Posted on 07/29/2008 1:08:47 PM PDT by fgoodwin
Unfair Demands On Boy Scouts
http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=33a46ad1-5d62-4201-98b5-dd7602900835
By The Day
Published on 7/29/2008
We are at a loss to understand why the state Department of Transportation wants to give East Lyme Boy Scout troops such a hard time over doing a good deed.
For 25 years on Labor Day weekend the Scouts have served coffee and doughnuts around the clock to weary drivers at the weigh stations on Interstate 95 in Waterford.
Drivers get a needed break. The Scouts take pride in providing a service. Donations collected help the Boy Scouts and other local groups.
Who could object?
Unfortunately, the bureaucrats at the DOT, that's who.
After a quarter century without incident, the DOT now decides it is too dangerous for the Boy Scouts to stay at the weigh station overnight - even though the Scouts are well off the road, the area is well lighted and at least two adult leaders are always present.
The DOT demands that the Scouts break camp by 9 p.m. and not return until 6 a.m. In other words, the department does not want them there when drivers are tired and could use a coffee.
The Boy Scouts say the requirement to take everything down each night is unreasonable and undermines the intended service. Scout leaders have announced that unless the DOT lifts the overnight ban, the tradition will sadly end.
This is ridiculous. Someone at the DOT needs to act reasonably and allow the 24-hour service.
Please ping your Scouting list
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Pitch the tents, spend the night and find out the name of the person who enforces this. Then begin the campaign to dismantle that someone’s job. Turn about being fair play and all.
Is this yet another case of insurance companies determining what is good for the rest of us? Has DOT been given the hard word due to potential “liability”?
GO BOY SCOUTS!
More likely someone in authority has an interest in using the weigh station area in the evenings for some non-truck related entertainment.
Why do I get the feeling...deep in my suspicious old bones...that this action by the DOT was precipitated by one person, with an axe to grind with the BSA, complaining about this activity by the Boy Scouts?
> More likely someone in authority has an interest in using the weigh station area in the evenings for some non-truck related entertainment.
Or perhaps spotted a good commercial opportunity, thanks to some free marketing research from the hapless Scouts?
There’s enough of us retired Scouts (once a Scout, always a Scout) to make life pretty miserable for the bottom-feeding lowlife responsible for this decision.
This decision is gay.
A queer in the DOT is getting his revenge.
If it’s so dangerous the Department of Transportation should provide an armed guard. Isn’t that the point of government?
Unfortunately "he" is also getting "his" revenge on a lot of sleepy drivers whom the Scouts' help. The DOT can now be thanked for a number of deaths and injuries caused by people falling asleep at the wheel who might not have if they'd received free coffee and donuts from the Scouts.
This is unfair to criticize Connecticut's DOT for this important decision.
(If a homosexual scoutmaster or two was in attendance there would be no problem at all.)
Seeing how I don’t have a car, Waterford is Middle-Of-Nowhere, CT for me.
Definately think it was revenge motivated.
BSA is one of the few groups I donate to on an annual basis.
They teach young boys values, patriotism and civic responsibility, which all seem to be lacking in todays society
Truly a sad story!!
Blame not the insurance companies, but the parasite lawyers that sue insurance companies.
If a pro or college team want me show up,,,here are my terms,, half price admission and they buy the gas. leave disney world to the queers.
SUPPORT THE BOY SCOUTS - stand up to lefties who would like to see this wonderful organization destroyed
To the Liberal, no sacrifice is too great for Liberal agenda. I'm talking other peoples' sacrifices, of course. They, as usual, will make no such sacrifice.
rat jackasses.
perhaps the person who has the vending machine consession license is objecting to the copetition.
I could understand if the person is having their profits cut and yet they pay for the license to have the vending machines there.
There are no concessions at any Texas weigh station.
Who at the DOT made this decision? Are they a Democrat? Do they belong to any group that might be waging Jihad against the Boy Scouts?
