Owls_are_cool

No, I want the people directly responsible for the abuse and cover-up to pay, not the scouts today. Is it my fault that many of these people are dead, so their bill is passed on to me and my troop's scouts?

BSA is scouts and scouters. To say they are not paying nothing is wrong. The adult leaders and the scouts in my troop are already paying in higher registration fees and less support from council and national.

Again, most scouters are not child molesters, nor do they try to cover it up on behalf of the BSA, yet these scouters will be affected the most by the bankruptcy. It is the scouts and scouters that will get the brunt of higher cost of the program and it will be much harder to run the local program, because of cutbacks at Council and National. Covid has already shown what the bankruptcy's impact will be. Surely there is a win-win for the scouts and for the victims of past abuse, but I do not see it headed that way.

Therefore, since my son and I are members of said corporation, the BSA, then we are expected to fund the victim's fund or leave the BSA. All the time and money we invested towards scouts will no longer go to scouts. You can not say that you are only impacting the BSA, the organization.

I'll be fighting for the scouts in my troop until the battle is lost. Sadly, I have to battle scouters that are okay with scouts getting the brunt of the "accountability", because they are part of the money stream.

You cannot hold an inanimate object accountable for anything. Instead, this bankruptcy and settlement process is expecting the scouts in my troop to pay for a victims fund (either directly through dues or indirectly through the loss of program). My point is that is wrong to fix a wrong with another wrong. All of this while the actual abusers and those that did not deal with them see very little in accountability. I can tell you this, my council is taking youth protection more seriously than ever. They are expecting all adult leadership to be fully trained. Short Term Camping standards mu

My District's scout numbers in Montana are down by half in the past year....mostly due to cub scout numbers. The BSA should be promoting first time joins or rejoins for free this summer (or something like that).

My COR, CC, and DE had to remove two parents from the committee , because they were bullying scouts. Those two parents lawyered up and I, as scoutmaster, was made out as the criminal in this process. Myself and leaders in my troop have put their necks on the line for youth protection, yet as we struggled through this mess the BSA and CO could be held liable, because someone did not fix this fast enough? I am a member of the BSA. So when the BSA is being sued, I am being sued. You know who is not being sued? The people actually responsible for the abuse.

How many of the 85,000 victims and their families did not report the sexual child abuse to the police? If the BSA can be sued for not acting in the past, what about the families that did nothing?

Many Chartered Organizations are struggling to find volunteers to help with their organization, much less for a Boy Scout troop they are chartering. Our COR has a scout in our troop and the previous COR resigned about the time her son got his Eagle rank. Since, my troop is fed by packs that may not be associated with the CO, finding a replacement COR from scout parents will be harder to find. And boy is having the right COR is important for the Troop and the CO, because they select the adult volunteers that work with scouts and run the Troop admin. The COR has to be involved and make imme

Summer camp in Montana last summer, masks were only needed in food lines. Our temperature was taken twice a day. My troop had to do everything together and did not interact with scouts from other troops. No outbreaks at camp and nobody in my troop came down with covid. We do not require masks in outdoor activities. Parents have been good keeping their scouts out of activities if they have been exposed to covid. My son played basketball without masks...a game with a lot of contact...no outbreaks. One player could not play for 10 days, because parents got it. The numbers in Montana show tha

If the end result is innocent scouts and scouters forced to pay into a victim fund to keep the program running for their scouts, my first reaction is not to complain. We'll move to another organization or quit scouting. Fixing one wrong with another wrong might be legal, but there is a point where scouts will not see the value in the program and cut their losses.

Has those responsible for these over 11,000 instances of abuse been convicted in criminal court? How about those that swept the abuse under the rug? Sounds like my son is expected to sell popcorn for a victim's fund instead of his scouting program. Not as bad a scouts being abused in the past, but still wrong.

That cannot be good for my council.

