Eamonn

Here in PA In the light of what happened lately the legislators are looking at many aspects of child abuse and things like who reports to whom.

While I've not read any of the recommendations that an appointed panel has come up with. Having only heard what has been said on the local NPR station.

The recommendations, from what have been said are very far reaching. Covering volunteer organizations, schools, Internet sites and a really wide area.

It is yet to be seen what happens when all of this is debated and what becomes law and what doesn't.

Over the past year or so, here in this forum a lot of time has been spend looking at what is and what isn't hazing or bullying.

If the message parents pass on to their kids is one that states: Do as I tell you or I'm going to hurt you!

My fear is that we will never be able to come to grips with bullying.

If I see a kid that has marks on his or her body that look in any way suspect. I feel it is my duty to report what I've seen to the authorities.

I don't have any ax to grind, I'm not worried about me looking silly and I'm happy to let things play the way they play. If the authorities say that it wasn't abuse. That's fine. If they decide that action needs to be taken then that's fine as well.

I will walk away feeling /knowing that I've done my bit.

I'm no spring chicken.

Coming from an Irish Catholic family and educated in mostly R/C schools, you bet I got my fair share of being whacked.

While I like to think that I'm OK??

To this day I'm not sure if I did the right thing because it was the right thing to do?

Or if I did the right thing because I feared being whacked if I didn't?

We don't build anything out of fear.

Lord help us. I hope that no normal kid lives in fear of his parents, teachers. In fact kids have the right not to live in any sort of fear what so ever.

While this might very well be an impossible dream?

It's a dream that I refuse 100% to ever give up on.

My great hope is that when we do get our new laws here in PA. Is that they cover parents beating, hitting or harming their kids.

I don't hit, beat or abuse my dogs. I sure as heck refuse to stand idly by and see any kid harmed.

Not sure if this is the black side or the white side? But I don't see any gray areas. Harming others is just plain wrong. It doesn't matter if they are your children or not.

Ea.

I like Christmas.

It's nice that we have at least one time a year when we go out of our way to be nice to each other. - Not just our families but, just nice.

I'm at the stage of my life when I really don't need anything.

Chances are that if I need something I either go and buy it or I can't afford it and if I can't afford it then I don't expect or think that others will.

I'm not in any way anti gift giving.

I enjoy giving and receiving presents as much as anyone.

Still I can't help but think things are going a little too far.

Stores are out there to sell stuff and lure people in so that they will spend their money.

Still I like to think and hope that there's more to Christmas than buying stuff that people can't really afford, don't really need and just buy because it seems like a good deal a deal that's too good to pass up on.

I get and understand that things aren't cheap and people want stuff.

As a parent I suffered my way through buying video game platforms, each better and more entertaining than the last.

I paid through the nose when my son decided that only a Mac acceptable and Windows was seen as being for losers.

I don't see that every room in the house needs a 60" high definition TV.

I read somewhere that two people shot at each other over a parking spot at Wal mart.

Come on guys!

This isn't being nice, this isn't what Christmas is all about.

A co-worker was telling me that she has spent over $6.000 on Black Friday and can't wait till Monday to phone the credit union to have the limit on her credit cards raised.

She has two little girls, one 12 and one 9 years old. She doesn't want them to feel cheated.

I wonder if the $6,000 this year will become $10,000 next year? And where it all stops?

I wonder if it's worth her having to work all the available overtime away from her kids to prevent them feeling cheated?

Ea.

I'm not sure about the cover up thing!

This thread did make me think back to the times I spent at my Grandmothers home in Ireland.

She had a small alter /shelve, lit by a red electric light bulb with a cross inside the bulb. On the wall was a picture of the Sacred Heart. On the shelve there was statues of the Virgin Mary and two or three of her favorite saints. There along side the saints was a plate with JFK'S face on it.

My Grandmother was not into politics, but like many of the people in Ireland she was so very proud that there was an Irish /Catholic in the white house.

I'm not really sure if JFK really deserved this place of honor or not?

