Lost Boy Scout in North Carolina Mountains

[...] concluded a third day of searching in the disappearance of Michael Auberry in the NC mountains without finding any additional clues. They will continue searching throughout the night along [...]

Are They accepting any more volunteers? I would love to help if I knew who to contact. Please e-mail me at johncrowe00@aol.com

Hey John,
Thanks for stopping by the blog I don’t have access to my email account right now so I hope you see this. My understanding is they are currently accepting some volunteer help; [quote] Some members of the McGrady Volunteer Fire Department were also involved in the search by repelling down some of the park’s rocky cliffs.

Rescue officials have asked that trained professionals join in the search today. [/quote]
I’m certain if you have some skills in this area they would welcome your help. McGrady Volunteer Fire Department is from my understanding is where the command post is for this search.

Thanks for the news. I don’t have any particualr skills, just a good hiker and willing to help. I’m trying to contact someone who can speak for the authorities down there to see if they are going to allow these other Scout leaders who showed up to help at some point and if so could they use additional volunteers. I live about 6 hours away so I just want to make sure they would allow the help.

While we know the boy has ADD or ADHD, I wonder if he had taken his medication that day. The Ritalin provides the chemicals for the brain, so there the child has some inhibitions and control over behavior. Otherwise, these kids just act on any impulsive thought, which might have been the case here. At age 12 they are still not well enough equipped with the ability & skills to control their behavior & impulsivity well without the medication, no matter how many times you have taught them otherwise.

Just speaking from personal knowledge & experience.

First the kid didn’t want to go on the hike because he wanted to sleep in,causing a situation where an adult had to stay in camp to watch his spoiled bratty ass, leaving the group short of a scout leader. Then he decides to leave and hitch hike home, leading to a massive search at great
expense of money, man power and emotional pain for those concerned with this self indulgent child. The parents have obviously let this brat get totally out of hand. He has no respect for authority. This in not a child that should be involved in any organized situation where other children’s lives can be disrupted by him.
This is the same as filing a false report and he should be made to pay some sort of restitution.

Obviously Michael is not a “team” player.we are all glad that he is safe,but there should be some sort of discipline ,because his actions were intentional. No more “Boy Scout” camping trips.

I am glad to see others feel some outrage at this senseless “lost camper” situation. If the rules had been followed by the adults, Michael would not have wandered off. Why was a 12 yr old child allowed to keep and dispense his own medication? The camp nurse should be managing all meds. Why was he allowed to stay behind in the morning? That’s nonsense, sleeping in. You signed up for the campout, you’re going on the hike. If you’re sick, call the parents to take him home. Then there’s the situation where one adult is left with a child. There should always be at least 2 adults with scouts at all times. And what about the Buddy System? What Scout has not heard of this? Where was Michael’s buddy? I am so tired of hearing about Boy Scouts getting lost or being in peril on their campouts. You never hear of this stuff in the Girl Scouts. Safety is their #1 priority. Leaders and parents may complain about all the “dumb” rules, but by golly, girls don’t go wandering off. Well, that’s my four cents.

A 12 YEAR OLD LOST IN THE WOODS ONE MILE FROM CAMP MUST HAVE A SERIOUS LEARNING PROBLEM. THIS KID NEEDS MENTAL HELP. IN TENN. 13 YEAR OLDS ARE SLEELPING WITH THEIR TEACHERS AND THIS 12 YEAR OLD CAN’T YELL FOR HELP ONE MILE AWAY. WAKE UP PARENTS.

I just love how when a little caucasian boy is missing we all get in such an uproar like that girl who was missing in Aruba but when a african american child goes missing or is found dead you never hear a word about it.

RE: COMMENTS OF NATALIE ON MICHAEL.

DO YOU FEEL THAT THIS CHILD SHOULD ALSO BE PUNISHED FOR TELLING THE TRUTH

PERHAPS WE CAN LEARN MORE FROM ASKING AND LISTENING BEFORE WE CHOSE TO CRITIZE ANYBODY (INCLUDING THE FAMILY WHICH YOU HAVE INSULTED AT A FRAGILE TIME FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED…..

