Boy Scout Troop 325
Scoutmaster Minute
Recent Tragedies
August 2, 2005
Larry Polyak, Scoutmaster

The Boy Scouts have been in the news a lot this summer, but for all the wrong reasons. In June, there was Luke Sanberg, the 13 year old scout swept away by a river in Yellowstone National Park. Then there was news of a horrible tragedy at National Jamboree where four Scout leaders from Alaska were killed in an electrical accident. This is the same Jamboree where 160 people from our council and 16 boys from our own troop are currently still attending.

Then came the news last Friday of Ryan Collins, a 13 year old scout, and Steve McCullagh, a 29 year old Scout leader, who died from a lightning strike near Fresno, right here in California.

Someone said to me this past weekend: "I didn't know that Scouting was so dangerous." This really got me thinking. Is Scouting really dangerous? Well as they say: "You can't take the outing out of Scouting". A huge part of scouting is being outdoors. There is something inherently dangerous in any outdoor activity, being exposed to the elements and mother nature. Then again, people have been killed sitting in their own living rooms when a tree toppled over into their house. A friend of mine recently broke her foot just by stepping off of her own front porch.

Scouting as a whole has an excellent safety record. Countless hours are spent by Scouters researching, writing, and teaching safety. In large part, that's why we have meetings:, to plan and organize our outings, and to be prepared. Far more accidents occur with people who are un-prepared and ill-equipped to deal with the outdoors.

But sometimes you can do everything right, and accidents still happen. We should use these incidents to remind ourselves that we can never be too prepared.

Thank you for listening.