As a kid I remember being fascinated by the light bulb with the cross in it.

I never seen one out side of Ireland until a few weeks back.

I was going through some stuff that somehow ended up in my house from HWMBO grandparents.

Her Grandfather was for a good many years the local funeral director.

I came across three huge suitcases, which my wife said were used for wakes that catholics had at home. Inside the cases were electric candle sticks that when put together stood about five foot tall and these were lit by the same little red light bulb, with the cross inside.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this stuff?

Putting it out with the garbage doesn't seem like an option. But I know that I'm never going to use it.

(Sorry about the hijack.)

Ea.

And from where I sit I don't understand how it isn't completely obvious that striking, hitting, slapping, harming others, be they your kid, the kid next door or the little old lady down the road. Or worse still me! -Is just plain wrong.

Wen it comes to teaching our children I fail to see how "Do as I say or I'm going to hurt you." Can ever be seen as a good example.

Ea.

While the adult count most of the time is seen as not being that very important, when it comes to the Commissioner count it does become a very big deal.

Every now and then the number of volunteers is mentioned.

Sometimes size does matter.

Ea.

packsaddle

I hope I didn't come off as seeming like I was complaining.

I both like and enjoy my job.

A big part of it for me is because everything is so new, so different.

I'm also one of the few who don't think that I'm under-paid or in any way hard done by.

Second Class - Thank you.

The post wasn't to be as long as it turned out being.

Papadaddy,

One of the problems I sometimes have is understanding some of the younger guys at work.

Most if not all of these guys are really nice guys when I deal with them one on one. Sadly when they group together it seems that they want to mess around and act like teenagers.

This does make my job of training groups of them difficult.

Many of these guys have served in the military and done tours in combat zones.They face all the problems that people who are just starting out in life face.

Understanding them, what they have been through and are going through helps me be a little more understanding.

These are tough times for management. Budgets have been cut. Every group thinks that they are special and can't be upset.

At times the union is seen as going out of it's way to protect and look after the losers. I don't envy managements job.

I'm too young to have been around when London was taking everything that Germany could throw at it during the blitz.

From all accounts even though things were bad, building were being hit nightly and people were being hurt and killed.

The spirit of the people remained strong and Londoners out of necessity had to work together and rely on each other.

While maybe the idea of the Cheerful Cockney is a little overplayed?

At work I take great comfort that should the situation arise the guys I work with will step up to the plate.

We had a training the other day for our Special Response Teams.

I as a Hostage Negotiator had to go and try and talk to a hostage taker who had in the scenario taken a staff member hostage.

It was a face to face negotiation.

To get to the bad guy I was placed in the "Stack". Surrounded by our very heavily armed CERT (Corrections Emergency Response Team) While I couldn't see and didn't know where our sharp shooters were. I knew that they were out there and ready to take the shot if things went south. - I had my little vest on and a bull horn!

This knowing that I have to count on these guys, knowing that they are well trained and ready to do what ever it might take to protect little old me!

Does make me appreciate these guys a lot and when it comes to them giving me a hard time during training's? I don't get as upset.

Eamonn

Yesterday I presented a lesson on Dealing With Stress.

Working in a jail is very stressful and the stresses take their toll on the people who work within the razor topped fences.

Part of the lesson plan deals with bad ways of dealing with stress.

On my way home I got to thinking about how I deal with my own stress.

I'm not an expert in this kind of thing but even still I think that I know me better than anyone else.

I'm very aware that there are stress-ors out there and from the time the electronic gate clangs shut, early in the morning till I get to get out I'm under stress.

Jails are not as a rule very quite places. Inmates tend to want to be heard and will increase the volume until someone, even the person standing right next to them seems to be listening and getting something from what is being yelled. The truth is that he isn't listening and in not getting anything, all he is doing is working on what he is going to yell back.

The radio strapped to my hip never shuts up and the announcements over head just keep coming.

I think that I'm not taking that much notice but for my own safety and well being I don't dare block any of it out. For the safety and well being of others I need to be ready to respond.

