executive Director *Legal Shield*
Wonder if he's got "affordable" legal counsel


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## bigbog (Oct 19, 2013)

wa-loaf said:


> So the guy who pushed the rock over is suing someone for disability due to a car accident ...



Shows where the mindset of the model Scout leaders is coming from..........


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## Trekchick (Oct 19, 2013)

wa-loaf said:


> So the guy who pushed the rock over is suing someone for disability due to a car accident ...
> 
> http://www.kutv.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_7578.shtml
> 
> I think that case is about to be tossed out. :uzi:



I was a bit tied up so didn't look at your link until after I posted.  Now that I see the news story and his response to the reporter.......wow!  
This guy has lowered the bar for low lifes.  
I'm wondering if his buddy Dave "Executive Director at LegalShield" Hall is his legal counsel.  


Trekchick said:


> This profile page of Dave Hall was posted on a story about this.
> https://www.facebook.com/ppldave?fref=ts
> 
> Notice his job:
> ...


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## thetrailboss (Oct 19, 2013)

"Your honor, I'd like to show the Jury what we've marked as exhibit one showing the Plaintiff in his finest YouTube moment."  

"How's it relevant?  It shows just how 'injured' he was."


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## twinplanx (Oct 20, 2013)

Edd said:


> I agree with you regarding the felony but this is offensively stupid. There's gotta be a legal disincentive; perhaps a heavy fine.



Screw these guys.  They should not be allowed to procreate.  The gene pool is filled with idiots like this and the world is overpopulated.  I think castration would be fair. 

Sent from my SCH-S735C using Tapatalk


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## Cannonball (Oct 20, 2013)

skiNEwhere said:


> A felony, and little chance to get a good job later in life for pushing a rock over? Give me a break. Was this stupid as hell? Yes, but this was about as victimless of a "crime" as you can get. I'd like to see them try to explain this crime in prison.
> 
> The highest level they should be held accountable is to the boy scouts, and maybe have to pick up trash in the park
> 
> ...



Disagree.  This was not a victim-less crime.  Whether or not you care about the geologic history of that rock is irrelevant.  That rock formation and the others around it are the attraction of the Goblin Valley State Park.  The Park brings tourists and their money into the area creating an economic stimulus.  Destroying the attractions has an impact on the appeal of the park and the economy of the area.  This happened during a gov shutdown when national parks were closed and State Parks like Goblin Valley were picking up the slack for tourism dollars all over the country.  That's the 'crime' part of the story and they still need to face that.  The destroying of something cool is the stupidity part of the story. These fat-ass nimrods are already playing out that part of their sentence in the court of public opinion.


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## skiNEwhere (Oct 20, 2013)

http://news.msn.com/us/toppling-of-utah-rock-formation-spurs-death-threats

Now they are getting death threats. People have lost their minds


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## thetrailboss (Oct 20, 2013)

skiNEwhere said:


> http://news.msn.com/us/toppling-of-utah-rock-formation-spurs-death-threats
> 
> Now they are getting death threats. People have lost their minds



Yeah too much on the other side.


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## manhattanskier (Oct 20, 2013)

Sad that the scouts only get attention when something bad happens... 

Sent from my XT907 using AlpineZone mobile app


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## Cannonball (Oct 20, 2013)

skiNEwhere said:


> http://news.msn.com/us/toppling-of-utah-rock-formation-spurs-death-threats
> 
> Now they are getting death threats. People have lost their minds



Yeah, death threats seem pretty redundant considering his obesity and poor decision making.


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## Edd (Oct 20, 2013)

Cannonball said:


> Yeah, death threats seem pretty redundant considering his obesity and poor decision making.



Harsh...funny...harsh


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## AdironRider (Oct 21, 2013)

This story is interesting to me. Notably for the laughable backlash these guys got for tipping over a rock. I by no means condone the behavior, but a geologist buddy of mine did the math and the results really make this seem like nothing. Basically, when you do the math and realize how little force it took (breaks down to about 200 lb ft of force given rough estimates on the guys weight, etc), then if you do the math on how much pressure would apply if the wind blew in the right direction, and a 40-50mph gust would've taken that boulder down. 

