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swilliams

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Everything posted by swilliams

  1. As a parent, I’d want the abuser to suffer in ways more creative than any I could even come up with. I’m not sure that would be of any help to a child. Or a grown man who was abused as a child. It appears there’s not much that does help - no undoing what was done. And yes, I’d want the organization that allowed it to pay. Still, I want to see scouting continue because I see my older son, who had some pretty major issues with anxiety, self-doubt, and suicidal thoughts as a 10-11 year old, and who has a very mild learning disability, become stronger and more confident through the opportu
  2. At our last Eagle COH I gave the four scouts we were honoring a picture frame with the photo mat showing images of the merit badges they had earned, and with their name and date they made Eagle at the top. It was intended to be a personal gift from me, but our Scoutmaster somehow convinced me to present them as being from the Troop. I guess that’s what we do now.
  3. I’ll answer myself, haha!! For anyone else who may have come across this issue., I still don’t know how to print on the cards from the scout shop, but our former advancement chair just contacted me. (Of course, mere seconds after I posted here.) Apparently there is special blue cardstock you purchase from Troopmaster.
  4. I think I’ve posted about this before, but can’t find anything. I’ve been unable to find a program/template that prints on those perforated cards you get from the scout shop. Troopmaster will generate a card, but it’s in landscape format and print two per page -huge!! Can anyone help?
  5. That would be nice, but I just don’t see BSA suddenly reversing over a year’s worth of foot-dragging and unrealistic view of what they can part with. Does anyone think they’ll now agree to sell off the HA bases? Maybe they’ll try to legally force councils to participate? I can’t pretend to know, but their past maneuvering makes any new progress seem unlikely.
  6. Certainly sounds like it. Without being there, and not totally understanding all the legalese, it appears to this lay-person that BSA and their lawyers are still not putting forth any “real” effort. Over a year into it. Disappointing, I’d hazard to say, for all of us regardless of our interest in seeing the end of litigation.
  7. Agree with those who have said let the individual units decide whether to be girl, boy, or co-ed. My daughter had two Venture Crews to choose from; one co-ed and the other all-girl. She chose the all-girl crew. Apparently it's not only boys who feel less pressure or more comfortable in a same-sex group. 🙂
  8. We don't have any recruiting events planned (thanks Covid), but will hold off of basing any plans around the outcome of the bankruptcy, with the exceptions of telling Life scouts to hurry up (and encouraging the same for Star). We're planning on welcoming the AOL's as usual. Dues aren't due for any current scouts until fall anyway.
  9. Thanks. I’ve seen your magic math on this pages back, working from two ends, just didn’t make the connection.
  10. Can someone please explain to me what “Estimation of Claims” is in layman’s terms? Also, is anything happening prior to the status conference in mid-April? And is that just what it sounds like; a check-in on progress of BSA supplying rosters? From what I can tell by reading the last four pages, there’s been no ruling on whether LCs are separate, is that right? Did she indicate whether LCs must come to the table? We all know they’re going to have to, but as of now they’re still not being required to? Thanks.
