June 9, 2005 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The top executive of the Boy Scouts of America’s Atlanta council has resigned after an audit found that the organization had falsified the number of boys it had signed up under a program designed to increase the number of minority youngsters who become scouts.
David Larkin, Scout executive for the Atlanta Area Council, said he took full responsibility for the false registration numbers — which showed that more than 10,000 minority youths had joined the Boy Scouts under the program, even though only half that number had registered.
The audit and Mr. Larkin’s resignation come four months after the Greater Alabama Council of the Boy Scouts confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is examining its records to determine whether the group has been exaggerating its enrollment figures.
The Atlanta membership audit began after local leaders raised questions about the number of boys participating in the program. A former Atlanta Area Council official had said that staff members of the Boy Scouts were under pressure to increase membership numbers and charitable donations.
In a written statement, Tom Gay, president of the Atlanta council’s board, said the audit “shows that this problem resulted from some of the paid staff members who repeatedly broke rules within the registration process. We will be swift to rectify the situation and put in place a more accountable system.”
Allegations that Boy Scout groups have inflated their membership numbers have surfaced around the country for decades. In 1974, the Chicago Tribune reported accusations that Boy Scout groups in and around Chicago had exaggerated numbers to justify requests for money.
Five years ago, U.S. Postal Service inspectors raised questions about the number of boys enrolled in the Dallas metropolitan-area Scout programs, leading that Boy Scout council to reduce by thousands the number of boys it said were enrolled in its programs.
