Rx for violence: dump on Boy Scouts

[fgoodwin]

Rx for violence: dump on Boy Scouts

 

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/opinion/15132591.htm

http://tinyurl.com/l3l7p

 

Posted on Thu, Jul. 27, 2006

 

Michael Smerconish

 

THE CITY'S homicide rate appears headed for a record.

 

From the politicians (the mayor and his would-be successors), we hear the same-old, same-old:

 

Blame the guns and philosophize about police redeployment. Blaming guns always provides a good sound bite, but the reality is that guns aren't driving this problem, and neither is police presence or lack of it.

 

No, the murder rate is a direct result of kids born into families in which there is nobody home to kick butt, kids who are uncontrolled and facing no future. The closest anyone in this town has come to addressing the real root cause was when Inquirer columnist Claude Lewis wrote recently about the need to give kids back their childhood.

 

Not only does the city not hear Lewis' wisdom, but it's about to contradict his logic by undercutting a private group that preaches ethics, values and morality to young people who could otherwise fall into the grip of urban violence. At a time when young black people are dying in the streets, the mayor has set his sight on the Boy Scouts.

 

Yes, the Boy Scouts. You know:

 

On my honor I will do my best

 

To do my duty to God and my country

 

and to obey the Scout Law;

 

To help other people at all times;

 

To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

 

It's that last part that has Mayor Street's knickers in a knot. So the city is threatening to evict the local Boy Scouts, the Cradle of Liberty Council, from its city-owned headquarters at 22nd and Winter, which it has occupied since 1928, when a less-PC City Council said they could use the land forever. In reality, the scouts pay $60,000 a year for maintenance and upkeep of the property. They also made $2.6 million in renovations to the building in the mid-'90s.

 

This is a battle that has been going on for three years. And it is certainly a debate worth having, just maybe not now when the city is in crisis. Unfortunately, Mayor Street would sooner appease some special interests than stand up for kids getting role models.

 

A recap: The national Boy Scouts require scout leaders, not members, to be straight. This requirement has withstood Supreme Court scrutiny. That's right. The Boy Scout position has been approved by the Supremes.

 

The local Boy Scouts disagree with the national policy and have said so in a very public way. They don't want to discriminate against homosexuals - and John Street knows that. They have gone as far as they can go to appease both the city and their national leadership by adopting a nondiscrimination policy that states: "As the most diverse youth-serving organization in our service area, we are committed to this mission and we oppose any form of unlawful discrimination."

 

That's still not good enough for City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. Not only does he want unlawful discrimination condemned, he wants lawful discrimination to be condemned, too.

 

So guess who is poised to lose out? Not some Hitler youth. No, the losers are more than 40,000 local kids in grades K-12 who participate in programs called Learning for Life, or ScoutReach.

 

Learning for Life is a values-based, life-skills program run in collaboration with the city schools. The youths are taught by district teachers. ScoutReach helps to meet the developmental needs of young boys in Philadelphia, Montgomery and Delaware counties. By emphasizing ethics and moral values, ScoutReach addresses many of the social concerns of parents and youth in our area.

 

Values. Ethics. Morals. Just the kind of things to throw away at a time when the city is in crisis, as long as the city involved is this one.

 

And there is something else significant about Learning for Life: The program is absolutely nondiscriminatory!

 

It has nothing to do with traditional scouting. The schools, companies and organizations that partner with the scouts in Learning for Life pick leaders based on their standards, not those of the Boy Scouts of America.

 

And how ironic that one part of scout law requires them to be trustworthy: "A Scout tells the truth. He keeps his promises. Honesty is part of his code of conduct. People can depend on him."

 

According to the Boy Scouts, John Street needs to keep his promises. They say that in January 2004, a deal was cut with the solicitor's and mayor's offices in which the Boy Scouts adopted a nondiscrimination policy accepted by both the city and the national Boy Scouts organization.

