18 June 2009
Truth and Consequences for Urine Scouts
Posted by admin under: policies .
When I initially read about the Boy Scout who had been abused by four others there was not much detail and I just didn’t feel like following the story. It was icky and because it was an aberration I just had no interest in it. I saw the story blow up big and get posted on the Drudge Report so I knew it was getting a lot of attention, but I still didn’t have any interest and have been ignoring the scores of subsequent reports. However, reader Mike was reading another report and had something to contribute to the discussion. So, for the first guest post on BoyandGirlScouts.com I turn you over to Settammanque.
Frequently I am asked “Does the BSA ever “revoke membership for life” for anyone, especially when we’ve got Eagle Scouts sitting in our jails and some people being given slaps on their wrists and said “don’t do this again…”
Here’s proof of what boredom, along with lack of a program, can do to a Troop, a community, and to Scouting in general. And its like we’ve got kids beating down our doors to *get into Scouts*!!
(CAUTION: POSTING, TAKEN FROM MEDIA SITE, IS GRAPHIC IN NATURE!)
Camper kidnapped, forced to drink urine Four Boy Scouts arrested for
kidnapping, assault
http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/local/061509camper_kidnapped
HAWTHORNE, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) – Four Boy Scouts will never again be allowed
to call themselves scouts after being revoked for life following an assault at Camp Shands. The four, including an Eagle Scout, are accused of holding a 12-year-old down, duct-taping his mouth, and forcing him to drink human
urine.
These actions do not represent the principles of scouting, they will not be tolerated, and accordingly their membership in scouting has been revoked, said Jack Sears of the Boy Scouts.
On Friday June 12, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said the 12-year-old was asked by 21-year-old Joseph Reid to walk back to his campsite. On the way, the boy told deputies that four other Scouts jumped him, forced him to the ground and taped his mouth.
The 12-year-old said the scouts then took him off into the woods and told them they were going to “teach him a lesson” for making derogatory remarks toward another scout. The boy told police that the four told him he could either get beaten up, or drink human urine. He said before he could answer, Reid ripped the duct tape off his mouth and forced him to drink a bottle of urine.
“The scout leaders involved were near the incident and were not aware of what was going on. That’s why the boy ran to go find them,” said Sears.
The 12-year-old notified scout leaders who immediately called the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. The boys were all taken into custody and deputies said they found duct tape and two bottles of urine at the site where the boy said he was assaulted. Deputies also confiscated a cell phone on which they said is a recording of the entire attack.
…
The teenagers have been turned over to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
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Settummanque!
I’ll only add two things: we all know that the buddy system seems ridiculous in camp because it’s a closed environment, but we still need to enforce it and this just proves one example of why that’s a good idea. So, use the buddy system and prevent random conflict between Scouts. Secondly, I was surprised at seeing the names of of children charged, but not convicted, posted in a news story, so I cut the names out. The media is usually so scrupulous about this sort of thing and it just gets under my skin that they felt it didn’t need to be done this time. You have the link if you’re local and worried about them interacting with your kids.
- Rumblings from Settummanque about Girls in Cub Scouts
- My International Interview
- Duct Tape Merit Badge
- Liquid Cut Care and Duct Tape?
- Eagle Scouts Say Don’t Call Them Liars
6 Comments so far...
Clarke A Green Says:
18 June 2009 at 2:26 pm.
Tragic incident. I’ll bet here are a couple of other shoes to drop. I’m not an FBI profiler
but this sounds like the tip of the iceberg.
At 21 the likely ringleader and has done this sort of thing before. I don’t think these Scouts would go straight to duct-taping and forcing urine on a boy they do not know.
I’ll bet this was an escalation form or imitation off many similar incidents. One of the other suspects is the 21 yr. old’s brother – they didn’t go from being well-adjusted good kids to kidnapping and assault in a day or a week or a year. They’ve had a safe place to act out like this for some time. Look for other accusations to rise from this.
Surprised that the Scout Exec. (Jack Sears referred to in the article) announced that the suspects membership is revoked. The Camp director and himself must have had little question of the guilt of the four if Sears took this action so quickly
Mike Walton Says:
19 June 2009 at 6:04 am.
Agreed with everything that Clarke stated, except I do wish to correct one item:
Jack Sears isn’t the Council’s Scout Executive; he’s a national spokesman (contracted) with the BSA at the National office. It was the BSA’s National Director of Membership which revoked the registration of the four individuals, not the local Council (which brings up some rather interesting questions…I’ll leave that for others to ponder).
I would have taken off the names of the youth too when I sent it forward; however, there are civil rights charges pending so I’m sure that in those cases the local media decided to provide the names of the younger individuals. Normally, individuals under the age of 18 (16 in some states) are not revealed in the interest of familial privacy.
Settummanque!
Stacy Says:
20 June 2009 at 11:49 am.
Wouldn’t the other scouts he was with qualify as “buddies”? I think the buddy system failed here – he had no idea it was comng…
admin Says:
21 June 2009 at 3:10 pm.
Hm, Stacy, I read it as the boy was told to go to camp by the 21 year old and then got jumped by the other four. Even if the 21 year old accompanied him that would be un-buddied because the older guy was a leader and there’s no one-on-one between kids and adults in Scouting. Maybe I read it wrong.
settummanque, the blackeagle (Mike Walton) Says:
5 July 2009 at 2:26 pm.
Admin’s right, Stacy… Scouts are “buddied” with other Scouts, not with adults. A really bad mark on Scouting there in that Council and community!
Settummanque!
Ed Henderson Says:
4 May 2010 at 1:51 am.
Jack Sears is the C.E.O. / Scout Executive of the North Florida Council and I think he acted correctly in this matter.