I really don't say much at home about what goes on at work.

Days are planned to be very much the same, it's only when things go wrong that there's anything to talk about and I don't want my wife to spend her day worrying over me.

The guys at work never want to come off seeming soft so as a way of defense things become a joke. -Until someone gets hurt.

I'm a very sociable type of person. I like people and a lot of people seem to like and be able to get along with me.

Still I very much like my time alone away from everyone.

I enjoy my drives to and from work. Just me and NPR on the radio. Reports of whats happening in places in the world that I very often have never heard of before and know I'll never visit.

As I was thinking of how I dealt with my own stress it came to me that maybe unknowingly? I have built my life around dealing with it.

While I'm from a big city. (London.) And I still enjoy visiting big cities full of people and the action that can be found there.

I chose to live out in the sticks. -I don't miss the hustle and bustle of the big city at all.

About a month back I had my GPS set wrongly and rather than quickest time I had shortest distance. The darn thing brought me through every back road in Toronto. Taxis pulled out from no where, pedestrians seemed not to know that walking out in front of lost Englishmen can be hazardous to their health and Toronto is loaded full of Kamikaze bicyclists. It was like driving down the Kings Road, Chelsea after a Chelsea Soccer home game.

For me it was 90 minutes of sheer hell. - I swore that I'd never live in a big city ever, for as long as I might live.

A couple of years back, I took up gardening.

I have no idea what the heck I'm doing. Only that I get to play in the dirt. Look at some wonderful magazines and enjoy bring in bunches of cut flowers for my wife or just like the hunter home from the hunt I come in basking with pride because I've just reaped yet another zucchini or can boast that I grew the herbs in the sauce.

I have a big yard. I mow about seven acres. This year I went wild and bought myself a John Deere 72 inch zero-turn mower. - I have some really nice cars, but this mower is my pride and joy. A top speed of 15 MPH.

The yard takes about three hours to mow. Three hours of me being alone with no interruptions, just me, the mower and the smell of cut grass.

Everyday I take my three dogs out for their hike, we cover about 3 -5 miles depending on my mood and what the weather is like.

Each dog has his or her own character and watching them do their own thing makes me smile. I also get to be part of the seasons and part of the nature that's all around me. Watching the robins in spring, the groundhogs poke their heads up from their holes in the summer or the snow geese in the corn fields.

I moan and complain about having to dress for the weather before I take them out, but we never miss a day. We have spots where we can sit down and they can enjoy a pet from me. Along the way they are sometimes treated to an Irish folk song, but they never seem that impressed with my singing, only it beats my off key whistling!

I do enjoy my friends and spending time with people that I like and care for.

So when it comes to dealing with my own Stress?

I think how lucky and blessed I really am.

Eamonn.

Seem to remember reading someplace that if there isn't a Vice-Chair the District Nominating Chair steps in until a new Chair is selected.

Most times one of the other District Chairs will take the job on a temp basis.

The District Commissioner and the DE should never take on the job.

Commissioners need to take care of units and DE's have their own agenda.

Ea.

While units can often latch onto and play with any District that they might feel like doing so with.

The truth is that when it comes to Councils and Districts, the only thing that really matter is the CO.

Most CO's see the reasoning why they are in the District that they are in.

The IH if he is lucky? Meets with the DE about once a year and has no idea if the DE is good, bad or indifferent.

If the unit is blessed with a real and a active COR? Maybe things both good and bad might get back to the IH.

Once the Council has that Charter Agreement filed, chances are that the Charter will remain in the District no matter what the volunteer adult leaders want or think they want.

Ea.

Sorry BSA24 some of us District types are trained negotiators.

I seen the work I did at the District level as being important.

While of course there are some units that don't need as much help and as much support as others. Still feeling that you belong to something bigger than just your own unit and working with others toward a common goal is very much what Scouting is all about.

I am and have always been willing to accept that my understanding of the program and the working's of the program might not be the same as others.

When it came to visiting units I always seen myself as a guest.

