As many of you know, the Benster is an Eagle Scout. He had a wonderful experience in Scouting and had the support of many fine people during his time in Scouting. One of the people he encountered along the way died yesterday. Cindie Teeling was the Vice Chair for Eagle Advancement for the Northwest District of the Northern Star Council of the Boy Scouts of America. That's a heck of a title, but as a practical matter what it means is that Cindie reviewed Eagle Scout applications for hundreds of young men who were pursuing the Eagle rank. If you were a scout in New Brighton, Roseville, Mounds View, Shoreview, Arden Hills, North Oaks or Little Canada -- essentially, the territory covered in the Mounds View and Roseville school districts, there was a good chance you would have met Cindie along the line.
Cindie was tough and had very high standards. She sent the Benster's application back a few times and while it was frustrating at the time, we all see the wisdom of why she did it. Ben's project was pretty ambitious and she got him to think through all of the details carefully. Ben's project turned out very well:
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| A welcoming field in Isanti |
Cindie was battling cancer, but you would not have known that. All you knew is that she cared deeply about the Scouts in our area. I don't think there's any question that the world is a better place because Cindie Teeling was part of it. Her legacy will live on through Benster and the many other Eagle Scouts she counseled over the years. Funeral arrangements are pending.
2 comments:
Probably a lot of people have stories to tell--about a quarter of girls and a sixth of boys have been abused in some way--but it strikes me that filing a lawsuit many years after the statute of limitations expired may not be the best tactic. Work instead with the BSA and others to prevent it from happening again. Might do a lot more for both sides than a cash payment.
One example: I link to a guy who says he was abused by a Scoutmaster, and what he wants is a chance to finish his Eagle. That sounds reasonable to me if his story bears out.
Point of clarification -- having been involved in Scouting for a long time, I would say that the Youth Protection regimen that BSA uses is quite effective. The chances for a potential abuser to have a one-on-one opportunity with a Scout are just about nil. We always have 2-deep leadership, meaning that there are at least two adult leaders for every event and that a scout cannot meet privately with a scoutmaster or merit badge adviser unless the meeting is in plain sight of other leaders. In my role as a merit badge counselor, I even have to cc a scout's parents on every email I send. When the Benster was working with Cindie Teeling, she copied me and Ben's scoutmaster on all correspondence and when Ben talked to her on the phone, I was also on the line.
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