IF YOU ARE NOT A MENTAL HEALTH OFFICIAL…..PERHAPS IT WOULD BE WISE TO THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU SPEAK……..

While it’s great that this kid was found it just goes to show you what happens when we insist on mainstreaming kids with mental deficiencies into the real world. I’m sure in school, he has some aide to monitor his every need. They will read tests to him, make sure he’s not bullied, get on the right bus, etc., etc. But someday this kid and others like him will be released into the “real world.” Then what?? I’m sure his homesickness and the trouble it caused ruined a great opportunity for the other kids. When will people wake up that the majority winds up suffering for the minority?

IF “rights to the story” are sold for a book &/or movie deal THEN a civil suit should be filed so the boy &/or his family do NOT recieve compensation BUT instead those monies collected from any story telling should be used to compensate the publicly funded organizations conducting the search.

I agree that this kid is a total brat!!! First off, when found, he demanded a helicopter ride out of there….second, he is worried about having to make up school work and his Dad asks his teacher to cut him some slack….gimme a break….this is a spoiled, self-indulgent little brat who has no regard for rules or the safety of his his fellow campers. He should definitely be banned from this Boy Scout troop!! And no, you don’t have to be a “mental health official” to figure this one out….just have a brain!!

Lemme tell ya how a real Noo Yawk’er see this..the kid is a “half-a-retard” right from the get-go..messy red hair, freckles. googly-eyes, etc. His Dad is in such denial and talks about how “Little Opie Autism” has a wonderful life spirit–jeez, what flavor Kool-Aid has he been drinkin’…Lastly, and unfortunately, the once-great Boy Scouts has become the last refuge for maladjusted, anti-social ADHD’ers and their “Wal-Mart shopper” parents that I would steer clear of them altogether. Everyone succeeds, no one is challenged–its like T-ball and pre-school soccer where they don’t keep score. They’ll probably give the little prick a merit badge for wiping his ass with tree leaves and bark, fer Chrissakes. Gimme a beer, Edith….!

I’m glad I’m not the only person a little irritated by this kid. I have been a Girl Scout leader for 8 years and a Boy (and Cub) Scout leader for 5 and I think it’s rediculous that this kid is a (reportedly) First Class Scout and he goes off by himself wandering around. If you know ANYTHING about scouts… the buddy system is it. You dont go ANYWHERE by yourself. By the time boys reach First Class status they should know better… whoever conducted this kids Board of Review for that rank and the Scoutmaster who signed off on his Scoutmaster Conference should really be thinking twice about “handing” a kid his rank when he doesn’t even have the basic fundementals of scouting down. What’s ironic is that one of the requirements for Tenderfoot rank (first rank acheived) is to the know the rules of safe hiking… which includes not wandering off by yourself and using the buddy system… which this kid obviously has no clue about… yet he not only surpased Tenderfoot, but 2nd Class and then 1st Class… geez…. I’d love to hear his scoutmasters explanation for letting this kid get that far…. My son is an 11 year old First Class Scout with ADHD… sorry, but the whole “my son has ADHD and was homesick” is BS… they are using it as a crutch for this kids selfish behavior…. makes other kids with ADHD look bad. I would say if this kid is ever allowed to go on another camp out with his troop again, one of his parents should be required to go.