Members of the District looked to me to be a leader and very often their advocate, sometimes when the Council seemed to not be in line and sometimes when their own CO was acting up.

We do what we do for the good of the program which if done well and delivered well results in the youth we serve having a better program and all the good stuff that comes from that.

It is a shame when some nit-wit SE's forget that they serve only because of the good will of the volunteers and can be let go at almost anytime.

Ea.

Hi,

You need to think along the lines of what services the District offers your unit?

As has been posted most of the time Districts follow some kind of geographic line.

As a rule this is done so that Commissioner staff are people who are people who come from that area, DE support for things like School Sign Up Night and other events are done locally.

Back when I was District Chair. We had a Troop that was on the boundary line of another District. Their adult leaders seemed to think that we did things better than the District they were in and that our guys were more friendly toward them than the guys in their own District.

They started attending events that we offered. Our training's and Camporee.

They still belonged to the other District, so all funds from FOS, pop-corn sales and all members were credited to the other District. All information other than what our Chairs decided they wanted to send them came from the District they were in.

When it came to the Jamboree, their Scouts were not allowed to be part of the Troop that our District sent.

When they won some of our District competitions, some of our Scouter's and Scouts started to question if allowing them in was really fair?

I'm not sure if their CO knew or cared? About what they were doing.

Of course as they were part of the other District their COR was never invited and could never really be part of our District Committee.

While turning your back on a District is one thing. We had Troops who wanted no part in just about anything the District did.

Switching Districts? Is something that would need to come from the CO and be gone over with the SE.

Most DE's that I know would be very unhappy to lose a unit from their District.

It's not something that a Troop or Pack could do without the input of the CO and there would need to be a good reason and not too many geographical challenges.

Most Councils would strongly discourage it.

Ea.

"Macedonia... and whether or not it's Greek."

And there was I thinking them nuts came from Hawaii!

If they decide to secede the price of sugar will go up and what will the Texans put in their tea?

Sounds like a real mess, maybe joining with Canada might be the way to go?

Ea.

Kinda makes me glad that my kid was a little to old for a Tickle Me Elmo.

Ea.

My great hope is that if Boston starts to act up (Again!!)

That this time they do a better job of making a nice spot of tea.

Do they drink tea is Texas?

moosetracker

I was younger in 1977 and spent a week touring with a bus load of International Scouter's.

We sank a good many warm beers (The Brits and the Irish outnumbered everyone else on the bus.) But I do seem to remember spending the night in the BSA HQ in New Jersey, not New York.

Ea.

"My question is will I be able to provide my proxy to a registered Scouter from one or our organization's units so that they can vote"

I'm not exactly sure what the book answer is.

I don't ever remember seeing it anyplace.

But here in my neck of the woods.

The answer would be a no.

I don't know how familiar you are with these meetings?

Sad to say for the most part they are a waste of time.

The Nominating Committee Chair. Puts forward the slate of officers and it is as a rule passed.

If for whatever reason the slate of officers fails to pass, the meeting should be closed and re-opened when the Nominating Committee comes up with a list that is acceptable. -In the real world this rarely ever happens.

Often the only officers elected are the District Chairman, who may or may not put the names of the District Committee Chairs (Training, Camping Finanace and so on.) Out there. But a role of the District Chair is to select and recruit these people, so sometimes especially if it's a new District Chair? He or she hasn't got around to doing this by the time of the meeting.

District Commissioners are not voted on, these are selected by the Council Commissioner.

Anyway when it comes to missing this meeting? Unless you have a really big beef with the District Nominating Committee? Your not missing very much!

Ea.

"My question is will I be able to provide my proxy to a registered Scouter from one or our organization's units so that they can vote"

I'm not exactly sure what the book answer is.

I don't ever remember seeing it anyplace.

But here in my neck of the woods.

The answer would be a no.

I don't know how familiar you are with these meetings?

Sad to say for the most part they are a waste of time.

The Nominating Committee Chair. Puts forward the slate of officers and it is as a rule passed.

