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WATERLOO, NY--A former Boy Scout leader from Cayuga County has pleaded guilty to felony sex act charges he was facing. Charles Seamans, of Weedsport, was facing charges in Seneca County for sexually abusing a 12 year old boy at Camp Babcock Hovey in Ovid last July. Seamans was sentenced to 10 years in State Prison and will also have 5 years of post release supervision. He'll be required to register as a sex offender. Seamans also plead guilty to similar charges in Cayuga County earlier this year.

At a campaign event at 11:00AM PST Boy Scouts will recycle 12,000 American Flags that were thrown in the trash after the democratic convention.

I read with great appreciation Phil McBride’s article on the Mountain Man Rendezvous recently held by the Boy Scouts of America at Snow Flat on Mount Graham. The article evoked fond memories of the many times I attended what was then the 3G Council’s annual summer camp at Snow Flat. Lessons then learned from the Boy Scouts remain with me today, as do the many friends I made in Scouting. In those days and for many years thereafter, no one believed that the BSA could become the focal point of controversy. But that was then, and this is now. And...

When the six Boy Scouts from suburban Maplewood, N.J., went camping in the Grand Canyon, they expected an adventure they would long talk about, but they did not expect to be clinging to treetops and praying to survive a flash flood. The six Scouts and three adult leaders were eventually guided to safety by American Indians who live in the area, and plucked out of the wilderness by a Black Hawk helicopter. By the time they flew away, the 10-yard-wide canyon next to a stream where they had been camping had become a 300-yard-wide raging river. The scouts and their...

Members of the honor society for the Boy Scouts of America who had to change their service project plans in Wyoming when the U.S. Forest Service instead allowed the Rainbow Family hippie group to use a location the Scouts had sought now are helping the federal agency fight a forest fire in the state. According to a report in the Casper Star-Tribune the Scouts, some of an estimated 1,000 members of the Order of the Arrow in the state, have "stepped in" to help firefighters in the Bridger-Teton National Forest fight the New Fork Lakes fire, about 19 miles north...

Unfair Demands On Boy Scouts http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=33a46ad1-5d62-4201-98b5-dd7602900835 By The Day Published on 7/29/2008 We are at a loss to understand why the state Department of Transportation wants to give East Lyme Boy Scout troops such a hard time over doing a good deed. For 25 years on Labor Day weekend the Scouts have served coffee and doughnuts around the clock to weary drivers at the weigh stations on Interstate 95 in Waterford. Drivers get a needed break. The Scouts take pride in providing a service. Donations collected help the Boy Scouts and other local groups. Who could object? Unfortunately, the bureaucrats...

No excerpting per copyright restrictions. Copy/paste link: http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2008-07-20-boy-scouts-advice_N.htm#uslPageReturn Worth the click-thru, Chief Scout Executive gives good answers when the interviewer tries to make it all about the Scouts vs. homosexuals: the Scouts will no longer allow others to define them.

An open standards row is brewing between the EC and a lobbying group for software multinationals over a proposed European framework on interoperability – a draft of which is due to be published on 15 July.The Interoperable Delivery of European e-government Services to Public Administrations, Businesses and Citizens (IDABC) arm of the European Commission presented an outline of version two of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) at a meeting in Brussels last week.The main crux of the new framework according to the presentation, which can be viewed here (pdf) (http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/servlets/Doc?id=31224), is that European governments, firms and users should “be prepared...

By CHRIS MERRILL Star-Tribune environment reporter Tuesday, June 24, 2008 > LANDER -- Since Rainbow Family participants have chosen to stay put at Big Sandy in Wyoming's Wind River Mountains, leaders with the Boy Scouts of America have decided to alter plans for a major service project that had been scheduled to take place in the same general area. > > Leaders with the Boy Scouts' Order of the Arrow have decided to cancel a long-planned forest restoration project near Dutch Joe Guard Station in the Wind Rivers, said Mary Cernicek, spokeswoman with the Bridger-Teton National Forest. > > The...

KCCI is getting early word tonight of a tornado touchdown that hit a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa, injuring as many as 40 people. Our sister station in Omaha, KETV, reports that the Boy Scouts confirm four of those injuries are fatalities. Courtney Greene, a spokeswoman for Governor Chet Culver, says the tornado hit the Little Sioux scout camp. Speaking from the state Emergency Operations Center, which is mobilized because of flooding across Iowa, Greene said authorities have been told of multiple injuries and the potential loss of life. Hospitals in the area have been told to be on...

A possible tornado has struck the Litle (spelling from site?) Sioux Scout Camp in Iowa. Very large response is being reported by media. Large number of injuries.

