Committee meeting place

[jmcquillan]

I think I know the answer to this question, at least from a common sense and common logic viewpoint, but here goes anyways...

 

A friend in another troop posed the question as follows:

 

"Our troop is chartered to an organization that has a bar in their facility. Our troop committee meeetings are held in a meeting room adjacent to the bar. Access to the meeting room is both through the bar and a side door to the main hall. When Scouts come before the troop committee to present Eagle Project proposals, etc., is it alright for the Scouts to enter via the bar side (in full uniform) or must they enter via the other side? Is it appropriate for the troop committee to be holding their meetings where they do?"

 

To the first question, my mind screams out "Of course NOT..." To me it's common sense that a boy not be exposed to the bar in the first place, and certainly not in uniform. Not even my own son, and especially not the sons of others. I think it's both a common sense and setting the example thing.

 

To the second question, I wonder. The committee meets there for exposure to the membership of the chartering partner, use their facilities for meetings, and also to patronize the establishment. As adults, I suppose they are welcome to hold their meetings anywhere they want, but then again, it's a setting the example type of thing. I wouldn't want my committee to be seen as a drinking crowd. But if the committee merely meets in the room, and patronizes the facility after the meeting, I suppose there's little harm, especially if the entire committee agrees to the policy.

 

My larger question for the membership here, is not so much what your opinions might be, for we all have our own. But rather, like the person who posed the question to me, are there written and published guidelines with regard to these issues? Anyone got a handle on anything like this?

 

[eisely]

Though I have scsrcely read even a small fraction of all the scout documents ever published, I am not aware of any written guidelines on this subject and doubt that there are any. Given the difficulty in getting any kind of meeting space in many communities, I have no problem with a committee meeting space such as you describe. It becomes a somewhat different matter when boys show up in uniform to present plans for Eagle projects and things like that. Again, the issue is probably not one of sheltering the boys. Boys doing Eagle projects are likely old enough to understand what a bar is all about. The issue revolves around the consistency of the scout message with boys in uniform going into a side door for a meeting. Given the difficulties with getting space, I for one would probably just say use the side door.

 

Scout policy does not say that alcoholic drink per se is wrong, but that drinking at a scout event is prohibited. I can see how, within a unit affiliated with a church that is more hostile to alcohol, policies would be stricter. If such a sponsor, and the parents and boys affiliated with the unit, wanted to avoid meeting spaces such as you described, then that is their right to do so.

 

A private bar such as an American Legion Post or Elks Lodge is a lot different than an ordinary bar open to the public. When I lived in Southern California I used to give blood regularly when the Red Cross ran their drive in the bar of an American Legion Post just a few blocks off the freeway in the San Fernando Valley. It was the most accessible collection point for me. So such a bar may be more than just a bar.

[OldGreyEagle]

Actually Eisley, you are right, Scouts old enough for an Eagle project know all about Bars and alchohol and drugs as well and most of the younger scouts too. And while I understand and observe the BSA prohibition on alchohol, I remember when I was a scout, the leaders having a can of beer after dinner. Sometimes I wonder if it wouldnt be a good idea to present a positive role model, to show you can drink A beer and stop, you can drink to enjoy and not get stupid.