'"I am very familiar with a chapter which it turned out had a registered sex offender as a member. The chapter did not know of his status until he left the area. This person was terrific, well liked, and an excellent volunteer. He never attended YE activity, and in retrospect now we know why.

This was a "near miss" (in the sense that the person was a sex offender, but hadn't participated in Young Eagles), but Mark van Wyk in Post #132 provided a specific case:

A Ramsey man [Chad Michael Geyen] who used to volunteer with youth faces more charges of sexual abuse against children....The father of two has a private pilot's license and volunteers with the Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagles program, which coordinates flights with volunteer pilots for young people interested in flying.'

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I see we have devolved to the "anecdote standard." Just a few questions to chew on before we get too far up on our high horses. I'm getting a little nosebleed myself from all this moral high ground.

Couple of things: firstly, unless I woke up in Russia this morning, accusation and conviction are two different things, and in America, the accused is supposed to be "innocent until proven guilty." You either believe that or you don't, and all the crawfishing, finessing, and hair-splitting about, You-Can't-Be-Too-Careful are non-starters, IMHO.

Secondly, I have seen some of these "sexual abuse" cases firsthand, and while that does not appear ON THE FACE to be the case above, that is exactly the kind of accusation now in vogue with women's divorce lawyers in order to apply leverage, when both parties know it's a damned lie, so vide supra and think carefully before judging an "accused," especially when all you know is what you have been told by a third party.

Thirdly, I am also familiar with two men who have been convicted of the above. Both cases involved young men somewhat OVER 18 who were doing the horizontal mambo with girls who were younger, but still in their age group, generally. I think they referred to themselves as "boyfriend" and "girlfriend." Now these fellows will have to register the REST OF THEIR LIVES, for doing that very-normal thing which young people in the course of human history have never been able to resist.

Fourthly, unless I woke up in Russia AGAIN, when you serve your time or do your particular sentence, you are supposed to have Paid Your Debt to Society. What happened to that? How does a sex offense become a life sentence, with lifetime reporting and restricted living location?

It's very, very easy to succumb to that human desire to regulate others; very, very hard to undo it. I see no credible reason for any of this nonsense, and from like responses in my local chapter, it looks like Young Eagles is, for us, a thing of the past.