  11. I'll ask what our SM asked when I suggested this. Who is going to insure you?
  12. Thats kind of how we do it in our troop.
  13. Thanks. It was before my boys joined - four years ago for my older son, two for the younger. I was guessing at a rough time-frame and obviously way off. Thats what happens when you get old. 1995 seems like it was a couple years ago! It was definitely Summit. We had a PLC meeting two years ago and were discussing HA trips, and where the scouts wanted to go. Not a single vote for WV; evenly split between Philmont, Sea Base, and repeating a past trips to the Grand Canyon and Costa Rica. Which brings up the point that although Scout-owned bases are easier to attend for planning purpo
  14. I’m not a great letter-writer. I do wonder if a petition would do any good, and I would happily sign my name to a statement saying I could care less about keeping Summit. I mentioned upthread a ways that our troop went once - it would have been around 2005 or 2006 - and we never went back again. Maybe the ‘improvements’ changed it for the better, but we’ve chosen Sea Base and Philmont on a rotating basis every three years (with a less-expensive option in the third year). Might be too little, too late, particularly after BSA’s opening offer, but if someone does start a petition I’ll
  15. This is kind of what I mean by ‘what ifs’. It’s too soon to tell what exactly will happen, but it’s not too soon to come up with a list of questions we’d like to try and find answers to. From the provided list, our council has a couple hundred cases. There’s going to be SOME kind of major change happening, regardless of what form it takes. Troop issues, too, like what happens to Troop property in the event BSA ceases to exist? Trailers, canoes, camping equipment, any cash in the bank, etc. Can another organization be formed to purchase our summer camp if council is disbanded? Out
  16. If BSA liquidates and ceases to function, do councils have the ability to proceed with the program? Does the program still exist? Of course troops can still get together for activities, and I would hope ours does. But, for example, if my older boy can somehow earn Eagle before BSA shutters and his younger brother wanted to follow, can council or the troop confer Eagle rank without a National organization to recognize it? I don’t know that he would care whether it was “sanctioned” or not. Just a thinking out loud thought.
  17. Agree that it’s perhaps premature to send out a letter to parents. I have contacted our SM and CC. We’re setting up a meeting for this weekend so we can start planning out our ‘what ifs’.
  18. How/where did you find the information about claims for your council?
  19. I can only speak for myself, and tell you about the YPT that is given (if you haven't taken it yourself). YPT teaches about more than just abuse, but I'll tell you that on the specific topic of grooming, it's covered and explained pretty well. It's been a year since I took it, but I definitely recall the program using an example of the abuser getting to know the family to build trust, then offering tickets to a baseball game, starting with small, innocuous gestures like putting a hand on the scout's shoulder, then building from that. It's so gradual, that the scout is trusting of the ab
  20. It's also very troubling that someone who is involved in scouting refuses to acknowledge the way in which many abusers form the kind of relationships that allow them to get close enough to begin the abuse. A child is made to feel like they encouraged the behavior, leading to the belief it's their fault, and that no one can or will help them. Edited to add: the concept of grooming is part of YPT. If you (general you, not quoted 'you') are a leader, you took that training. Why would you blow it off?
  21. The mom of Scout One told us (me, SM and CC) after the school notified her that her son had been named in a HIB. She thought we ought to know since Scout Two had said this occurred during a Troop meeting. Are you thinking she may not be telling the truth about it? Of course, the school cannot, and should not, confirm or deny, nor would I ask them. I suppose I could just resign my position, then I wouldn't have anybody bothering me about it. 😄
  22. Our Troop went to Summit once, before my time. Says something that they haven't been back since. In discussing some of this with our CC and SM, they think our Council owns only one of the three properties in their operation. I tried to verify that, and couldn't actually find anything concrete providing that information. How hard is it going to be for National to pull all this together? I would think they'd already have a list of what councils own, but maybe not?
  23. I coach cross-country and track for grades 4-8. BSA's YPT is better in terms of material covered and instruction on protection from abuse than the USATF's 'Safe Sports' program (which includes instruction on sports injuries and motivation issues). There's very little occasion, at least at this level, for abuse to occur. I don't think lack of clarity is as much an issue as lack of oversight or method of insuring each unit actually puts into practice the YPT. As to how you do that....
  24. Reviving this old thread because this issue is still ongoing. Not only are things not better, they're worse. I've tried to stay out of it, as I'm not SM. The only reason I was (am) involved at all is because my son is friendly with this group, despite being a year younger, and I was one of two Troop leaders who hiked the 70 miles for Hiking MB with this group. As a result, their parents have involved me, even as I've referred them to the SM. The SM spoke to both sets of parents, and we thought things were being settled. Fast forward to early February. We found out that Scout One fil
  25. We didn't lose any scouts due to Covid, but it absolutely impacted our ability to bring in new scouts. We had one scout drop due to an ongoing fight between two scouts in our Troop (mentioned in another thread, which I might go revive), but another, who had dropped the previous year, decided to sign up again this year in the hopes that we're headed to summer camp. Our Venture Crew numbers are down slightly. We're going on our fifth year, so the girls (all-girl crew) who started the Crew and were super-involved have graduated. Many are away at university, but even those who are remote l
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