If for whatever reason the slate of officers fails to pass, the meeting should be closed and re-opened when the Nominating Committee comes up with a list that is acceptable. -In the real world this rarely ever happens.

Often the only officers elected are the District Chairman, who may or may not put the names of the District Committee Chairs (Training, Camping Finance and so on.) Out there. But a role of the District Chair is to select and recruit these people, so sometimes especially if it's a new District Chair? He or she hasn't got around to doing this by the time of the meeting.

District Commissioners are not voted on, these are selected by the Council Commissioner.

Anyway when it comes to missing this meeting? Unless you have a really big beef with the District Nominating Committee? Your not missing very much!

Ea.(This message has been edited by Eamonn)

moxieman

While I'm in agreement with you that money does indeed talk.

Money, or not having enough money? Never seems to have been a problem for the BSA at the National level. (Yes I know that they cut a few staffers a year or so back.)

My thinking is that there are people and groups of people with very deep pockets who support and will continue to support the BSA, some because of the gay policy that it has in place, some just because it's the BSA.

IMO HO, what hurts or harms a youth organization more than anything is when the membership keeps going down and there isn't any real explanation for it. (We do at times see bubbles when there are more or less available youth.)

I'd guess that almost all the regular posters in this forum, see the BSA as being relevant? We think that the work we do matters and does good.

For a very long time and even still, the guy on the street (Public opinion.) Has seen Scouting and the BSA in a favorable light.

Locally, it didn't really matter that much if a couple of units weren't that great because for every not so great unit there was a really good or great unit just down the road. When membership shrinks and there aren't as many units the not so great unit becomes the only game in town until such a time as it fails and there are no units left.

Sure lack of members means that less people buy uniforms, subscribe to Boy's Life Magazine and pay membership fees and the loss of this income hurts. Still if the time were to come when the BSA reported membership in the thousands and not the million or more? This would really hurt.

The BSA really is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

No matter what it does it stands to lose members.

My guess is that right now it's better to keep the bird that they have in hand, pander up to the big CO's and the supporters they have rather than rock the boat.

Ea.

Can't help wondering if the Seattle Times is always so far behind when it comes to the news?

Since this story broke, there has been a member of the House of Lords wrongly accused the CEO of the BBC has resigned.

Several people have been arrested and a few have been held for questioning.

Maybe by 2013 the Seattle Times might get caught up?

Ea.

I have no idea what the BSA might or might not do.

Thinking locally.

While some people have opinions about homosexuals and gay marriage. Up until very recently there wasn't what I'd call a gay presence??. No gay community, no gay clubs that I know of no real gay movement. There were of course people who were openly gay, but not very many. For the most part the gay issues were something that happened elsewhere.

There is now however some concerns that a fair number of boys in the local High School, who are saying that they are gay and there have been incidents on the school grounds and boys caught with gay porn on their phones and computers (Exchanging photos.)

The county I live in is very white and was one of the few that when the votes were counted went for Romney.

My feeling is that as a community the feeling is that if we ignore it all that it will go away. - Clearly if this is the plan? Then it's doomed for failure.

Still if a sleepy little town in PA feels this way? My guess is that there are a lot more sleepy little towns that also feel the same way.

I love the area where I live and think the people who live here are the greatest.

Still, I can't help thinking that we have no idea about what is happening elsewhere.

I had no idea what it was like to be a black man living in the projects until I started working in a jail. I didn't know that there are as many Muslims living in the state or that we have such a large Hispanic community. (I just completed a course with the PA State Police on Survival Spanish.) Of course the people who live around me know that there are black people and Hispanics but because they are not on our door step. It's easy to ignore them.

If there was a vote on gay marriage in the area around where I live? My guess is that it would fail. -My thinking is that if we were nearer to a big city and more people knew more gays than that might change.

Like it or not most of the families we serve in Scouting tend to be white families from middle class families. People who come from places like the place where I live.

I have no idea why over the past couple of years local boys seem to want to identify themselves as being gay?

