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Show Outdoors 14 Adventures in Scouting: Unraveling Kanabs ancient history By Royce Young There may be no buried plates 'or ancient papyri but our early history is chiseled in stone, yes, all around us. Here are portrayed a few of the sentinels from the past which permanently face Highway 89 between Kanab and Three Lakes, chosen from dozens of panels in this stretch of highway because of their unique character. Are they the product of idle doodling? Perhaps it is just Anasazi graffiti? , Or is it ancient art work? As the early Egyptian hieroglyphics of the Nile were meaningless until the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1799, so also has been our Native American hieroglyphs. Recent breakthroughs in Texas, New Mexico and southern Utah have provided our own Rosetta Stones. Parallel stories of conflict with whites and Indians, travels of Father Escalante and others, when pecked on a cliff by Natives as compared with eyewitness accounts in written English history have provided so much consistency that deciphering these petroglyph panels is becoming better, than remote, with a relatively new science called, CRYPTANALYSIS. A definite NO answers the three questions above. The hieroglyphic peckings all about us SOUTHERN UTAH NEWS WEDNESDAY APRIL 1, 1998 are absolute language inscrip- here, within ten miles of home, tions which tell of: History, mi- the scouts would not only fall in grations, unusual circum st ance, love with their roots, the red conflict and war, etc. Less than a mile from town are panels telling of drought, conflict over water rights, drying up of Kanab Creek, flood damage, migrations across the Colorado River, and south along the Virgin, with privations in deep canyons during journeys. Winter and summer solstices, still etched in flat rock as deep as an inch, are near most hieroglyphic inscriptions. Human sacrifices were apparently made to the tribes sun gods by putting the victims heart on the solstice circle, allowing the blood the follow the sculptured trough and path which matched the shadow cast by the' sun. Some of these sacrificial solstices are so old they have fallen down the mountains in seismic activity, requiring new ones to be chiseled in their stead. Those archeology and history buffs of a curious mind among our explorer age group are invited to join us on the 4x4 off-- , highway road rally this summer, in which we will visit several such sites. Some ofour scout ers have gotten into the expen sive habit of leaving our area for high adventure activities or fifty miler hikes. Seems ironical when others across the nation are If fifty milers were done hills, and the mystery of the Anasazi, but would see several things each day of the hike that even grandpa hasnt seen. Vandalism, erosion, and age alone, slowly take their toll on rock inscriptions as well as on us mortals. I regret the age when I cannot go back and stand in front of a newspaper rock and see something I had overlooked on a previous visit. My son, Deryn, a scoutmaster in Arkansas, says, Out here scouts come from as far away as Maine to camp in the Ozarks, too bad they have never heard of southern Utah! I think we need to relish where we live. We need to take our families in the outdoors, which is ever so close, and let the mountains work for us, yes, and even talk to us. com-ingher- e. Study cites positive impact of scouting A recent study conducted by sonal responsibility at a very spect the elderly. . The Utah National Louis Harris & young age, said Taylor. The New York-base- d tEBaamiiCS'OraortDO Parks Associates found the present final outcome is manifested by Council Scout Executive, Thostate of values among Americas deteriorating values, feelings of mas C. Powell, indicated that often damaging Those of us who serve youth boys in sharp decline. This study alienation, and commissioned by the Boy Scouts antisocial behavior.. What is are especially gratified by the ofAmerica revealed some alarm- worse, Taylor continued, is that results of this study. It subof stantiates what we have been ing statistics but also some pleas- the ethical and moral values g boys decline as they mature. saying since ant facts. On does a the have a positive note, study positive impact on This study represents a thorrevealed that . former young lives. ough, critical, and objective also d Scouts tend to be F or more information on this evaluation of the values of men and have higher ethical study please contact your loand boys. The study incorporated interviews with a national ran- standards. Former Scouts in- cal Boy Scout Council office. dom samplingof men age 18 and dicated that Scouting taught Scouting will be happy to furolder, male students in grades 4 them to be a team player, care nish a summary of the study for the environment, and re results to anyone interested. n through 12, as well as a of men listed in Whos Things Scouting Has Taught Boys Who in America. Agree Of the boys surveyed, during ' 87 88 89 87 87 86 86 the past year: Almost a quarter (24) have 100 shoplifted; More than half have cheated (54) on a test; Almost three in ten (28) have been drunk; S0 Almost one in five (17) have used illegal drugs; Five percent have carried a 1910-Scoutin- tHs--33Gr- O better-educate- cross-sectio- oaiairnBJEEffli wmmmmn yti : n:wj ;i gun to school. Louis Harris & Associates CEO Humphrey Taylor summed up the findings as disturbing. . "Today many youth are being forced to assume significant per ; 80 TO & Associates TO ALWAYS GIVE YOUR BEST EFFORT ALONG WITH OTHERS ENVIRONMENT Source Louts Harris TO TO GET TAKE BETTER CARE OF THE . . HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOURSELF TO SET GOALS TO CARE FOR OTHER PEOPLE FOR YOURSELF t J .1 i fl.UV TO TREAT OTHERS WITH RESPECT - ' . : i j |