Boy Scouts' values never go out of style

[evmori]

Let's see. Male priests having sex with young males. Same sex sex. Homosexual sex. Sure these guys are pedophiles! That doesn't mean they aren't gay!

 

If the BSA ever allows gays & atheists, they will be heading down a slippery slope they will never recover from. People will leave in droves and the BSA will cease to exist. I doubt if this will ever happen since I don't think the BSA will ever cave in to the homosexuals & atheists.

 

I would never let my son go on a camping trip with a homosexual. I would not take the chance of putting in that type of harm's way. If I did and something happened, I would never be able to forgive myself & I would probably end up in jail. I would not be willing to take that chance.

 

Oh yeah, I grew up Catholic, too! And it was more than a "couple" priests. There were lots & they were transferred around to keep them from getting caught! So the higher ups were just as responsible for all the wrong-doing as those doing wrong.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Lisabob writes:

Now - if the BSA started covering up for leaders who molest children, then yes of course I (and most other sane people, I hope) would certainly have a problem with that.

 

According to the current Idaho lawsuit against the Grand Teton Council and the national BSA, that's exactly what happened just a few years ago:

http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2006/01/22/news/local/news01.txt

 

[evmori]

Time might stand still & Hades might get frigid, but I have to agree with Merlyn. This, unfortunately, has happened in the past, too.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Fishsqueezer]

You need to reread the article as it does not equate to what the Catholic church did. The article points out ignorant and inept camp and council staff not following BSA guidelines and probably state guidelines about reporting child abuse. To be a parallel with the Catholic church, the BSA would have to know about the pedophile and continue to have him direct camps and move him around to other camps when things got "hot". There is nothing in the article that the BSA covered anything up.

 

The problem with paranoia is that there is nobody you can ever really trust.

 

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Other news stories on this have said that at least someone at the national BSA had been informed of Stowell, though it doesn't give a name of who was contacted:

http://www.postregister.com/scouts_honor/part2.php

 

Chance 1: Mother and bishop, 1988

 

Paid professionals at the Grand Teton Council hired a child molester to work at Camp Little Lemhi even though they, the national Boy Scout office and troop sponsors in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were warned about Brad Stowell.

 

Court records, which the Boy Scouts' lawyers fought to hide from public view, show the warnings might have been sufficient to disqualify Stowell from Scouting six years before he was finally arrested.

...

Chance 2: Boy Scouts headquarters, 1991

 

In May 1991, a Blackfoot man named Richard Scarborough wrote to the national Boy Scout office in Irving, Texas, complaining that his reports about a child molester named Brad Stowell were being ignored by eastern Idaho Scout leaders and the troop's sponsors in the LDS church.

 

Called as a witness in a victim's lawsuit against the Scouts, Scarborough said he knew about Stowell because a church bishop had told him Stowell abused a neighbor. The bishop was inquiring about the safety of Scarborough's sons, who were in Scouts with Stowell.

 

Court files recently unsealed do not make it clear what the national staff of the Boy Scouts did about Scarborough's report, and Post Register efforts to further interview Scarborough have been unsuccessful.

 

But the Scouts maintain an "Ineligible Volunteer" file that it uses to weed out boys and adults who don't fit the organization's high moral standards.

...

Eastern Idahoans knew in 1997 that Brad Stowell had been arrested at Camp Little Lemhi and had pleaded guilty to molesting Boy Scouts there.

 

What they don't know is what professional Scout leaders knew in the years leading up to that verdict and to the Boy Scouts' decision to pay two victims who sued for negligence.

 

That's because two of Idaho's most powerful law firms succeeded in having the files sealed.

 

The negligence lawsuits didn't appear in the courthouse public access computer until the Post Register noted in print that the ISTARS system was reporting the cases didn't exist, a situation legal experts have called highly unusual.

 

Court officials say one case disappeared from public view because of a computer glitch that has since been fixed. That case, including Stowell's admission that he molested 24 children, has since been unsealed.

 

The Boy Scouts are still fighting to keep the other case closed to "protect the names of the innocent victims," said Kim Hansen, Grand Teton Council executive director. But the Post Register, by longstanding policy, does not print the names of the sex-crime victims without their consent. Nor do any other reputable media outlets.

 

Judge W.H. Woodland, who signed the secret order that removed all references to that second case from the courthouse's public record, announced Thursday that he will soon rule on the Post Register's request to open the case.

 

 

This has a number of articles on it:

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

This has a chronology of Stowell and others:

http://www.mormon-news.com/article.asp?ID=753

[opusdork]

Now, just what was the original post?! scouting values never go out of style and Scouting helps build self-esteem and keeps youth positively involved in the community... (I enjoy how these dialogues go all around)

 

Ramos appears to be putting to good use many of the values of scouting, he has elected to do his national service and also intends on returning to his community in a service role. That is a credit to scouting and the people who make the program a success. My Eagle (2003) scout son has made the same choice and ships out with the Marines in a month. He is currently trying to get his scouts to finish up their outstanding merit badges with him before he deploys.

 

There are parts of scouting that I disagree with, but scouting and the people putting a program together have done a fine job for my three Eagle sons and I'm thankful for what they have shared with my family and taught my sons. Whether we agree with all of the aspects of scouting or not, many of these boys take the positive values of scouting away with them and use those skills.