Do we all have to go there and judge? Half Retard-Autism-white boy?. True he signed up to camping out, then you have to follow the schedule of all the other Scouts. RULE #1, no exceptions. But this is still a 12 yr. old child. Find em, then pull him away from Scouting Camp Outs. The Dad did say that they had talks before about Hitchhiking, so I take it he has tried this before. If he is to go to CampOuts, then Dad must be there to protect his son who may have mental health issues. He should not be ridiculed because of it. Imagine if we all do that. Oh He’s a white boy! leave em! Oh he is retarded, leave em!, oh he has red hair leave em!. What do we all have to be perfect in society in order to warrant being rescued? What if that were your child? You love em, and you just want them back safely. He did not anticipate getting lost and causing a commotion, a normal 12 yr. old does not decide to hitch a ride home and leave without telling someone. If he does have mental issues and he is in BS, then all leaders should be made aware of his disposition and have the measures set up to handle what ever may happen. Bottom line, safely returned home. Now it is up to the parents to discipline him in a manner that he will understand the magnitude of what he did, and will never cause anything like this again. Im sure he was terrified, but consider this for a so called -white boy-half retard-autistic kid, he survived the woods and wildlife ALONE, I’ll bet you anything not every NORMAL 12 yr. old would survive that long….

I am absolutely horrified by the vitriolic attitudes of responders concerning the lost boy. If he has ADHD, there should be sympathy for the child and for his parents and respect for the Boy Scouts for including such children in. In any case, whatever his mental or social health, he is 12 not 20 and at that age, any and every child can make mistakes in judgment that older age people do not make — although God knows, there are innumerable adults whose mistakes in judgment have created enormous problems for others. And where is the sympathy for the child’s parents who for several days were in agony about the possible loss of their child? And where is the understanding that any kid would love a helicopter ride?

What is the matter with our society when so many people have no respect for children and their problems of growing?

I work with children like Michael. I understand that parents wish their children to gain socialization skills by being around accepting kids and adults. However, the parents know they must be present when people who do not know about all of the symptoms and behaviors are looking after their children. Schools have those trained to deal with these children; Boy Scouts does not. If the father wishes his son to go on Boy Scout hikes/campouts/outings then he must help chaperon. He is the person who best knows his own child. The father knew what was on the agenda for the trip. He knew the leaders who would be with the children. Did he think his decision through carefully before deciding to let Michael go?
I would hope to hear something from the parents about their part in this, their lack of wise decision-making, and not cute remarks smoothing over their incompetence in dealing with Michael’s handicaps.

I wish they had a camp for parents like this so they can learn the parenting skills needed to deal with a special needs child.

I am truly happy that they found this little boy before anything bad had happen to him in the woods. But for one how in the hell did this little boy get away from his camp without someone knowing he left??? Now inquestion of how his parents raises him. Now everybody knows that if your constantly around your kid and not allowing them to be around other people without you being there that the child would be able to coop with you not being there for them and having them miss being with their family. So apparently because of what might seem like the parents dont like this child go and learn how to coop with other people in different atmosphere lead to this. I was 4 years old and I could go be without my mom and being ok with the whole thing and understand that if I stray off from the person responsible for me that something bad might happen to me. Now it dont seem like this litlle boy parents gave him the hardcore version of life. They must have not told him what some people would love to do to him if they had a opportunity to get him alone or just away. Most of the blame goes to the parents on this one. They might be great parents, but at some point of this childs life you can not tell the them the sugar side of the story. Tell the fully explicit versions so they would know that they dont want that happening to them. My mom told me what would happen if a stranger would have took me away and it scared me shit less. But it scared me so much that I avoided them. No matter how old or what the kids parents withheld from him his is fucking 12 years old. A year away from 13, and he should know what might happened if he did leave to go home in the woods. This whole thing comes from him being babied from his family and wanting to go home. Now theres some serious cases of kids missing in the country and because this one misses being with him family he starts a entire new episode that could have been avoided. I seen a pervious lady saying how can some people say those things like about the kid and blah blah blah. But be real. Its people right to be mad, because its the truth. And if maybe this kids parents would have told him the full hardcore version of what might happen, than people wouldnt be saying those things. And if he does have ADD than its on the parents because they should know that their child doesnt have the abillity to be in this type of enviroment like other children. I mean if you know your child cant walk. Are you going to put them basketball court??? no your not. Like I said I happy that they found the little boy but being all real about this dont treat this child like this wasnt his fault. He’s soon to 13 and soon going to high school, are you going to make more excuses for him when he, say shoots up a school because he might have ADD. Take your emotional wall down and realize this boy cause this. He put this on himself, and if my child was to every do these and I find out why he cause this pain on me and his mother. I am surely not going to be nice about this and not ask why did he do this slowly. Thats the problem with some parents their trying to avoid messing the child up so much that they’re really messing them up even more without teaching them whats wrong and what right by showing different reactions to them. Now if this kid knew that he’s parents wouldnt like him hitching a ride than why did he try to do so? He wasnt scared of their reactions of his parents. He knew in his head everything was going to be all heavenly and his parents wasnt going to put the fear of god in him. Let him be my child, trust me he wouldnt have even thought that I wouldnt get mad. I dont feel sorry that people are saying such mean things about this because this was something in the making before we even knew about this kid.

