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Earning Eagle Scout with a felony


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Hi there,

 

I am a life scout who has been in scouting since tiger cubs in cub scouts. I now have all of my badges and my eagle project completed and now I have the final write up and the Eagle board of review. Unfortunatly I was reciently charged with a felony and I am quite distressed that if I go infront of the Eagle board I will be denied. If I can get some help with this subject it would be most helpful for me and my parents.

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I can't believe you're asking this question!!! What did you learn while taking your citizenship MBs??? So you've been charged. Have you been found guilty yet???

 

Please let us know the outcome of the trial if it goes to trial.

 

PS In this country, I believe you're innocent until proven guilty or have things changed and I didn't get the memo???(This message has been edited by Eagletrek)

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Is this setting off the "prank alarm" in anyone besides me?

 

liperazs, if this really is true, I'd suggest you not "tell us more" about your legal situation, since your post seems to imply that your charge has not yet been disposed of. We do not know your real name, but the police do, and presumably they also know where your computer is located. If you really have been charged with a crime, your attorney should have told you not to discuss the situation with anyone without his/her approval, and "anyone" includes the entire Internet.

 

As for your Eagle progress, that is what makes me suspicious. This is what you're worried about?(This message has been edited by njcubscouter)

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Yes I do hear the alarm going off, actually one is errantly sounding in the hallway of the office right now, but I'm going to treat this as an actual question.

 

I agree with the do not tell us more... from the legal standpoint.

 

If this is a real situation then you have to know that you know your unit leaders and Eagle Board of Review members better then we do..., and so you should know how they will react.

 

The people who will sit on your board will supposedly give you a fair shake...,

Presumably your unit or someone from it knows about your situation and will most likely spread the info around the unit. Will it be adjudicated in the legal system, before the EBoR - I'm betting not. If not, then you will not be dealing from the position of someone who is has a verdict of guilty or innocent but from the position of someone who is currently innocent but charged.

BUT, neither BSA nor the EBoR has to take your legal status into consideration, your Character which is most often seen through your Reputation is what they base a portion of their decision on, and legally guilty or innocent you must see that while under charges your reputaion has been tarnished.

 

My question to you is are you someone whom everyone will believe the worst of, or have you taken the Scout Oath and Law to heart and your daily life and no one will believe that it's credible that you did it?

 

If the first then you really stand very little chance, without regard to whether you are guilty or not because the board members will see it as confirmation of what they already may think, that it is entirely probably that you did do it. And it only takes one down vote.

 

If the latter, then you may still expect some hard questioning and you had better be able to answer truthfully that you didn't do it. If you didn't do it then it should be able to be judged by the panel that you are a good Scout in a bad situation. If you did do it and you have been up to that point a good Scout then you probably should be able to understand why they most likely won't award the Eagle to you. But you are still in a situation where it only takes one down vote.

 

Now another question that hasn't really been dealt with and only you know, isn't the legal but the moral question of whether or not you did it. If you did do the crime then shouldn't you just cancel the BoR and not put the BSA and the EBoR members in the position of possibly awarding you with an honor you don't deserve? Isn't that what an Eagle candidate who understood the program would do?

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I think you need to be looking for better direction than can be provided on an internet forum. If this posting is even real, receiving Eagle is the least of the issues in your life right now. Real life brings real decisions and thereby real ramifications. My presumption is that you wouldn't have found yourself in this predicament, innocent or not, if you had used better judgment that comes along with exemplifying Scout spirit and living by the Law & Oath. Lets get some priorities here - if you are truly innocent, keep pushing to receive it but only after you receive your redemption. If you are guilty then you need to do some serious reflection on where your life has gone wrong and what you can do to improve it; forget about Eagle as youve blown it and dont deserve it. This is all assuming any advice we give here will have any impact as Id guess youve ignored well meaning advice offered before.

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I agree with NJ. If this is legit, we can surmise that he has parents. We can also surmise that he isn't 18 yet if he hasn't done the final writeup or EBOR. If this is the case, the parents are still very much involved unless his state has one of those idiotic emancipation laws and he has already fallen into that crack. He needs to talk to his parents and their attorney if there is one, NOT us. The EBOR is an insignificant consideration.

 

Edited part: GW, if he was caught climbing into MY daughter's window, I'd be the one charged with the felony. His parents could merely replace my car.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

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If I were your SM, and I had reason to believe you are guilty, there would not BE an EBOR, because you have not met what I consider to be the MOST important requirement, Scout Spirit. If you believe you are truly innocent of the charge (and only YOU know for sure), I would request that your EBOR be put on hold until after your court date. If you are found not guilty, then proceed. But with a felony charge and conviction, I would plan on NOT becoming an Eagle Scout. It's not just about merit badges and projects.

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hey guys,

 

I am charged with possesion with intent to sell on school property.

I alos have been put on a long-term suspencion of three months, and I have then been removed from the school trying to get online schooling.

I am on probation (1year)and I've gone through a rehabilitation program but I am not going to court since this is my first offence.

 

To your questions about me living the scout oath and law, yes I do everyday and I am a dedicated scout who loves scouting with all of my heart and soul and if I have kid myself I would want him to be a scout and earn Eagle like I want to do so badly. Going through my merit badges working on my final paperwork I see all of my merit badges (27) and it made me smile and hurt because I am a good kid but I have mede some bad decisions.

 

To the fourm questions, I couldent find anything on NESA or any of the Eagle help pages on the internet and I just had these few questions and this was the best place to find some help, isint this why there are fourms online, to help people (Law-Helpful?) and I'm just trying to get some help here since the Judicial system isint the best.

 

Thank you for responding and providing some insight,

 

Can you help?

 

 

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We all make some bad decisions . . . well, most of us . . . but we need accept that and move on. I made some horrible decisions in my younger days, fortunately nothing that landed me in jail but they disrupted my life plans. I only have myself to blame.

 

You aren't charged with a prank like spray painting your team's name on a rival's school walls.

 

You haven't protested your innocence to us ("I wuz set up" or "I wuz holding it for a friend"). So I'm guessing that you were caught holding but that does show character.

 

Based on what I know, if I was sitting on your BOR now, I'd deny your Eagle. How long before you turn 18? If you have a couple years and you keep your nose clean, you could delay your BOR and they might view you differently.

 

If not, go before the Board, plead your case and if they decide against you, take the decision with graciousness. If nothing else, they'll say as you walk away, "Too bad he made a bad choice, he seems like he has character."

 

If that does happen, you can use that experience to help other youths who might be ready to make questionable decisions. "I almost made Eagle but I screwed up . . ." might keep someone else on the straight and narrow.

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well I have 20 months till I turn 18 and first off thank you guys for helping me with this difficult situation. So basically what you guys have been saying is that I'm going to have to wait and keep my nose clean (which is my sole intension, I don't want to go back)

 

I do not know if it will even show on my record, since I did not go to court and went straight through to juvinile probation. Will the EoBR have acsess to my criminal record?

 

My last question is concerning the letters of recomendation, my mother and I have been fighting back and forth since my SM's son printed them out and sent them and then it staes in the Eagle Project workbook (pg 16-6 ver.2008) That I need to include the names and adresses and so forth on my ESR application

 

Thank you again for allo your help, I am real glad that I joined.

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