Boy Scouts

WE STRONGLY object to your editorial encouraging individual donations to the Cradle of Liberty Council, and to your assertion that the council "has consistently tried to do the right thing in a difficult situation. " The right thing to do "for the sake of the kids" would have been to keep Gregory Lattera in the organization after he spoke out. By giving in to the discrimination of the Boy Scouts of America, the council set a horrible example for every child, leader and parent in the Philadelphia region, and the Daily News sets an even worse example by encouraging support for an organization that discriminates on the basis of religious belief and sexual orientation.

A Huntingdon Valley man has decided to drop a lawsuit against the Valley Forge Council of the Boy Scouts of America, according to Doylestown lawyer Robert J. Gleason. John Vassollo of the 300 block of Welsh Road dropped his lawsuit against the Valley Forge Council of the Boy Scouts of America last week, Gleason said. Vassollo filed the suit in Montgomery County Court in July 1988, claiming $20,000 in punitive damages and unspecified damages of $40,000 after he broke his ankle when he and his son, Matthew, were leaving a camping trip held on the Boy Scouts Delmont Scout Camp, in Green Lane.

Boy Scouts, satellite dishes and street lights were the order of the day for the Cheltenham Township commissioners this week. At a meeting Tuesday night, the Board of Commissioners: Granted permission for Cheltenham Boy Scout Troop 321 to lease a Colonial-era, township-owned stone house at 409 Ashbourne Rd. in Tookany Park, the troop's first new home in 27 years. Approved an amendment to the township zoning ordinance regulating satellite dishes. Approved a pilot program to install 70 to 80 sodium vapor street lights.

CHRISTINE Flowers hit the nail on the head in her Dec. 7 op-ed about the city evicting the Boy Scouts from their headquarters. Being politically correct isn't always right. In an op-ed in the Inquirer on June 6, I wrote that a change in the BSA's anti-gay policy is needed, but must come from within. Please, Philadelphia, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. This story is now national news. The New York Times published a lengthy story on Dec. 6. The anti-discrimination policy of the Cradle of Liberty Council was based on the policy of the New York Scouting Organization.

AMID THE latest firestorm of pedophilia charges against the Roman Catholic priesthood, the media has been grinding its ax fast and furious against the church's celibacy requirement. Either the celibacy rule is "attracting too many homosexuals," creating a bountiful feeding ground for child sex-abusers, or turning too many heterosexual priests into sexually psychotic predators. Ironically, just a few years ago, the media said the Boy Scouts of America had too few homosexuals among its leadership ranks.

Two local organizations will be honored during a White House ceremony hosted by President Bush on July 24 for their contributions to a "Take Pride in America" competition. Representatives of Phoenixville Area Junior High School and the Valley Forge Council of the Boy Scouts of America are among 103 regional winners in 48 states who plan to attend the ceremony. The junior high will be recognized for a recycling program; the Boy Scouts, for a trout nursery program. The "Take Pride in America" competition is sponsored by the federal Department of the Interior and is in its third year.

TWO HUNDRED eighty-seven murders to date, the latest a 5-year-old girl simply sitting in the back seat of her mother's car on a Sunday drive. But what are the mayor and City Council worried about, where is their focus? It is on those horrible, highly taxed cigarette smokers and the Boy Scouts. Smoking is a terrible, life-threatening habit, one I've been trying to give up for years, but to rush through a bill like this when our children are being shot to death is ridiculous.

Mayor Nutter assured gay and lesbian leaders Tuesday of his commitment to fighting discrimination, but said he would not back off an agreement to end a long battle over the Boy Scouts' exclusion of openly gay members. The city had tried to evict the scouts' Cradle of Liberty Council from its city-owned headquarters, but a federal jury found that doing so would violate the scouts' First Amendment rights. In a settlement, the city agreed to sell the Logan Square building to the scouts for $500,000, with the scouts forgiving about $960,000 in legal bills.

Two Clementon men have been charged with setting brushfires at a Boy Scout camp in Pine Hill after they admitted setting the fires and entering a nearby business to steal copper and tools. Greg W. Woodman, 25, of Higgins Avenue, and Michael K. Sloan Jr., 19, of Worrell Avenue, each set a large brushfire Wednesday at the Boy Scouts of America Scout Reservation on New Freedom Road, Pine Hill police said Friday. The men were caught as they ran from a building at the National Paving company on West Atlantic Avenue, police said.

