Alabama Scandal

[jkhny]

Well, 30% overstatement and it looks like half of the "youth served" were Learning for Life - which has been manipulated routinely in the past all over in efforts to boost numbers.

 

But the guy who blew the whistle got thrown out. One of the media reports on this early on had a quote about a volunteer "getting removed from Scouting if he pushed the issue." Well, it got pushed, BSA was lying again and the whistle blower got nailed. This shows what BSA does to those who raise questions. Given that one of those involved in the Dallas fraud was involved here and no report has surfaced about PAID staff getting fired yet...this simply smells to high heaven.

 

BSA got caught with their pants down again but the guy that stood up publicly got slandered. It sounds like he got set up - or the SE used ANY excuse he could find.

 

In a more naive past I might wonder myself if maybe the volunteer was the problem, but his claims about numbers are proving out - to the Council's embarassment.

 

As far as his removal, the same thing happened here and it's happened elsewhere. GOOD dedicated leaders get slandered and thrown out of BSA when they stand up to paid staffers who are "misbehaving."

 

I would NOT believe what BSA claims in cases like this because they DO lie about what happens when they remove someone. Here BSA removed a longtime leader who spoke out and angered the SE. After a year they still haven't given him a reason for his removal and he's still waiting for BSA to rule on his appeal before he can go to court. But the issues he raised have only gotten worse.

 

As far as the "numbers" - well the "John Doe" justification seems to have disappeared. Now there's an "excuse" about needing to find new chartering organizations. Fictitious members and dead units do NOT reappear simply when new chartering organizations are found. In ALL cases where new chartering organizations are needed for a REAL unit, that happens real quick because the UNIT doesn't want to let their charter lapse. It doesn't take much effort. Sounds like these were really dead units (or complete fictions) and they won't be coming back from the dead.

 

The fact that Learning for Life had more "members" than Scouting in this Council has to raise serious questions as well.

 

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1117876627261150.xml&coll=2

 

Scouts, Cubs' rolls off nearly 6,000

 

22 counties show losses since FBI's inquiry into padding

Saturday, June 04, 2005

 

KELLI HEWETT TAYLOR and JEFF HANSEN

News staff writers

The number of boys listed on Boy Scout and Cub Scout rolls for the 22 counties of north Alabama has plummeted by 5,863.

 

The Greater Alabama Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which includes Jefferson, Shelby and 20 other counties, went from 19,280 boys in May 2004 to 13,417 last month, a decline of 30 percent, council figures show.

 

The numbers have dropped since the FBI began probing allegations that the council padded membership rolls to boost grants and other financial contributions. FBI spokesman Jeff Fuqua said the investigation was still under way.

 

Scout officials provided the figures to The Birmingham News on Friday after a newspaper request. Officials declined to be interviewed about reasons for the decline but provided a written statement.

 

Legal concerns

 

"One of our major reasons is because of the threat of litigation by the ACLU of government, military and schools which are chartered partners for our traditional Scouting programs," said a faxed statement from Randy Haines, board chairman for the Greater Alabama Council.

 

"We currently have 147 units that fall into the above category that are not registered and will not be registered until we find new chartered partners during the summer and fall."

 

Haines' statement says the council expects to find partners by the end of the year and re-register those members.

 

Haines' statement also says a drop in its other program, a school-based character development program called Learning for Life, has been hit by state school budget cuts and a loss of several grants. The result is a decline from 29,683 members in May 2004 to 15,045 in May 2005. The Scouts' executive committee voted Thursday to find the additional money to restore the program for the next school year.

 

Scout membership figures were initially released to the newspaper by Decatur Boy Scout leader Tom Willis, a dentist, Eagle Scout and Scout executive board member who has criticized Scout officials for inflating their rolls. The Greater Alabama Council reviewed those documents, then supplied to The News a set of updated figures, which include 275 additional Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.

 

Wednesday, the council banned Willis from contact with the Scouts.

 

A May 27 council letter to Willis says he was dismissed because of complaints that he "solicited and participated in an inappropriate sexual relationship with (a married female Scout volunteer) at Scout functions."

 

"This is because I questioned the board," Willis said. "I'm not surprised. The intimidation has been going on for years. I've heard them say they will remove the people who have spoken out."

 

Contentions

 

The council letter also says Willis was uncooperative and not forthright during an interview about the alleged sexual relationship, and that he was "grossly inappropriate" in an e-mail he sent to the council.

 

Willis said that, in an attempt to show the woman's character, he e-mailed Scout officials a nude photo of her posing on a boat and wearing only a Boy Scout hat. Willis says someone else snapped the picture and sent him a copy.

 

Willis said the photo was reportedly taken a few hours after a Scout trip officially ended. Willis said neither he nor any Scouts were present.

 

Willis, who is married, says there was no affair. He plans to appeal the Scouts' dismissal decision, which he believes is retaliation for criticizing the organization.

 

Scout attorney David Smith, another volunteer member of the executive committee, denied that Willis was kicked out for his complaints.

 

"That is completely false," said Smith, who helped investigate Willis. "None of us would allow any sort of retaliation to occur. The two issues (of membership complaints and the alleged affair) are completely separate and unrelated."

 

United Way

 

Smith said the executive committee has decided to hire an outside accounting firm to complete the investigation.

 

In the statement given to the newspaper, the council reported:

 

A drop in Cub Scout enrollment from 11,638 to 7,710.

 

A drop in Boy Scout enrollment from 7,642 to 5,707.

 

An increase in Venturing unit enrollment (for boys and girls ages 14 to 20) from 1,351 to 1,573.

