Eagle94-A1

I do have a few questions regarding a BSA only Chapter 11, in order of importance. 1. Since part of the charter fee every CO paid to national to have a unit over the years was for insurance, how will COs go about submitting claims if they are sued in a post BSA only Chapter 11? I know many UMC orgs submitted holding claims, but what about the others? Will this come out of the Future Claimants Fund? Will Insurance companies have to pay out additional funds? Or will the charter orgs be out of luck and completely thrown under the bus by BSA? 2. Since part of the charter fee local council's paid to national to have a council charter was for insurance, How will councils go about submitting claims if they are sued in a post BSA only Chapter 11? If Council did not submit holding claims like the UMC did, are they out of luck? I think those two questions are part of why this is an absolute mess. COs have been told since before I became a Cub they were protected. Now it seems as if National is throwing them under the bus. Ditto with councils.

I hope this happens, but I have a gut feeling it won't. Councils are worried about their own survival, and many are focused on their own problems, and either cannot, or do not, want to see the big picture. But I could be wrong. Anyone hear of merger talks taking place next month?

That may have been the official year of integration, but some councils took longer unoffically. One council I have been in did not integrate until the 1980s. While the segregated districts "merged," they still kept doing their own events. Agree. we are not responsible for the past. We need to focus on today, and prepare our youth for the future. While we need to be cognizant of the past and how it affects today, we need to focus on solving the issues of today.

I need to clarify, my last comment was regarding online MBs, BORs, everyone getting Eagle etc. Not DEI. I admit I am middle of the road when it comes to DEI. I know our country's past, but I also know the strides we have made. Do we still need improvement? Absolutely. Without growth you die. That is why I like the focus on the Scout Oath and Law. If we were to live by the Scout Oath and Law, I do not believe the challenges we are seeing would exist. Sadly not everyone in uniform is a true Scout.

I am a lifer. Started as a Cub, earned Eagle and aged out. Was a Sea Scout for a bit while serving as an ASM. Not only did i not leave the movement, but I also worked for it. In my professional opinion, coming from both my training as an educator and experience working with youth for over 25 years the program had deteriorated. Instead of quality, folks want quantity. Youth want challenges. Youth need to make mistakes and learn the hard way, albeit in a safe environment. Youth need responsibilities. This is what makes them grow and allows them to make ethical decisions. How do we help them if we do everything for them, and give them everything?

Do any legacy units use their original numbers?

Officially this is still the case. HOWEVER in reality many boys and girls troops are so intermingled regarding supplies, Scouters, etc, they are in essence 1 troop. National has OK'd the fact that troops can do joint activities if they have the same CO. So you have joint troops' meetings, camp outs, summer camps, service projects, etc. And some troops have point blank said they will be two separate troops on paper only. They will do everything together as if they were one big troop.

The first digit of 4 digit number use to designate Troop, Ship, Pack, and Crew. 0 was troops, 2 Ships, 3 packs, and I do not remember Crews. Posts also had their own number, but I have not been active on that side and do not know if that is the case with Learning for Life. I know for a fact that there will be opposition among my committee over changing the number. We no longer have a pack, and a local pack was searching for a home. I was all for the pack keeping the number. Committee was opposed. If they came to our CO, they would need to change their number.

So I found out that in my council will be having a meeting in January to discuss council mergers. My question is simple: What happens to units that have the same number? I ask because my troop will be celebrating 100 years next month. Long history that I would not like to lose.

Our legal system is in need of major tort reform. When it is cheaper to pay a fine than fight for your innocence, you need legal reform. When anyone can sue anyone without any penalty, you need legal reform. Anyone heard of the MS optometrist who was sued by one of his dad's former patients? Dad was a "Sr." and an OB/GYN that past away. Several years after dad died, Jr. who was an optometrist, receives notice that he was having a malpractice suit from one of dad's former patients. Long story short, Jr. incurred heavy legal expenses because the plaintiff's lawyer refused to acknowledge he was not the doctor that performed on the patient. They went to court, and the judge dismissed the case. Plaintiff did not have to pay a dime. JR. had to pay all of his legal bills because the malpractice insurance only covered his patients. As for good Samaritans, anyone hear about the SC lifeguard? This guy was at a lake that he did not work at, so he was on his own time. A girl was having trouble and went unconscious. He made the rescue, began CPR, and when an AED arrived, he removed her bikini top to apply the defib pads on her to shock her. It worked and EMS took her to the hospital alive. Several weeks later, he gets subpoenaed for a sexual assault civil trial. I do not know how that went.

Regarding girls troops, initially the local girls' troop was forced to do joint activities due to lack of gear and adults. Now that they equal their brother troop, they prefer to do things on their own. In fact, this year they are doing two different summer camps the same week. This is something the girls wanted as they believe the boys are holding them back.

