A Boy Scout leader was fatally stabbed while leading boys on a hike:
BUNKER HILL, Ind. (AP) — A 76-year-old man has been stabbed to death while leading Boy Scouts on a hiking trip in northern Indiana, and a suspect who battered his mother and killed a dog near the trail is under arrest, police said.
The assistant scout leader, Arthur L. Anderson, had stopped to identify a tree on the Nickel Plate Trail in Bunker Hill Sunday afternoon when an attacker approached him from behind and stabbed him in the neck, Indiana State Police said in a statement. Witnesses told police the attack was unprovoked.
Anderson of Kokomo, Ind., died at the scene despite the efforts of medical personnel who responded to a 911 call. Police said he had been involved in scouting for 50 years.
A terrible thing. Seems to have been totally unprovoked.
In my time as a Scout leader I never encountered trouble like this, but there was potential for trouble. I recall camping at state parks with a group of drunken rowdy folks not too far from our sites. I recall pulling into one campground and seeing people working the grounds in black and white striped uniforms – prison work release and hopefully trustworthy, but still.
Bad things don’t stop happening because you’re in a “safe place” or with a “good group” of people. Bad things happen, terrible things happen. They can happen anywhere, at any time, to any one.
This is one problem I had with BSA policies and one reason why I had to walk away from the organization. BSA speaks so much about “youth protection” and keeping the kids safe. Of course, in BSA-speak that’s primarily caring about sexual molestation. Not to minimize that, but certainly there are other areas where Scouts need protection as well. It’s fortunate none of the boys were injured in the above-mentioned attack.
BSA policy formally prohibits the carry and use of firearms unless 1. it’s your job (i.e. a policeman on duty at a Scout event can keep his gun), 2. it’s specifically part of the BSA activity, and then you can only possess and use firearms within the scope of that specific activity. While BSA may have shooting sports, it’s become quite limited. I talk to people just a generation before mine that spoke of how it wasn’t a campout unless you brought your .22 rifle and every Scout slept with his in his tent. Now? No such thing and firearm access and use is strictly controlled. Within the rules that BSA lays down, one cannot legally carry a concealed handgun. In fact, in my last year with the Cub Scout pack I worked with, they changed their official policies to explicitly mention concealed carry and that it won’t be tolerated.
As a Scout leader, one duty I was charged with was the safety of those boys. If the sheepdog’s teeth are taken away, how well can he do his job? What sort of safe environment does that foster? And just how does it allow me to “Be Prepared”?
That’s my biggest beef with BSA. The tenets of Scouting seem to take a back seat to avoiding trouble and lawsuits. Maybe today “Be Prepared” means to have a good lawyer on retainer.
Stuff From Hsoi 
I’m not highly involved in my daughter’s Girl Scouts activities, but for girl scout cookie sales it is worth being close by with the G21. There’s a lot of money involved. I’m generally not selling at the booth sales, but I’ll be in the truck with the extra cases of cookies and within eyesight of the booths.
I would agree. There have been more than enough reports of Scouts (Boy and Girl) being robbed during fundraising activities. Fucked up, but unfortunately that’s the direction the world is going now… *sigh*
Unhealthy food kills more Americans, by far, than guns do. So, why do we regulate the hell out of gun ownership, but do little to nothing to prevent companies from doling out toxic food? At least a gun can be used to protect oneself from a threat against life and limb. Try defending yourself with a burrito.
To clarify – I’m not proposing (here) tougher regulation of the food industry. (I eat my own fair share of junk.) I just think it’s odd that guns are often treated as the most deadly threat to humans and thusly regulated and/or banned.
There are people with a (irrational) fear of particular inanimate objects. But for whatever reason, burritos tend to not make that list.
All depends how much indigestion the burrito leads to. 😉
But yes, this is America, Land of Mixed (Up) Priorities.
Wow! Thank you for posting this. I had no idea. I was going to have my boys in Scouts. Now, I really doubt it. Perhaps they would fair better in Civil Air Patrol as I did. I will have to check their regulations regarding concealed carry.
I am torn. I still think that the foundations of Scouting are sound and good. The way LBP and Boyce founded things, some of the old classic handbooks…. it’s great stuff. Heck, the new Scout Fieldbook is really cool and a great resource. But the organization I think has just had too many run-ins with lawsuits and problems. I can’t blame them for evolving the way they have, but that they are against CHL bugs me… especially when you consider that the background checks and work you have to do to get a CHL goes beyond what BSA requires of adult leadership! I’ve been background checked so much in my life due to these things…. but yet, somehow I’m not trustworthy. Feels… not very Scout-like.
But that all said…. maybe consider 4-H as well. I know nothing about Civil Air Patrol. But either way, the point is there are still lots of good groups out there for youth to join and participate in.
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