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Ranger: We Have Our Missing Boy ScoutBy ESTES THOMPSON Associated Press Writer Posted March 20 2007, 12:25 PM EDT

McGRADY, N.C. -- Park rangers escorted a weak and dehydrated 12-year-old Boy Scout out of the rugged North Carolina mountains on Tuesday, four days after he wandered away from his troop's camp site.Michael Auberry was brought the final distance by SUV, then carried into a ranger station, where a medical team and his parents met him."We have our missing Boy Scout," said a jubilant National Park Service spokeswoman Tina White.White said she didn't have exact details about where or how Michael was found, but officials first received word shortly before 11 a.m. that he was spotted within a mile and a half of the camp site."Probably the most important thing we heard on the radio is A-1, which means he is in good condition," she said.The radio communication from the search team that found Michael set off a celebration among leaders of several Scout troops waiting for news about the boy. "A lot of tears, a lot of hugs," White said, and members of Michael's church joined hands to pray at the staging area."This shows that when everybody works together, good things happen," said associate minister Susan Norman Vickers of Christ United Methodist Church. "We just believed that he was going to be found."Michael vanished after lunch with his fellow Scouts and troop leaders on Saturday. His father said the adults and the other boys on the trip told him Michael had slept late but nothing appeared to have been wrong."He was in good spirits," Auberry said. "He ate lunch, chatting with the boys. He was walking around with I think some Pringles and a mess kit. The next moment, sounds like a blink of the eye, he was gone."Authorities said the boy probably wandered into the woods to explore.



WHAT SHOULD HAVE FOLLOWED....

Parents arrested for child abuse
By ESTES THOMPSON Associated Press Writer Posted March 20 2007, 12:51 PM EDT

McGRADY, N.C. -- The parents of a twelve year old boy who was found earlier today after wandering the woods for four days have been arrested for child abuse and taken for booking to the county police station.

The parents of Michael Auberry, Gene Auberry, 41, and Michelle Auberry, 38, were reunited with the lost boy shortly after noon today and were joyous and tearful. "I didn't know if we'd ever see our son alive again," Michelle commented, "we want to thank everyone here at the reconnaissance camp who helped find our boy!"

The happy and thankful mood turned for the worse a short while later however. After a brief onsite medical examination showed the boy needed nothing more than ample amounts of cold water, he was turned over to the custody of his awaiting parents. Once clear from the emcampment though, loud slapping sounds and screams were heard from the direction of the family's car.

Authorities rushed to the car and found Gene on one knee with the boy sprawled out over his other knee. The boy's pants had been pulled down and his father was beating his bare flesh with a stick. Simultaneously, the child's mother was pulling his hair and slapping his face.

Both parents could be heard mumbling and grunting unmentionable phrases, deriding the boy's excursion.

It took several police officers, some rescue workers and a number of onlookers to get the parents away from their son, "It was nearly impossible to get that switch away from Gene, he was pissed man," said Homer Jones, a neighbor and fellow father of a boy scout.

Susan Vickers of Christ United Methodist Church, on scene to offer moral support, took the parents point of view to heart, "I can't blame them actually, if I were in their shoes I'da beat the shit outta that kid too, who does he think he is...Daniel Boone?"

The parents will be arraigned in Barstow County Family Court later this week. The child is in the temporary custody of the county's family services division.