The Boy Scouts of America's Philadelphia chapter has sued the City of Philadelphia in federal court to block the city's May 31 deadline for the scouts to open membership to gays and atheists, or vacate their historic 1928 headquarters off Logan Square. The civil rights lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in Center City, contends that the city's ultimatum violates the scouts' rights under the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions. "The City has imposed an unconstitutional condition upon Cradle of Liberty's receipt of a benefit that Cradle of Liberty has enjoyed for nearly eight decades, and that many other organizations that...

Boy Scouts File Federal Lawsuit Over Dispute with City of Philadelphia by KYW's Mike Dunn The local Boy Scouts organization has filed a federal lawsuit against the Nutter administration over the mayor's ultimatum that the scouts renounce the group's national policy on gays or leave their city-owned headquarters. Mayor Nutter has told the "Cradle of Liberty" Boy Scout council to renounce the Scouts' national policy on gays, start paying fair-market-value rent, or vacate its city-owned headquarters -- on Winter Street near 22nd, just off the Benjamin Franklin Parkway -- by June 1st. Currently, the scouting group gets the office space...

These two young men, both well known to me, have several things in common. Both are Eagle Scouts from my very small central Iowa BSA district. Both are the same age as my youngest son, and served with him as summer camp counselors at our local Scout reservation. One is currently a college student, while the other graduated with my son from Iowa State. They have one more thing in common. Both are decorated combat veterans, and survivors of wounds received in Iraq.

Sessions Leads 100th Year Boy Scout Recognition Efforts http://sessions.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=89413 Introduces Commemorative Coin, Garners Support for Commemorative Stamp Washington, Apr 23, 2008 U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions (R-Dallas) is leading congressional efforts to recognize the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America in 2010 by introducing legislation for a “100 Years of Scouting” commemorative coin. “Boy Scouts are a significant part of American culture, shaping the values, citizenship, and skills of millions of young men,” Sessions stated. “As an Eagle Scout with four generations of Boy Scouts in my family, I strongly value the Boy Scouts’ history of instilling a sense...

Ask Candidates about the Boy Scouts Dear Member of the Media: The city of Philadelphia is a war zone. Philadelphia has the highest murder rate of all major U.S. cities and one of the highest overall crime rates. One in thirteen young black males in the city was shot or killed in the past 5 years. Over 1,000 youth under age 24 were shot in 2006 alone. Philadelphia has one of the highest high school dropout rates of all major cities and is among the highest in gang membership, gang violence and drug use. One answer to this crisis facing...

Q: Let’s talk about your new book, “On My Honor,” which draws on your experience as an Eagle Scout and champions the values of the Boy Scouts of America, to whom you are donating your royalties. A: Yes, to their legal-defense fund. Q: Which has been fighting the A.C.L.U., to keep gays out of the scouts. Why do you see that as a worthy cause? A: I am pretty clear about this one. Scouting ought to be about building character, not about sex. Period. Precious few parents enroll their boys in the Scouts to get a crash course in sexual...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry's 'On My Honor' Explains Attack on the Beloved Youth Organization and Leftist Attempts to Redefine American Values In his new book, On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts are Worth Fighting For, [Stroud & Hall Publishers] Texas Governor Rick Perry, examines the "scorched earth" attacks on the Boy Scouts of America over the last three decades by the secular leftist forces, explains the wider impact of this battle on the culture, and offers a rousing defense of this iconic institution and its impact on millions of young American men. As a governor...

BOISE - A man has filed a $5 million lawsuit against the Boy Scouts and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, contending they didn't do enough to stop a Scout troop leader from sexually abusing children. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Malheur County Circuit Court in Vale, Ore., by a 53-year-old man identified only as Tom Doe. Doe alleges that Larren Arnold, a leader of his Nampa, Idaho, Boy Scout troop, sexually abused him for about three years, starting in 1967, and that the abuse left him with debilitating physical, emotional and mental injuries. Arnold could not...

Yosemite National Park, Calif. (AP) -- A 12-year-old Boy Scout from Modesto died over the weekend after falling from a sheer granite cliff in Yosemite National Park. A spokeswoman for the park says the boy died Saturday afternoon when he fell about 300 feet after wandering away from his group that was hiking toward Upper Yosemite Fall. . . . the accident happened when the boy and another Scout started hiking in front of their group and ventured off the trail toward a steep drop above Columbia Rock.

