JBWest
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Posts posted by JBWest
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On 12/11/2023 at 12:39 PM, Eagle94-A1 said:
When I did research on this topic a long time ago, the rationale for reporting to the SE, and not directly to authorities, was that different jurisdictions had different definitions of mandatory reporters. Unless you caught them in the act, if you reported an incident, and it was false, you would be held liable and face possible civil litigation.
Different states have different laws, and laws change over time. If you read some of the files, there are notations that victim's parents did not want their child to relive the horror in court. So there was no prosecution.
As for defamation, and proof, if the victims are unwilling to testify, it makes things difficult to prosecute. Also there are times when allegations have been proven false. I know of one such case in BSA. Duke Lacrosse team also comes to mind. And it wasn't until the mid-late 1990s, that youth volunteers got mandatory reporter protections if memory serves.
This makes sense when you think about it. Abuse reported, police or parents decline to pursue, but as a private organisation the BSA excludes the person from the program.
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I would suggest that it was advertised to be as easy as buying a lottery ticket. Just call the number and see what you win! Jackpot justice as they say, and the allure to those unemployed during Covid must have been powerful. Now that the Powerball number has increased, some have buyer's remorse, or wish they had bought the multiplier.
This is not to take anything away from the survivors or claimants. Rather, it is an argument for sound legal advice. I am not a lawyer, but everyone should have one. (Lord knows there are enough of them in this country.) If you stand to win $3500, it is not unreasonable to spend a tenth of that on a consultation. Use a free clinic if you must, but you are unlikely to get good service from claims consolidators who are nominally in the employ of a law firm.
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On 8/13/2023 at 3:23 PM, Ojoman said:
I have to question the ability of BSA to recover.
While I share your concerns, I suggest you are missing the point of the Scouting movement. We used to have four TV channels, and Scouting was the only game in town for outdoor leadership. Now there is an LL Bean or an REI on every corner or in every smart phone, and the challenge is getting kids outside at all. They do not mature until they are older, and by then they have aged out of Scouting, having forsaken a childhood outdoors in favor of TikTok and Discord.
Be Prepared to embrace outdoor leadership whatever its form. You may encounter a kid just out of college, strung out on ADHD meds and unable to focus due to eye strain. Somewhere he or she may have stopped to smell the flowers, or simply walked on grass barefoot, or endured years of psychotherapy telling him or her to just breathe and focus on the here and now without electronic distractions. Take him or her for a walk or even a camping trip. Ask if he or she wants to register as an ASM and offer to pay the fee. You might be surprised when he or she embraces the program, vowing to teach kids the benefits of turning off the phone and listening to nature.
BSA will be here forever, but there is competition in the form of college level outdoor skills programs, youth sports, college prep extracurriculars, and church youth groups. Focus on the moms with your marketing. They are the ones who have to demand their sons and daughters put down the video game controllers and clean their room. They can lead us back to prominence. Stranger things have happened!-
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Trustee sues opposing (non-settling) insurance companies in Texas.
https://www.law.com/texaslawyer/2023/07/18/judge-sues-insurers-for-alleged-bad-faith-in-boys-scouts-sex-abuse-cases/?slreturn=20230619223103 -
See the bottom of page 7:
"Finding no error in the Bankruptcy Court's legal conclusions either, I will affirm the Confirmation Order."
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What's interesting to me (with regards to timing) is that certain aspects of the NAM depend on the Ch. 11 appeals. Everyone wants to get started with the rebirth, and in the meantime we have lots to celebrate (our EOY numbers), but it would be nice to come out of the gate charging hard towards the fall 2023 membership goals. Regardless of what happens in Delaware, it's going to be a great year for Scouting.
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13 minutes ago, ThenNow said:
This is very interesting. I reckon it will be getting some serious press and, in my view, could be a game changer in terms of states opening look-back windows.
This particular law in Louisiana lengthening the look back period (down here we call it the prescriptive period) was ruled unconstitutional by the state supreme court. Will be interesting to see how it plays out now that the feds have taken over.
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Yes, that was the second one I mentioned. Lionsgate and Starz share common ownership.
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Apparently there are two more films in the works, one from Netflix and one from the owner of Starz. Stepping back from my role as a Scouter and looking as an investor, the subject matter is fairly compelling. Lots of mom and apple pie type "America's fall from grace" narrative, piggybacking on the MeToo movement and the CSA scandals in the Roman Catholic Church. Expect these to be more widely viewed than this one.
