The Long Appeal

[mdsummer45]

For those of you who Private messaged me stating that they hoped my younger son and myself have not seen animosity from the unit leaders I think the posting by OwINE488 gives you your answer. Both Justin and I continue to be demonized. MY Eagle award..how nice. That statement demonstrates his lack of knowledge as to what actually occurred over the past year.

 

I guess OwINE488 believes that Nationals rules and regulations and policies and procedures are just "technicalities". Rather than trying to learn and grow and make improvements to the unit,it appears that OwINE488 believes this unit should just continue on it current path and put blame on anyone who dare challenge their manipulation of Nationals rules.

 

"National struggled for month"..struggled?? In my conversations with National the word struggled was never used. I was told that the committee need additional information from the council and that does take additional time for the correspondence to go back and forth. Also my sons appeal was not the only appeal that National was reviewing.

 

OwINE488..lets talk about this privately...you know who I am and while I think I know who you are I am not positive. The next time you see me reveal yourself to me and lets talk. Contrary to what you think I only have positive thoughts and wishes for this troop.

 

After reading all of the documents and talking with Justin either in person or by phone, Justin was encouraged to appeal to National by other scouters in our district, in neighboring districts and in other councils outside of our state. So I guess in OwINE488 eyes they too manipulated the situation and therefore this is their Eagle Award ,too. Congratulations to all of you!

 

This all really makes me sad.

[Snow_White]

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

 

(Quoting Abraham Lincoln)

[nolesrule]

"John, yes I have pointed out many times that a SM Conference is not a pass/fail requirement. In this case the SM refused to give the Scout a SM Conference. Big difference."

 

I think that's John's point, though. Why, oh why, would a scoutmaster ever refuse to have a Scoutmaster Conference with a scout when a scout has requested one? It serves no real purpose to actually refuse the request (even if you plan to withhold signature on the rank application), and, as John said, becomes an appealable action.(This message has been edited by nolesrule)

[Huzzar]

Even if the parties involved were to post every piece of documentation that National saw there would probably be a split on this board about whether or not the Scout should have been awarded Eagle. That's just the nature of human interaction, we think differently.

 

Can we end this all now that we know the outcome? Please, no more bickering.

[John-in-KC]

Ed,

 

Here we agree, as nolesrule points out. Had the SM given a SM Conference, that would have been one less reason for an appeal. Had the SM given a SM Conference, the Troop would look, to me, like they were doing all and then some.

 

The SM could have given the conference, decided that Scout Spirit was lacking, and refuse to sign off on Scout Spirit, as well as the Eagle app.

 

Oh, well, what is done, is done. Ms Summer, I hope your other son is in a Troop where he'll be accepted for who he is, not someplace where he is the "younger appendage" of Justin.

[OldGreyEagle]

The bigger issue is one of veracity. The original poster was pretty well attacked and critized and run-down as a fraud and a faker and a whole lot of other things.

 

Some were of the opinion this was all fantasy and the product of someone needing attention. From the posts here so far, I beleive this is a true and actual case, as I did from day 1.

 

I would think some sincere heartfelt apologies are in order. It doesnt matter what you think of the appeal's result, it matters how we treat others

[WAKWIB]

I concur with you, OGE.

[Eagle1982]

Congratulations to the new Eagle Scout. I'm sorry he had to go through all of this, and glad he persevered instead of just giving up. Perseverance is a good trait for Eagles.

[jhankins]

Congratulations from my family to yours. When's the Court of Honor? Did National back-date his Eagle, or is it dated to the day of the decision?

[skeptic]

Congratulations to Justin for his positive outcome after a difficult ordeal. And kudos to "Mom" for sticking with it and encouraging him to persevere.

 

But, as Huzzar said; time to put this one to bed for good.

[CalicoPenn]

Owl,

 

My Eagle was awarded to me on appeal - after "solid dedicated Scouters, with decades of experience, reviewed this information and found (me) unworthy of the award" on a "technicality" (that technicality being that those dedicated Scouters were ignorant, bigoted knuckleheads that had no clue what the 12th point of the Scout Law is all about, and had no understanding of the DRP, and denied me based on my religion - because it wasn't a Judeo/Islamic/Christian religion).

 

I got help from my parents, Post Advisor and a former Scoutmaster. Should I go ahead and hand over the medal to them because they got the award, and not me?

 

So what, exactly, was the Scoutmaster bending over backwards to prevent? The appeal? Denying a Scoutmaster's Conference is not a good start at bending over backwards.

 

 

 

 

[Eagle92]

I concur with those that think an apology for not believing the OP are warrented. I also beleive the matter should end as he IS an Eagle and congratulations are in order.

[eaglescout1996]

Congrats to Justin!

 

As someone who had to have a Council appeal because of a SM who refused to sign an Eagle Application, I can sympathize. It took me a few years to get back into Scouting, I hope the actions of a few don't push you away from a great organization like they did to me.

 

Again, congratuations!

[BklynEagle]

Calico,

 

I wouldn't get too heated up over Owl's comments; let's just say that I think that the fact that he/she/them/it/what-have-you joined up a few months after the parent thread got started up, and the fact that 50% of their posts as of 4/21/2010 has been to continue to suggest that something remains rotten in the state of Denmark (Hello OGE!) speaks volumes.

 

As for myself, I am pleased to hear that National has determined that there is yet another young man in this country who has distinguished himself. As one whose EBOR was a less than pleasant occasion, due to the Council rep, I can appreciate mdsummer's and her son's frustrations. (Admittedly, of course, the stories differ at this point, because I got ok'd by the EBOR while mdsummer's son got the run-around). None the less, I offer mdsummer and her son the heartiest of congratulations.

[mdsummer45]

This is Justin speaking:

 

I wanted to personally thank EVERYONE on this forum for all the support and help throughout this entire process. I have learned a lot and I am proud to have earned the rank of Eagle Scout. It was a long road but it was completely worth it.

 

I appreciate all of your comments and thank you to everyone who congratulated me. It means a lot to me.

 

Take care,

 

Justin