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With hundreds of sex-abuse lawsuits piling up like logs on a campfire, it will soon cost nearly twice as much to become a Boy Scout of America. The once-storied organization sent out a notice to leaders that the registration fee will nearly double from $33 to $60 on Jan. 1, blaming the increase on the rising “cost of insurance.” “Everybody knows what this is really all about,” fumed Charles Greinsky, vice president of the Staten Island Council Boy Scouts of America, who has been involved in scouting since 1963. “This is about the pedophiles and the insurance we have to...

The Boy Scouts of America are continuing to cover-up a “pedophilia epidemic within their organization,” a group of lawyers alleged Tuesday in a new lawsuit. The Abused in Scouting lawyers said they’ve identified 350 previously unknown scoutmasters and volunteers who allegedly preyed on boys — and whose names were not known to law enforcement or in the BSA’s internal database, which critics have called “perversion files.” “You can’t look at these files and not come to the conclusion that this was a massive problem that was hidden,” attorney Tim Kosnoff said at a press conference. “We know that when a...

The Boy Scouts of America may experience a severe backlash from church sponsors following its recent vote to approve openly gay scout leaders. A national organization boasting over 2.6 million members, many of the BSA's more than 37,000 troops come from churches that officially state that homosexuality is a sin. These include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the United Methodist Church, and the Southern Baptist Convention. Roger S. Oldham, spokesman for the SBC, told The Christian Post that Southern Baptist churches have been cutting ties with the BSA since 2013, when the youth organization voted to allow...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has said it will be re-evaluating its long-standing participation in the Boy Scouts of America, following the latter's decision to end its blanket ban on openly gay adult leaders. "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is deeply troubled by today's vote by the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board. In spite of a request to delay the vote, it was scheduled at a time in July when members of the Church's governing councils are out of their offices and do not meet. When the leadership of the Church resumes...

The Boy Scout Motto is "Be Prepared." Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who achieved the rank of Eagle Scout as a teen, has taken that motto seriously. His Eagle Scout status has him so prepared, he indicated this week, he's ready to serve as commander in chief of the U.S. military. The Republican governor and likely 2016 presidential candidate spoke on Wednesday at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Phoenix, Arizona. The event was closed to press, but video of Walker's conversation with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt was recorded by the opposition research group American Bridge and released by the...

DES MOINES, Iowa —A central Iowa Boy Scout troop just returned from a three-week trip they will likely never forget About 10 days into the trip, an innocent action by one of the nearly two dozen Scouts at the Canadian border into Alaska set off a chain of events that lead to a U.S. border official pointing a gun at a scout’s head. Boy Scout Troop 111 Leader Jim Fox spelled out what happened to him and the Mid-Iowa Boy Scout Troop 111 as four van-loads of Scouts and adult volunteers tried to drive from Canada into Alaska. Fox said...

Does this sound right to you at all?  It sounds almost like a parody story, something from The Onion.  But… it isn’t.From Todd Starnes: Troop leader: Customs and Border agent held Boy Scout at gunpointA Boy Scout troop from the nation’s heartland is demanding answers and a U.S. senator is expressing outrage after a group of scouts was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, with one child allegedly held at gunpoint.Jim Fox, the leader of the Mid-Iowa Boy Scout Troop 111, said the incident occurred earlier this month at a checkpoint along the Alaska – Canada border. The...

Noah Cornuet was a gentle giant and the ultimate Boy Scout. He was so committed to scouting that he was determined to ascend to the highest rank any Boy Scout could achieve: Eagle Scout. Noah, 16, never realized his dream. On Aug. 6, the high school athlete from Lower Burrell, Pa., collapsed after football practice and died. It was later revealed that Noah had a rare heart tumor. He’d had no symptoms and there was no indication that he had a heart condition, his family said. At the time of his death, Noah was deeply involved in his Eagle scout...

The Walt Disney Company will cut funding to the Boy Scouts of America, beginning in 2015, because of a policy that bans gay adult leaders in the organisation. In December the defence and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin said it would no longer donate to the Boy Scouts, because of the same policy. Last May, the California Senate voted to revoke the organisation’s charitable status. The Boy Scouts organisation said it was “disappointed” by Disney’s decision, which will affect its ability to serve children, Deron Smith, a Boy Scouts spokesman, said in a statement on Sunday. Disney does not provide direct...

