Two young men were arrested for setting in up on the Big Springs Trail in Provo Canyon, Utah.

Geez, what were they thinking

At least they were caught before anyone got hurt. Probably to much TV.

Yeah, and too much Facebook too

And they're really too old for that kind of stupidity. Pretty amazing how they were caught though. "A U.S. Forest Service officer on foot patrol discovered the devices..." That's just awesome!

I say put them to work all summer maintaining trails and learning about forestry. And no video games, cell phones, or Facebook either!

I think it was last year that a disgruntled property owner booby trapped a section of the PCT that crossed his property. There has been an easement in place for decades across it, and he apparently thinks he can just decide hikers don't need to cross it any more.

That was a nasty bit of work too - he put out boards with nails sticking up, broken glass, and all kinds of things that would hurt your feet or body if you weren't paying attention.

From the source I read it sounds like we were very lucky of who the particular officer was that came across the traps:



From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17828991

Isn't that a rather light sentence for attempted murder?

Could be. I'm not aware of the details yet, but with what I do know I think they are more guilty of stupidity than attempted murder.

Same with the person that Lori mentioned, though I think they might be too old for educational rehab type sentencing. A fine in their case might be more appropriate.

I honestly think that a summer spent busting their tails on trails and maintenance of FS property might do those two young men some real good. If they don't work hard you can always let them cool their heels in a jail cell.

I'm not big on tossing people into prison so they can sit on their butts and swap stories of stupidity all day. I do have my limits though, and certainly understand that prison is the only answer for hardened criminals and soulless wonkos.

Those guys have been watching too many Rambo movies.

Attempted murder? It would be pretty hard for even a good prosecutor to make a charge like that stick. If I was the defense attorney I would claim that the traps were set for animals. They use the trail too. Intent is hard to prove.

Anyway, the article said they will likely face reckless endangerment charges.

Sadly, that kind of thing is fairly common. Every couple of years we find wires strung across trails, snares, or long sticks pulled in the way on our mountain bike trails.
Back when I was a dirt bike rider, a grouchy land owner ran one strand of barbed wire across our trail, hidden in the grass and a kid did hit it. No injury but it did get me looking from that point on. People can be hateful!

Would resetting the trap inside their home be really, really, wrong?

I found this interesting "Investigators arrested Christensen and Rutkowski after using Facebook to track down people familiar with the fort site,"

Familiar with the site? how many people is that? Facebook?

Sure glad they caught them, BUT - phishing facebook for people familiar with something? I'm not sure that the invasive measures are warranted by the crime. I mean maybe next they will be searching faceboook for people with many other "interests" and of course collecting all of this data for the "sake of the public good". Yeah sure just like the gps in your cell phone was put there for the "sake of the public" - so the FBI can track everyone with a cell phone.

Boy I sure hope I never get a ticket because a satelite tracked me stepping outside my "authorised area of camping" on federal property, or because I have an "interest" in camping without a permit.

HOWEVER, WE ARE IN A TIME OF TERRORIST ACTION. Perhaps our hiking trails should not be considered to be any safer from twisted minds than our cities and people should be on the lookout anyway. I would be willing to bet that the booby traps were within one mile of a TH. The perps were probably not gonna backpack into a nice place and booby trap it - wrong mentality. Your still safer in the wilderness than walking down a lot of city streets.

Soap box off.
Jim

Yeah, but it's fair to say that checking facebook is not so different than going to the local schools and asking the kids there what they know.

As far as I know, they didn't use any special law enforcement privileges to ascertain who might know, they just accessed info these kids made publicly available, and then questioned a few. I could be wrong about that, I don't know.

As far as we know, no one got hurt. That's important, because someone could have. As far as we know only those who set up the booby trap got charged with a crime.

So I think the officer who worked on this deserves a pat on the back.

Whatever else I have to say about your comments would have to go in the off-topic forum, so I'll leave it here... (that's not so say that I disagree with all you've said though, just that I couldn't keep it on topic )

I think your fears are groundless, very honestly. The perps posted statements on a public forum, which was then read by investigators. This wasn't wiretapping or even occult surveillance, or anything even close. It is indeed very fortunate that they were caught. I totally agree that we should all be aware of our constitutional safeguards - way too many people are not.

"I mean maybe next they will be searching faceboook for people with many other "interests" and of course collecting all of this data for the "sake of the public good"."

That happens now. In my required FINRA office audit, I was made aware that "principles" do in fact visit facebook pages often to see of laws are being broken.
My federal law enforcement friend says cell phones can easily be tracked/hacked and are.
And...the next traffic accident you are in, your cell phone usage will be visited to see if you were texting or talking.
Even this forum and your posts are wide open for all to see.
Think how many video camera you come into contact with every day, just driving through town!

We've all agreed to this invasion of privacy, too.

It occurred to me some years ago, when I first began to post and communicate on the internet, that it was the digital equivalent of climbing on the roof and shouting as loud as I possibly could, and having my blatherings recorded for posterity. That is probably one reason I am not on Facebook.

I'll bet prospective employers would love to see samples of a prospect's postings and comments - that would be very insightful, indeed.

(I know this is a little off topic)

Facebook accts can be locked down to the point that only ppl you approve of, can see what you post. Most people don't know that and leave the settings to a much more open "default". You can lock it down so that only you can "friend people" and no one can do a search and find you. It's like anything else online..