Maybe it's just a trend? Maybe it's just part of being cool? - I don't know.

My hope is that if they are indeed gay that they don't feel the need to have to hide away and that they will be accepted.

Many years back (About 12 years.) A good pal of mine who served on the District Committee, quit Scouting because of the BSA stance on gays. He talked with me before he resigned saying that if his son came home and said that he was gay, that he felt he'd still love him and want what every Dad wants for his son and if the BSA couldn't see that he wanted no part of it.

I have no idea what makes someone gay or not gay?

I sometimes think that the people of my generation didn't have much of a choice. We did what was excepted by others? Maybe the young people today feel that they do have a choice? -I don't know.

But if more and more families see that their kids are not doing what was excepted and want to live alternative life styles than it will become something that just can't be ignored.

Ea.

I have been asked time and time again, why I wasn't a professional Scouter?

As a rule I answered that I didn't ever want to give up my being able being able to tell people that I might not like or didn't want to get along with. - Where to go.

I'm a volunteer.

I do what I do. Because I like doing it and a lot of the time like to think that I just might, just maybe might be doing some good.

I enjoy seeing the kids in our program have fun, enjoy the program and grow in the program.

I hate the cold, but have taken Scouts hiking, camping and skiing in the snow.

I've camped in the rain, hiked in the rain, cooked in the rain, gone home with more mud than the Mad Potter of Biloxi used in his life time.

Some of this wasn't a lot of fun.

But anything is more fun than going cap in hand asking people I know for money.

Of course I'm not silly or daffy enough to think that we do what we do without funding.

Which of course brings me to the people who work in the Council Service Center.

Yes!

It's called the Council Service Center.

Thanks to a lot of effort by a lot of little fellows and their families selling a ton of over priced pop-corn, thanks to a lot of people twisting the arms of other volunteers and Scout families to donate to FOS, Thanks to the good people in the business communities who believe in what good Scouting can do and volunteers badgering the heck out these good people.

We have Service Centers.

Thanks to volunteers the people who work there work in decent conditions, earn a living and get a fairly decent benefit package,

I'm sorry Backroads, in my book you work for and are paid by the hard work the volunteers do and it bugs the heck out of me that you seem to forget this.

If you need to brush up on your customer service skills?

I would strongly suggest that you do it sooner rather than later.

If you really think so little about the volunteers who are doing so much for you to do your job and ensure that you get your pay check?

Then the time has come for you to do something else.

Eamonn

"Always? You don't believe parents have a right to discipline their children, even corporally if they believe it to be necessary?"

Yes always.

I don't care what tag you tie to hitting and hurting others. - It's just wrong.

Adults who hit children need help.

Ea.

Peregrinator,

To answer your question.

I'd report it because I see /think that hitting other people is just plain wrong.

I would hope that I'd do what I could to remove the child from the danger that he or she is facing.

By reporting it I would feel that I had done what was needed.

I don't in any way judge the person who was hitting the child.

I don't know what the authorities might or might not do.

I tend to think that people who hit kids are in need of some kind of help.

Help that I'm not qualified to offer.

When I see a convict hitting another convict. I report it.

Surely I would do the same thing for a kid?

Ea.

BSA24

I'm not really sure what your saying?

I was born at a time and place where whacking kids was seen as being acceptable.

My Irish Catholic parents and teachers, school masters seemed to take spare the rod and spoil the child to heart.

To this day, I'm never sure if I'm a good person? Or just a person who fears the consequences of my actions?

I'm really happy that we no longer live in the dark ages.

I believe that people who hit their kids need help, but before we can help the parents we need to take care of the child. - Most times that entails removing the child from the danger that he or she is facing.

In my book anyone hitting or harming anyone else is just plain wrong.

Someone hitting someone who can't hit back (A child!) Is even more wrong.

So you bet were I to see anyone smack their kid across the face. I'd step in and report what happened to the authorities. That kid needs to be saved from harm and that parent needs help.

Thanks to my job, I've met and talked with a fair number of child molesters. I don't by any means consider myself an expert.

