I've worked in scouting for several years. I was trained at Wood Badge. My brothers were scouts, my sons were scouts and one of my sons has been a scoutmaster. The problem is not the scouting program. The problem is professional scouters who have cynically forgotten what the scouting program stands for. They are so concerned with protecting the image of scouting (and at the same time protecting their very cushy jobs) that they have betrayed the very ideals that they are supposed to teach. In hiring pedophiles (even suspected pedophiles), in transferring men who have soiled their local "nest", in sealing records instead of openly providing counseling to abused scouts; these 'executives' (expletive deleted) are the antithesis of anything honorable or trustworthy or morally straight! I am an aunt to the two boys mentioned in the program and I couldn't be prouder of them. The courage they had as boys facing down adults was typical of the Boy Scout ideals. The adults who didn't believe them, who tried to trivialize their outrage, who refused to let them call their parents, who were finally forced (by the number of molested scouts they organized to report) to call the sheriff, and then tried to cover up any hint of the story by telling the boys not to talk to their parents, and then sealing court records are the complete opposite of the scouting ideal. Any organization that works with youth attracts the sick personalities that prey on these young people. If the Boy Scouts want to stay a viable organization they'd better take steps to 'clean house'. They'd better scrub it hard, inside and out. It could take a while to restore the trust to trustworthy and the honorable to honor.

My father, brother, and husband are all eagle scouts. My husband and I have donated hundreds of dollars to the BSA. It takes a lot of courage to tell the whole world you were molested. I greatly appreciate these couragious men and the courage of the Post Register in telling their stories. As a mother of four sons, I deserve to be told there is a problem so I may make an informed decision and keep my sons safe. None of my sons will become an eagle scout. I will not donate another dime to this organization. My friend has a son who was molested as young man in the BSA. He grew up, became a scout master, and molested young men in Utah. He served nine years in prison there for this crime.