[Roundtable] Frist moves to protect Boy Scouts' access

Thu, 17 Mar 2005 06:52:37 -0600

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/05/03/67051503.shtml?Element_ID=670
51503

Frist moves to protect Boy Scouts' access 
By MIKE MADDEN
Tennessean Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Congress may come to the Boy Scouts' aid.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist,
introduced legislation yesterday that would guarantee the Boy Scouts of
America can use government facilities for gatherings and events, despite
recent lawsuits challenging the Scouts over their policies that exclude
openly gay leaders and members who won't swear to a belief in God.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Scouts can set their own
membership rules, but the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups
have sought to keep the Scouts from using government facilities, saying
government shouldn't support an organization that critics believe
discriminates.
The Pentagon last year settled one such lawsuit by telling U.S. military
bases around the world not to become direct sponsors of Boy Scout troops or
Cub Scout dens.
If the proposed ''Support Our Scouts Act'' becomes law, though, the federal
government would be obliged to support the Scouts as fervently in the future
as it has for 95 years, and state and local governments would be required to
give Scouts access to their facilities if they make them available to other
groups.
The lawsuits have ''had a chilling effect on the government in its support
to the Scouts,'' said Senate Majority Leader Frist, a Nashville Republican
who carried Boy Scout hats and a Scouting manual as he spoke about the
legislation. ''(The legislation) addresses these issues head-on, by removing
any doubt that federal agencies may welcome Scouts to hold meetings and go
camping on federal property.''
In Tennessee, the proposed law would ensure that Scout troops based at Fort
Campbell could continue to be sponsored by military organizations, said Joe
Long, executive director of the Middle Tennessee Council of Boy Scouts of
America.
''For us, it's very significant,'' Long said of the proposal.
More than 46,000 boys are Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts in the 37 counties
covered by the Middle Tennessee Council, which is based in Nashville.
Nationally, more than 3.2 million boys ages 8-17 were Cub Scouts or Boy
Scouts in 2003, the last year records were available.
The organization's leaders say they try to instill moral values and respect
for community through group activities such as camping and earning merit
badges in everything ranging from ''atomic energy'' to ''wilderness
survival.''
''If you talk to a man my age who was a Cub Scout, and you ask him who his
den mother was 30 or 40 years ago, by and large they know, they remember,''
said Gregg Shields, a Boy Scouts of America spokesman. ''You ask him who his
fourth-grade teacher was and they go, 'I don't know.' ''
But critics say the organization's emphasis on religious beliefs and its
exclusion of openly gay Scoutmasters mean it shouldn't get help from
government to put on its programs. ACLU officials did not return a call for
comment on the legislation, but the group's chapters are involved in
lawsuits against the Boy Scouts from California to Connecticut.
Frist, a former Scout, tried to pass a similar bill last year, but he found
little support at the end of a busy year in Congress. More than half the
members of the Senate and slightly less than half of the House were Scouts,
according to BSA statistics.
Other Senate co-sponsors include Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander,
Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning, Montana Republican Conrad Burns, Idaho
Republican Larry Craig, Nevada Republican John Ensign, Florida Democrat Bill
Nelson and Oregon Republican Gordon Smith.
''It makes me think of Monday nights growing up in Maryville, Tennessee, as
a boy, when I would go down to New Providence Presbyterian Church, join
Troop 88,'' Alexander said at a news conference. ''Almost every weekend our
volunteer leaders would take us out. We'd go to the national park, the
military base. We'd go to the Oak Ridge laboratory.'' 

Lawmakers file bills to protect Boy Scouts-Pentagon alliance
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Davis introduces bill to protect the Pentagon's relationship with Boy Scouts
of America

By EMILY BATTLE

Date published: 3/17/2005 

Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-1st District, wants the relationship between the
Pentagon and the Boy Scouts of America protected by federal law.

Davis, who represents the Fredericksburg area, and Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist, R-Tenn., filed companion bills in Congress yesterday that would
guarantee the right of Scouts to hold meetings and go camping on federal
property, and ensure that the Defense Department can support Scouts. 

Called the Support Our Scouts Act, Davis' bill is the latest move in a legal
battle over the relationship between the Defense Department and the Boy
Scouts.

The fight started with a lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union filed
six years ago challenging Pentagon support for Scouts because the group
requires its members to believe in God.

Last year, the ACLU won a concession in the suit when the Defense Department
agreed not to support Scout troops on military bases.

A final ruling on the suit is not expected until after this summer's Boy
Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline County, and probably won't
affect the event, which the Army will spend more than $12 million to
support.

