Captain Dylan Hunt: [counting down to fire] You know what? I’ll count again 1… 2…
[his opponents start diving for cover/shooting]
Captain Dylan Hunt: 3 !
Beka Valentine: So, uh, counting to three, kind of tells them when to shoot.
– Andromeda (2002) : Season 2 Episode 16 : In Heaven Now Are Three
The days when the never-ending news cycle didn't have to report every worthless thing that no one cares about. The days when every other channel wasn't filled to the brim with reality shows that nobody cared about. When driving a car didn't require a taking require taking out a loan to fill the tank with gas. How every little event in the world is politicized but one special interest group or another. Non-homogenized radio with something new to listen to besides the top 10 bands of the day. Not having to worry about how one person or another was going to try and screw me. When frivolous lawsuits like the McDonald's hot coffee one were almost unheard of. Not having to choose my words so carefully for fear of offending the wrong person. Being able to read a book or two a week without neglecting some responsibility. When you didn't have to use listen to or read the news with a 10lb bag of salt. The days when companies didn't try to squeeze every last cent out of you. Sitting out on the porch listening and smelling a Texas thunderstorm. I miss not having two cell phones ringing at once with call waiting. I miss not getting enough mail to have cut down a small forest. When Intellect and not stupidity still counted for something. Sitting in front of campfire with marshmallows on a stick. Learning something new everyday simply for the fun of it. Having enough time and energy to have a life. The days when common sense prevailed. The days of peace within my family. Throwing rocks on a pond. When life seemed simpler. My sister's innocence. My dad.
So I’ve had a busy week at work and just wanted to relax and do absolutely nothing this past weekend, so of course something went wrong. 
As if you didn’t already know I purchased my condo….well technically the bank owns it 
… and I absolutely love this place. It has an absolutely gorgeous southern view of the Salt Lake Valley. It has become my baby and it has been defiled!!! No I’m not really that upset about it, I was a little freaked out by this bubble that had suddenly formed on my ceiling sometime between Thursday and Sunday. Wondering what I had done wrong I poked a hole to get it to drain and hopefully dry out. Then I called the guy who fixes everything in our building and he suggested talking to my upstairs neighbor who’s washer, water heater and bathroom were all directly above the spot where the bubble had formed. It’s a good thing that he did suggest that because as it turns out my neighbor had turned off his washer faucets in preparation for getting a new washer. In the process had loosened the packing in the knob just enough that it began to drip into the wall. Not a large drip mind you, but over the course of 3 days that it took to make it down to me it all adds up. My neighbor is pretty cool and wasted no time in working it out to call his insurance company to get the damage repaired. So hopefully in the next week or two my ceiling will be back to the way it was with no bubble, holes and most important……..water!
Back in 2002 a Boy Scout troop out of the BSA Great Salt Lake Council inadvertently started the East Fork fire with damaged/destroyed 14,000 acres. By all accounts it was an accident and the source of the fire was from a campfire that had been doused with water and buried as is usually the recommended procedure for ensuring a fire is out. Now fast forward 5 years to yesterday where it was announced that the BSA Great Salt Lake Council and the State of Utah have reached a settlement. For this I applaud them rather than dragging on another 5 or 10 years in pointless court battles they have finally finished it. What I do take great exception to is one of the terms of the settlement…
The state originally sued for $606,424 to recoup the costs the state incurred in fighting the fire. The settlement terms that I have been able to drudge up so far from local newspapers and the radio are for the most part a very good compromise. The terms that have been announced are as follows: the Greater Salt Lake Council will pay approximately $300,000 to the state, oversee the planting of 9,000 seedlings(not sure if it is only in East Fork or in general), develop specific training for troop leaders and videos/training for the scouts themselves and last the Great Salt Lake council admits no wrong doing for the fire. That last one is the one that I have to take issue with, the fact that the Great Salt Lake Council will not admit any wrong doing goes against the very ideals of the Boy scouts. Unfortunately, the Boy Scouts of America are not acting any better. According to the Deseret News article There is still a pending lawsuit between the BSA and the federal government for $13 million that they spent fighting the fire. Besides not admitting any fault of their own as far as I have seen the BSA has also filed a lawsuit that claims the “unknown Scouts, on their own free time” started a different campfire that then spread and started the 2002 East Fork Fire.
Now I am an Eagle Scout and today I am now ashamed of the organization from which I earned that rank. From both the Mission Statement and the Vision statement the BSA currently has on it’s website two lines that essentially repeat each other which would imply that it is important to them. “The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.” from the Mission statement and “Instill in young people lifetime values and develop in them ethical characte as expressed in the Scout Oath and Law” from the Vision Statement. With all of their concern with instilling ethical and moral values in the scouts by not admitting any wrong-doing, they have shown their true colors. In my opinion they have lost their own moral compass by looking after their own ass instead of doing what is right and leading by example. One final note before I sign off on this post, Yes I know that if they do publicly and on the record admit liability it is possible for them to open themselves to other liability claims, but by denying it entirely they cannot profess to be setting a good example for the scouts that they are trying to teach these same values to.