Two Clementon men have been charged with setting brush fires at a Boy Scouts camp in Pine Hill after they admitted setting the fires and entering a nearby business to steal copper and tools. Greg W. Woodman, 25, of Higgins Avenue, and Michael K Sloan Jr., 19, of Worrell Avenue, each set a large brush fire at the Boy Scouts of America Scout Reservation on New Freedom Road on Wednesday, Pine Hill police said Friday. The men were caught as they ran from a building at the National Paving company on West Atlantic Avenue, police said.

IN HER opinion piece on the Boy Scouts, Christine Flowers writes, "Isn't it nice to know that in the town where the Constitution was written, there are some people - including some lawyers - who think it's OK to blackmail citizens into forgoing those rights, I mean, behavior?" The question was never about whether the Boy Scouts have the right to exclude openly gay members. The issue is whether an organization that excludes openly gay members has a right to remain headquartered in a city-owned building without paying any taxes.

THE CITY must cough up nearly $900,000 to the Boy Scouts for legal fees after failing to evict the Scouts from their headquarters over anti-gay policies. A federal judge Wednesday denied the city's request for a new trial in the case, which has dragged on for nearly a decade. Mayor Nutter said the city was reviewing the opinion, calling the $877,122 bill a "significant expense. " The cash-poor city had tried to avoid a giant payout by making a deal last year in which the local scouting group Cradle of Liberty would buy the building at 22nd and Winter streets for $500,000 and forgive the legal fees.

The City of Philadelphia must pay nearly $900,000 to the Boy Scouts for legal fees after failing to evict the scouts from their headquarters over antigay policies. A federal judge on Wednesday denied the city's request for a new trial in a case that has lasted nearly a decade. Mayor Nutter said the city was reviewing the opinion, calling the $877,122 bill a "significant expense. " The city tried to avoid a giant payout by proposing a deal last year in which the local Cradle of Liberty scouts group would buy the building at 22d and Winter Streets for $500,000 and forgive the legal fees.

THE WAR on women - especially over their contraceptive and reproductive rights - has entered a new, younger battleground, as witness the warped airwaves of Rush Limbaugh as he attacked a young law student for her stand on contraception. And now, an Indiana legislator has lowered the age of this war's targets even further to include girls. State Rep Bob Morris made headlines recently when he refused to join in a resolution honoring the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of the USA. (The first Girl Scout meeting was held in Savannah, Ga., on March 12, 1912.)

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. - A judge overseeing a lawsuit brought by the family of a California boy molested by his troop leader in 2007 has ordered the Boy Scouts of America to hand over confidential files detailing allegations of sexual abuse by Scout leaders around the nation. The Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge said last month that the Irving, Texas-based organization must turn over the last 20 years' worth of records by Friday, with victims' names removed, the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday.

Scouts ordered to give files SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - A judge overseeing a lawsuit brought by the family of a California boy molested by his troop leader in 2007 has ordered the Boy Scouts of America to hand over confidential files detailing allegations of sexual abuse by Scout leaders around the nation. The Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge said last month that the organization must turn over the last 20 years' worth of records by Friday, with victims' names removed, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

THE CRADLE of Liberty Council of the Boy Scouts of America has filed court papers to dissolve the settlement it reached with the city over its Center City headquarters, after the deal languished for more than a year without getting approval from City Council. The settlement was supposed to conclude a years-long legal battle between the Boy Scouts organization and the city over the group's refusal to renounce the national policy of not allowing gay members. Citing a city charter provision that forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation, the city in 2006 demanded the Scouts pay $200,000 in yearly rent or face eviction from their building on city-owned land on 22nd and Winter streets.

The deal for the city to sell the local Boy Scouts headquarters to the scouting group has fallen through, leaving it unclear how Philadelphia will pay an estimated $963,575 in legal fees and, at least for now, handing a temporary victory to those who had opposed the plan. In a filing in federal court Friday, the Boy Scouts' attorney, Jason Gosselin, said: "The parties concluded that the settlement agreement would never be approved by City Council. " City Council legislation was required to sell the city-owned building to the Boy Scouts Philadelphia group, the Cradle of Liberty Council.