Reporter wins award for revealing Idaho abuse

[jkhny 10]

"ZUCKERMAN PRESENTED LIVINGSTON AWARD

Jun 6, 2006 -KPVI

 

A former reporter with the Idaho Falls Post Register was given an honor for his investigative reporting.

Peter Zuckerman was presented the ten-thousand dollar Livingston Award in New York today.

 

The award goes to the three best young American writers for reporting on important issues.

 

A year and a half ago, the paper fought to unseal court records that were sealed by attorneys for the Boy Scouts, to expose problems in how the Grand Teton Council handled cases of scout camp leaders abusing scouts.

 

At age 26, Zuckerman is tied for the youngest person to win a Livingston Award. Zuckerman now lives and writes in Los Angeles. "

 

 

 

Funny how this story has gotten NO coverage outside Idaho - even though it prompted a complete overhaul of that state's abuse laws.

 

I've talked to Peter. He went through a lot reporting this story. Too many people blame the messenger. Without his efforts this story would have remained buried. One of the abusers - who got off far too light - would still be running around. The refocused attention on him by this story led to more revelations and re-imprisonment for parole violations (more contact with children).

 

BSA is now in court on a number of cases - they had kept all of this well buried for years. BSA's own attorneys did not tell the parents of KNOWN victims of abuse because they "wanted them to get on with their lives." Six figure settlements do NOT makeup for what happened to a boy - and there are dozens here. BSA ignores reports about one abuser for 7 years - at the local, regional and National level. NO way to weasel out of responsibility on this one.

 

Ironically, all those that did the RIGHT thing in this got punished by BSA and all the ones that covered things up got promoted. The legislator in charge of revamping abuse laws called on BSA to remove the SE in Grand Teton. He clearly failed to comply with state law and BSA rules and failed more than once to properly deal with abuse reported to him personally. That SE remains in HIS well-paid job.

 

Does BSA fire any execs for ANYTHING? - well besides being gay or athiest?

 

Peter left Idaho - his employer said the choice was voluntary but I wonder. He got slandered pretty bad with paid ads attacking him and the paper he worked for.

 

Again I have to go back and ask "Where's the ethical and moral behavior in BSA nowadays?"

[BrentAllen 10]

So, when did you turn in your resignation?

 

Clearly, things are so bad within the BSA that you aren't are part of this corrupt organization anymore. I'm curious - which organization have you now joined, which has over 4 million members, but has no problems whatsoever.

[Beavah 205]

Yah, BrentAllen, so someone complains about da cover-up of child abuse, and you tell him if he doesn't like child abuse cover-ups, he can quit?

 

I'd think that the proper response of anyone who values the Oath and Law would be to take action, and as a volunteer commit yourself and your CO to aggressive oversight of the council exec. boards and SE's.

[BrentAllen 10]

Yah, wake up and smell the coffee, eh, Beavah. Yah, like, that's not what I said at all, eh?

 

Jkh only posts negative things about the BSA. He has never posted anything positive. I can tell you the negative things he posted about my council (AAC) were mostly either exaggerated or completely false. If all I could see was the negative side of an organization, I would not remain a member of it. Go back and look at his posts. All he does is air dirty laundry. He is either complaining about the salary of an SE or accusing professional Scouters of criminal behaviour and cover-ups. He seeks out one side of the story - the one damaging to the BSA - and runs with it. I can tell you from personal experience he is only giving one side of the story, and goes out of his way to ignore the other.

 

Our mommas always taught us der were 2 sides to every story, eh, Beavah?

[OldGreyEagle 5]

OK, I admit I was the one who opended this thread after is was closed. I didnt open it becasue I enjoy seeing jkhny rile against the BSA and I didnt open it because I think jkhny is correct, but I did open it because this is the politics and issues forum and jkhny has a right to post what he will and we all have the right to respond or ignore. We may as well ask Fred why he posts what he does and ... wait a minute, we did ask Fred and he got a vote of confidence... Oh well, if you disagree with jkhny, let him know, if you want this thread to disappear, dont respond to it.

 

I am taking a chance here as I didnt close it originally and I dont want to step on another moderators toes. If exchanges get abusive, which by some current threads gives lots of room, then it will disappear altogether

[jkhny 10]

Zuckerman exposed something that deserved to see some light - a scnadal that BSA went to great lengths to bury. Without his coverage, a child abuser would still be free - without anyone paying attention and the parentss of a few dozen abused boys would still be waiting to be hear from BSA that their kids got molested.

 

C'mon......this case shows that BSA at EVERY level up to and including NATIONAL failed to follow their own clear rules.......

 

and btw, it's only a coincidence that the abuser's mother is a "Hall of Fame" member of her council and the LDS "vouched" for the abuser (turns out he abused a boy while on a LDS mission too......)

 

and CENSORSHIP does not solve problems - or even hide them all that well

 

As far as:

 

"I'd think that the proper response of anyone who values the Oath and Law would be to take action, and as a volunteer commit yourself and your CO to aggressive oversight of the council exec. boards and SE's. "

 

Which is exactly what the volunteer base has tried to do here - but only gotten stonewalled and punished in response.

