-- 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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You're only one post away from a federal watch list.
Being in the scouts was one of the greatest times in my life.
Ironically enough, our scout master was a lawyer, but more importantly he was an ex-marine. He made everyone's parents sign release forms -- the only ones that didn't were the kids whose fathers were lawyers (fancy that).
I learned in the 6th or 7th grade how to
rappel from a cliff (devil's lake wisconsin - not small cliffs either)
Build a shelter
hike 25 miles and not b!tch
first aid
Wauwatosa police department let us use their range to shoot 22's for firearms training.
build/cut dovetailed structures you slept in
Build rope bridges over fast water
You will never see in your lifetime a leader/troop like Troop 117 out of milwaukee (unfortunately) . It was the experience of a lifetime for me as a kid.
I was damn proud to be a scout and have relayed some of my scouting stories to moms who want their sons to have that sort of experience of discipline and adventure - it doesn't exist, because of lawyers, unlike the man that was our troop leader, he was a scout leader with us first, lawyer was somewhere down the line.
You are exactly right, they are not supposed to lie. I must now ask you why it would/should be necessary to lie about Scout membership in a city that is predominantly black, has a predominantly black political leadership in not only the city but the county in which it lies and has had a black mayor for at least the past 25 years. Just what political or socio economic benefit is there to the BSA for the leadership to lie about the race of its members. Can you provide an explanation as to why this should be necessary? I can't. I believe that these leaders should be drummed out of the organization, horse whipped, flogged through the fleet, hanged from the yardarm and shot at dawn. What is your proposal??????????
BTW, yes I was a Scout and a Scout leader for over 10 years. This really is not what Scouting is about. Oddly enough, the Scouting program, as envisioned by Baden-Powell, about 100 years ago, was inspired by the performance of "Scouts" during the Boer wars in South Africa where leadership, outdoor skills and survival ability determined who would live and who would die. Many of those "Scouts" depended on skills learned from "Blacks" and hunting in Africa.
I thought Boy Scouts were'nt supposed to lie