Murder charges were dropped Wednesday against a family friend suspected of killing a man who was allegedly assaulting a 13-year-old Boy Scout, authorities said. The investigation is still ongoing. Police said the charges were dropped against Carmen Reyes, 53, because detectives need more time to gather evidence in the case. Reyes is the family friend of a 13-year-old boy who was attacked about 5 a.m. Saturday while helping his mother load the car for a camping trip. The assault happened near 182nd Street and Van Ness Avenue in Torrance.

Bookmark this thread. In the previous three bibliography threads, I have gathered links to 118 news articles posted on FreeRepublic concerning the decision of National Council to admit "openly gay" children to the Boy Scouts of America. This post rounds the number of threads up to 124, adding six more articles since my last post on June 15.This will be my last bibliography thread for the time being, since the issue has peaked in the news. * * *BSA Bibliograpy Part 4: New group trying to straighten out the Boy Scouts- Gay Scouts question badly misses the point Coach is...

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, one of the largest nonprofit secular groups in America, ran an ad on Sunday in The New York Times asking why the Boy Scouts of America is maintaining its ban on nonreligious members after having changed its policy to now accept gay members. A pro-family group believes FFRF is right in its questioning. "The bottom line is, Scouting has now removed any logical or legal basis for protecting against the inclusion of openly gay scout masters, so in a sense this group is perfectly correct," Rob Schwarzwalder, senior vice president for the Family Research Council,...

Bookmark this thread. Last week I linked on one thread 89 news articles posted on FreeRepublic concerning "openly gay" children being admitted to Boy Scouts of America. This post provides links to all additional articles posted on this issue since then to June 15 (as of time/date below). Creating this round-up of BSA news is to avoid flooding your in-box with pings as this situation is being hashed out in one or more articles daily. I will continue to follow up on FR postings and ping you once a week or less, unless there is a huge breaking story. For...

Bookmark this thread: here are most of the news articles recently posted on FreeRepublic regarding the Boy Scouts National Meeting in May that resulted in gay scouts being admitted to membership. They are listed from newest, June 4, 2013, to oldest, June 24, 2012. Although some articles posted were duplicates, their links are included if they carried more than a few comments. These are not all the Boy Scout articles posted on FR; just the ones concerning the issue of so-called homosexual children being admitted to Boy Scouts. A few vanities and blog posts were not included, nor articles with...

Chipotle Mexican Grill has pulled its sponsorship of Utah's "Scout-O-Rama" because of the Boy Scouts of America's long-standing ban on gays. The popular Colorado-based restaurant chain initially signed on to provide about $4,200 worth of coupons to the Utah Boy Scouts' annual event, scheduled for May 4 in a Salt Lake City suburb. The Boy Scouts' Great Salt Lake Council is one of the largest in the country, with the majority of troops sponsored by Mormon churches.

The bosses of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) surprised everyone this week by postponing their decision on whether to allow gay leaders and gay scouts to join their ranks. If the BSA's long-standing ban on gays is lifted by national officials in May, the choice to admit gays may be left to local Boy Scout chapters — as it should be.

SALT LAKE CITY — A former Boy Scout leader and hospital employee will go to prison for collecting and making child pornography. Third District Judge Robin Reese on Monday sentenced Shawn Thomas Whiting, 34, to a one- to-15-year prison term on four second-degree felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. Whiting pleaded guilty to the charges in April. He originally faced a total of 20 counts of the same charge, but the 16 additional counts were dismissed in exchange for the man's plea. Reese ordered the man to pay for the cost of counseling for his victims. The Utah...

He was scared, but the 12-year-old Boy Scout still knew what to do when he got lost during a Utah wilderness outing: He built a shelter made of tree branches and wood to get through a cold night and he covered himself in dirt to stay warm...

...Despite being outweighed by nearly 100 pounds, he pulled the older teen to safety, authorities said....

Quick thinking saves girl from Warwick pool A local teenager has been hailed a hero after saving a little girl from a swimming pool. Warwick Eagle Scout Austin Irons saved a little girl from drowning after a group of cub scouts and boy scouts finished swimming at McDermott Pool in Warwick. Austin jumped in the water to save the girl who was lying face down and helped lifeguards resuscitate the girl. "We heard shouting for lifeguards...I didn't even think. It was like, just do it," Austin recalled on the experience. He was able to get the girl out of the...