Basically this one rock happened to be ready to go during the next thunderstorm, so hardly worth making a fuss about. Furthermore it was a state park, so all that talk about a felony is pure internet bullshit.


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## dmc (Oct 21, 2013)

Dude is lying through his teeth...  thank god for videos so we can bust these idiots... 

The douchebag needs to pay for his acts...  somehow...


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## ScottySkis (Oct 21, 2013)

dmc said:


> Dude is lying through his teeth...  thank god for videos so we can bust these idiots...
> 
> The douchebag needs to pay for his acts...  somehow...


 
I hear on radio that police are arresting the accused.


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## thetrailboss (Oct 21, 2013)

The BSA has thrown these guys out for violating the Leave No Trace policy.


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## Cannonball (Oct 21, 2013)

AdironRider said:


> Furthermore it was a state park, so all that talk about a felony is pure internet bullshit.



Is it not possible to commit a felony in a state park? Serious question, it's not something I know.


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## thetrailboss (Oct 21, 2013)

Cannonball said:


> Is it not possible to commit a felony in a state park? Serious question, it's not something I know.



The distinction between state and federal does not determine if it's a felony or not.  I think what AR meant was that it is not a *federal *crime, which usually carry stiffer penalties.  It could certainly be a felony under Utah law.


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## Cannonball (Oct 22, 2013)

thetrailboss said:


> The distinction between state and federal does not determine if it's a felony or not.  I think what AR meant was that it is not a *federal *crime, which usually carry stiffer penalties.  It could certainly be a felony under Utah law.



Gotcha, that makes more sense.  So the whole 'it can't be a felony' thing was just pure Internet bullshit.


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## ScottySkis (Oct 22, 2013)

Well in NYC were smoking cigarettes is a penalty you can be charged but in NY state park they can't charge you because it not against NY state law so you can smoke cigarette on west side park if you smoke which I don't in many years.


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## Nick (Oct 22, 2013)

AdironRider said:


> This story is interesting to me. Notably for the laughable backlash these guys got for tipping over a rock. I by no means condone the behavior, but a geologist buddy of mine did the math and the results really make this seem like nothing. Basically, when you do the math and realize how little force it took (breaks down to about 200 lb ft of force given rough estimates on the guys weight, etc), then if you do the math on how much pressure would apply if the wind blew in the right direction, and a 40-50mph gust would've taken that boulder down.
> 
> Basically this one rock happened to be ready to go during the next thunderstorm, so hardly worth making a fuss about. Furthermore it was a state park, so all that talk about a felony is pure internet bullshit.



To be totally fair I was sort of thinking the same thing. I mean.... it's nature. It was bound to fall over eventually. I've never been to this state park but I would assume there are probably rocks all over the ground from falling down naturally over time. 

Still, you don't want idiots coming in and pushing them all over, it takes a long time to form and we should preserve it as much as we can. I'd rather have the wind push it over than these kids. But a felony still seems a little harsh to me, even if the kids are complete trash.


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## twinplanx (Oct 22, 2013)

IT WAS NOT "THE KIDS"!!! These jack-asses WHERE the leaders.  Good on the BSA for giving them the boot! 

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## thetrailboss (Oct 22, 2013)

twinplanx said:


> IT WAS NOT "THE KIDS"!!! These jack-asses WHERE the leaders. Good on the BSA for giving them the boot!
> 
> Sent from my SCH-S735C using Tapatalk



Yeah, watch the video Nick.  Those were not kids.....these were grown men who, I think it is pretty clear, were screwing around.


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## Cannonball (Oct 22, 2013)

Nick said:


> To be totally fair I was sort of thinking the same thing. I mean.... it's nature. It was bound to fall over eventually. I've never been to this state park but I would assume there are probably rocks all over the ground from falling down naturally over time.



