MikeS72

I would agree with you that there should be (and in this climate, likely are) three componnents in play here. I am not sure we will be privy to the results of the Council's investigation, which is why I support the idea brought up here several times, by several people, of a public reporting system any time there is an incident, not just of abuse, but any serious safety violations. Those reports could go a long way toward helping other Councils in preventing similar incidents from happening. Short of either posting round the clock guards at all shower facilities, or requiring the 'buddy system' not only for Scouts but also for adults, I do not see how this particular incident could have been prevented, as even with a buddy system for adults it would have been as simple as waiting until the middle of the night to leave the campsite and set up cameras. I looked at the leader gude for this camp, and based on that I saw 3 shower facilites; one for Scouts, one for adults, and one dual use. No pictures that I could find of those shower houses, but if they are anything like every other camp I have been to in recent years, they probably have individual rooms with locking doors. If that is the case, I do not see how anyone would have known what he was doing when installing cameras. My questions as far as a potential YPT failure would be two fold. One, was he registered; and two, were there any indications at all, even if just inuendo, that he might be likely to offend. As to many of your questions in paragraph two, it seems to be very early in the investigation right now, but hopefully all of those questions will be answered. From the articles I have read, I do not see anything indicating that anyone else was involved, however, we would have to wait and see if that is true. As for "Not, “Whew! We caught him. Thank God that’s over.”; this is the main reason that I read every post in this thread, but rarely respond to any of them. It is too easy to misinterpret things in an online forum. My feelings on this would be more "We caught him, I hope he is convicted (kind of hard not to be with him appearing on video) and is given the maximum possible sentence." Now let's see what needs to be changed to reduce the chance of something similar occuring again.

It was briefly brought up in the Q & A at a Cub recruiting night the first year we enrolled girls in the Cub Scout program. The most honest answer we could give was that we take the safety and well being of every Scout, male or female, very seriously. We always do everything in our power to ensure that nothing like this will happen, but the best way for that parent to help us do that would be to register and participate along with his daughter. As to this particular incident, I saw the news reports several days ago. While I was disheartened to see it happened, I was pleased to see that as soon as it was discovered it was reported to authorities, and the perpetrator was arrested. As was mentioned earlier in this thread, zero incidents is a laudable goal, but probably not realistic. There is however, a difference between zero incidents and zero tolerance. In this case it appears the system worked the way it should have. Something happened, and as soon as discovered was reported, resulting in an arrest.

While I will agree that keeping up with the GTSS may not be the easiest thing to do, but no Scout or Scouter should ever find it "hard to tell right from wrong."

I carry Katadyn products; both filters and a SteriPen.

We also need to take into account the cost of the online platforms that councils used to conduct programs with, they are not cheap. Depending on the platform, your council may have been paying anywhere from $600 to several thousand dollars annually, an item that was probably not a part of the original budget for the year. I believe the cost for those sessions in my council was $5, and yes, it did greatly help avoid having people furloughed or laid off.

If my interpretation of the last two lines is correct, it would not cover abuse of a scout, as that is both intentional and criminal. While it may be argued that it could not have been expected, it was certainly intended (at least by the perpetrator).

We are no different than many of the districts we see discussed here, in that we do not have enough of us, but our core group of commissioners and district committee members are extremely active, and are right there in the trenches along with unit leaders. I consider myself to be lucky to be a part of what many look at as the best district in a well run council. Just an example of how our council leadership is looking at the big picture: when it was announced that councils could charge a program fee up to, but no more than the national membership fee, they institued that fee with a caveat. There are no longer any fees charged for district events. District camporee is free to all scouts and scouters. Cub family camp is free to all Cubs/parents/siblings. BALOO/IOLS free to all leaders. When national then raised the recharter fee late in the year, the council leadership told us that since we announced to units back in February 2020 what it would cost per scout to recharter, they would absorb the national increase. This is not to say that we do not have problems from time to time, but overall, I think the vast majority of scouters at both the district and council level are in it for the right reasons, and work to provide the best possible program to our scouts.

In my district most of those instructors are either members of the District Committee or are Commissioners.