 

It's not too late. Mayor Street can still follow the scout motto and "Do a Good Turn Daily." He can tell gay groups he's sympathetic, but, for now, he's going to lay off the scouts to give some kids an alternative to drugs, mischief and violence.

 

---

Michael Smerconish can be heard weekdays 5:30-9 a.m. on the Big Talker, 1210/AM. Contact him via the Web at www.mastalk.com

[scoutldr]

Why in the world would someone pay $2.6 million to renovate property that they don't own?

[fgoodwin]

Maybe they believed and trusted in the "perpetuity" clause of the lease?

 

Or maybe it was in consideration of the free rent?

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Fred, I've pointed out to you before that "in perpetuity" in a lease only means that the lease doesn't need to be periodically renewed. Every such lease has ways to end it, and the Philly lease can be ended if the city gives the Boy Scouts one-year's notice. Maybe the city gave them the lease because they believed and trusted that the Boy Scouts were for "all boys" or something.

[CalicoPenn]

Just what does the crime rate in Philadelphia have to do with the Boy Scouts and this issue anyway? The Boy Scouts certainly don't seem to be having any affect on crime in the city one way or another as it stands now - this is just another example of intellectual dishonesty in public discourse by using a red herring issue (crime rate) to make a point about an unrelated issue. The sad part is how many people will buy in to the arguments here. Why not a story linking the eviction of the scouts from city property to poverty, or to traffic congestion, or to emergency response times, or to how poor the Fourth of July fireworks were? Why not a story decrying the Mayor's work on development, budgets, and the myriad of other issues that a city must work on to keep functioning because of the crime rate? Cities have a lot of issues they deal with - all at the same time. How would these writers respond if the city were hit with a major flu epidemic and the mayor stated that he was too busy trying to reduce the crime rate as these writers want him to do, to respond to the health crisis? It's time we start calling out the opinion writers for their intellectual dishonesty. If I were the Mayor, I would respond to these criticisms by stating that since the city isn't using this property, the city should sell it to the highest bidder and use the proceeds to beef up the police force to fight crime and let the new owners deal with the BSA - but I'm sure these writers would find some way to criticize that plan

 

CalicoPenn

[BrentAllen]

Calico,

Sorry to hear you don't think the Scout movement is of any value to the community. The reason I volunteer so much time to the program is because I think it does improve society to teach boys to make good ethical decisions, and to teach them to become good citizens.

Murder is not a good ethical decision. As the writer points out, there are many kids born into homes with no moral leadership. They don't know right from wrong, and don't value life. It is from these ranks that the murderers and violent criminals emerge. If the Boy Scouts can reach even a few of them and change their path to a positive one, it has been successful.

Traffic congestion, emergency response times, a poor Fourth of July fireworks show, or a flu epidemic don't have much to do with an individual making poor ethical decisions. Murder, on the other hand, has everything to do with making poor ethical decisions.

You say it is obvious the BSA isn't making a difference in the murder rate now. I counter that the rate would be much higher, if the BSA were not operating their programs in the city.

 

My time is very valuable to me; I'm sure yours is to you. I feel this is the best program in the world for my son and the boys in our community to participate in. I honestly feel the program makes a big difference in society, and is worthy of a lot of my valuable time. If you don't feel the same, why do you volunteer your valuable time? Is Scouting something you and your son just participate in one night a week?

[CalicoPenn]

Brent,

 

You misunderstand - I never said that the BSA has no value - my argument is that the issue of the lease the BSA has with the city should stand alone. It should not be conflated with issues it has no real relation to.

 

When the council spokesperson says that with gun violence up in the city it's ironic that the administration trying to "destroy" programming that serves 40,000 youth is the city, the spokesperson is trying to convince the people that if the BSA loses their lease, gun violence will increase. That's a specious argument and not worthy of a spokesperson from the BSA. The only way programming for 40,000 youth in the city will be destroyed is of the Cradle of Liberty Council stops providing the programming - highly unlikely when funding often relies on numbers of people served. The only explanation can be that the BSA can't gain traction by arguing their position on the merits.

