I Feel a Disturbance in the Shenanigans

[RememberSchiff]

Back in 2004/2005

The Boy Scouts have a long history of membership imbroglios. In the mid-1970s, a large council in Chicago was caught boosting minority enrollment figures. During the 1990s, councils in Los Angeles, Vicksburg, Miss., and Jacksonville, Fla., were tangled in ghost-unit controversies. In the past few months, as the Alabama case has grown from suspicions to a publicly acknowledged investigation, a civil rights leader in Atlanta has accused local Boy Scout leaders of falsifying minority enrollment figures to get more grant money. U.S. Postal Service investigators and a federal grand jury in Dallas have looked into allegations as recently as 2003 that a large Boy Scout council manipulated membership numbers.

...

An independent investigation of the Atlanta area Boy Scouts found that the organization inflated its number of black Boy Scouts by nearly 5,000 in a program for inner-city youth -- including 200 Scout units that did not exist.

The audit found that former Scouts too old to participate remained on the membership lists and that boys who had only attended informational meetings about the program were signed up as entire units, Sims said.

"There were kids signed up who were not provided a real Scouting program," said Jesse Spikes, a lawyer who participated in the audit.

In one example, an official changed the birth date of 87 Cub Scouts so they would still be young enough to participate. In another case, an official continued to report membership of a church Boy Scout unit although the church had burned down three years earlier.

Because the Atlanta council pays the $20 unit charter fee and the $10 individual membership fees of Scouts in the inner-city program, auditors estimated more than $256,000 from the council's general fund -- which includes donations -- were wrongly diverted to the national Boy Scout organization because of the inflated membership numbers.

Joe Beasley, regional director of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, said in October that the 13-county Boy Scouts council was reporting twice as many black participants as were actively involved. Those membership numbers are used to help determine United Way funding.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45573-2005Jan28.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/31/AR2005053101285.html

 

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.  - George Santayana

Edited October 18, 2018 by RememberSchiff

[walk in the woods]

1 hour ago, Eagle1993 said:

Family packs have no minimum number of girls.   Where does the 5 come from?

Our Council Scout Exec.

[Saltface]

5 hours ago, Buggie said:

He tells me that they had a glitch in the system.

Not to pour gas on the fire, but I don’t see how a computer system could glitch like that.

An incompetent user, sure. 

Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus, maybe. 

A software bug or hardware error somehow successfully submits a youth application, highly suspect.  

[SSScout]

The Charter Agreement requires at least five Scouts to start..... 

[Eagle1993]

8 hours ago, SSScout said:

The Charter Agreement requires at least five Scouts to start..... 

For new units.  Most packs are simply adding girls as there is no minimum (since you already have a charter agreement for the Pack); however, it sounds like their council is still referring to a 5 girl minimum.  

[Eagle1993]

8 hours ago, Saltface said:

Not to pour gas on the fire, but I don’t see how a computer system could glitch like that.

An incompetent user, sure. 

Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus, maybe. 

A software bug or hardware error somehow successfully submits a youth application, highly suspect.  

I agree.  You can not submit an online app without paying.  The online invitation manager is separate.  I don’t see how this could be a glitch...