Posted on 01/31/2013 6:09:37 PM PST by fightin kentuckian
I received the Weekly Scouting Update from the Catalina Council which encompasses southern Arizona. This policy letter and my reply are relevant to all who love scouting.
Dear Scouting friends and volunteers: Earlier this week, the National Boy Scouts of America released a statement indicating that the National Board of Directors will, at next week's board meeting, consider changing its membership requirements to remove any mention of sexual orientation. We respect the diverse opinions of our Scout leaders and families on this issue. We promise to keep you informed as the national organization continues discussing this proposal. All membership policy decisions are handled at the national level. While the Catalina Council is not involved in the decision-making process, we are listening to our Scout families and volunteers, and communicating their messages to the national organization. If you would like to submit a comment, please email me directly at ken@catalinacouncil.org. Your input is both important and appreciated. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Ken Tucker Scout Executive
The following is my Reply to Mr. Tucker.
Subject: Scouting is By and For People Who Love Scouting
Mr. Tucker,
As a Scout Parent I have volunteered thousands hours as a Den Leader, Asst.Leader, and as a Volunteer Parent helping the Troop on activities from camp-outs to Spit and Slurps. I also give money regularly through the "Friends of Scouting". I am a typical Scout Parent. In my Troop alone there are Scouting Parents and Scouting Adults who no longer have kids in Scouting, who volunteer hundreds of times the hours that I have given, all for the love and joy of Scouting.
If the BSA keeps it current policies it may lose some corporate money but the BSA will survive. If the BSA bows to outside pressure groups and allows homosexual leaders, my family, and many other Scouting families, will withdraw volunteer support as well as monetary support from the BSA. Many BSA troops are hosted, as my Troop is, by Churches of every religion, Mormon, Methodist, etc. Should the BSA allow gay leaders, those Churches who host Troops would soon likely let their charters lapse and Troops would be forced to find new homes or disband.
The BSA will never survive a blow like that. No amount of corporate promises could ever take the place of those volunteers and church sponsors. The BSA was not and is not meant to be a corporate run entity. Scouting runs, as we all know, on the generosity of people who LOVE SCOUTING, and cannot survive by the hand of those who despise the BSA's adherence to GODs Law.
Once the BSA is abandoned by parents and sponsors, the outside pressure groups who forced the new policy would not be able to or even willing to make up the short fall in BSA volunteers. They would abandon the BSA as quickly as the Scouting Parents and the BSA would likely cease to exist.
I hope and pray, while outside groups still allow Scouts to pray, that the BSA will make the right choice.
Yours In Scouting, (Name withheld to protect the guilty)
I ask that everyone who reads this please send a similar letter/email to your Council Representative or even Mr. Tucker. If you have any experience with scouting you probably could have written this very same letter. BTW, did anyone notice any similarities between what the BSA might do and what happened to the Dixie Chicks?
God Bless and Guide the BSA.
Seems to me that there is a great opportunity to start building a new organization if the BSA gets this one wrong.
Patriot Scouts of America sounds good.
You are right on the mark. Many people are of the same mind. An alternative organization(s) will spring up if the BSA goes wrong on this. It will be to their detriment if they chose obama over Scouting.
Your third and fourth paragraphs are the meat of the matter. I’ve expressed similar sentiments in my input on the National website.
Sandrat, can you get some visibility for this letter? I’m not sure how to go about doing that. Thanks
I too recieved the same letter as a part of the “BSA Policy Update”, Catalina Council, BSA weekly e-Newsletter 1-31-2013”. Idon’t know what we can do. We know the ‘Tucson Red Star. won’t give it print space and the TV stations are just as bad as the red Star. I know not of any other papers.
On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake,[and morally straight. (redacted & removed A.D. 2013)]
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