New President of Boy Scouts of America - Robert Gates

[hentzau]

I know we've collectively talked about our individual experiences with the BSA in other threads, but I figured I'd add a little more. My dad is a 30+ year volunteer with the BSA - he continued on helping out with a local camp long after my time with the local troop. He's said things have dramatically changed at the local level over the last year and even more so in the last 3-4 months. While this lawsuit is focused on the national organization,there seems to be a belief that the locals are next and so the local council has apparently started circling the financial wagons in what can only be interpreted as a preparation for lawsuits and payouts. It's going to be an interesting year for them, no doubt. I fully agree with the organization being held accountable. I hope they can survive and overcome the horrific actions of the relative few that used the BSA as a way to abuse children, but there are days when I'm not sure it's possible. Too bad they didn't focus on football.

I'm seeing this as well. There were layoffs at the council level at the end of last year, and the cost of being a scout almost doubled, including an additional $12 insurance policy at the council level. We've been unable to keep a district executive for the past couple of years, and just lost our latest one after she was on the job for about 4 months.

And yet this past weekend we went out camping. I had 11 year old scouts learning how to start fires, how to use knives and axes properly. How to prepare a hot meal on the trail. How to cook delicious pulled chicken and baked potatoes and garlic green beans using dutch ovens and aluminum foil. How much fun it is to sled down a stupidly steep hill. Had two scouts complete requirements for their next badge advancements (First Class and Life). Several others complete a couple of merit badges. I got them outside into 5 degree cold, to look up into a perfectly cloudless sky, and show them an amazing stretch of stars.

I'll say it again. There are things that Scouts teach that young men and women can get nowhere else. And it would be a crying shame if that all disappeared.

[Isgrimnur]

[hentzau]

And let me add some clarification. I have nothing against the victims who are filing for reparations. They deserve every cent. I just hope Scouting can continue to advance into the 21st century and survive to bring the Scouting experience safely to future generations.

[Smoove_B]

And let me add some clarification. I have nothing against the victims who are filing for reparations. They deserve every cent. I just hope Scouting can continue to advance into the 21st century and survive to bring the Scouting experience safely to future generations.

Yup. It sounds like your local experiences are similar - lots of layoffs and staff cuts. The problem, however, is that for the camp my dad volunteers for, they've cut the full time staff responsible for maintaining the camp all year. I fear when the preseason starts and then full camping season begins, they're going to think people like my dad (volunteers) should be running the show. Above and beyond running things, not having a ranger there maintaining and repairing elements seems like...trouble.

But yes, I think the organization needs to take a good hard look at how these things happened and come up with systems to make sure they never happen again. Whether or not they're able to emerge from this remains unseen, but I absolutely agree that they most likely providing a service and access to facilities that would otherwise be unavailable for most. That in no way balances the horrific things that have been done, but I do hope that core idea can somehow survive and flourish again.

[hentzau]

And let me add some clarification. I have nothing against the victims who are filing for reparations. They deserve every cent. I just hope Scouting can continue to advance into the 21st century and survive to bring the Scouting experience safely to future generations.

Yup. It sounds like your local experiences are similar - lots of layoffs and staff cuts. The problem, however, is that for the camp my dad volunteers for, they've cut the full time staff responsible for maintaining the camp all year. I fear when the preseason starts and then full camping season begins, they're going to think people like my dad (volunteers) should be running the show. Above and beyond running things, not having a ranger there maintaining and repairing elements seems like...trouble.

But yes, I think the organization needs to take a good hard look at how these things happened and come up with systems to make sure they never happen again. Whether or not they're able to emerge from this remains unseen, but I absolutely agree that they most likely providing a service and access to facilities that would otherwise be unavailable for most. That in no way balances the horrific things that have been done, but I do hope that core idea can somehow survive and flourish again.

My biggest fear is that they will start going after the local councils as well. And once that happens, the only real assets they will have to pay out is to sell off camps. I'm already worried that Philmont and Summit Bechtel may be on the block. They already mortgaged Philmont last year. It's a short step...

As far as protection systems are concerned, they've upped all of the rules for youth protection. We have to be re-certified every 2 years now. They're also now making all leaders submit to a background check. And I have to tell you, having 2 deep leadership is a real challenge at times.