Philly's War on the Boy Scouts http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120312309480173061.html http://tinyurl.com/3cmtwp By KEVIN FERRIS February 16, 2008; Page A10 Philadelphia As Michael Nutter was sworn in as the city's 98th mayor last month, he called for a new wave of public service to clean up drug-infested neighborhoods. If he is serious about renewing volunteerism, he'll start by putting an end to the city's campaign against the Boy Scouts. On May 31, the Cradle of Liberty Council, the local Boy Scout chapter, will be evicted from its headquarters on 22nd and Winter Streets -- a space it has occupied since 1928. The eviction isn't...

Boy Scout Week Salute: Scouts teaches young people leadership and wisdom http://westlibertyindex.com/article.php?viewID=1396 by Tom Norris · February 06, 2008 With Boy Scout Week upon us, I thought I’d do away with the usual facts-n-figures and talk straight about the organization. Some will read this and think, “That’s nice, but who cares?” One youth club is as good as the next; it doesn’t really matter. But at what point do the things we do start to matter? I suspect this is determined by the degree to which it influences our life. After 14 years in the service, most of that as...

Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies militaryand the family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. Happy 98th Birthday, Boy Scouts of America The Value of Scouting What Is Cub Scouting? Please remember that The Canteen is here to support and entertain our troops and veterans and their families, and is family friendly.

Boy Scout-produced documentary highlights extraordinary Central Texans http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/03/0203scouts.html http://tinyurl.com/2oddh6 'Believe It. Live It' showcases groups, individuals who personify the Scout Law By Patrick George AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Sunday, February 03, 2008 A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. For almost 100 years, members of the Boy Scouts of America have been taught to memorize the traits that make up the Scout Law. Last summer, a group of nine local Scouts sought to find out what those values really mean by creating a film about the people who personify them in Austin. On...

Is the Business Software Alliance really having an impact on software piracy? Do they often punish businesses that are trying to play by the rules?In many IT organizations, the Business Software Alliance’s three-letter acronym is akin to a four-letter word. Known best as the software licensing watchdog for 30 major technology vendors including Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk and Apple, the BSA collects millions of dollars in damages each year from errant businesses who fail to use properly licensed software or document that their software is legit. 2008 marks the group’s 20th anniversary. But after two decades, questions remain: Is the BSA...

Last fall, Joseph White from St. David chose to help build a facility, Care for the Horses, for his Eagle Scout project. The Scouts arrived early in the morning and worked hard all day. Numerous dump trucks of brush were taken to the landfill. In all, two parking areas were created, making it easier for visitors to park and for moving of trucks and horse trailers. Two rattlesnakes also were found and killed. The Boy Scouts who participated, as pictured above, are Daniel Elliason, Paul Kartchner, Phillip Kartchner, Michael Grapp, Joseph White, Joel Kartchner, Joshua White, Jared White and Jared...

Kershaw County (WLTX) - A former member of the Indian Water Council, a Boy Scouts organization in Kershaw County, has been arrested on sex charges. Elgin Police Chief Harold Brown says Russell Spitzer, 49, has been charged with communicating obscene material to a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, criminal sexual assault with intent to commit and criminal solicitation of a minor. He's been denied bond on the charges. According to investigators, the incidents happened between October 2006 and January of 2007 while Spitzer was a leader in the group. Brown says the abuse started when the victim...

The youth of Philadelphia are in danger. There are as many as 3,900 homeless families in Philadelphia. Only about half of Philadelphia ninth-graders graduate from high school within four years, and last year's state standardized math and reading tests came back to 11th graders in Philadelphia public schools with 70 percent of scores below proficient. In 2006, 1,030 young Philadelphians between the ages of 7 and 24 were shot; 179 kids were murdered. On such a battlefield, it would make sense for the City of Philadelphia to partner with churches and non-profit organizations to provide after-school programs, youth sports leagues,...

Scouts to earn skateboard badgehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7183888.stmLast Updated: Saturday, 12 January 2008, 00:50 GMT A revamp of the scout movement will allow boys and girls to earn badges for skills such as skateboarding, making a fruit salad and racing quad bikes. The Scout Association said 40 new badges marked the largest ever overhaul of the activities of the movement. Chief Scout Peter Duncan said: "Young people today have a larger choice than ever before of activities to fill their spare time with." The new badges will be launched this weekend at the scouts' winter camp. The event for the 500,000-strong movement is...

CINCINNATI -- A grand jury indicted three people in connection with the armed robbery last month of Boy Scouts at a Christmas tree sale. Prosecutors said Friday that Kenneth Hodge, 19, David Keeling, 19, and Nashon Wallace, 20, would face charges in the Dec. 3 robbery outside Tom’s Drive-Thru in North College Hill. The Boy Scouts, ages 13 and 11 years old, said they were selling Christmas trees in the parking lot along West Galbraith Road shortly before closing when three men approached, with one carrying a sawed-off shotgun. The boys said they thought the men were joking until one...

