elitts

It depends on what was done with the funds. My understanding (mostly from conversations on here) is that it wasn't actually a new mortgage, it was a refinancing of the mortgage. But even if the new mortgage was for more than the old one, if they can prove that any extra equity stripped out was used to pay down creditors or was placed into a pot to be used for the purpose of paying debts, I wouldn't imagine the judge would be punitive over it. However, I do know that bankruptcy judges have incredibly broad authority and can even order money already paid to a creditor within a certain time fr

This is very much how I'd view it. Particularly since if it's handled as a class action lawsuit they can get a higher "victim count". If you start looking at local councils individually it becomes easier for the council's lawyers to look at 40 or 50 suits and start saying "Hmm.. OK, you are alleging an incident to have happened 37 years ago. What evidence beyond your own statement do you have that this actually occurred?". It may not be a friendly way to deal with things, but if someone is looking for a cash payout in this situation, I think it's entirely reasonable. That's

I suspect this is simply a hopeful delusion. Lawyers have been trying to do this same thing with Catholic diocese for the last decade or so and still haven't managed to pierce that veil. And i don't think anyone would argue that the Vatican has control over the assignment of priests and bishops.

My general understanding of how logging works is that unless you are talking about a forest full of valuable lumber, "managed logging" just isn't really commercially viable. The expense and time involved in being careful and deliberate will basically wipe out the profit. Particularly if most of the wood is expected to be sold to the pulp mills.

A "plea deal being offered" can mean drastically different things depending on how public the case is. If I was going to speculate, I'd say that when this became publicized, the DA involved decided to throw the whole book at him and go for the max, which forces a defendant to decide if their remorse is strong enough to give up the rest of their life. I've seen plea deals in situations like this. As an example, I'd guess it went something like: Drunk driver kills someone and is charged with Vehicular homicide (6-10 year penalty); Case becomes publicized; DA adds charges

I would hope this situation will be somewhat different. The behavior of many church leaders was nearly the opposite of the BSA in attempting to actively cover things up and hide them with little to no effort made to actually provide protections against abuse. For as long as the BSA was trying to stay on the good side of press, it made more sense to settle cases on rather generous terms. But at this point, people are coming out of the woodwork with suits that are in many cases going to be entirely impossible to verify given the time lapse. I'd want to see the BSA's lawyers approach things a

The problem I have with popcorn is two-fold. 1. It violates the BSA's own rules on fundraisers. (product price much be in relation to product value) I realize they have the authority to authorize any fundraiser they want, but "We can do this and you can't" just always sours the ears of people who hear it. 2. The fact that it seems easy because "This is what we've always done" seems to be the primary motivator for councils. At this point, this fundraiser is NOT a product sale, it's essentially a donation drive. Given that fact, why continue using a product that is as fundamentally

Given the number of similar comments I see on this, and my experience with our council over the last 10 years; If there is any one thing Councils could do to increase or support their value in the eyes of Scouters, getting paperwork processed correctly and promptly the first time and then being able to find it again afterwards would be it. Honestly, if there was one position that I would think should be paid very well (relative to the market) it should be the administrative person who handles everything related to paperwork and applications.

I don't think there is anything wrong with him discussing it with the MBC, but if it were my son, I'd suggest the issue be raised as a question rather than an accusation. Something like: "Hey, I just wanted to clarify something to make sure I understand it correctly. I noticed that some of the scout folders were full of pictures that were taken "of them" by someone else and not photos they took, but I thought we were only supposed to post pictures we took ourselves. Am I correct, or are photos taken by someone else acceptable?" And then he'll need to just leave it at that unless h

The idea that YPT is a feature of the program seems to be a very unfortunate, yet common viewpoint today. YPT is certainly a critical component of BSA activities, but a "feature"? When you start getting to a point where limitations and risk mitigation requirements are viewed as features, it's a pretty sad state of affairs. That's like choosing a school for your kids based upon the fact that they have metal detectors, bulletproof glass and regular armed patrols in the hallways. What's worse is that the stepped up rules changes aren't even to combat current problems with the program, they a

Your premise depends on the unsupportable assumption that adults in a household always see the mail first. I know at my house now, and when I was a kid, the kids were usually the ones sent to fetch the mail from the box and I can't imagine that my family is a rarity. So now you are in a situation where keeping a letter in compliance with the (2 adults) idea requires that parents tell their kids, "Don't open your own mail until I can supervise". And if we are going to depend on that to make the solution work, then why doesn't that work for reading text messages or emails too? (ie: Don't rea

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks of it in terms that stark. I really wish some of these risk managers coming up with these new rules (and applications of existing rules) would actually spend some time considering the idea of: "What unintended consequences or implications could this new rule have on the rest of our program". But it seems they are about as good at proactive thinking as most legislative bodies are when they pass new laws. I mean, if a rule or guideline immediately requires a F.A.Q. in order to explain what you mean, it probably means it's a poorly

