Boy Scouts bankruptcy doesn't affect county troops
The Boy Scouts of America's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing Tuesday will have no effect on local activities or organizations, according to local Scouts officials.
The BSA petition, filed in Delaware bankruptcy court, halts the hundreds of lawsuits faced by the 110-year-old organization over alleged sexual misconduct by people within BSA.
Raymond Tennent IV, CEO of Moraine Trails Council BSA, said the local organization has not filed for bankruptcy — just the national organization. He assures the filing would not affect assets of the local BSA, nor would the organization close any camps.
The Moraine Trails Council covers Scouts in Butler, Armstrong, Lawrence, and part of Westmoreland counties.
“Essentially, we're chartered by the national organization,” Tennent said. “Any liability is through the national organization.”
He added meetings and activities, district and council events, other Scout adventures and service projects are taking place as usual, and there should be no change to the local Scouting experience.
“The Moraine Trails Council — which provides programming, financial, facility and administrative support to local units and individual Scouts in our area — is separate and distinct from the national organization,” Tennent said. “Our camps, properties and all local contributions are controlled by our council.”Jayme Meredith, scoutmaster of Troop 404 in Cranberry Township, said of the bankruptcy filing, “The good news is it doesn't impact any of the local troops. We're financially separate.”Meredith said technically the troop and its equipment are owned by its sponsor, the Cranberry Township Elks Club.Donations stay localBrett Ligo, Moraine Trails Council president, further stressed donations to the local BSA council stay local, adding the message was important for donors, parents, leaders, staff and the community in general to know.“We depend on local support to operate our council camps and facilities to implement local programs such as summer camp and our popular Technology Merit Badge Academy,” said Ligo.Ligo said there are many steps the BSA takes to keep youths safe, including a Risk Management Committee that inspects facilities and reviews emergency policies regularly.The Moraine Trails Council serves 2,549 boys and girls in kindergarten through 12th-grade and has received annual awards from the Boy Scouts of America for its local program and governance.Sexual abuse settlements had reportedly strained the Boy Scouts' finances, with states passing laws last year, so victims from long-ago abuse can sue for damages.Meredith said he was going to address the bankruptcy news at a troop meeting Tuesday night.He said so far the bankruptcy and sexual misconduct allegations seem not to have affected the 45 boys in his Cranberry Township troop. “Honestly, they like doing what they are doing. They are just happy to be doing Scout things,” he said.Meredith, who has been a scoutmaster for three years, has been heavily involved in Scouting throughout his life including attaining the rank of Eagle Scout.His son, Jack, 14 is also a Scout.“It gives us an opportunity to spend time together,” he said.'Blind eye' to problemMeredith said it's sad that events have come to this.“It angers me that a few, terrible people did a few terrible things to Scouts,” Meredith said.“The organization didn't deal with this 20, 30, 40 years ago. It was a lot like the church in that it turned a blind eye to it,” he said.The Chapter 11 filing sets into motion what could be one of the biggest, most complex bankruptcies ever filed. Scores of lawyers are seeking settlements on behalf of several thousand men who say they were molested as Scouts by scoutmasters or other leaders decades ago, but are only now eligible to sue because of recent changes in their states' statute-of-limitations laws.Bankruptcy will enable BSA to put those lawsuits on hold for now.But ultimately BSA could be forced to sell off some of their vast property holdings, including campgrounds and hiking trails, to raise money for a compensation trust fund that could surpass $1 billion.The organization encouraged all victims to come forward to file claims.The bankruptcy petition listed the BSA's assets at between $1 billion and $10 billion and its liabilities at $500 million to $1 billion.The Associated Press contributed to this story.