The news needs to stop covering this kid’s and parents’s manipulative antics. Asking for a helicopter ride, excused from school work, etc. are surely behaviors a frightened child would not immediately ask for after being “lost” I agree, he should have complied with his treatment and with the rules of the Boy Scouts. So much publicity reinforces this behavior and the kid and the parents have lots of secondary gain. The father even acted inappropriate in his attitude. These people are often parasites of the system and the child grows up with sociopathic inclinations and becomes a further burden to the taxpayers when he is on disability. The child needs discipline and kicked out of the Boy Scouts…needs to learn that there are consequences for stupid choices…not 24/7 news coverage, helicopter rides and freebies..
He obviously watches too much television of really sad situations in which children disappear, not by their own choice, found dead or never to be found.

Having taught school for 14 years and now home with my 3 kids, I have to admit that I knew this boy had physical/emotional problems. Sure enough I was right! How does one boy escape from the counselor? Why wasn’t he monitored for his meds? If the Boy Scout organization allowed this behavior they are responsible! The rules are in place basically to keep this accident from happening!!!!!!!!
I’m disgusted with the adult acceptance of whatever the kid wants he should get! ADD is a disorder and supervision is a must! If this boy couldn’t follows the plan he should NOT HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED TO ATTEND THE OUTING! SIMPLE AND SAFE!

I agree that the child was wrong.But why do we have to single out whether he is black or white? Blacks make more problems for themselves. They segragate themselves when they make comments like this.

I find it funny that nobody has mentioned the leader’s culpability in all of this. The adult that stayed behind with the boy had only one kid to watch and he dropped the ball! In general, there is a problem with the leadership in that troop, and the Boy Scout council must check into this. Under Boy Scout rules, there must be 2 adults present at all times. Under no circumstance should there only be one leader with a boy or group of boys. Additionally, no child is allowed to self-administer any medicine, not even aspirin. No matter how old the boys are in the troop, their safety is the responsibility of the adult leaders in the troop. These leaders need to be held accountable.

THANK YOU BETH!

I am so happy to know that I am not the only one outraged by the publicity, the waste of rescue efforts and the now doubts in peoples minds with the Scouts because of this child! He had absolutely no right to be there. If there are mental health issues with this child, why was he permitted to go without a parent, period. This boy should be terminated from the Boy Scout’s, an apology needs to be made to the volunteers that represent the Boy Scouts and to everyone that was involved in this rescue search! Please explain to me how the rest of us are supposed to get the point across to our children that you HAVE to abide by the rules and regulations or there will be consequences to be paid. This is ridiculous! Remember the “bride” that claimed she was abducted … I’m thinking clearly there are mental health issues involved but she paid dearly for her decision.bbThis family needs to realize that this is an issue and unacceptable to the rest of the parents out there who are trying to teach our children to abide by the rules and like it or not, listen to their teachers/leaders/coaches and any other authority figure as they agreed to.

Why didn’t he walk on the road to hitch hike. There are not any cars in the woods.
Something is not true here

The parents should be made to pay for the rescue efforts here. The kid and parents should be put on a year of community service. The Scout leaders should be left alone. This is the same problem we have with parents blaming teachers for problems with their kids! If the parents can’t take the responsibility for their children, blame others! When will the public start taking responsibiliy for themselves??