Really? Please explain what your basis is for this belief. Keep in mind we aren't talking about general web use where exposure to adult material is a risk. We aren't talking about Social Media where one bullying post can live on indefinitely and be seen by anyone in the world and we aren't talking about a situation where someone can interact with the group anonymously. The actual risks are that someone will say something mean/insulting or the public conversation could be recorded and both of those can quite easily happen during a in in-person conversation as well. "Zoombombing" is als

The elimination of scouts being able to hike or camp in patrols was unfortunate, but now it appears the BSA doesn't even feel scouts can communicate safely over video chat without direct adult monitoring. I have to ask where that line of thinking is going to end. I realize that we are calling these conference calls "meetings", but that's just labeling. A "meeting" is a gathering of people at a location or site, and when a bunch of kids are gathering at some location where parental supervision is absent, requiring Two Deep Leadership at least makes logical sense, even if some might argue tha

So, I'm just wondering how Eagle BoR is handled in other areas. When I had my Review Board, it was held at the Gerald R. Ford Museum in the executive board room and was quite formal feeling. Not unpleasant, but there was a certain amount of solemnity and seriousness. By contrast, I recently sat on an Eagle BoR for the first time at my local council offices. I was rather astonished when the Council representative running things told us to "Just grab a few chairs and drag them out into the hallway, you can do the review out there." I really felt pretty bad for the kid. I mean, this

When producing rules like this, I find the best approach is to lay out the rules in as bland a manner possible, with very little in the way of backstory or explanation. Then at the end offer to discuss them in person should anyone have further questions. Otherwise it can feel too much like "airing the dirty laundry". The unfortunate fact is that people suck at reading and keeping it clean and simple works best most of the time.

😆 5 years actually. That's one of the reasons I said "Very very few" and not "None". Even though by the time I was at the school there was only one nun left teaching, it was clear that the nuns of the past were really really good at lists of "Don'ts". Positive Punishment was definitely a more accepted methodology than Positive Reinforcement.

Actually, this means you might find the classic Hennessy Hammock a PERFECT fit. The classic Hennessy hammock uses a bottom entry system to get in. You split the two sides, lower the hammock down over you, then sit down and pull your feet in. When you pull your feet in, your weight pulls the two sides closed and seals the velcro. You can set the hammock up so the bottom is only like 12"-18" off the ground and not have any issues at all with getting in. Getting out can be somewhat more complicated, but this is easily fixed with a very simple change. To get out, you use your toes to spl

There are very very few organizations that actually go through the effort to officially say "NO" to everything they haven't said "YES" to. Using that as your yardstick in life would be a great way to get in trouble. Your argument here is essentially identical to saying: Why can't New York and New Jersey have the same Governor if they want to? States are "linked bodies" and they work together on joint projects and when there is a governor's meeting, they always pick one person to be the "chairperson", so clearly a joint Governor shouldn't be a problem.

No, I imagine it was simply a scanned copy of the published brochure. But here's a link to the "Trail to Adventure" publication, Volume 8, Issue 1. https://i9peu1ikn3a16vg4e45rqi17-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/The-Trail-To-Adventure-Master-Copy_Spring-2019.pdf This is only talking about the issue in regards to summer camp, but it makes the BSA position pretty clear. Now, let's add to those points the fact that the BSA Rules https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/membership/pdf/Rules_and_Regulations_June_2018.pdf specify that the SPL must be

For all those looking for explicit documentation about sharing leadership between boy and girl troops, here you go: https://skcscouts.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Starting-Linked-Troop.pdf This clearly and definitively states that the entire youth troop structures of linked troops are supposed to be independent. There is no reason a female SPL can't serve in an ad hoc leadership role for some activity, however the key concept behind an "ad hoc" anything is that the term of service is only the duration of the (typically short) immediate activity. Furthermore, serv

As JoeBob said, a hammock was the best thing I ever bought for camping. I'm still going to take a nap on Sunday afternoon, but I'm no longer so tired that I'm not functional. A 20 minute shower and an hour or two nap and I'm pretty much recovered.

If everyone is heading off to bed at 8:30-9pm, it sounds like you need to start planning some kind of activity for Friday nights. 8:30-9pm is about when we would start 'smores and kids would start playing flashlight tag. (Though we did have one pair of boys that would disappear suddenly around 7:30-8:00pm because they'd put themselves to bed.) The key to being Cubmaster on camp-outs is that you shouldn't be running any of the specific activities once there. What you do is start pinning down parents who are already there and asking them what they are going to help with. The way I'd ask

If nothing else, this would be a great time to publicly offer Girl Scout troops to the option of attending BSA camps "to make sure they don't miss out on any opportunities". It would suit my sense of perverse delight greatly if some of that $200,000 per year endowment ended up getting used to fund BSA camps because GSUSA troops or individuals wanted to attend.

From what I could find just looking up this type of project on google, calling things like this a "pile" isn't really doing it justice. What you are effectively doing is deliberately creating all at once the kind of habitat that would be created over years in the woods. Ideally, these aren't made by just haphazardly piling up logs and pouring dirt on top to fill in the gaps. Instead, the scout will need to "craft" a habitat with a combination of hollows and gaps in some spaces, loose leafy dirt filling others, and plenty of air moving through the whole thing. The enclosure keeps thi