hereajo

UPDATE: I am the Charter Org Rep and the father of the victim. I was placed in an exremely difficult position. I reported the incident per my oath as a scout leader to or charter org executive, senior pastor who unfortunatley is very new to scouting. I excused myself from admimistering punishment (Although the district commisioner said I had the autoriity to do so when I met with him, the DE, and the OA chapter guide this evening). I was counting on my senior pastor to recommend a harsher penalty than what the committee chair administered (A verbal warning that this was his first reported offense and this behavior will not be tolerated.

As I said I met with the district commissoner, district executive and OA Chapter Guide. My goal was to help my charter org try to salvage the troop by involving the district in retraining the adult leadership and fostering a "safe haven" enviroment that has zero tolerance for bad behavior. I would like to thank you for providing this forum as your input. It has supported our stand to make noise and helped us with making clear good BSA decisions.

As an update. The incident happened at an OA Ordeal Campout. The airsoft gun was in the offenders parents car in the parking lot of the scout camp. The gun was pointed at the victim in the parking lot of the scout camp. The victim feared for his saftey when the gun was pointed at him. There has been trouble with the offender and siblings before (lighter in the fire and others), but no one wants to report things (the old boys will be boys excuse).

I have asked why no other scouts or adults stepped in to stop the abuse and no answer was given.

It appears to me the tolerance for bullying, profanity and bad behavior are out of control and have left the scouts thinking that this behavior is just boys being boys.

What if the next time it is a real gun? I think the time to draw the line is before someone is seriously hurt.

The victim is leaving the troop to join one that holds to the scout oath and law and whose adults will stand up and enforce the guide to safe scouting. I have no doubt he will become a fine eagle scout in the future.

A scout went out of his way to bully another scout. All sorts of profanity was used against the victim and a verbal threat was made to shoot the scout. An hour later the bully was observed by an adult and several youth to point an airsoft pellet pistol at the victim. The troop leaders want to treat this as a first offense with a written warning only according to the troops written policy.

What should the chartering organization do?

Can the charter organization override the troop policy?

How does the chartering organization guarantee the saftey of all scouts in the program?