Chicago- the grim future of Scouting.

[jkhny]

The letter below was published in response to one trying to justify the sale of Owasippe. It was forwarded as part of a package but it sums things up nicely.

 

The volunteers there have voted down the candidates for their board twice but cannot oust curretn leadership

 

Note the comments referring to Learning for Life. Chicago was teh center of a scandal regarding its precurser program in the 1970's.

 

Is this the future of Scouting? Sell off all the camps, ignore the SCouters and focus on LFL because ther you can BUY numbers (of fake them easier)

 

BTW the National head of LFL is Chicago's current Council President - who won't get out of office.

 

 

Abandonment of Traditional Scouting?

=====================================

A rebuttal to Greenblatt's letter to The Beacon:

 

Wow! Talk about taking the "out" out of "scOUTing!"

 

At one time I was willing to give the CAC the benefit of the doubt. But

this statement leads me to believe that the overall objective is to not

invest money or effort to support camping. Rather they seem intent on

pillaging a windfall profit from the generosity of those who do believe

in "traditional" Scouting values and redirect those resources to the

remaining 97% percent, meaning the Chicago Public School system

programs. (BTW, I still really question these numbers regarding the

number of children served via LFL).

 

To me, it sounds like the board is not only selling Owasippe, but is also selling out "traditional" Scouting. Are they truly intent on burying Scouting? If so, they should simply resign and leave the assets and resources behind for "Traditional" Scouting. There are those in this nation who believe that there are values and skills best taught in the outdoors.

 

CAC seems to be running a shell game to shift the assets from

"traditional" Scouting to LFL just before turning off the lights on

"Traditional" Scouting. To date, there has been no detail

explanation or accounting for the millions of dollars gained from the sale of Hoover in Yorkville and the intended sale of Owasippe. I'm sure there have been discussion in the smoke filled backrooms at the private business clubs where they conduct their secret ad-hoc meetings. But...these discussions are not readily available the rank and file volunteers, the voting CORs & members at large, and perhaps even to some of their fellow board members who are not invited to these meetings!

 

Also, I would seriously question the veracity of the statement "it is

not a result of a lack on our effort to promote camping." In general, I have seen no effort to promote camping from the CAC board or staff.

 

* I have seen minimal effort on their website. Even basic information on operations is missing.

 

* I have never seen a direct mail piece to promote attendance at

either the camps or the High Adventure program, which they don't even

consider High Adventure (check out High Adventure on the website and you will not see Manistee Quest listed).

 

* I have not seen a single add in any Scouting magazine while other,

smaller camps and venues promote their less attractive locations.

 

* Directors and staff were not officially named until just weeks

before the season began preventing

 

Honestly, if these folks promoted their businesses the way they promote

Scouting, their shareholders would have voted them out long ago. Of

course, that would have happened already to the CAC board if they didn't change the rules to prevent their constituents from having a voice in the process.

 

Mr Greenblatt's letter appears to be an effort to establish lines of

communication between the counsel board members and Blue Lake Township.

But I would first encourage Mr Greenblatt to open a line of

communication with his own constituents as to what his true intentions

are because right now I don't believe he or the other members eager to

sell of Scouting have shown all of their cards yet. Remember the first

Scout law.

 

[eagle90]

I don't understand what your mission is here, jkhny, but before I make any comment one way or the other I would also like to see the letter from Mr. Greenblat so I can hear both sides of the issue. Give us the full information, not just one side, the side you are espousing.

[Prairie_Scouter]

I can't speak to all of jk's assertions, but the Chicago press was pretty clear in it's coverage that the vote to sell Owasippe by the CAC was done in a way that seemed quite a bit out of the norm. The vote was done by phone, covering the minimum numbers of voters to carry the vote, with a large number of other voters not contacted.