 

CalicoPenn

[fgoodwin]

CP: one of the things that makes this country so great is that we have freedom of expression.

 

Smerconish is free to hold his belief and you are free to believe he's wrong. If you feel that strongly about it, maybe you should write a letter to the editor and point out the error of his ways.

 

If you check the poll being run on the Philly.com website, your view is in the majority -- but I don't have to believe that makes it right.

 

YiS

[evmori]

Fred, I've pointed out to you before that "in perpetuity" in a lease only means that the lease doesn't need to be periodically renewed.

 

Actually, this is partially correct. "In perpetuity" means it never ends so it never needs to be renewed.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[fgoodwin]

Ed, I don't know if any of us are lawyers, but on the Internet, anyone can pretend to be. IANAL, but here's a definition from Law.com:

 

in perpetuity

adj. forever, as in one's right to keep the profits from the land in perpetuity.

 

I'd like to see the actual lease agreement or city resolution that said the Scouts could occupy the property "in perpetuity". I'd also like to know if the improvements made by the Council gives them any ownership interest in the property.

 

But like I said elsewhere, that's for the real lawyers (and the courts) to work out, not the wannabees in this Forum.

 

YiS

[yellow_hammer]

Having been exposed to inner city Boy Scout Troops at summer camp I sincerely doubt that the program has any affect on them at all. It appears that they are coerced into being there, have no interest in taking part in anything they don't consider fun, and are disruptive at best - criminal at worst.

 

I'm not saying that we shouldn't be doing something to reach out to them and help them. I am saying that the Boy Scout program assumes that there is something in a boy that you can appeal to. I don't see a foothold with the inner city boys that I have been around.

[packsaddle]

I agree with Calico regarding the thinking errors and deceptions in the article. And BSA can easily address the issue by agreeing on a market-based rent to pay for the property. Better, buy it from the city or better yet, become an inclusive, non-discriminatory club or at least allow the local option.

 

That said, YH, you may be correct about the effectiveness of the program but I must cling to some optimism, if nothing more than the 'starfish' metaphor. I volunteer my time after my son has been out of it for years now...because I know I can contribute to constructive experiences they probably wouldn't otherwise experience. I know this 'sticks' with some of them at least because they come back during college or later to thank me for it. To follow the 'starfish' metaphor, I may not be able to help every boy, but I can help at least one, ever so often. And I can't identify another program aroung here that offers this opportunity. I just wish that BSA didn't discriminate and allowed all boys to participate.

[fgoodwin]

Packsaddle, how would you propose that BSA allow atheist boys (and parents) to participate w/o changing the "Duty to God" part of the oath?

[packsaddle]

One key to a potential answer could reside in how a faith that does not believe in a god already is allowed by BSA. This is a point that has been made in these threads many times. For such faiths, the 'Duty to God' means something different, I think, compared to faiths who do believe in a god. I'm less certain about those faiths that claim many gods - which one, for example.

 

I personally believe that 'reverence' does not necessarily require belief in a god, hence reverence toward Gaia (or, for that matter, the great Holy opposable thumb) is sufficient. BSA, in my opinion, has no business poking their nose into such personal beliefs and I think BSA has mumbled agreement, in effect, in past statements. I could be wrong.

[DanKroh]

Then there is this inaccuracy in the article: "The national Boy Scouts require scout leaders, not members, to be straight."

 

Yes, youth members can be kicked out for being gay. Not just adults, youth.

 

I also seem to recall something a while ago about the Cradle of Liberty Council being coerced by National to enforce the "no gay leaders" policy when the council was NOT going to kick out a gay leader (can't remember his name, but it was fairly recently). If I recall correctly, the council was basically threatened to have their charter yanked by national unless they enforced the policy.

 

Anyone with more details (and a better memory), please feel free to correct or support this story....