Davis and Virginia Republican Sen. George Allen have both sponsored
resolutions supporting the relationship between Scouts and the Defense
Department, but Davis' bill goes further.

"This legislation will clarify federal law so that the Boy Scouts of America
will receive the same amount of support from the federal government as any
other nonprofit youth organization in this country," Davis said in a written
statement. "This relationship between the Scouts and the DoD should not be
manipulated by an extreme group bent on pursuing a political agenda."

To reach EMILY BATTLE: 540/374-5413 ebattle@freelancestar.com

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http://www.opinioneditorials.com/freedomwriters/mholmes_20050317.html
March 17, 2005

A Scout Is Loyal 
Matthew Holmes 

The ACLU is never going to stop.

It's time the rest of us realize that and decide to do something about it.

Because the Boy Scouts of America are in danger and unless we lend a hand, I
fear one day they too will fall.

I have never been prouder to be a part of any organization than the honor I
feel to be known as an Eagle Scout.

Scouting is where I learned about Honor to God and Country. Scouting taught
me how to defend myself through physical fitness and the use of firearms.
Scouting taught me the truth behind the proud history of our nation, gave me
an eternal respect for the military, and a sense of what being a patriot is
all about.

In my time as a Scout, I also learned the value of service and the rewards
that come from helping other people.

We fed the homeless, collected Christmas presents for underprivileged
children, helped clean up lakes, rivers, roadsides, and parks. I taught
first aid, CPR, and lifesaving. I made a positive impact in my community and
was blessed to be a part of something important.

My Eagle Scout Project consisted of renovating the town hall building for a
tiny town in Texas. Other Eagle projects I have participated in included:
fingerprinting children as part of an anti-kidnapping initiative with the
police department, painting fire hydrants to make locating them easier for
the firefighters to locate, building signs to go at a wildlife environmental
center, and painting the dugout and concession stands on a baseball field
for a community center.

I'd be willing to bet that everyone reading this piece has benefited in some
way by the efforts of the Scouts.

And what have they ever asked for in return?

Just a chance to serve the community again and maybe to collect canned food
to give to the poor.

There is no organization in the world that is a better model to teach boys
how to become men.

Having said that, is it any wonder that destroying the Boy Scouts of America
is the number one goal of the ACLU?

For an organization whose mission is to destroy the fabric of traditional
America, is there any better target?

I receive letters and e-mail all the time from people asking me the same
question: "What can we do to defeat the ACLU?"

Thanks to their legal loopholes and robust financing, we can't just tell the
ACLU to take a walk and expect them to disappear. Yet, people are frustrated
by the seemingly useless notion of calling or e-mailing Congress or the
Department of Defense to support the Scouts, only to have their feelings
ignored by the government and overturned by the judiciary.

The only way to hurt the ACLU is to fight back.

And it seems to me that the best way to fight this godless, anti-American,
buzzsaw of intolerance is to throw all of our support to the Boy Scouts of
America. 

The Scouts are the ACLU's Most Wanted because up until now the BSA is the
only group that has consistently told the ACLU to go to hell.

When everyone else capitulates to their threats, the BSA has refused to be
intimidated.

But all of that might be changing.

The BSA is withdrawing thousands of charters in their long standing
relationship with public school systems across the country, because the ACLU
is threatening lawsuits over the relationships. 

The Scouts will not surrender because they are wrong. They will surrender
because the monetary burden is more than they can bear.

The financial strain lawsuits like these cause an organization like the
Scouts is always the impetus for the surrender of principles.

Again, I repeat the question so many of you have asked: "What can we do to
stop the ACLU?"

I know of two specific answers.

1) Go to www.give2bsa.org and donate money to the defense fund for the
Scouts. It is the most direct way to challenge the ACLU, and the money will
certainly not be wasted.

2) Write your own message of support to the Boy Scouts of America at
www.bsalegal.org

Tell the Scouts why you are donating money to their cause and let them know
you will stand with them. If you have Scout aged children, get them in your
local troop or Cub Scout Pack.

The BSA is an organization built around service to others. They will not
come to your door and ask you to help them.

But we owe them our help.

The second Scout Law reads "A Scout is Loyal."

It's time to show the ACLU where our loyalties lie.

Matthew Holmes is a North Carolina based columnist for Wildfire Politics.
His articles have been featured in the North Carolina Conservative, World
Net Daily.Com, News Max.Com, Opinion Editorials.Com, and other media
outlets. He can be reached at blade729@msn.com or
http://www.wildfirepolitics.com

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