In my eight years as a registered leader in Scouts (ever since my son joined in 1st grade) I have seen a lot of leaders - good, bad, studs, out of shape and everything in between.

Some units rarely if ever get into the backcountry (or frontcountry) and some seem to spend all their time there.

There are leaders who will push the envelope, who don't understand the risks and there are afraid to even try.

Mostly it's an outstanding group of volunteer leaders (there are professional, paid scouts, but very few) who want to help mold young men and women (Venture Scouts include young ladies) into productive members of their communities.

I wouldn't know how to figure out what BSA's accident rate is compared to the GP. In my small circle we are far better. I'm sure others are far worse. Bottom line, the leaders are out there spending their time and money trying to help kids.

I've have spent thousands of dollars in cash and lost vacation days to take our boys camping, hiking, etc. I have taken members of our group to several places in and around the Whitney Portal (some to the summit) and done so safely. But I'm just one guy - not everyone has the same training and thought process. BSA does offer plenty of training, but it's up to the leaders (often on their own dime) to get it.

A few bad apples (liars, etc) is NOT a reflection on BSA as a whole. For those who have gotten a bad taste of scouts due to a bad leader encounter, there are many, many others who got a postive impression of scouting because of just my group - multiple that by all the good deeds and I'm guessing (guessing because I have no cold, hard facts) that more people have been touched positively bu scouts than negatively.

I'll be leading a group of new kids on a ten mile hike this weekend. I won't be sitting back hoping someone else does it, I'll be out there. I wish more people could say they were doing the same thing............................DUG