David CO

My prediction is they won't be able to resist the temptation to turn their site into a self-congratulatory NESA brag fest with 10, 000 eagle scout stories.

One of the three founders listed on the site is a media PR guy.

The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.

It says the founder of Why Scouting Matters is a council president. Doesn't sound much like an independent grassroots organization to me.

I suspect these CO's were not always providing the proper oversight of the unit. That's the big problem. All of the other stuff you mentioned should be secondary to unit oversight issues. I know it sounds harsh, but I would rather see a unit closed than to have it continue without the proper CO oversight. Oversight should be priority #1.

I understand the temptation to go CO shopping. People put a lot of time and money into the unit and don't want to see it disappear. Nevertheless, I still think CO shopping should be prohibited.

Not at all. BSA allowed CO shopping. BSA intentionally undermined the CO/unit relationship and weakened the oversight that might have prevented some of the abuse. BSA should be held accountable.

If the CO is no longer willing or able to charter the scout unit, the unit should be disbanded. The unit should cease to exist. The unit number should be retired and remain unused unless/until the CO re-charters a unit. This sends a crystal clear message that a unit is part of its Chartered Organization. A unit is not a separate entity. The parents are free to go "shopping" for a Chartered Organization who is willing to form a new unit for their kids. New CO. New unit. New number. The problem arises when parents want to retain the number, flag, history, and identity of a unit. They want to make a statement that the unit is its own entity. It can continue outside of its CO. This leads to all sorts of problems. The council is to blame for this. The council undermines the CO/unit relationship by allowing a new CO to use the old CO's unit number. The council is completely in control of the assignment of unit numbers, and could quickly put an end to the practice of CO shopping. The council should have a strict policy of assigning a new unit number to every new CO. BSA could do this too. But its not going to.

I got that. I still disagree.

They do. They paid for the insurance policies. Now its up to the execs and lawyers at BSA to make sure the insurance companies pay the claims.

The first thing to consider is if the act of Chartered Organization shopping is contributing to the problems in scouting. It reinforces the mistaken idea that a scout unit is a separate entity from the CO. Do your scouts want to be part of the problem or part of the solution?

Personally, I would favor returning the District of Columbia to Maryland. This should be a bipartisan decision, with a constitutional amendment supported by both political parties. The District of Columbia is an anachronism from an earlier era, which no longer serves any good purpose. We should fix it without politicizing the issue.

Under the current house legislation, that's true. I don't think the house plan has a chance of passing the senate. Possibly, but the federal charter would cease to exist. It would be a state corporation, subject to the laws of that state. A state corporation can be liquidated in bankruptcy court. By eliminating the District of Columbia, congress would be rescinding the charter. The charter specifies the District of Columbia. Eliminate DC, and the charter disappears.

We were asked to give advice to the judge. What should the judge do? Are you saying the judge should revoke the council charters? .

Interesting. It says BSA was incorporated in the District of Colombia. If DC becomes a state, does BSA cease to be a corporation? It would almost be worth giving DC statehood if it would wipe out the national council. Almost.

In that case, bring me back some chocolates from Sorenburg.

Fire everyone at national. Executives and volunteers. Order an election to replace national officers. Give the new national council a little time to come up with a better plan.

Not even then. It's not like Chuck E Cheese or day care. We don't match up students with parents before they leave. We just dismiss them. Some kids walk home. Some ride their bikes. Some take the bus. Some get rides from their parents. You might be liable if you just happened to notice who the kid left with, and didn't say anything, but you are under no obligation to monitor who drops kids off and who picks them up. No junior high or high school does that. BSA would be crazy to voluntarily take on that obligation and liability. It would be like inviting a whole new wave of lawsuits. Stupidest thing I've heard of since the ineligibility files.

There is a big difference between law and medicine. It would be unethical for a doctor to help his patient by harming someone else. Do no harm.

True.

Lawyers represent their clients. You can't attack the one without attacking the other.

Very true. I am color blind. Probably missed out on a lot things that other people enjoy.

I saw the Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn Rockwell collection at the Mark Twain museum in Hannibal MO with my scouts. If you go there, make sure to pick a sunny day. The museum includes several small buildings, and I got soaked going from one to another. The boys did the cave, outside of town, but I had to pass. It requires a lot of bending and ducking. My old body can't handle it anymore. We all found the riverboat excursion very relaxing after a hard day's sightseeing.

I totally agree. But we should point out that this immunity from blame only applies to child sexual abuse. It doesn't apply to anything else. If an adult purchased a case of beer for a patrol of scouts, and the scouts had a drinking party, and they were caught, the scouts could be blamed. They could be charged with underage drinking. They could be kicked out of scouting. If an adult drug dealer sold a patrol of scouts some illegal drugs, and the scouts were caught with them, the scouts could be blamed. They could be charged with possession. They could be kicked out of scouting. If a modern day Fagin teaches a patrol of scouts to steal, and they get caught shoplifting, the scouts could be blamed. They could be charged with theft. They could be kicked out of scouting. I wouldn't want any kids to get the misimpression that there is some sort of blanket immunity that applies to them if they get caught doing something, just because an adult was involved. This immunity from blame only applies to child sexual abuse.

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