 

The council has not given any update in membership numbers to the United Way of Central Alabama, said United Way spokeswoman Samuetta Nesbitt.

 

United Way has allocated $8.1 million to the Greater Alabama Council over the past 10 years, including $940,855 for this year, United Way records show. In January, the FBI subpoenaed Boy Scout records from United Way.

 

Some other Boy Scout councils across the United States are facing challenges to their membership claims. In Atlanta, the top executive of the Atlanta Area Council resigned and took responsibility for falsified records after an audit showed that the council had inflated its minority membership by nearly 5,000.

 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported that Scout staffers in Atlanta inflated blacks' membership because they feared they would lose their jobs if they missed their assigned quotas.

 

The United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta withheld $945,000 of Scout funding while the audit was under way, spokesman Mark Dvorak said.

 

E-mail: ktaylor@bhamnews.com

 

 

 

2005 The Birmingham News

2005 al.com All Rights Reserved.

[madkins007]

Sigh.

 

[FScouter]

What is the purpose of this thread?

[Eamonn]

Good morning FScouter,

you ask "What is the purpose of this thread?"

It would be wrong of me to talk for jkhny. From my point of view it seems that jkhny is not a happy camper. Each and every time he has posted he has whined and complained.

While at times some of us do use the forum as a tool to vent our feelings and complain about things, most of us get over it and move on.

I don't think that there is a Scouter who isn't upset and feels that the people in Alabama have hurt Scouting and the BSA.

While most of us can get back to doing real Scouting. it seems to me that jkhny just isn't happy unless he is complaining.

Eamonn.

 

 

 

 

[scoutldr]

The purpose of the thread is obvious. To alert others that this type of thing is happening so we can watch for it in our own councils.

[jkhny]

The PURPOSE of mypostings are to point out that in too many cases (including my Council) BSA is failing abysmally to live up to the "high standards of character" they espouse. The VOLUNTEERS are NOT the problem, the PAID staffers are. Those objecting to my posts should try volunteer to take on our SE when theirs leaves. THEN they can comment. When two Councils have raised the same complaints about a professional, HE is the problem. WHen BSA does nothing, BSA is the problem.

 

BSA does NOT take action to hold PAID staff accountable for their failures to follow the Scout Law unless they are given no choice in the matter. Atlanta's SE "quit" only because Operation PUSH/Rainbow Coalition has kept a vigilant eye on the issue and a truly OUTSIDE audit occurred. Claims of 10-15,000 members were clearly false. Just over 5,000 were found.

 

In Alabama, their SE was involved in the Dallas enrollment scandal in 2000. No "fraud" was found by the internal BSA audit but enrollments were restated to be 30-40% lower. Sorry, that is fraud - or a level of incompetence in record keeping that deserves to have those in charge fired.

 

BSA's own focus on "statistics" encourages SE's to lie about numbers. When they do so, it seems that there are NO consequences. When volunteers try to hold BSA accountable to the values they claim, the VOLUNTEERS are punished. THat has happened here in my Council and in too many others.

 

If there was a real desire by BSA to put an end to this it would have stopped decades ago. But National plays its own games with numbers.

 

Someday, BSA may realize that you can't make "character" the focus of your organization if you're failing to insist on it by those that are supposed to be running things.

 

BSA is SUPPOSED to be run and controlled by its volunteer members. It is supposed to be a "representative democracy" but it is not. BSA is noww like too many other corporations - run by its executives for their own benefit.

 

Some Councils are well-run and have professional staff dedicated to the ideals of Scouting. If yours is one of them, great. Make sure it stays that way.

 

However too many are not. Too many paid professionals are an embarassment to Scouting - yet they continue in their career with no repurcussions, damaging Scouting wherever they go. BSA should not tolerate this situation. BSA should encourage volunteers to keep staffers honest, not punish them for trying to do so.

 

Enrollment fraud should mean immediate dismissal. But this is almost institutionallized in BSA. Counts are deliiberately done to maximize claims. If counts were made on a "School-year" basis, BSA would be reporting accurate enrollments, not a guaranteed to be inflated number that still counts non-returning boys with those actually active (old and new) at year end. If that's OK, well why not count boys not seen in a while. WHy not count those that "expressed interest".....why not simply make kids up wholesale?

 

BSA is on a slippery moral slope. "Learning for LIfe" does not require the same membership criteria that Boy Scouts does becuse it wouldn't exist otherwise. Without LFL - a program of varying effectiveness and impact - BSA would be showing absolute declines in membership.

 

BSA drives out those dedicated to the values of Scouting in situations like these. In Councils where sexual abuse has been covered up, and scandals have occurred, the Scouting program is damaged for decades. The dedicated Scouters that are the core of Scouting in their communities leave, disillusioned and disappointed.

 

WHen will BSA simply learn that "doing what is right" is actually the easiest - and best - course?

[packman675]

you tell them jkhny.

If it was no big deal then why is the FBI looking in to it. The truth is. It is Fraud. And i hope the FBI looks into the Gulf Coast Council in Florida for the same thing. they need to!! then maybe the kids would have better support.

[Abel Magwitch]

Does anyone know of the final outcomes of this scandal? Was Dr. Willis allowed to get back into Scouting?

[Mr. Boyce]

Thanks for posting. It's a scandal to see scout leaders being so dishonest.

[shortridge]

I couldn't find updated news reports, but his business Web site seems to indicate that he's a current volunteer. Not sure if it's with the same council or in the same role or not.