At one of the legal briefings during the bankruptcy case an expert summed it up best. We had a sexual revolution in the 1960s, precipitated by the birth control pill's release in 1960 and culminating in the "summer of love" circa '69. It was a tsunami, and as often happens after a tidal wave the wreckage is not revealed until the water recedes. HIV/AIDS, drug resistant STDs, child sexual abuse, and the bullying of women in the guise of liberation are the unfortunate side effects of a movement that was ultimately empowering to the human race in its quest for equality.During the Ch. 11 trial the bell curve distribution of claims was clear; the majority of abuse ended in the 1980s and early 90s. Scouting will survive.
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On 6/17/2022 at 3:13 PM, ThenNow said:
Thus, I found it "interesting," which term resides firmly in the vagary and opacity I dearly love. I am an objective party reporting as a neutral reporter.
It's interesting inasmuch as overall journalistic standards have declined in a way that dwarfs the membership decline in BSA. When your #1 interview subject is also a producer of the film, it is the cinematic equivalent of an infomercial. The imprimatur of Hulu and ABC News will obscure this for most.
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On 4/22/2022 at 12:28 PM, ThenNow said:
Honestly, based on Bishop Schol's testimony, I think there is less to worry about with the UMC. He and they seem very intent on following through with both YP mirroring the BSA and caring for survivors in their midst. I believe they/he should be leading the CO portion of the YPC. That's my take, based on all I've seen, heard, read and learned along the way.
Agreed. Recall also from testimony that there is a bell curve of CSA claims, and it markedly dropped off in the 90s. We need to continue our YPT efforts, but I don't see it becoming a problem again.
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21 hours ago, MYCVAStory said:
There's a "status Conference" Friday because sometimes there are agreements that need finalizing or language changed.
If memory serves the issue before the judge Friday is the sale of the scouting service center or something relatively minor. There might be an update on the ch. 11 confirmation, but probably not.
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One thing I noticed this week was discussion of the channelling injunction being extended. My understanding prior to this trial is that local council protection will end at the conclusion of the bankruptcy proceedings (Spring 2022) or the LC payments into the trust (Fall 2022), but if memory serves it was argued that protection should extend until the trust distribution process gets underway, or until the trust is exhausted (ten years?). Perhaps sharper legal minds than I noticed this and can comment on their recollection.
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On 4/1/2022 at 4:54 PM, Eagle1993 said:
It looks like the Archbishop just filed a renewed objection but honestly, I wonder if they plan to show up.
I wonder as well. Judge Silverstein seemed annoyed during this exchange. I also wonder how long it will take to hear from the pro se claimants, one of whom made a brief but testy appearance on Friday. All of this plus closing arguments? Sounds like three or more days remaining.
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3 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said:
This seems to be a waste of time.
To her credit she is quite entertaining to the lay observer. Frequent misstatements, light joking with Rudman, etc. Even opposing counsel can't resist cracking a smile.
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Today's testimony from Charles Bates was interesting to armchair tort lawyers such as myself. Surprised to see how many claimants provided no information in their proof of claim: no unit number, no name of the abuser, not even a physical description. I'm not sure it had a substantial bearing on the case, and I noticed minimal objections from the creditors. His data was fascinating from an actuarial / finance point of view, however. If this continues tomorrow I suspect the number of Zoom participants may drop below 300.
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On 3/14/2022 at 1:56 PM, Eagle1993 said:
No details, just PPT level info. 10 regions, 8 councils by region and the statement in a note "preemptive consolidation".
Edit ... They also had a statement about too much collaboration slows us down. Take that as a sign on how this will be done.
This is good news, as we need to hit the ground running once we get out of the woods.
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Recall that there is a fairly complicated set of formulae that determines contribution. It's not simply the number of claims, it's also the state laws, the distribution of claim types, and the financial health, among other factors. From my perspective in a smaller council, we got penalized because we didn't have much debt. On the other hand, the first pass of the formula capped larger council contributions at $5M, which struck me as low (since relaxed). The numbers don't explain the nuance, for example some councils making contributions despite having a negative number of financial assets, or the Dallas council making a contribution many times larger than its assets. I'm sure the numbers will change again before the process is over.
Recall also that there were five or six councils that simply declined to participate by the July deadline, with the expectation that they would be filing bankruptcy or merging with other councils.-
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Just wanted to thank the moderators for keeping the threads separate. I've been lurking here for months but felt compelled to create an account to express my thanks for the information presented here, as it is much more than I am getting from the various teleconferences of the committees. It's nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Scouting will survive the BSA reorganization.
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Chapter 11 announced - Part 14 - Plan Effective
in Issues & Politics
Posted
This is the way forward. Recall that in the early days of Scouting, the cities were filled with aimless youth and miscreants. Men such as James E. West (an orphan and my handle's namesake) were child advocates first, and Scouters second.
You may have wished for the BSA's dissolution, or more contributions from the councils, but Scouting will never die. Our tradition is rooted in service and citizenship, and we would do well to remember the 1900s in the US.