Jeff Ream Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 I am not sure if I am for this or not.Hear me out. Lets say a hard working well meaning parent or supporter had a dope charge when he was 19 years old and he is 55 now and has had a clean record since....are we going to exclude that person from the activity????? What if its a guy that had a tax charge for failing to report income??????Does that make him a danger to kids???? This may have been asked and answered but what if a kid 19 years of age has a criminal record..Can he march>>??????? Requiring back ground checks is going to put a huge bourdon on the corps both financially and in term of man hours.What if a corps wants to bring in a guest staff person for a weekend.Are they really going to be required to do a background check on these people before they can step foot in front of the kids???? I am all for protecting our kids but find the thought of required background checks scary. Most states have some sort of sexual predator list.I think it would be wise for corps to check that but requiring it opens a whole new can of worms. the corps doesnt have to pay a dime. you can get this done thru the state police. it's usually like $10 bucks and have the person pay it. it's required in many states to work with high school kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PioGuyBW Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Hmmmmm ... what if the member doesn't want to? Members are not being forced to believe what they are being told in church. We are simply expected to attend a church to display a sense of class and to stay true to our origins at St. Patrick's in Milwaukee. People who are not usually church-goers may even decide to adopt a particular faith after attending a church with the corps. there is nothing to be lost, but much to gain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Members are not being forced to believe what they are being told in church. We are simply expected to attend a church to display a sense of class and to stay true to our origins at St. Patrick's in Milwaukee. People who are not usually church-goers may even decide to adopt a particular faith after attending a church with the corps. there is nothing to be lost, but much to gain. I fail to see how forced attendance at a church shows "a sense of class and to stay true to our origins". My corps was origially a Catholic corps, the Holy Name Cadets, yet we were not dragged to churches while on the road. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Big problem with background checks is you'd have to check volunteers too if your process is to be at all legitimate. You could argue that checking some (staff) is better than none, especially since the staff generally have more contact and are in a position of authority. But what would be the justification for not checking volunteers too? The best the corps could claim is checking all the volunteer isn't practical, which isn't really much justification if the worse came to worst. The best defense - better than background checks which, of course, could never catch a first offender - is active supervision. Everyone has someone else looking over his or her shoulder. That plus open dialogue with and among the kids to encourage early reports of trouble is the best way to go. HH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 I fail to see how forced attendance at a church shows "a sense of class and to stay true to our origins". Ain't that the truth. HH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeeJay Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 I fail to see how forced attendance at a church shows "a sense of class and to stay true to our origins". My corps was origially a Catholic corps, the Holy Name Cadets, yet we were not dragged to churches while on the road. We were never forced. Roman usually asked us to see it as a cultural experience, as a moment of meditation in busy corps life and as a way to create a better understanding of the world and the way others see it. I learned a lot from it even though I'm not member of any church. People who had a reason not to go didn't have to go, but everyone was encouraged to do so. Being a team means you might also have to do these things.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 We were never forced. Roman usually asked us to see it as a cultural experience, as a moment of meditation in busy corps life and as a way to create a better understanding of the world and the way others see it. I learned a lot from it even though I'm not member of any church. People who had a reason not to go didn't have to go, but everyone was encouraged to do so. Being a team means you might also have to do these things.... Well, IMO if the corps director is 'asking' the young members to do soething, kit's pretty much along the lines of the post I replied to: "We are simply expected to attend..." We nearly always had a bus available to take those who wanted to go to church if we were on the road on a Sunday (this was pre-DCI, after all), but I don't ever remember anyone in authority "asking" that we attend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxwellNotes Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 I also know Curt and the Schmidt family quite well and I must say that when I heard about this, I was told by a friend on the phone before I saw it here, I was completely shocked. I think this is the single biggest shock I have had in many years. The entire family bled green for the corps and Curt was a fantastic friend. I only hope that justice is served, whatever the outcome, that the Schmidt family can get past this and that the Pioneer are not effected by any of this mess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 the corps doesnt have to pay a dime. you can get this done thru the state police. it's usually like $10 bucks and have the person pay it. it's required in many states to work with high school kids. When I did it it few years ago was $10 for State Police Criminal background check and another $10 to see if you were on the Child Abuse (forget the offical title) National register. Took 4-6 weeks for the paperwork to return. Not a perfect system but a small price to pay in money and time for an organization to help protect itself. And to go with Glory, ALL people who are near the kids (paid and unpaid volunteers) need to be checked for this to be effctive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 (edited) By the way, remember that there's no evidence that this person ever did anything to any member of Pioneer. Dan, is there a reason why you replied to my post with this? If so I missed the connection. Edited January 9, 2006 by JimF-xWSMBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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