Suing the Boy Scouts
To be honest, Boy Scout summer camps are called resident camp. The tents are already set up and you do not get a choice of tent location. That said, this is not the first time this has happened. It happened at the summer camp I atteneded in 1993. A tree fell on a tent where an adult was sleeping. It caused quite a furror then for other reasons. There is a tree hugger movement in Scouting that resists culling trees at a Scout Camp. I don’t know if this is waht is going on, but I have seen it.
Posted by Steve_in_CA
01/16/2011 at 12:01 AM
Doesn’t absolve the assistant Scoutmaster. He’s suing the BSA for not doing his own job. Scoutmasters are supposed to look for this sort of danger. He was negligent as a Scoutmaster.
I’ve no info about tree-huggers in Scout camps. I do know that 51-year-old Scoutmasters ARE the ones who are supposed to spot the dangers in question. I’m a 50-year-old assistant Scoutmaster and we do NOT have ‘resident camps’. At least not where I’ve been. We do have resident campsites, but again, we check out dangers. Preferably we do not pitch tents under trees.
Exactly. Just who the hell does he think was supposed to be conducting such inspections if not the Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmasters, in other words, him?
Christopher, the tree huggers are not at camp, the are in the committees in the home council. There are those who would not cut any trees for any reason because it would not be natural. This does go on in the councils I have been involved with, after all, I do live in California.
Any summer camp that has tents set up for the weeks use during a summer camp is defined to be a “resident camp” that is the Scouts live there during the program week. This is not like going into the wilderness and pitching tents where ever you want. These are permanent fixture in the camp.
There are two groups that would inspect for dangers, the Camping Committee and the camp staff when setting up for the year.
As an aside, where I live we had a case in town where a rotten oak tree fell on someone. The tree showed no outward signs of decay. There is a suit going on over this.
That said, I am NOT excusing the Asst. SM from responsibility for he surely has some. I do think that the camping commttee and the camp staff have been negligent as well to the extent of how evident the decay in the tree was bfore the accident.
The adult volunteer I cited above did not sue, but he sure had to fight the Boy Scouts to pay for his injuries (he was unemplyed and uninsured), which were quite severe as well.
BTW, I have been an adult volunteer with the Boy Scouts for over 20 years, so I’ve been around the block.Posted by Steve_in_CA
01/16/2011 at 03:55 PM