> I could understand if the person is having their profits cut and yet they pay for the license to have the vending machines there.
I can’t. I have an inherent dislike for monopolies, particularly with a captive audience and NO CHOICE.
If their jolly vending machines are so good, let them by all means compete with the Boy Scouts. Competition is a cornerstone of Western economics.
To be fair to insurance companies, they have to watch out for the litigious attorneys. They hate (trial) lawyers more than just about anyone, and that’s saying something...
The DOT is a state agency. It is almost certainly protected by government immunity and cannot be sued (successfully.) And even if it were not covered by immunity (usually if there is auto insurance) the state is almost always self-insured.
My money's on a disgruntled homosexual somewhere in the DOT.
We all know the real reason why this is being done. Why the CT DOT doesn’t even give a rat’s ass about the safety of its own employees. A close relative of mine has been an employee on the highways for years. In the winter, when it snows, DOT requires its workers to work around the clock for 24 to 48 hours without going home to rest. They allow short sleep breaks but the facilities are anything but condusive to sleeping so the workers just drink coffee and smoke. The so-called employee union could care less. There are times when DOT employees are driving snow plows and sanders for 36 hours with only coffee breaks. Doesn’t that make all the other drivers on CT highways feel safe? But Oh, let’s protect the Boy Scouts.
It’s about time that people realize that the great majority of federal bureaucrats are leftist scum. That includes the asses with badges. With the exception of federal employees involved in national security, and not all qualify, we have no friends in the putrid bureaucracy - federal, state or local.
There is something extremely Queer about this.
This is in Connecticut.
I cut and pasted the article into Senator Joe Leiberman’s email at Senate.gov, with a personal message asking for his intervention with the State gov’t. I also asked him to show up on Labor Day weekend to give the Scouts a publicitiy boost and help inoculate them from further CONNDOT interference.
There may also be addresses for Conn.’s governor and CONNDOT that others can find.
If a few of us do this, we can help maintain this tradition, other then just moaning about the bureaucracy.
The beginning of the fall of the Roman Empire, and now they’re working on the once greatest nation in the world. Way to go Queers, keep up the good work, you’re all on your way to hell so you might as well ruin what everyone else has labored to build as well.
The Scoutmaster is the head adult in charge of a Boy Scout Troop, Boy Scouts being young men from the ages of 11 through 18. He or she has to be 21 or older. They may also have Assistant Scoutmasters, who must be 18 or older. The boys are organized into Patrols, usually around 5 to 8 Scouts, and are led by a Patrol Leader, who is one of their peers that they have elected.
A Cub Scout Pack consists of young men from the ages of 7 (or so - 1st grade, actually) to 11. The adult in charge is a Cubmaster, who may also have Assistant Cubmasters. The Cubs are organized into Dens of ideally 5 to 8 Cubs, and are led by a Den Leader. A Den Leader is an adult appointed by the Pack Committee (a group of adults in charge of making sure that the leaders are doing their jobs and also in charge of things like running fund raisers, buying the badges, arranging the details of activities, etc.).
If the Scouts you saw are all dressed in khaki shirts and green trousers or shorts with red shoulder bands, they’re Boy Scouts. If they have khaki shirts and green trousers or shorts with blue shoulder bands and a multi-colored ribbon on their arm, they are Webelos Scouts, which is the oldest group of Cub Scouts. If some of them have blue uniforms on, they are Cub Scouts of Tiger, Wolf or Bear rank, and sometimes Webelos if the kid hasn’t outgrown his blue uniform before he got old enough to be a Webelos and Mom and Dad are waiting until he gets older to buy his khaki and green uniform (which is kosher under BSA regs). Webelos with blue uniforms have the multi-colored ribbon pinned to their arms, the Tigers, Wolves and Bears don’t.
Great idea to write Sen. Lieberman.
I don’t live in CT, but those who do, and who care about the Scouts, should consider contacting their Senators, US Rep, and state rep about this issue.
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