[Smoove_B]

I am an Eagle Scout. Is Scouting Worth Saving? Not under the BSA:

Is scouting worth saving? Yes. But not as it exists under the leadership of the Boy Scouts of America. The national organization has proved itself, over the course of many decades, unable or unwilling to protect children from sexual predators. Meanwhile, its increasing politicization has betrayed the Boy Scouts' founding values and made far too many families feel alienated or unwelcome.

...

Perhaps the biggest lessons I learned came straight from the founder of the Boy Scouts movement, Robert Baden-Powell, who once said, "In scouting, a boy is encouraged to educate himself instead of being instructed." He also said, "We must change boys from a 'what can I get' to a 'what can I give' attitude." Personal responsibility and service to others were ingrained in every successful scout.

...

Leaders of the Boy Scouts of America have forgotten that their actual constituency is not the sponsors of their troops but the young boys in their local organizations. The national organization has further tarnished what it means to be a scout by embracing the politics of its top conservative sponsors and choosing a side in the social turmoil that divides this country.

...

Yet some local troops are thriving. That is thanks to strong local leadership and the community getting involved and realizing the important contribution scouting can make at the ground level in a child's life. This proud Eagle Scout hopes scouting, in some form, is preserved. It is obviously needed. But leadership matters. And the Boy Scouts of America is not fit to lead.

[Smoove_B]

At least 82,000 sex abuse claims:

The estimate came Sunday. The deadline for submitting claims in the proceedings is 5 p.m. ET Monday.
"We are devastated by the number of lives impacted by past abuse in scouting and moved by the bravery of those who have come forward," a BSA statement said. "We are heartbroken that we cannot undo their pain."

...

The cases against the Boy Scouts are no normal court proceeding. The organization filed for bankruptcy in February as hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits were filed across the country -- some of which alleged repeated fondling, exposure to pornography and forced anal or oral sex.

When it filed for bankruptcy, the BSA said it was "outraged that there have been times when individuals took advantage of our program to abuse innocent children."

The bankruptcy filing, which effectively placed the lawsuits on hold, had been a matter of speculation since at least December 2018. In April 2019, court testimony indicated that the organization believed more than 7,800 of its former leaders had sexually abused at least 12,000 children since the late 1940s.

Alleged survivors will now have to pursue their claims in bankruptcy court rather than via civil proceedings, Michael Pfau, a Seattle-based attorney

[Isgrimnur]

AP News

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was hit with several lawsuits Monday for allegedly covering up decades of sexual abuse among Boy Scout troops in Arizona, marking the latest litigation before the state’s end-of-year deadline for adult victims to sue.
...
In the seven lawsuits each representing seven different male victims, attorneys say church officials never notified authorities about abuse allegations. Public records show members of church-sponsored Boy Scout troops who were abused would tell church bishops about what they had experienced. The lawsuits allege bishops would then tell the victims to keep quiet so the church could conduct its own investigation. In the meantime, troop leaders and volunteers accused of sex abuse would be allowed to continue in their roles or be assigned to another troop, the suits said.

[AWS260]

Boy Scouts Will Sell Nearly 60 Norman Rockwell Works to Pay Sex-Abuse Claims

In a reorganization plan filed in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware this week, the Boy Scouts listed nearly 60 pieces of art by Rockwell whose sale would help raise money for a settlement fund of at least $300 million for sexual abuse victims.

[Pyperkub]

On the good news side:

Valerie Johnston knew she wanted to be a Boy Scout since she was 6.
That's when she started attending meetings with her brother. When she turned 8, she got special permission to get an official uniform, and she joined the co-ed group Venturing at 14.
But because she wasn't a boy, she couldn't earn badges to achieve the highest rank: Eagle Scout.

"I always wanted to be able to earn everything that my brother and all his friends were earning," Johnston told CNN. "I had my own book, and I would check off the requirements and everything, so I would wonder like, 'Well why can't I earn these?'"

Now a 19-year-old at St. Michael's College in Vermont, Johnston joined nearly 1,000 women across the country who became part of the inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts in February.

Boy Scouts of America (BSA) held an inauguration ceremony for the women who reached this prestigious rank on February 8, the organization's 111th anniversary.