The fact that it's a rock that would have fallen over eventually isn't really the point.  It's an attraction owned by the State (park).  People think that stuff is cool enough to come all the way to the park and visit. That's what creates the value.  Push over all the rocks....no more attraction....no more value to the State Park.

Let's say you have a State Park whose attraction happens to be artifacts or art (instead of a geologic feature).  Some visitor comes in and smashes one of the pieces of art in your collection.  Not a big deal?  You've still got lots of other pieces in the collection and they weren't going to last forever anyway.


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## Nick (Oct 22, 2013)

Cannonball said:


> The fact that it's a rock that would have fallen over eventually isn't really the point.  It's an attraction owned by the State (park).  People think that stuff is cool enough to come all the way to the park and visit. That's what creates the value.  Push over all the rocks....no more attraction....no more value to the State Park.
> 
> Let's say you have a State Park whose attraction happens to be artifacts or art (instead of a geologic feature).  Some visitor comes in and smashes one of the pieces of art in your collection.  Not a big deal?  You've still got lots of other pieces in the collection and they weren't going to last forever anyway.



I know. I'm not disagreeing. Just a felony sounds harsh. Some penalty is in order to be certain, but prison and a felony conviction sounds kind of extreme to me.  

The video alone shows what a moron the guy is.


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## AdironRider (Oct 22, 2013)

No doubt these guys were total jackasses. I think we all agree on this. But as someone who has been to goblin valley, this also is like complaining that a blade of grass was stepped on in the badlands, or a pebble was removed from Acadia. There are thousands of these rock formations. Again, not condoning the behavior, but this wasn't some unique formation they built the whole park around either.


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## ctenidae (Oct 23, 2013)

I wouldn't be against a felony conviction, simply because of the chain of ass-hattedness that occurred leading up to the decision to topple the rocks. I'm sure "Hey, y'all- watch this" was involved at some point. The fact that, in the whole group, no one's dumbass circuit breaker tripped causing them to call a halt to the tipping tells me that society is probably generally better off without them involved.  Unfortunately, a felony conviction would only guarantee they became, in some greater way way, parasites on society, since we'd have to pay for them to be in prison or unemployable. The cameraman has apparently been on Headline News a lot around the Jodie Arias trial. Maybe he's tight with Nancy Grace.


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## thetrailboss (Oct 23, 2013)

The dumbest thing that they did was to video it and then post it on YouTube.  Boneheads.


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## Nick (Oct 24, 2013)

Well the video basically speaks for itself.

Sort of reminded me of this video:


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## thetrailboss (Oct 24, 2013)

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57034653-78/video-goblin-hall-rock.html.csp

The plot thickens......the guy who shot the video has filed a "copyright claim" in order to remove the video from YouTube.  (Damage is already done).


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## skiNEwhere (Feb 1, 2014)

Nick said:


> Just a felony sounds harsh. Some penalty is in order to be certain, but prison and a felony conviction sounds kind of extreme to me.



I agree. But looks like that's what they are officially being charged with, a 3rd degree felony

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/31/us/utah-boulder-boy-scouts/index.html

If they do end up going to prison, they better start making up some good stories on why they're there.


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## jimk (Feb 4, 2014)

In the old days they made bad guys break rocks when they were sent to prison.  That would be poetic justice in this case ;-)


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## skiNEwhere (Aug 2, 2014)

Looks like the cobra rock in the fisher towers fell over. This guy back at it?


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## skiNEwhere (Aug 2, 2014)

skiNEwhere said:


> Looks like the cobra rock in the fisher towers fell over. This guy back at it?



Before



After


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## bvibert (Aug 4, 2014)

Clearly a safety hazard!


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## Nick (Aug 5, 2014)

Did he use his slingshot to knock it down


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## dlague (Aug 5, 2014)

Give this area another 100 years and many will have fallen.  Darn Boy Scouts!


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## thetrailboss (Dec 22, 2014)

One of these idiots is back..."muscles" and his lawsuit earned the title "worst lawsuit in the country."

http://www.sltrib.com/news/1980633-155/utah-goblin-topplers-personal-injury-filing


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