Molesters come in all colors, sizes and walks of life.

I have only ever met one who said he seen an opportunity to molest a child and took the opportunity. (The child was nine years old and in a body cast, the molester worked in the hospital.)

The others had a relationship with the child, mostly they were related or they built up a relationship over time with the child.

I'd be far more suspicious of an adult who seemed to want to spend a lot of time with a kid than the guy who needs to go for a pee when there are kids in the rest-room. Of course if it seems that he is there every time that kids are there? I'd see the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Many of us are guilty of not obeying every law all the time.

Most of us are aware of what we are doing and when we are doing it.

On my way to work at 04:00 I set my cruise control at 70 MPH. I know and I'm aware that 65 is the posted limit. Coming home when there is a lot more cars on the road I set it at 60.

When I have kids in the car I set it at 55.

Each of us decides what we think is acceptable or maybe we think about the consequences?

Ea.

ScouterCa,

As others have posted it is both possible and allowable to hold several positions within the BSA.

The membership fee is for the person, not the position.

There is a rule that states that a Unit Leader is not allowed to also serve as a Commissioner. But this seems to sometimes ignored at a local level.

A few years back the BSA and some Councils were found to have a fair number of "Paper Units." Units that really didn't exist. Sometimes to get a charter through volunteers who had no real association with the unit or the charter would be listed as CM's.

There are some volunteers who do wear several hats.

Sometimes in some areas this is the only way that things can get done.

I think it's not a very good idea.

As a District Chairman, I wouldn't ask a unit leader to serve on the District Committee.

My feeling being that the job of Unit Leader is a full time job and the role of the District Committee is to support our unit leaders, which is kinda hard when the committee is made up of unit leaders. - Some people thought I was out of line.

I also had seen in another District a Lady who I think was on a real power trip.

She served as a CM and was on just about every District Committee : Cub Scout Camping, Training and as Cub Scout R/T Commissioner.

To be fair, she didn't do a bad job and the job got done. She however just wasn't a very nice person and seemed to have a knack of rubbing people up the wrong way.

She was very upset when she was asked (Informed.) to step down from some of her positions. She made a point of telling any and everyone that "They" can't fire me!

In the end she just quit.

Of course the District then needed to fill all the empty spots.

It's hard enough for a District Chair to find people for one spot but when someone who wears several hats leaves the job becomes that much harder.

I wasn't going to allow that to happen to me.

Ea.

"So your boss leads a squeaky clean life? No association with organizations that have had problems in the past, like maybe a Church?"

I'm not sure how squeaky clean his life might be.

But I do know that he isn't facing the problems that the BSA is.

If our only answer, only reply to the crisis we face is to poke fun at the people who are now feeling uneasy? Then we might as well all quit now.

Within our own ranks I do think that our members support the organization and feel that any sort of abuse wouldn't and isn't going to happen on their watch.

I'm not sure how much or how little public support the BSA might or might not have?

However, I do tend to think that parents very well might not want their child joining.

Nearly all the parents of young children (Tiger Cub and Cub Scout age.) That I know of are very busy people. Very few work Monday -Friday 9-5 jobs. Many have a lot of debt, mortgages, school loans, car payments, the list goes on.

Scouting isn't the only game in town. Their kids can be involved in a lot of after school activities. Most of which don't really need parents to get involved and most of these activities don't have the stain that the BSA now has.

The future of the BSA depends on not only recruiting these young kids but also being able to select / recruit their parents as the next group of adult leaders.

We can and to a great extend have done a good job of not only keeping their kids safe. We have the protection plans in place, we have the training's in place.

I think that if asked I could show all of these and have a good chance of putting any parent or maybe parents mind at ease.

When it comes to asking a young parent to make time and give up time to volunteer as an adult leader? Taking away the idea that he might be seen by others as some kind of a deviant? Might be a lot harder.

Me saying that he isn't squeaky clean. Or that his association with organizations that have had problems in the past, like maybe a Church?

Really isn't going to do much to help.

Eamonn