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To be clear, the initial judge didn't give the boy a "get out of jail free" card or "a pass." The judge was deciding whether to allow the prosecutor to try the boy in an adult court. The judge made one decision, the appeals court overruled. The system worked as designed. It is an interesting time. I hear a lot of talk about the ills of the Clinton-era crime bill taking away judicial discretion, imposing mandatory minimums, three strike laws, etc. And those things deserved to be debated, especially as to how they were applied differently in different communities. The flip side though

I am not opposed to having a juvenile justice system that can consider the age and maturity of the offender. I am opposed to a justice system that imposes harsher penalties on poor and disadvantaged kids.

So much for achieving the principle aims of scouting. I have said before, the the first requirement for all ranks "show scout spirit" is the most important and far too often is simply signed off automatically.

That makes sense. Only the most egregious cases get sent to adult court. Those offenders are more likely to be repeat offenders regardless of which court hears the cases.

I think the more scary issue for me is the Judge basically let the whole thing off cause this kid was from a "good family" about to go to a "good school" and also being an Eagle Scout. Here you have the victim having to deal with this and the kid is given a slap on the wrist. This is a stain on our justice system in this county. The character of the individual should not be a reason to get a person off, it should be the facts of the case (in this case a video that was sent around and also langue of the texts from the individual) I am glad to see the judge is no longer on the bench and the

I have never seen any appreciable difference in good/bad behavior between the Boy Scouts and the rest of the students in my classes. The Boy Scouts behave about the same as everyone else. Some are good and some are bad. One of the worst behaved students in my Health class this year happened to be an eagle scout, OA member, and senior patrol leader. His bad behavior at school doesn't seem to be taken into consideration by his scout unit when evaluating his scouting spirit. I think the reason this story is receiving so much attention is not because the boy is an eagle scout, but because the

A crime is a crime and should be treated as such no matter the background. 16 is certainly old enough to understand that is wrong

@mrkstvns, consider signing on to discussions.scouting.org. It's a new forum for all things SB. (And a little bit about the other methods of scouting.) The developer was a scout, so he gets it. But, sometimes folks ask for conflicting features. So his team is trying to be responsive. At least on the forum they are giving frank answers as to the priority of a bug fix/new feature and the thinking behind the decision.

Give the Scouts the Blue cards and have them fill them out before summer camp--in this process you can have the older boys teach them about what needs to be filled out--we had a handwritten template on a bulletin board in our scout hut for the scouts to follow. Never do what a Scout can do for himself. Give out the blue cards before summer camp. Have them fill out the information about themselves.

As an ASM and/or Advancement Chair I always advised camp is to be fun and outside. The only Eagle Reqd I suggested they sign up for was swimming because IMO summer camp is the easiest (logistically not reduced standards) place to earn it. And it is in the water. The rest should be fun fun fun. I would advise max out the waterfront (camp is usually warm so water is good): kayaking, sailing, boating, canoeing, etc (depending on what the camp has to offer. Or be at the range: rifle shooting, shotgun shooting, archery since approved Scout camps are usually the only places to do that. Or if

@Treflienne, if your scouts are really into knots and lashings, have them visit the scout-craft area of camp and ask if they can get the materials and assistance to build a simple gateway. IMHO, It's nothing you have to consider in advance. Charlei

I had my ECOH earlier today (right as I got home from staffing a camp, I was and still am tired), and it was a great experience! I thought I didn’t want one at first, but now I realized it would’ve been a mistake if I didn’t. We had a dinner buffet and a cake. I was at camp, so I wasn’t involved in much of the rehearsals or anything but it went pretty good. I was shocked with the town officials coming and everything.

Elections in our Troop are held in June. The newly elected SPL and the outgoing SPL get together and decide who is SPL for summer camp. Last year there was an issue because both were working at summer camp and wouldn't be going with the troop. The PLC got together and voted on who was going to SPL for summer camp.

Same except the last sentence. If SPL or ASPLs cannot make it, SPL appoints acting SPL with SM approval. Should be a good leader, rank does not matter. Have had a Star scout as SPL when other Life scouts were present. They'll get over it. You're either a good leader or not. Rank means nothing.