Posted on 05/31/2005 12:53:30 PM PDT by SmithL
ATLANTA - An independent investigation of the Atlanta-area Boy Scouts found that the organization inflated its number of black Scouts by more than 5,000 in a program for inner-city youth.
The executive director of the Atlanta Boy Scouts resigned after the report was released.
Auditors said Scout officials assigned to inner-city areas may have felt pressure to demonstrate membership growth, which is a part of their performance evaluations. Membership numbers also are used to help determined funding from the United Way, a major Scouts donor.
The audit found that former Scouts too old to participate remained on the memberships lists and that boys who had only attended informational meetings about the program were signed up.
In one example, an official changed the birth date of 87 Cub Scouts so they would be old enough to participate in the program. In another case, an official continued to report membership of a church Boy Scout unit although the church had burned down three years earlier.
The inflated numbers also included 200 Scout units that did not exist.
Edgar Sims Jr., an attorney with the law firm that conducted the audit, said the Atlanta Area Council claimed there were 10,238 Scouts in Operation First Class in 2004, but the audit found that only 5,361 were registered.
Operation First Class was designed to increase participation by boys in the country's poorest areas, and it provides the boys' books, uniforms and other opportunities, including scholarships for camp.
In resigning, David Larkin, executive director of the Atlanta Area Council, said he was "deeply disappointed both personally and professionally" and took fully responsibility for the false records.
"As scout executive of the Atlanta Area Council, I am charged with overseeing all activities of the organization. When those activities do not reflect the principles and integrity of the Boy Scouts of America, at any level, I take full responsibility," he said.
Joe Beasley, regional director of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, claimed in October that the 13-county Boy Scouts council was reporting twice as many black participants as were actively involved.
Georgia Boy Scout officials then commissioned a law firm to independently investigate the complaint. Directors of Atlanta's United Way voted May 18 to withhold money for area Boy Scouts pending an investigation.
Similar allegations have been made in Alabama, where the FBI is investigating whether the Birmingham-based Greater Alabama Boy Scout Council padded its membership rolls.
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On the Net:
Atlanta Area Council: http://www.atlantabsa.org
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition: http://www.rainbowpush.org/atlanta
United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta: http://www.unitedwayatl.org
Holy Enron Scouts, batman!
Recruiting poor kids for Scout troops is big business. It helps donations. In reality, they just aren't interested. It's hard enough to get middle-class kids interested in something besides traveling soccer.
It's all because of the PC nonsense that they were put under pressure to do this (not to excuse the behavior of course, but it shows how deep the rot of PC can go). Maybe inner city kids or black kids (many of whom are inner city) don't want to become scouts. Maybe it's corny to them, or unappealing, or they don't like the woods, or whatever. But I'm sick of seeing the Scouts getting slammed because they're not PC enough. Leave the damn Scouts alone!!!! There's too few activities for our kids to pursue that are relatively wholesom e and innocent nowadays and the MSM seems determined to destroy those few.
Amen to that. Every single one of the astronauts that walked on the moon were Eagle Scouts. It wasn't a requirement, it just worked out that way.
I would NOT advise searching on that particular text string.......
If boys are not attracted to the Scouts it is because the troop does not know anything about having fun. It is difficult to recruit now that recruiting cannot be done in PC schools, and minorities are seemingly not as interested but if they do come to a few meetings, the activities need to be there to convince them to stay.
As far as lying about membership. There is no good reason to do this, I would fire the staff sooner rather than later.
Not the first time this has happened. It won't be the last.
A little tutorial for those of you who are not familiar with how the BSA works at the professional and Council level:
A local Council is a not-for-profit corporation. It has a number of members, an Executive Board (the Board of Directors), and an Executive Commmittee (a subset of the Council that handles issues needing Board-level oversight between E-Board meetings). It's charge is to oversee and provide the resources for promoting Scouting in a certain group of communities. Chicago has it's own council. Two councils cover all of Maine. Councils are usually broken up into smaller geographic units called Districts.
The Council Executive Board hires a Scout Executive. He (or she) is paid to execute the policies of both the National Council and the local Council. The SE is the person that is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Council. To assist in this endeavor, the SE hires a District Executive for each District. The DE works directly with the people in their District. They talk to community organizations that don't yet have Scout units and encourage them to start them. They help raise money for the Council. They provide resources for volunteers (Scoutmasters, Cubmasters, etc.) in their District.
