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--St. George Tucker, in his edition of Blackstone's Commentaries

at Skyline Journey 13 July 2002
Sorted in ASC Order  
Anonymous
Unregistered User Posted: 2002-08-19 11:16:00  
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Greetings,
Someone asked for thoughts regarding the deaths at Utah Wilderness programs recently, specifically Skyline Journey.
Below is a message I intended to post at Struggling Teens, but decided against. I imagine that it would not be well received, as I did not have direct, personal experience with the program, which is their criteria for accepting any negative comments.
It is based on a more detailed summary that I am compiling and will post upon completion.
Deborah

Ian August was my neighbor and son of a friend of mine, so I am intimately involved and have followed this story very carefully. I do find merit in parents having access to ALL the articles printed in the Salt Lake Tribune. They were posted at Struggling Teens until the links no longer worked, then disappeared.

Currently a parent would have to know those articles exist at SLT to access them. They no longer appear in searches on the web. This is unfortunate. I have them in word files if anyone is interested to read
them.

The only remaining link at Struggling Teens is to the press release posted by Skyline. In that release, Ken Stettler (Utah Dir of Licensing)states that Skyline was in compliance with regulations. If that is the only report parents have access to they would not know that indeed Skyline was in violation of atleast two regulations that day, which were "overlooked" by Stettler.

Utah regs require that the entire group stop hiking if one participant can't continue. Ian's group continued when he refused to go further. Stettler ruled that Skyline was not in violation in that situation because Ian wasn't required to continue. That is not congruent with the law. There must be a good reason for having that rule in place. If it was important enough to make, it's important enough to follow and enforce.

Utah regs also state that a Wilderness program can be shutdown permenantly for just one violation, due to the difficulty of monitoring these types of programs.

Another violation that was never addressed in ANY article: It was reported that Ian's group continued and returned later. This violated regs by throwing off the staff to hiker ratio. One staff continued with five hikers.

Stettler has publicly admitted that the state is not proactionary, but reactionary. He also confessed that resources were short and his office rarely had time to even make it around for the annual inspections.

After the death of Aaron Bacon at North Star Stettler testified that, ?although he found violations after Bacon?s death, he gave North Star a clean bill of health and allowed it to remain in operation.? He trusted his fellow mormon saints to clean up the violations. Both owners later pled guilty to Neglegent Homicide. The court document painfully reveals the character of these two individuals (no credentials or previous experience with youth) and the
nighmare that Bacon endured.

Stettler discovered that staffers had allowed Bacon to go without the state-required minimum of 1,800 calories per day and to be without proper sleeping gear (when low temps were in the 20-30s) as punishment for dropping his pack on the trail. Bacon ?knew the consequences of abandoning his supply-laden backpack.?
Utah law forbids programs to deny food and proper bedding as punishment. Both were repeatedly witheld from Bacon.

Regarding the Salt Lake Tribune articles on Ian August: Stettler stated in the first article that the teens were hiking at 8,000 ft and the temperature was below 95* (state law). He knew this to be true "because
the counselors carry thermometers."

Every subsequent article stated a different altitude and temperature. In Skyline's Press Release posted here, Wardle (Dir of Skyline) reports that the group was at 6,800 ft and the temp at the time of the incident was 90*. Yet, in a SLT article the counselors "who had thermometers" reported that it was 90* when they began at 8:30.

It was 101* in Delta at 1:37 when the emergency call was placed, while the others were still out hiking. In a later article, Stettler changed the altitude to 7,000 ft. A subsequent article stated that the elevation in Marjum Pass is 6,400 ft. Skeptical? Yes, I still question the altitude and temperature that day, it was the hottest day of the year, 111 in places. The high in Delta- 107*.

I also do not feel Stettler did his job by relying on information from the counselors. He should have relied on a third party investigation and analysis. Two days later
the Dept of Human Services recorded a temp of 95* at 1:30 at the location. It was about 10 degrees cooler that day. The high in Delta- 98.1*.

The Press Release reports that deputies confirmed the temp was less than 90* during the hike, after contacting the US Meteorological Service which stated that the temp at 11:30 that morning at the altitude the group was would have been 85-86*. Which altitude was provided? 8,000-7,000-6,800- 6,400? Whatever the true altitude, it was impossible that the temp "during the hike" was 85-86*, if the counselor's report has any merit. And it certainly appeared to in Stettler's first report. He made a public statement to a newspaper based on it.

There are also discrepencies in the reports regarding what was done for Ian. Officals reported that he sat down, was provided shade by a tarp, began moaning about 1:30 and tipped backward, no pulse, help was
summoned. Later Wardle reports that Ian "sat under a tree for 2 hours, then collapsed. Later, counselors reported that Ian "began to moan and was breathing heavily, sweating excessively and lying on his back. When
August became unconscious, counselors moved him to a sitting position in the shade of a tree." After no response, CPR was started. And the last report, "he sat down, the staff moved him into the shade and sat with him until he lost consciousness." That was 2 hours.

The staff that stayed with Ian was an EMT which should know the symptoms of heat exhaustion and what to do- move to a cool place, elevate feet, encourage water, cool body with water and fanning. S/he "sat him up under a tree and sat with him until he became unconscious"??

It was also reported that Ian told counselors he was thirsty and was "given water". I would like to know if the teens are in possession of and control of their water source. All advice recommends a steady
supply of water, it's too late if you have waited until you are thirsty.

There is yet another concern regarding why it took emergency crews 2.5 hours to get to Ian. Wardle and the sheriff gave conflicting accounts regarding the distance and conditions of the roads. Wardle stating it
was a 40 min drive from Delta. The sheriff responded that it was 70 miles from Delta, 25-30 of those miles on a gravel then two-wheel-track kind of road, and finally a hike of one to two miles. The helpicpoter
couldn't land because it was too hot- decreased air density. Rough terrain was another concern.

Regarding Ian's physical condition: He was not overweight. As one article bluntly put it, at 5'3" and 200+ pounds, he was morbidly obese. My rememberence of him was that of a couch potato. Common sense should tell one that it's not wise for an overweight individual to go from 500 ft to 6-7,000 ft to hike for extended periods of time, without significant preparation and conditioning. Anyone aware of what professional hikers do before such a trek? As one of the articles boldly questioned, "Where is the common sense in this?"

I feel every parent should know about all deaths and accidents at programs and have access to ALL reports so as to analyse the details for themselves.

Skyline appears to be one of the better programs based on their literature. Discrepencies in their reporting and the level of damage control they employed caused me to be highly suspicious. If they violated a regulation, they should have been sited and penalized. If there were multiple violations, they should have been closed. That would have generouse given the law. And parents should know that the violations that day were overlooked by the State Licensing Dirctor...and this was not the first time he has done so.

Are teens safe in Utah?

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.
-- John Muir

History gives us a kind of chart, and we dare not surrender even a small rushlight in the darkness. The hasty reformer who does not remember the past will find himself condemned to repeat it.
--John Buchan

If I am of the opinion that it is inexpedient to assign to the government the task of operating railroads, hotels, or mines, I am not an "enemy of the state" any more than I can be called an enemy of sulfuric acid because I am of the opinion that, useful though it may be for many purposes, it is not suitable either for drinking, or for washing one's hands.
http://www.mises.org/liberal/ch1sec7.asp' target='_new'>Ludwig Von Mises

The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.
--George Bernard Shaw, Irish-born English playwright

Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.
--Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor

Just because you do not take an interest in politics, doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684863952/circlofmiamithem' target='_new'> PERICLES (430 BC)