Then there’s creating new syndromes for every little thing that could be wrong with people just so they can start to fit in. Pop a pill and now you’re normal, but forget to take that pill and the whole word turns upside down! GIMME A BREAK!! These kids get addicted to the drugs these western medicine doctors (the legal dope pushers) prescribe and then when the kid stops taking them his chemistry is all thrown off (just like any other drug)! Can we hold his action against him? NO!! It’s the drugs fault! Not the people who put him on drugs to begin with! Not the people who created the problem for the drugs to begin with! This society makes me sick.

(rant over)

Ummmm…..it is obvious that you have never had a child with ADD or any learning disability. They are not “retarded” but they do need special help. They often have social challenges and are spacial and have trouble with direction…..I agree that it is not the fault of the Scout Master….a parent should of gone along to keep an eye on the child. However, you really want them to get life experiences without you always being there. My daughter is 21 and really struggles….but with drugs she can deal with college and life. I would ask that you not be so judgemental about all this unless you understand it better…if you do, then I apologize.

What a brat!!! And his father condones it by making excuses for him. I say the kid and his dad should have to pay for the search. The school teacher does not need to cut him any slack, he’s had enough. The other boys knew what was expected of them–this kid did too…Everyone knows you don’t wander off from the group. This kid just plain and simple is a whiney brat. He needs to have a can of whoop ass opened up on him not just a sweet talk about the evils of hitchhiking. Kid wasn’t looking to hitchhike, he wanted attention and he got it. Please, a mile away–he was probably laughing at the adults getting all worked up over finding him. Kid needs to do some community service…like cleaning the pens at the local animal resue facility. I have no sympathy for the kid or his dad. I have kids–they were scouts and went on many camping trips–never did any of them wander off alone!!

I sure hope Miss Self (his teacher) doesn’t give him any breaks. He needs to pay something back for this stunt!! This kid is either a nut or was looking for publicity or is just soooo spoiled. Too bad he caused so many other people so much trouble – and he won’t even go to the celebratory dinner?? He and his father both need a swift kick where it might do some good

I agree that there need to be consequences for this boy. He shouldn’t be kicked out of Boy Scouts. He should certainly be encouraged to go to boy scouts where good moral conduct is taught and expected. He should certainly be able to go on field trips with the group. But, because of his special condition (whether real or created) he should have to have a parent gaurdian with him. And hello, what happened to the “buddy system”. No one should walk away from the campsite alone. Boys out in the woods need to be watched like a hawk. His parents certainly seem to be making light of this situation, however, first they need to be happy that he has been found. Then they can deal with the discipline issue. And certainly the authorities and volunteers need to be thanked appropriately. After all, that is what they are there for-they don’t ususally have to rescue people that are acting responsibly or aren’t being reckless

I was a Girl Scout leader and had many girls on camping trips.Luckily I never had anything like tis happen.I am glad this child was found without incident.But there are questions that his leader(s) need to answer. First off, why did his leader allow him to stay behind, when camping everyone participates in the activity.Staying behind is not an option; unless ill, thenstaying behind with another leader is recommended. For the parents: if the child really did not want to go to camp, two options: keep the child home; or dad or other relative can offer to be a chaperone. Also, what happen to the buddy system and instructing campers on rules. I really think this leader needs more LIT, Leader-in-training by the Boy Scouts.
Acouple of pointers for the next camping trip 1)The leader needs to plan the activities with the kids, when kids help plan their activities, they have ownership, with ownership they are more likely to enjoy themselves and want to be at camp. 2) Use the buddy system in all actvities, do frequent head counts. 3) Have emergency cards for each child with emergency numbers, establish a phone chain for emergencies. Have at lease two adults for a group of 6-8, 3 adults for upto 15, and an additional leader for every 3-5 kids after that, enlist dads, moms, and friends to help out. 4) Explain and have in writing rules for the weekends, define free time, where campers may go and what’s off limits. We always have the one or two kids that want to deviate, however headaches and loss children can be avoided. Good luck and God Blesss all the leaders who volunteer to help our children grow and be happy campers.