The compensation for these folks, especially the DE's, is not high. It's about the worst paid job you can get that requires a college degree, and the hours are bad since you meet with volunteers a lot and they can only meet with you when they're not working. That compensation is based in part on the membership of the units in their district. If the number of Scouts registered in the district and the number of units in a district goes up from year A to year B, the DE is going to get a raise. If not ....
So, there's pressure to keep the membership and unit numbers up. And it's hardly surprising that human weakness will cause some DE's and SE's to fail in their trust. As long as their compensation is tied to numbers, you'll see this from time to time.
One thing to note: the Council also has high-level volunteers. The Council Executive should be consulting on a monthly basis with the Council President and the Council Commissioner. The District Executive consults on a regular basis with the District Commissioner and the District Chairman. If the DE is cooking the books, the District Commissioner should have had an inkling (and I'm a DC, so I have a right to say this) and should have blown the whistle. Of course, it could be that the DC has been unable to recruit any Unit Commissioners. These are people who work directly with the leaders of the various units (each UC has up to 3 units assigned to them) to help them out with problems and in general act as an advisor. If the DC had no UC's, then the DC has no eyes to tell him or her what's going on.
As a DC, I know 1) UC's are hard to recruit. As a FReeper, I know there's a lot of FReepers out there who would make good Unit Commissioners, and who could help make sure that this doesn't happen in THEIR Council ....
Notice the EXAGGERATED headlines. It makes it appears that this is rampant throughout the Boy Scouts Of America, when only 2 cases have shown this discrepancy. I wonder whether the reporter of this slanted news is a liberal. I wonder not. The truth to demon-rats is as foreign to them as icebergs on the equator.
Hear, hear!
Years ago someone did a study with the percentage of Boy Scouts vs crime levels. As expected the more Scouts the less crime.
"Years ago someone did a study with the percentage of Boy Scouts vs crime levels. As expected the more Scouts the less crime."
Statistically, Non-existent Scouts do not commit crimes as frequently as the general population, on a per-capita basis, of course.
You know, I was Scoutmaster for quite a few years in our little town, and I mean little (1,500 est. pop.). We have maintained an average Troop strength of 15-18 boys and BTW, they stay with us THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL! Yeah, unreal in today's cynical society where everything is a put-down.
We attended Summer camp every year and a High Adventure Camp in ADDITION to the Summer camp every other year. For those unfamiliar with Scouting, High Adventure is an expedition (backpacking, canoeing, sailing, etc.) for an extended period in remote areas. There were only four active leaders and let me tell you, it sapped us.
We did not tolerate "paper" Scouts, those that were on the roster but never attended, never could understand that, so we kept it "lean and mean (not in attitude)" but it worked better. One needs to teach them what obligations mean, since they joined then they need to TAKE PART in activities, planning, etc., etc., put their money where their mouths are.
Had five of those boys in the military at the same time, three in Iraq (USMC) during the first push to Baghdad--at the same time. Excuse me if some of you have heard this before but I will continue bragging on those boys. Meanwhile, some of our "hero" jocks in HS fell short of the mark, their knee injuries kept them from serving their country, this after making fun of my Scouts through the years. Yeah, big hero jocks okay.
We just had another Eagle Scout join the USCG (this'll make Tonkin's heart sing) who finished processing a few days ago. We didn't point these boys those directions (to the military) but it shows what "service to others" does to young men. God bless those boys, we still have three serving, not counting our Coastie, they have shown many the way.
The problem is not that black kids have no interest in Scouting. My son was enrolled in an inner-city Cub Scout den and Boy Scout troop for years, and plenty of boys participated. But there is a very serious leadership problem. Women can lead Cub Scout dens, but the Boy Scouts need male leaders, and there is a very serious shortage of black men who are up to the job. As I recall, not one of the other boys in my son's troop came from a two-parent family.
Keep bragging about those boys, FRiend. You did a good job helping to teach and raise good men. We need more folks who can do your kind of service. This is what represents the best of the Scouts.
"As I recall, not one of the other boys in my son's troop came from a two-parent family."
Ah, that is so sad!! But that is the truth in much of the black community (and a good deal of the white as well). How can we expect to raise decent young men without male role models? A woman can raise a boy, but it's really hard for her to show him how to become a man. Boys need men.
We can thank the feminazis, the "men" who kowtowed to and enabled the feminazi agenda, and "the welfare state" for this crisis in MANHOOD and HONOUR.
Scouts of color?
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