Scouts riding roller coaster of good and bad

With a rousing presidential visit just days after a deadly accident, the just-completed National Scout Jamboree epitomized the recent tumult roiling the Boy Scouts of America — tragedy, high-profile scandals, lawsuits and dwindling ranks on one hand but also a new wave of support extending to the highest levels in Washington.

To some of their critics, the Scouts are now a polarizing organization — determined to stick by policies that exclude atheists and gays. To supporters, the Scouts remain an American treasure, teaching boys from diverse backgrounds such timeless values as duty, citizenship and teamwork.

"The controversies don't flow down to the scouting level," said John Eastman, a law professor who doubles as assistant Scoutmaster in Long Beach, Calif. "They make not one whit of difference in how we conduct the program."

The problems, however, have drawn the close attention of the Scouts' national leadership, which is seeking to reverse membership declines, end a spate of scandals involving false enrollment data and tighten procedures aiming at keeping pedophiles out of Scout jobs.

• The deaths of four adult Scout leaders in an electrical accident at the Jamboree in Virginia, and five other deaths this summer from drowning and lightning during Scout outings in Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and California.

• Investigations in Atlanta, northern Alabama and Tampa, Fla., of allegations that membership rolls of some Scouting programs were inflated to boost contributions. A Scout official resigned in Atlanta and the local United Way held back $250,000 after auditors found that nearly 5,000 boys, mostly black, were falsely registered in an inner-city program.

• Lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union seeking to limit government support for the Scouts because they exclude gays and require participants to declare belief in God.

• Several sex-abuse cases involving former troop leaders, and a child-pornography case in Texas against a senior Scout official who ran a task force combating sexual abuse. Douglas Sovereign Smith Jr., who had worked for the Scouts for 39 years, pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child pornography; he faces at least five years in prison.

The Scouts' spokesman, Gregg Shields, said the organization is constantly seeking better ways to protect its boys from abuse, focusing on background screening and education programs teaching volunteers and parents how to spot suspicious behavior.