 

Challenged on enrollments, the Board first took months to appoint a volunteer to investigate. He promised "no whitewash" and open and public results. It seems that he found something he didn't like and refused to sign off or never got the chance becaude THAT investigation disappeared - like it never happened. That volunteer won't comment and seems to be fading from participation. COuncil had NE Region "investigate" They thought it "appropriate" to "limit the scope" of their investigation. "No evidence procedures are not being followed" - and what does THAT mean - they're hiding things well????? NO numbers were audited though SPECIFIC challenges were made. A leader trying to start a Venturing unit found most of those he tried to contact didn't exist. Council numbers on one report didn't match others. The BSA findings were marked "CONFIDENTIAL"

 

So......thorough investigation or whitewash????? Even when you TRY holding people accountable they do everything possible to cover up. So, should the volunteers here go to law enforcement authorities?

 

District and Council volunteers trying to get our SE to explain are thrown out of their positions - "He does what he wants." BSA National says it's a local problem.

 

Seriously, just TRY to hold leadership accountable. LOTS OF LUCK.

 

BSA will NOT hold ANY senior professionals accountable for ANY wrongdoing. Atlanta's SE showed some integrity and quit. Otherwise, worst thing that happens is you get to retire - even when you BREAK THE LAW.

 

An organization that touts ethical and moral behavior should be showing just that - and when it is absent there should be REAL consequences. That is not the case with BSA.

 

BSA would prefer that any critics LEAVE - they actively encourage that..... no chance of change if nobody is around to question what's going wrong - and PLENTY is going wrong.

 

And the official year-end number for SCOUTING is well under 3 million.

 

You have to love the smoke and mirrors with Learning for Life - that contrived program exists only to buy membership with politically directed earmarks and charitable funds BSA is inelegible for. Their own PROFESSIONALS say this in candid moments.........

 

 

[Beavah 205]

Yah, OK jkhny.

 

Your first post alerted me to an issue in Idaho I wasn't aware of, eh. And I certainly am sympathetic to da need for SE oversight, havin' been involved in firin' one SE myself. And the Chicago mess certainly illustrates how da BSA council bylaws were put together ineptly, and how less than honorable people can try to hijack an organization we all care about. And last year's dramatic drop in BSA numbers might reflect in part a cleanin' up of membership fraud.

 

But your last post is just an unfocused rant. How did NE region come in to an Idaho matter?

 

Sharin' information on both the bad and the good helps all of us who care about an organization do our duty with eyes wide open. Rantin', while understandable sometimes, doesn't. And BrentAllen is right, good, accurate information is important.

 

(BTW, nice Minnesota accent there, Brent)

[Aquila calva 10]

Yah, sure, ya betcha! Minnesota, hats off to thee... but let's not get mixed up...

 

This happened in Idaho over a long period of time, but it could have happened anywhere.

 

Below is a link to the index of this story, sad as it is.

 

Some of this story goes back to 1988, some of it goes back to 1997, and the award-winning story was written in 2005. It is a story all Scouters should read to help us recognize perpetrators and help us be compassionate toward and understanding of, victims. One point that hit hard is the perpetrator is an Eagle Scout with five palms! He is now 33 years old. The other young man, as a 14-year-old, who had the conviction and scout training to Recognize, Resist and Report (as is taught in the BSAs excellent youth protection program) was never able to complete his Eagle. Truly sad! Here is the link.

 

http://www.postregister.com/scouts_honor/index.php

 

 

 

 

(This message has been edited by Aquila calva)

[jkhny 10]

"But your last post is just an unfocused rant. How did NE region come in to an Idaho matter? "

 

Gotta love the attitude..... my "rant" was in response to:

 

"I'd think that the proper response of anyone who values the Oath and Law would be to take action, and as a volunteer commit yourself and your CO to aggressive oversight of the council exec. boards and SE's. "

 

which WAS clearly quoted. My point was that it's easy to say "take action" but there are too many times when you're fighting a near impossible battle..... BSA sure doesn't seem to WANT to clean things up. Their first priority is protecting their own execs - not boys or anything else. Instead of firing Execs who lie about numbers, they now have a volunteer sign off on the numbers.... and guess who gets blamed if they're inflated?

 

And the ONLY time BSA has "corrected" inflated enrollment clais has been when outside pressure has been brought to bear. A volunteer HAS to go to law enforcement authorities (who really don't WANT to go near "Mom and apple pie") if they find wrongdoing. Why won't BSA allow outside independent audits of membership? Why doesn't BSA have an independent "Inspector General" reporting ONLY to the National Board to investigate what have become regular embarassments to Scouting?

 

TRY to get your local council to act on a serious problem like enrollment fraud. Try reporting it to Regional and National. See what the response is. Just don't plan on staying a member.

 

And it isn't just that. Far too many property sales have questionable aspects - going without proper bids or valuation, going to someone connected to the Board or such...... I'd love to see a study of BSA property sales. Seems like far too many get flipped at a substantial profit in a very short period of time or turn out to be horribly undervalued when the buyer develops the property.