Little shit! Make his parents pay for the rescue efforts and put the kid to work doing community service. All because hye was HOMESICK! PUNK!

I totally agree… that little schmuck and his equally dumb father should totally pay for the time and effort of the rescue crew. To think that while he was wandering around proving Darwin’s theory, someone else needed the rescue crew and were denied – JACKASSES!

To ASH
Why is this about a black or white kid? Being a litle defensive are we?
MAybe if the African American community could get their act together, the white american community might care more! Maybe we’re tired of all your crap, your infighting, your taking advantage of the government, etc….
Maybe when you start doing something for yourself, we’ll care more about your problems

Hello America
When are you parents going to stop babying your kids and instill some self-sufficiency, independance and make your children responsible for their own actions??? This boy’s parents are like so many today – they just don’t get how they are ruining their children. Too many are not even able to walk out a door without getting help from their parents! Wake up Mon and Dad – when you continue to do everything for your child, your are rasing him/her to be a child, not an adult!!!

How come no one is asking the question “why did the child get to stay back at camp to sleep in”? Why was he a child left alone with an adult other than his parents, alone? No one seems to wonder why suddenly he no longer wants to go on camping trips! I question what happened to him when he was alone with the adult that suddenly had him retreat to the woods and no longer want to be there.
If my child was at camp or on a boy or girl scout trip I would not want them left alone with anyone, whether they are a so called trusted adult or not. You can’t be too careful. Either way, he clearly is a child and needs help. We go off searching for hikers that are adults in freezing weather all the time. Why is that any different?

I see that everybody is saying the samething. “That he is spoiled” and “a brat”. Well he pretty much is a brat. They make it to be like ADD is the cause of him acting like this. Like ADD told him to walk away and think that he was a genius in walking back to the road and catch a ride. and like his parents wouldnt be mad (maybe they wouldnt have been). This kid is a %$#@ genius people. He is so smart that he thought it was a good idea to walk his ass back to possibly hitch a ride. And then everybody thinks just because he said I want a helicopter ride he was a warrior surviving the woods in big bad North Carolina. Where he had to worry about so much stuff. I mean crocs, snakes, mountain lions, bobcats, tigers, bears, deers, and the king of the jungle a lion. He was in a fucking park where they make sure that animals like that are not there. I can make it out there I dont have the skills like he has. I know that I can survive by sleeping in trees, drinking water from a stream, and not eating certain berries. ADD is only a attention disorder thats all. That means that he has a hard time paying attention to somethings that really dont catch his full attention. He apparently isnt that damn stupid that he survived thoses days in there. And then he apparently is not so stupid that he asked for chicken strips. And people also is talking about that the media is making this bigger than its suppose to be. Come on now the media is always going to make things bigger than they suppose to be. Where I am from people get killed and their names dont even get on the news. But let it be at the time where there is not that much news going on. Like where I from again, not that much news to report and then they start making all theses murders noticable. They make it so bad like it just started. The murders been going on all year long and now since theres nothing about Bush, Brittney, and some other crazy %^@#, they make ^&%$# like this a big story and put the pressure on the story and they make the story live up to the hype by searching so much that eventually it has. This wasnt suppose that big but they made it that big because isnt that much going right now. But eventually they’ll find something else and make it even bigger (Bush dumb ass should say something stupid soon). They always do it and always probably will. They love feeding the people this &*%$ because we eat it up. They dont just make it big theirselves. We help them in succeeding on doing so. But the publicity of this story is only going to hold them off until they get something bigger. Like finding out the President is challenging the democrats to a fist fight. Yea this kid piss the people off, and his soft ass dad. But they didnt do it alone. And if that was my kid, just asking what happened wouldnt happen with me. All that trying to talk and not yell and punish him &*^%$ needs to go out the door. The father needs to say sorry for what my son had done not only to the people but also to search party and disappear. Move always and start all over because now his neighbors are going to look at him as a punk ass father that can controll his son and his son is crazy as &*^% and he started some &*^% by doing something very stupid. Move to somewhere else, where there is no TV and barely newspapers. Because not only is the people in his town mad because he son wanted just was homesick and started this drama. But he pretty much pissed the nation off. Maybe he should have kept the whole homesick excuse to himself. And say he just got lost from the group. Basically your sons social life there might just be over. They should have kept of thinking he got lost over the whole homesick excuse. Then I wouldnt be mad because there are kids who needs the resources that this kid got and they cant say that their homesick and walk towards home. The father needs to apologize and make his son apologize and just walk away not slowly, but really fast.