Depending upon the diocese, Catholic Churches may or may not be rechartering. I know of 3 diocese that stated no more chartering of Scout units. Locally we have a unit about to fold, and the Catholic Church, which wanted to reestablish Scouting in the parish, now said no.

And as I have stated before, not everyone has the financial resources to be in Scouting as prices climb. I do not know your financial situation, but we have folks who qualify as Lower Class in my unit. Right Now I have 1 definite Scout who is dropping due to the increases, and I may have more. I will be trying to figure out how to help them remain. If $50 is not a big deal to you, I would gladly accept a donation to help cover a Scout's dues.

That is not reasonable for everyone. Are parents charged for attending little league practices and games?

Rates vary from council to council. While the national fee is fixed, councils can add their own fees as well up to an equal amount of the national fee. So whereas Malreaux and Inquisitive Scouter are paying $50, mine is closer to $90. That on top of two boys at $107 each, and and I am paying over $300 in registration alone. While some may say it is cheap, for many in my neck of the woods, including myself, it is a lot. Combine with the additional expenses: summer camp, food, gas, equipment, etc, and I am slowly being priced out of Scouting. Part of me is glad Oldest is not continuing as an ASM, because it would be right at $500.

I know back in the day, DEs were required to visit each IH and talk with them about the unit(s) they charter. One DE I know did 3 such visits until he was reprimanded for "wasting your time visiting."

That is a relatively new change in Charter Agreements. Within the past 5 years if memory serves. Prior to that time, it belong to the CO. And with the way the pros are running BSA into the ground would you trust them?

The research behind FIRST CLASS,FIRST YEAR, has some flaws in it. The first flaw I recognized in it as a 15 year old Life Scout was that the research has no mention of activity levels of the units in the research. Not a one. If you got an active unit, you will have retention and advancement. As Hillcourt said, "OUTING is three-fourths of ScOUTING." And if you are active they will stay. And as as Lord Baden-Powell said, " Advancement should happen as naturally as a suntan, it just happens in the outdoors." The other thing flaw was including LDS units in the research. As I discovered later in life, LDS troops kept their 11 year old Scouts in a separate patrol, with an ASM and a Troop Guide assigned to them. I have been told there was a regimented program established for them where the 11 year old patrol did the same thing year after year. And that program was hyperfocused on getting Scouts to First Class by the time they turned 12. In many traditional Scouters' opinions, it was more Cub Scouts and not Boy Scouts, with the ASM acting more like a Den Leader, and the Troop Guide acting like a Den Chief. And that skewered the research. And since all male youth in the LDS church were automatically registered as Scouts, this further skewed the data.

In 1972, Skill Awards came out and were required for Tenderfoot through First Class. Skill Awards focused on all of the skills in one specific area, and were immediate recognition because you still had the tenure requirements for Tenderfoot through First Class ranks. If you finished the Skill Awards needed for rank advancement before the tenure requirement was completed, you usually worked on the next batch of Skill Awards while you waited. In August 1989, "OPERATION FIRST CLASS" came about. Skill Awards were done away with, and the requirements spread out through the Tenderfoot through First Class ranks. So instead of focusing on one to two sets of skills and mastering them, you worked on a bunch of skills at the same time. Also the tenure requirements were removed, allowing for one person to go from Scout to First Class after about a month or 2 of program in one night. That situation did in fact happen. Scout joined in May, went to June and August campouts and summer camp's first year camper program. Since this was a new situation for us, we had 3 different BORs for him that night. We found out later, you can do one BOR for all three ranks. Not a fan.

Age should not be a matter.

Could the $500,000 per POC fine could be used to add more money for the victims?

Can they also be fined and/or pay for this case forfeited and applied to the victims? I'm all for imprisonment, but would rather hit them where it really hurts, money, and benefit the victims.

Record retention laws vary not only from location to location, but also what type of record and the information on it. It can vary from 3 to 50 years, and some records longer. Our COR is a records retention guru. When we purged our records, he told us to keep everything 7 years and under. Anything 8 years or older could be purged.

I would call it a sloppy use of words IF no one at National was informed about this. HOWEVER, RichardB, and others, were notified of the error as early as February 2018 when the ban went into effect. Yet the untruth, fib, hoax, deception, misinformation, disinformation, misinformation, fabrication, etc remains. Wait, it will come. In my experience, National will start a ban for one activity, and slowly move on to others.

Here is the chart. https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/healthsafety/pdf/680-028.pdf Lions ( ages 5 or 6) and Tigers (ages 6 or 7)are prohibited from using hand held paint brushes (that will put a damper on those packs that do PWD workshop nights where everyone is working on their PWD cars, including painting them in some cases). And only Webelos and older can use paint rollers.