 

If BSA was acting ethically and morally there would be ZERO tolerance for enrollment fraud, financial games and (not that this should have to be mentioned) child abuse. Professionals would lose their jobs - not have BSA cover things up for as long as possible and then if it finally gets to the point when they can't do that anymoe, let someone retire. Other companies FIRE executives guilty of breaking the law - AND deny them benefits.

 

If BSA wanted to reassure parents they would FIRE anyone that failed to act on abuse reports and report them IMMEDIATELY. So why is the Grand Teton SE still employed by BSA? Anyone that knows what happened there should be utterly disgusted at how BSA treated the kids and the people that tried to do the right thing.

 

And it's still going on in other variations in other places. SE's are covering things up and BSA is helping them do so. And that includes abuse.

 

THOSE problems are NOT all a decade or more in the past. And nobody has been able to say how the head of youth protection got to retire last year instead of being fired after the FBI told BSA they had him nailed on distributing child pornography.

 

 

Too many people want to minimize the very serious problems in BSA. Autocratic SE's are a significant problem. There are too many who fake results they can't achieve, punish anyone that questions what happens and depend on BSA to cover their misdeeds. A professional at National notes that this "culture" dominates BSA though it comes from a small group. Others are intimidated into keeping quiet. Criticize another professional or BSA in any way and you're gone. BSA seems to be drawing people that do not view Scouting as serving and supporting the VOLUNTEER base, but a chance to boss volunteers around - with little consequence. The current culture protects behavior that should be abhorrent to anyone in Scouting. The current Bylaws protect professionals to a degree not seen ANYWHERE else. Read BSA Bylaws and Rules and Regulations (if you can get a copy of them - they're now top secret and you have to ask your local Council for permission to even order copies - please explain THAT).

[Aquila calva 10]

"...a chance to boss volunteers around - with little consequence."

 

Oh brother!

 

Pardon me for getting involved in this thread and possiby encourging such an unfortunate tirade.

[scouter-mom 10]

Aquila calva,

I also beleve that it could have happened anywhere. There is always the chance that it could be happening somewhere right now.

 

Yesterday morning I searched and found the same link you've posted. I read it all the way through. I don't want to read everything on molesters, but I believe that I need to be aware of the facts. I have always believed that most molesters appear as wonderful folks on the surface.

 

So, I appreciated the "heads up" so to speak from jkhny in this case. I do believe that the Council that supports my District would not "look the other way", but would act correctly and with speed.

 

I can see where the culture and over-all attitude of many LDS wards and stakes would unintentionally enable such a molester. I do not believe that all LDS COR would do so, though. (I serve in an LDS chartered unit, we are not members of their church though.) Sadly, there are sick and dangerous individuals that manage to hide behind or within various religious organizations.

 

I can do without all the ranting, venting, and out and out anger (in the postings).

 

Once again, I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about how something so wrong and destructive could happen and continue in our organization (or any youth organization).

 

Thank you, OGE, for keeping this thread open.

[jkhny 10]

"...a chance to boss volunteers around - with little consequence."

 

Oh brother! "

 

Every single complaint registered about our SE here was registered in his previous Council. There is a series of postings in the archives here detailing the growing "dissatisfaction" in Flint River with this person. A former DE there related - in detail - the issues with this professional.

 

Paid staff turn over at a ridiculous rate under this person. He's simply a horrid boss. DE's complain about being pressured to lie about numbers. They either do as told to try and move on or quit completely. Volunteers are driven out = this DE has expressed open contempt for "red jacket Scouters" that don't like to do as they're told. By any measure this SE has failed at his job her and in his previous Council. Despite a concerted focus on numbers and money - both have gotten worse - MUCH worse. But anyone that dares question what's going on gets punished. This SE sits through Fireside Chats looking at his watch, refusing to answer questions and aggogantly going "Who are you?" to long serving volunteers that HE doesn't know.

 

ALL positions are now filled with hand-picked candidates - and even those get fed up after a short time. One District Chair left saying "It doesn't matter - XXXXX does whatever he wants anyway."

 

BSA National has heard complaints from Senior volunteers - District Chairs and former Board members calling for his removal. It's a "local problem."

 

If you don't have one of these types thank God. If you do, you'll understand the outrage.

 

And please explain how the SE in Greater Alabama got to retire after getting caught twice faking numbers at ridiculous levels, while the volunteer that blew the whistle is still out of Scouting.

 

Explain why people that complain about abuse or illegal acts get thrown out - and BSA National upholds the removals instead of firing the professional?

 

If you want to be a "Little Napoleon" BSA is a perfect place. Like I said - read BSA's Rules and Regulations and see the protection that the paid staff wrote in.

[Beavah 205]

Yeh must remember da legal structure of da BSA, eh? National can't fire an exec. He's an employee of the independent local council corporation. The council exec. board has to fire him.

 

Our council has, and fixed "other issues" as well through internal pressure.

 

But you're right that it's hard, and that some structural issues in the BSA are designed to make proper oversight difficult. Those should be fixed. They allow a corporate culture that is not service-oriented to develop and to some extent thrive.