No, that is where YOUR mind went. I read it and my first thought was “Who did he molest?” I did not automatically assume it was a scout, that would be “jumping to conclusions”.

@Jason said: “On a pesonal note. How dare you identify the individual groups he is with. Now they are all freaking out and everyone will be talking aboutthem for possibly no readon. Thanks a lot.”

WOW, you’re mad because they said he was a scout leader? Should they have said, “He holds a position of authority over a large group of children. We won’t say what group it is, figure it out for yourself”. THAT would be irresponsible journalism!

Parents have a RIGHT to know if a group their child is involved in has something like this happen to it. You seem more upset that the “scouts” name was associated with this.

I was a cub scout, webelo, and boy scout. Let me tell you, there were MANY times there was only one adult with all of us.

Church, scouts, school, neighbors, friends, baseball, football, band……. the boogeyman could be anywhere. I would hope that the police have already informed the scouts and the potential parents involved. If not than perhaps it was a little irresponsible to print the groups.

Subject lines/headlines are meant to grab your attention – not be the whole story. (i.e. Does this pertain to me? Am I interested in this news report? etc)

No where in this article does it suggest that those three girls were in the Boy Scouts. Only that he molested three girls, aged 3-9, and that he is a Boy Scout Leader & an Escambia County School District Employee…so unless you (general you) are illiterate, i’m not really sure how a person can infer what you are suggesting.

OK so would you have preferred that instead of saying “he might be left alone with children” that he say, “he might violate the policy that no adult be alone with a child”? — either way, you understand what he was saying. He was in a leadership position, working with kids. He MIGHT have been alone with children in the course of the time he was a Boy Scout Leader. Would BSA have allowed this to go on if they knew about it? No. Would these three girls mothers allowed this to go on if they knew about it? No. Doesnt mean it didnt happen.

if i were the parent of a child in his troop…I’d definitely want to know. If my kids were in boyscouts, but the reporting made no mention of Boy Scouts, I might be inclined to just look over this news story all together. It was mentioned, because it MATTERS.

You are not living in the real world. A small boy scout troop meeting in a local church. Two adult leaders, 20 boys. One leader runs to his car, goes to the bathroom or steps outside with a parent. Guess what? One leader is alone with the kids. “Mark’s” dad calls and says “I’ll be 15 minutes late picking him up, can you stay”. One leader stays with “Mark. Alone. Or a camping trip. Leader “A” wakes up during the night and has the opportunity to “check on” a few of the boys. Alone.

It might be a policy, and it might work most of the time. But it’s not perfect. Perhaps this guy never did anything at a BSA meeting or event. But I for one, the parent of a child in one of the listed groups, is very glad the story ran with the headline it has to that I would read it and very glad it idenfitied the troop. I will be having a long conversation with my son tonight. Perhaps those upset by this story shoudl join the real world and talk to your kids too.

Why aren’t you yelling at FOX 10? Their headline says Boy Scouts and the story lists the Troop #s too. There must be some reason police gave out the troup numbers.

We identified the Troops he was with because the Pensacola Police Department felt it important enough to send an email with that specific information to all media.

That’s why we, and other media, are reporting the info.

To have the information and not report it would be as irresponsible as to report a school teacher was arrested for molesting children without naming the school.

The issue is the reporting is this…. “Local Boy Scout leader molests children.” This has been picked up and said on local radio. Now what conclusion do you automatically draw from this headline? My point is you have decided to make your readers jump to the conclusion that he molested scouts at scout events. There really is no other line of thinking with that headline.

And no you should NEVER trust anyone with your kid. Not fully, always question and inform them. Like I will never fully trust any other adult leader that I am in scouts with. Thatis why we try to make it impossible to be alone with a kid.

On a pesonal note. How dare you identify the individual groups he is with. Now they are all freaking out and everyone will be talking aboutthem for possibly no readon. Thanks a lot.

As a BSA leader, I am absolutely infuriated that this man (if guilty) should be involved with children in any capacity. But, let’s not let this be an excuse to promote misconceptions or misinformation. The Boy Scouts of America has unalterable policy of Two-deep Leadership, which states that NO adult may be alone with a child. There MUST always be at least two adults present. Will violations of this policy occur? Probably. Will violations be tolerated by the BSA? Never. To make an offhanded statement that a BSA leader “might be left alone with children” as at best, misleading and at worse, inflammatory.

What used to be common was a 7 year old riding his bike to the ball game by himself, not worrying about who was lurking in the bushes. The community was a community. Neighbors would report to Mom & Pop if little Johnny was into mischief. They would also step in if it looked like little Johnny needed protection.

Now people don’t want you to scold their kids when they are showing severe lack of parenting, but they will be happy to tell you how you are neglecting yours.

I miss the days of drop your kids off. Back when the world looked out for each other.