:: Running from the Thought Police ::

:: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 ::

The Movement Doesn't Need This

People who've been around boy scouting for a decent amount of time know that District Execs are under enormous pressure to increase membership, and that many resort to registering "phantom scouts" or even "phantom units." Now that the FBI is investigating an Atlanta council for fraud over this practice, it'll be only a matter of time before it spreads to other councils ::cough cough::. We're already in bad waters PR-wise due to our inability to let the Mormons go off and be bigots by themselves, and we don't need crap like this further sullying our image.

As always, the problem isn't with the volunteers and Scoutmasters.

Yet longtime scout volunteer Larry Cox said he got used to seeing paperwork from council headquarters in Birmingham that listed the names of youngsters who had dropped out of scouting or had never been part of the organization.

The problem, Cox said, is with a few people at the council office, not the volunteers who lead activities such as camping trips and Pinewood Derby car races.

"They always said it was because our paperwork had problems, but we knew it wasn't," Cox said. "It seemed to be very broad."

...Cox said the idea that someone would overstate membership goes against what the Boy Scouts are supposed to stand for: "Being trustworthy and having integrity is one of the prime points of the Scouting oath."

Actually, it's the first point of the Law, but same diff.

:: The Squire 1:17 AM :: email this post :: ::
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