Scout campfire | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

On Friday, May 10, I was camping with friends at Vernon Reservoir in southwestern Utah County. It was crowded with weekenders. I didn't mind the crowd as much as I did the behavior of Boy Scouts from Herriman and Orem.

On Saturday morning, each troop packed up and left, leaving their campfire aflame. We pulled the burning wood out of the two fires and doused the flames.

As a former Scout, it grieves me to see this lack of leadership and mentoring of our young men. It takes courage to be a Scout leader. Courage doesn't mean to be willing to face a bear to protect the Scouts, but to have the courage to do the right thing only because it's the right thing to do.

What I saw was the complete lack of courage to do the right thing to protect our lands, wildlife and property from destruction by neglect.

This lack of leadership is the wrong example for our young men. This is the wrong image of adult behavior for our future leaders.

Rick Munukka

West Valley City