skeptic

This from the most recent: " Adult Supervision Two registered adult leaders 21 years of age or over are required at all Scouting activities, including meetings. There must be a registered female adult leader 21 years of age or over in every unit serving females. A registered female adult leader 21 years of age or over must be present for any activity involving female youth. Notwithstanding the minimum leader requirements, age- and program-appropriate supervision must always be provided.

Have to note; the police left your apartment and basically did nothing? Why, and are they also being sue? Simply trying to clarify this a little. Also, once again, we have the perjorative renaming of the IV files, most of which were not abuse records. Yes, too many were, and some were not handled well at all. Still, it has been shown that many other factors were involved, including people like the police noted above. Also not noted in this short is the fact that the IV files did on more than one occasion from the records themselves, stop someone. All this prior to the insta-check

We have a local issue, or confusion perhaps, in regard to the use of the Lone Scout program to allow girls to join when they have not been able to find the minimum number, or their family location and schedules do not fit the limited options. I am aware that the program has been used in other parts of the country, and from what I hear, successfully. Those young women are able to work on their own schedules and also join in with other units as they can. I have read the explanation of Lone Scouting a number of times, and I do not see how this is not a viable option for these youth. But o

Just a note. My "sad" emoticon is not about the comment directly, only that it seems to verify one of the early concerns I proferred; that ripping off the scabs and bringing it all back might be worse than leaving it alone and focusing onl the present to keep it from happening again. No easy answers, and this post seems to suggest that, as have a couple of others on here that are survivors.

"Is NRA good or bad?" My long time perception is that the original NRA was and still can be positive player in this issue. But, that status has been eroded by the politics at have taken over the organization. I have discussed rational and common sense ideas related to this with a number of NRA members and somewhat radical, in my view, gun owners. One of those is my older brother. He agrees almost whole heartedly that reasonable training and barriers are essential, and says he would have no problem with them. Then he turns around and starts with the corruption of the 2nd Amendment n

BTW it is a federal regulation that school district must give scouting the same access to students that they give to any other outside group. Every school district has at some point outside groups that come in to interact with students from speakers to book mobiles and so forth. Check out the BSA access law. As noted, this is in fact a "law". Yet if we confront the school or district with it, have we opened it up or simply made the possibility of cooperation more difficult? We have struggled in our council for years with this, more in some districts than others. Much of that fal

At every camp I have attended, the issue of Gun Safety and so on has been major. Range access is monitored and anyone violation things either leaves or sits for a bit, dependenton the problem. No Scout or Scouter is allowed to shoot without the proper precautions, including ear and ey protections and, if unfamiliar with a gun, direct aid or monitoring. The merit badge includes a major protion on Gun Safety and I believe touches on the gun control issue, depending on the state. The NRA still isa major supporter of BSA, and part of that is because of the eductional elements of the

Once again we are experiencing the pain and suffering of a warped society with children killed in Texas. Most of us understand it is not the weapon itself, but the individual that uses it, that is the challenge. But, for whatever reason, and I personally lay it at the feet of the politicians on both "sides", nothing changes. Meanwhile, we see the BSA under continuing siege to be eliminated due to legal and emotional drama brouoght on by a very small group of sick members of society and some very poor reactions of BSA leadership. My point is not that the abuse issue in BSA

Once again, the simple concept of local accountability and common sense are lost in the egos of too many adults. Meanwhile, the youth issue is not being properly addressed. I too often see the expectation that somehow someone from "on high" can dictate to those in the trenches. But real Scouting is local, which means the units directly. That is WHY there is a committee. And their option should be to get the input of the COR, if necessary, but try to find the solution within by actual adult discussion, not childish accusations and hysteria. Or so an old guy sees it.

I still have one from our trek in 1979. The crew honored me with it when we got off trail.

The story reminded me of our Philmont Ranger in 1979. He had a nickname, Bear Bait. He was sleeping outside while out with a couple other rangers, but he was first year and had been the target of a few jokes. So, when he felt like someone was trying to roll him over in his bag, he reached up and smacked at who he thought it was, one of the others tormenting him. The bear did not like getting slapped and proceeded to reciprocate. Fortunately, the bag was thick enough, and the ranger able to curl up within it; and his screams woke the others nearby who ran the bear off. But he ended up wit

Definitely a YP issue as discussed. IF the tale is accurate, it appears some individual has a problem with the color pink worn by a male. And that is very biased, or worse; IMHO. One way of course would be to ask the whole troop to wear a pink shirt; but not sure that would do anything but annoy someone. Still, it might help the young lad too, especially if the other troop members show their support somehow. Years ago, we had an 11 year old that was always in sine conflict with other youth, both at scouts and with peers in school and neighborhood. He had a really difficult time as he

Wasn't there some type of atttempt by GS to attach their suit to the bankruptcy?