What kind of device are you using to try to open the PDF with? On a PC, clicking on the links CynicalScouter provided above should open the file in another browser window. You should then have a 'save' icon in the top right of that browser that will allow you to save a copy to your computer, which you can then attach to an e-mail. When on my phone (Android, so not 100% sure for iPhone users) clicking the link also opens the PDF, and by using the 3 dots in the upper right, I again have the option to save a copy of the file, which I can attach to an e-mail.

I have seen flames run right up to the spout when I scout added just a bit to an already lit fire. Not a fun sight to see.

Welcome

Originally with Wa-Hi-Nasa Lodge. I was elected and did my ordeal at Boxwell Reservation in 1969, and received the Vigil Honor there in 1972. I am currently a member of Tipisa Lodge, Central Florida Council. I still have many memories of OA events at Boxwell, and as a member of Anawaha Chapter in Cogioba District. I hope you and your son enjoy your time with Wa-Hi-Nasa as much as I did.

The tn in tnmule20 would not happen to refer to Tennessee would it, and if so, would you now be a newly minted member of Wa-Hi-Nasa Lodge #111?

National Service Territory Maps | Boy Scouts of America (scouting.org)

Nothing. Replaced by 16 National Service Territories

Our local OA Lodge does this every year, and presents a James E. West award in the name of a member selected by the general lodge membership at the same time that new officers are elected.

A large percentage of packs base there program year on the school year. Many have a few events during the summer, so scouts can earn the summertime pack award. As long as my cubs and families want to continue meeting, we will continue to meet during the summer.

We were told about 15 or 16 months ago that the fees would increase 3 years in a row. Since last year's increase came after we set council fees for 2021, our council chose to eat that $6 increase rather than pass it on to the families. My hope is that cooler heads will prevail, and there will be no national increase for quite some time.

My scout has shredded more than one set of Frogg Toggs, the upside to them is that they are relatively inexpensive, so not a big deal when they need to be replaced due to either being destroyed or out grown. I will wait until he is a bit older and is not likely to out grow it too quickly to spend the money on a quality piece of gear. The biggest downside of the cheaper version of Frogg Toggs in my mind is that wearing them in FL is just like wearing the rubber suit I wore 50 years ago as a high school wrestler trying to loose weight. Sauna City! I did recently pick up a new ultra light rain jacket that Frogg Toggs makes for backpacking (only a couple of ounces, and seam taped) and have used it a couple of times. I can say that it is much more comfortable than the cheaper version, and sheds water very well. The more expensive Columbia jacket is great for basecamp wear, when every once counts (or when I want something that compresses well into one of the pockets on a Camelback) the Frogg Toggs ultra light is a good choice for adults.

There is a reason that AOL dens are encouraged to visit multiple troops. No CO has the authority to mandate where those AOLs go once their Cub days come to an end. Some years we have had all of the scouts from the Pack that our CO charters choose to join our troop, in other years we have had them cross over to 3 different troops, always their choice. I sympathize with the treasury situation. As hard as it is to walk away from those funds that your scouts raised, it sounds like removing them from the toxic situation they are in is the best thing to do at this point. Good luck!

I would agree, as Protect Yourself Rules is much better for Cubs at all levels than Cybver Chip. Although I will not be surprised if it does not last much longer. As advancement chair for our Pack, I have not been able to get the Webelos pin for it all year, and was told by the manager at our Scout Shop that it will not be restocked.

Far too many of us packed in like sardines here in FL to be able to have much personal space 😜. On a more serious note, we are doing our 6th outing since Covid began this weekend. We have had to make adjustments, such as eliminating carpooling for the time being, and wearing masks at outdoor meetings, but the scouts have adapted and we are making it work.

Have you had the opportunity to view the current YPT program? It includes several very prominent experts in the field, and also includes testimony from a number of survivors, both male and female. As several folks have mentioned here, we encourage every parent to create a my.scouting account and take that YPT training. I would like to see national do away the the little abuse pamphlet in the front of new handbooks, and replace the rank requirement pertaining to it with all parents taking YPT training.

Not by an adult, but it is important to remember the fact that not all abuse is adult/scout; there are a fair number of scout/scout cases as well.

Only way to do that is to eliminate the online training and make it mandatory in person. The flaw in that plan is that there is a constant influx of new registrations, which would require in person sessions to be held pretty much on a weekly basis. It is hard enough now to get qualified trainers, asking them to constantly be doing in person YPT would be a deal breaker.