1980Scouter

I think this next round of rechartering will really tell us the future of the BSA and if it will be able to get through this. As others stated definitely too many councils. If you have less than 5,000 scouts a merger should take place. Most of these small councils are hurting financially so I feel it is just a matter of time before a merger happens. In my experience money or lack of it drives mergers.

We need to make Scouts BSA more affordable. With some LC charging fees on top of national it can get expensive to be a scout. Eliminate the excess ie national and excessive LC staffs.

Why do we need a National Council? It takes so much money and you do not see much at the local level. Replace it with a board of SE from each council who make and vote on standards. That is really all that matters is minimum standards across the county. With technology meetings could be zoom with a yearly in person. Have separate sub committees for projects. All LC would have a say in the BSA and its future. HAB could be turned over to LC or form a separate non profit for each. They make money and can be self sustained. We could make Scouting much more affordable for all.

I think as everyone knows there are issues with the plan. LC and CO releases being the most important. Also many other details, non settling insurers, CO'S not on board. My question is what is going on behind closed doors at the National office? They have to be really worried that this plan could fail and the BSA would too.

Could national survive until the end of the year? There will be rechartering money but if this drags on with more legal negotiations the legal fees will be huge. I would think whatever is to happen in the ruling, sooner is best to let it be known. Even if rejection at least they can attempt to make changes and get something that works. Obviously the plan will not be approved without changes to the plan or it would have been approved by now.

I see many LC's are posting 2021 annual reports lately on their web sites. You have to really search to find them. Comparing maybe 5-6 years ago, my LC went from 15,000 to 6,500 scouts. What are other councils showing? Also spending is down a lot from prior years.

So the Elks are not doing charters anymore? I used to be a member of a Lodge that had an active troop.

The Ohio EPA where I live does regulate any water supply over 25 people. This includes scout camps. My LC camp has been fined thousands for failure to sample. And the wastewater system is in significant noncompliance. They are working on fixing wastewater but I think it will take a fine to get it done. The camp is Beaumont Scout Reservation. Nice camp but poor water and wastewater.

What is everyone's experience with your LC scout camp and EPA compliance with water and wastewater standards? I have multiple LC camps in significant non-compliance, some were recently fined large amounts of money. It appears at least in my state that the LC's ignore water standards even failing to collect required samples. Scouts deserve safe drinking water and LC's should be held accountable.

Does anyone know what is going on with the Catholic Church and their future with Scouting? I know some dioceses ended the relationship but not all. I would think there will be a national guidance issued.

I just saw ABC news featured it on their web page. Hopefully more people can watch it and decide how they feel about the BSA.

I think the judge is trying to determine a plan that will stand up to appeals. I feel that the plan will be BSA only, with LC and CO to be decided locally. There is no way this plan will pass appeals with third party releases. The judge is taking all this in from other similar cases and realizing this may be the most important case of her career.

Are LC's in your area communicating what is going on with bankruptcy and scouts being abused in your council to new parents and prospective scouts? I feel like LC's in my area are not. I would like to raise awareness to protect future scouts. I know YPT will get better in the future but now parents need to know their child may not be safe in the present BSA. Thinking of renting billboards by the council office and camp highlighting the amount of abuse cases and need to be cautious.

Thank you. I had no idea it happened in the late 80's. I never saw any during my time in scouting as a youth of that era.

I hope they discuss the reasoning behind not demanding LC's contribute more to the fund. That was a big item for them for a long time.

So the first female scoutmaster was 1988?

There should be a paragraph in the final bankruptcy saying"Going forward any local council that has more than two serious abuse claims that are found to be justified, that council will be shut down and not allowed to continue. A merger with a better non abuse laden council would be allowed."

While definite progress as been made which is good. There are still too many objections to the current plan. While it is impossible to get all on board I think there are still key players with objections. I think a late summer date for this to be settled is optimistic. It will likely be much longer. One other issue is CO's and their future with BSA. If they lose catholic and other CO's this would likely end the program. No protection for CO's not contributing is the surest way to do this. I think this is where LC's could step in and fund releases. They are truly who is respons

Do not forget the DOJ objection. This is the real issue to watch. If it is allowed, game over. Start over.

Are we sure LC got off not contributing one additional cent? That would seem weird as TCC was adamant that they can pay more into the fund.

There are so many other activities for kids today. Let's take youth hockey as an example. Until the 1980's there were no arenas in my area. Now there are multiple and it is popular. Same for sking and ski club. We have to realize there are many other activities for kids available and scouting does not look as exciting as it once did. You add increased fees and loss of local camps and it makes things even worse. I think the death blow to scouting will be financial and not from bankruptcy but from decreased numbers and increased costs.

Is there a chance the new agreement with the TCC could be BSA only? It would seem to simplify things and a least get national through this. Then reset and let LC and CO go through their issues. Many LC would not survive the lawsuits but the stronger ones with fewer claims and better state laws could.

So doing some research. My LC SE makes more in salary than the governor of my state. Quite a bit more. How is this just and fair to all who donate money to the council thinking it will serve scouts needs?

The lawyers win too the longer the case goes on.

I think for BSA to survive, they need to get an agreement with the TCC. This likely will require a large increase in contributions by LC's. If this happens I could see a path forward. If they do not get an agreement this will become a court fight until Chapter 7 comes knocking. And then LC's are in the same boat a few years later. There have to be program changes as others have suggested to make scouting safer and more up to date. Otherwise abuse lawsuits will occur, but at a smaller rate in the future. This will be the death of BSA.