Yeh, right! We can trust the FBI!
Waco, TX
Posted on 12/31/2004 6:42:33 PM PST by Coleus
The FBI is investigating the Greater Alabama Council of the Boy Scouts of America to see if membership numbers have been inflated, board members said Wednesday.
Exaggerating membership numbers could lead to greater financial support, board members said.
The council is said to serve 50,000 youngsters in 22 counties in central and northern Alabama. This includes 30,000 enrolled in traditional scout units and 20,000 elementary school students receiving in-class character education using resources provided by the Boy Scouts, said Randy Haines, vice chairman of the council, which is led by paid directors and a volunteer board.
Haines said the FBI contacted the council two weeks ago about allegations of possible inaccuracies in membership figures. About the same time, Haines said he and other scout officials began hearing similar word-of-mouth reports.
"We take the allegations seriously," Haines said. "We are a highly principled organization, and irregularities are totally out of character."
But another board member, Tom Willis, said the charges of discrepancies in membership numbers are not only accurate but widespread across the country and are encouraged by the national Boy Scouts of America organization's pressure on district leaders to keep increasing the number of scouting groups.
`Ghost units' :
There is even a term for fake troops: "ghost units," Willis said.
Willis, a five-year board member, said he recently saw a roster of 135 units in his home Arrowhead District, which includes Morgan, Lawrence and Limestone counties. Only about half of those are real, traditional groups, he contends. "I pretty much know what units are out there," he said.
He said donations garnered through inflated numbers go to funding the central administration and not individual troops or programs for children.
Willis said the FBI investigation follows a growing distrust by some volunteers of the paid leadership of the council. That distrust was magnified by the recent debate over whether to spend $5.6 million to acquire land in Blount County for a super camp to replace smaller, regional camps, he said. He said he and others felt the price had been inflated by the owners.
The emotional issue of shutting down existing camps added to worries about buying a $5.6 million property when the council is $200,000 in debt, Willis said.
While looking into the camp, the council and scouting leaders discussed waning attendance at scouting camps and questions about the number of reported scouts arose among scout troop leaders. When they tried to get answers, they were denied information, he said.
Several concerns :
Willis said he helped organize a meeting in November that grew into three meetings of a group of more than 100 volunteer scouting leaders, who on Dec. 1 presented a list of about five or six concerns to outgoing board president John D. Johns and the incoming president, Willis said.
"The accountability with numbers was one of those," he said. "We asked for an independent audit of those numbers."
Haines said the Boy Scouts are doing an internal audit.
Willis said he believes the FBI investigation will turn up "extremely significant" errors.
"It's sad when our basic foundation is what it is, and we get into something like this," he said.
He said that the volunteer committee has good motives for challenging the council and is not aimed at creating more negative press for the Boy Scouts.
"Our real goal is just to make the scouting program better for our youth," he said. "We want more accountability."
A significant source of money for the Greater Alabama Council is the United Way. The council has asked for $940,855 in 2005, spokeswoman Samuetta Nesbitt said.
"United Way's leadership is aware that the FBI has made an inquiry into the reporting procedures of the Greater Birmingham Council of Boy Scouts of America," she said. "We do not have any details about the inquiry." vabrams@bhamnews.com wbryant@bhamnews.com
Hmm, I wonder why. Maybe they get federal dollars from housing authority units?
I could see the county prosecutor's office or the state AG's office investigating a local scout council but not the FBI.
Looks like some of the volunteers are about sore about losing some of their camps. Some of these old timers become very attached to the camps. Many put years of money and sweat equity into them.
Scout councils, the local District Executives and district committees are notorious for having paper troops and fudging the numbers. They just love to have the Quality district pin on their uniforms.
In 1968 the national bsa spearheaded huge 6-year membership drive where they wanted one out of 3 boys a scout as it turns out a big scandal broke in the 1970's in Chicago where the district executives took the names off of tombstones and registered them as boy scouts so they could make their goals. Some things never change.
This happens in other organizations as well. It seems when MBA's invade the management the groups core values seems to disappear. Blame it on the United Way, they are usually the ones who are encouraging the business side of organizations at the expense of the traditions of their mission.
Oh and Planned Parenthood gets a whole load of federal $. No falsified abortion billing I'm sure.
But the FBI are too busy chasing the Boy Scouts, so I guess they don't have time for those things.
I have not heard of this one. Guess its time to go snooping.
Interesting wording:
"Exaggerating membership numbers could lead to greater financial support, board members said."
Financial support? I did NOT hear anything about FEDERAL DOLLARS?
WHY is the FBI waging war on the Boy Scouts then?
The clintonistas in our govt need to be purged immediately! Especially the pigs in the FBI, CIA, the federal courts and the lawyer scums.
The FBI has time to check out this nonsense as The Queen of King County steals the governorship in Washington State.
Sheesh
I'm glad the FBI is investigating ANY orginization where there may be a problem. They don't usually get involved for NOTHING!
At one time everybody trusted the United Way until they found the Pres robbing it blind. Lets just see if they do the same to the NAACP.
Nice to see our tax dollars being put to good use. NOT!
Yeh, right! We can trust the FBI!
Waco, TX
Now you're just being snide.
74 woman, children and men, incinerated in the prime of their lives; who would have thought this would happen in the USA.
And the MSM just gave Clinton and Reno a pass. Sad!
You are absolutely correct.
Hopefully things are changing. I am very interested to see what the public in Washington state will do about the election fraud.
This happens in other organizations as well. >>
The FBI coming in or boards selling and consolidating camps.
This happens in other organizations as well. It seems when MBA's invade the management the groups core values seems to disappear. Blame it on the United Way, they are usually the ones who are encouraging the business side of organizations at the expense of the traditions of their mission.
The United Way does do some good too. I don't think any of this applies to the Boy Scouts as a whole, but in a funny way, there might be a ring of truth. This stems from a something that happened when I was a boy scout. My dad was scoutmaster and two boys had stopped coming. My dad tried to get them off the rolls, but was told by the boy scout council that they had to be dead. So that is what my dad declared them. The next week one broke his arm in a motorcyle accident and the other broke his leg. I do hope the policies have changed since then or other ex-boy scouts could be hurt:).
Scouts are registered and are listed on the charter for one full year at a time whether they quit or not.
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