In my council, popcorn sales and FOS contributions at certain levels from a troop by April result in scout store discounts, camp discounts, and a number of leaders can go to summer camp with their scouts for free. It would be problematic if this fundraising and the "perks" that go with it had to be transferred to a victims fund. The result is charging all scouts and adults in my unit $30 a head to fund a victims fund. Personally, I am happy to invest in scouts, but if I am expected to bail out scouters responsible for abuse, I will no longer donate to FOS and instead donate directly to t

Question: Montana Council has a large endowment fund that maintains the campgrounds that the council runs. It also lowers the cost of council operations and they can offer summer camps more cheaply for scouts. Montana Council does not charge a registration fee for scouts at recharter time. Will this endowment fund be liquidated to fund the victim compensation fund?

Again, the end result of this lawsuit will punish the scouts in my unit. They will be the ones stuck with higher fees because of liability insurance. Availability of summer camps will be more limited and more expensive, though one could argue that is a good thing. Etc. The people responsible for the abuse are not paying a dime.

When I my son joined his current troop, the committee was big on having scouts and adults sign behavior agreements. Anyone breaking the agreement can be expelled from the troop and it was used eventually by certain parents to remove scouts they did not like. Since the troop split, I have been just using the scout oath and law. It covers every situation and it allows scouts to make mistakes and learn from them.

I think this is a good thing (as long it does not involve assult and bullying). Looking back at scoutmaster training, they spent a lot of time on the program, but very little time on the proper way to interact with scouts. Woodbadge did a better job of this in that it demonstrated the patrol method and taught a bunch of interpersonal skills. (my experience though) I just reminded myself that scouting has a version of "winning at all costs" and it is called "Eagle Rank at all costs." The second I, as scoutmaster, started to work on things outside of rank advancement, I started to get flak

As a coach I would occasionally take a player home after practice or a game, whether or not my son is with me. For boy scouts, I would have to wait in the parking lot with another leader until someone in the scouts family picks up the scout. Or the other leader would have to ride with me as I take the scout home. Scout parents are not allowed to waive the youth protection rules to get their kids home (single mother working during a troop meeting example.) Scouting does have higher expectations for leaders in terms of youth protection. In general, scouting does not have the win at all cost

My troop guide in Woodbadge stressed that the ticket must be achievable and not rely on others to complete the ticket. I had the patrol method on one of my tickets, but that worked since I was (and still am) a scoutmaster and I was able to make the change. I'd talk with your committee chair and scoutmaster to see if the troop needs a task done for the benefit of the troop. Could be something as simple as improving parent communications or procuring a piece of equipment that the troop needs. Then go back to your WB Troop Guide with a new ticket proposal. Tickets also need not be involved

I have been a den leader, scoutmaster, baseball coach, and basketball coach. The local scouting organizations I have been a part of have done an excellent job keeping youth safe. Little League baseball has background checks for coaches, do not have the two deep leadership/no one-on-one rules that the BSA has. I coached for a Christian school and they too only have the background check and cases where I was the only adult at practice. I have to give kudos to my district day camp leadership, because they take youth protection seriously and model the desired behaviors to scouts and adult vo

TheNow does deserve justice. The people responsible should be put in prison and/or be forced to pay restitution. Though they may dead for all I know and cannot get due process. A lot of good people willed property and sums of money for the benefit of scouts today, not to bail out pedophiles and BSA leadership who covered for them. Scouts sell popcorn for their program, not to help the BSA settle a lawsuit. One positive on all of this plus covid, is that my troop is getting back to basics. For the cost of one summer camp, we can fund a year of camping trips in my state and significantly r

All I did is point out is that the lawsuit will punish the scouts in my troop and punish the adults associated with the troop who invested time and money into the program. The wrong people are being punished.

Okay, I'll put you on the side that wants my son to pay instead of those responsible. Higher fees, no summer camps to go to, etc will be the outcome of this bankruptcy, which will punish the scouts instead of those responsible. Come to think of it, I invested a bunch of time and money into the program, only to be used to bailout those responsible, instead of benefiting my troop.