There goes one week of cookie profit. And into the pot for survivors I would think.

Thanks for sharing. More perspective on the evolving issue. I find myself wondering though is these suggestions are universal, or seriously tied to a small population or culture? There are examples historically of seemingly very opposite populations, especially with the early matriarchal groups dominated by strong women who appear to have been the dicision makers. I tend to think that the basic ability for women to do most things is tempered only by their physical limitations, and that their mental capabilities will often overcome those challenges, either by actual effort to change

Back to my perception that balance and awareness must take place. And today, when puberty seems to begin earlier, especially for girls, your comment has room for adjustment perhaps? The part about girls being more apt to do the "boring" planning is true, but with that comes the indiction I observed that once confronted with that, the boys often step up and become involved, even at an earlier age. It still seems to me that the membership issue would improve with coed, especially if larger units were to have the girl patrols if necessary. Then the older youth would still be pretty much

Being wired differently is not an answer, simply an excuse. If the youth can function in school groups or church groups and so on, then they should be able to do so in Scouting. As noted more than once from my own experience as a sub teacher, which meant many variants in students, groups became balanced pretty much once stabilized. While middle school girls often took over a group initially, in many case the boy(s) came forward to challenge. And in many of those, the group output became far more viable and reflected both sides, so to speak. Sorry, the psychologists that claim the males ar

For me, it is past the time for evolving and time to make the logical change. How many more girls would already be in units if they made just that one adjustment? What do I know? I tend to look at thing with reality and logic.

The Lone Scout issue is interesting to me. I know that I have read on this forum, as well as a couple of other threads on Scouting about girls joining as Lone Scouts due to not having enough girls for a troop. So I know that it is allowed, or so it appears. We have struggled to start a girl unit; but we got the minimum briefly, but soon lost one, then another. I had suggested the Lone Scout direction anyway, but the local Executive says we do not meet criteria. Of course, what he really means is that he want another number for a unit, evenif he then approves three when we started it, now

A bill being proposed to deal with private institutional youth schools and such. How much is this in some way similar to the abuse issue with BSA and others? https://www.aol.com/entertainment/revealing-sexual-abuse-allegations-paris-191112644.html

Well, I am going to have to do a better job proofing. Or just turn in my teaching credential. 🙃 Of course, since I am retired, I do not use it anyway.

Looking over that precipice, if only for a few moments, is terrifying. Fortunately, most do draw back and with luck they come to grips in other ways. For me, my losest points have often drawn words into a journal of verse and essay. And rereading things from years back frightens me on occasion, but also makes me realize that hope can still be nourished. I am fortunate to have somehow developed a personal spirituality and am grateful for having been guided to that place by some important people in my life when I was at the low point. And they in turn were able to help me reconnect with the

How to say this without being "accused"? IF the time frame denoed for victims coming forward is valid, and every thing I have read indicates it likely is, or even off in that some "never" can bring it out, then how does that reflcect on the basic abuse event? Somewhere on here, one survivor noted that his father never knew. The studies indicate that male abuse victims are far less willing to even broach the abuse, but rather try to hide it. That is not giving any excuse for the abuser, only asking how, at the time, was it dealt with? If the parent(s) were not told, how might that ha

Why must everything always have "sides"? People are people, and in most cases they should be able to just live and do their own thing. What is the purpose of constantly finding fault and making inuendo? Certainly does not reflect well on the idea of Scout Spirit, or most religious doctrines, or even the the Constitution. Just asking.

I am putting this here, as I am unsure where it might be a point of discussion. This quote is from an opinion piece related to the current SCOTUS issue. But it seems to me that with a tweak or two, it might well reflect on the problems in BSA and really society in general. BSA or Scouting began as an effort to create better citizens at a time of great turmoil and change. It became very idealistic, even as it struggled to fit into the changing society. The repetitive use of its "goody-goody" image as out of sync grew, even possibly making some refuse to recognize that it still had elements