Its wrong to bring race into this whole ordeal. Now granite that it might should like whites get more catering than blacks. But come on now as black we hurt ourselves just a little more. But rukidding get real. All this relying on the government for taking care of us BS grow up. Everybody in this country takes advantage of someone, especially the government. We all use the governent. Not just blacks, mexicans, asians, or etc. Everybody. The rich uses the non-rich to get rich. And the non-rich needs the rich to make money. Now if you grew up in hard conditions and needed just a little bit of help in feeding your kids, or feeding yourself. You’ll take it too. So basically shut the &*%# about black race using the government because whites do to. Now the other guy how the #$@#* can you say just because the little boy is white is the reason why he got the help like that. Check the statistics my friend. Blacks we lose our kids to the streets. Either on accident or purpose, more than the white race. And the white race kids have more done to them than us. You get tired of hearing about something always having to do with black and white in the US. In all reality this is not even our country. This is the Native Americans. Grown ass people acting like children. Because one day were going to need the help from a white person and their going to need the help of a black person. Just grow the &*#@* up both of ya. This is 2007 not 1897. The color of your skin shouldnt matter in this situation.

I can tell the Parents that still have children in the sixth grade that poop in their pants. Their the ones defending this Brat and his Stupid Parents.
OldDad

[...] Lost Boy Scout [...]

I find it crazy that so many people are quick to judge and down a 12 year old boy. What if the kid was homesick and in that moment said to himself “self I’m gonna hitchhike out of here”. Did you forget to realize he’s 12….kids get homesick and miss their parents. Should he have walked off….No. Do kids stop and think about behaviors and consequences to said behaviors….most of the time…NO….

I find it hard to believe that people are so quick to judge and down a 12 year old boy. Could things have been done different in order to prevent this situation. Of course. This kids dad maybe could volunteer more of his time to be with him on outings such as this. If that is not possible then certainly spend time in preparation of what to do if…such and such happens on the trip(s).

Michael survived on his own in inclement weather. Should he have put himself in this situation, certainly not. However he was in this situation and survived it. How many of you who put this boy down can stare in your mirror and not think of a time when you messed up or made a poor choice in your life. If you can’t think of one your lying to yourself and everyone else. We all screw up and learn from these experiences.

Maybe that’s what is wrong with America today. People are so quick to see someone in need and do nothing about it. We are quick to judge and ridicule. Take the time to stop and help someone like this. Teach them from the mistakes they make.

I don’t know……

Michael good job in surviving quite an ordeal. Take the good and bad from this experience and learn from them bud….

I know these posts are old, but you people sicken me…you are pathetic and I can only wish that you would experience what it is like to have an Autistic child, whatever their level of functionality. You have no idea what these kids go through and what their parents have to deal with. They see the world in a different way, they are self centered and sometimes selfish, but they cannot help it. It is a neurological disorder, and yes ADHD is on the Autism Spectrum.
It was a mistake for the parents not to attend the trip with the child. My son is a scout and my husband always goes with him because he is our child and we need to make sure his special needs are met. The parents made that mistake, but he is just a child…you should all be ashamed of yourselves. This is what is wrong with this world, it is filled with a bunch of ignorant morons.