DALLAS — As far as the Boy Scouts of America is concerned, knowing how to confront a bully is now as important as mastering a slip knot. For the first time in the 97-year history of the nation's largest youth organization, newcomers must show they have learned Scout-approved ways to avoid being pushed around and called names, if they want to advance through the ranks. Shaken down for your lunch money? Tell the bully how it hurts. Called a crater face? The 2008 Boy Scout Handbook recommends this comeback: "So what if I have a face full of zits. What's...

On you tube from when he ran against Ted Kennedy

Attention all Scout Leaders New Boy Scout Rank Requirements Effective January 1, 2008 The National Youth Protection Committee recommended additions to Boy Scout rank requirements that were approved and become effective January 1, 2008. These changes will help us advance the importance of Youth Protection training beyond the initial Boy Scout joining requirements, and keep youth informed and actively engaged in understanding the key elements of personal safety and protection. TENDERFOOT RANK Revised requirement 9: Explain the importance of the buddy system as it relates to your personal safety on outings and in your neighborhood. Describe what a bully is...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEOJNw4lmlI

Finding an organization more all-American than the Boy Scouts would be hard. Take it from someone who is blessed to have not one, but two sons achieve the distinction of becoming Eagle Scouts -- this organization is up there with baseball and apple pie. According to its charter, it exists to “promote … the ability of boys to do things for themselves and others … and to teach them patriotism, courage, self-reliance and kindred virtues.” Since 1910, that’s exactly what the Boy Scouts have been doing. Thousands of men today in positions of leadership, from soldiers to salesmen, began learning...

The war on the Boy Scouts By Al Knight Article Last Updated: 12/18/2007 07:45:49 PM MST Some topics are best left both out of sight and out of mind. The American Civil Liberties Union's war on the Boy Scouts is not one of them. The ACLU, in a rational world, might well have been expected to champion the First Amendment rights of an organization like the Boy Scouts. After all, the First Amendment to the Constitution (so dear to the ACLU) protects both speech and the right to associate. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2000 upheld the right of the...

PHILADELPHIA, December 11, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Philadelphia council of the Boy Scouts of America will lose the lease on its historic premises for its refusal to bow to pressure from the homosexual lobby to accept homosexual members and leaders. The city has told the Scouts they will be evicted if they cannot come up with US $200,000 a year "market value" rent for the land on which their building sits. Until now, the Scouts had paid a nominal $1 per year lease fee although the youth organisation had originally owned the premises in 1929. The famous Beaux Arts style...

For three years the Philadelphia council of the Boy Scouts of America held its ground. It resisted the city’s request to change its discriminatory policy toward gay people despite threats that if it did not do so, the city would evict the group from a municipal building where the Scouts have resided practically rent free since 1928. Hailed as the birthplace of the Boy Scouts, the Beaux Arts building is the seat of the seventh-largest chapter of the organization and the first of the more than 300 council service centers built by the Scouts around the country over the past...

Boy Scouts of America and all off its emblems and insignia are copyright protected. If you are a Scoutmaster, Cubmaster, an anindividual, or a business that Silkscreens hats, neckerchiefs, hats or embroider any item with scout insignia please see below.Boy Scouts of America is waiving the $250 application fee for all new Tier IV (National council and local council supplier) applications received from June 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007. Please be sure to send in a full and complete application package along with samples, otherwise your application will not be reviewed. If you have requested an application packet prior...

A couple of Boy Scout troops lost more than $1,500 worth of Christmas trees to thieves between Nov. 19 and Friday. Troop 1390 out of Dale City and Troop 1396 out of Lake Ridge set up shop every year in the lot in front of the SunTrust Bank in the Forestdale Plaza on Dale Boulevard. The Scouts generally get a semi-truck load of balsam firs from Nova Scotia, said Doug Doerr, the scoutmaster for Troop 1390. This year someone stole 34 of the 300 trees the Scouts ordered. "We have never had a situation like this," said Doerr, who has...

The city of Philadelphia is threatening to end a nearly 80-year building agreement with the nation’s third Boy Scouts chapter if the group doesn’t change its policy to accommodate gay employees. All members of the local Scouts chapter, which operates as the Cradle of Liberty Council, must take the Scout Oath and Law in which they promise to do their duty to God and to be morally straight, as well as to be clean in their thoughts, words and deeds. While the organization does not inquire about sexual orientation at the time of membership, the group bars an avowed homosexual...

At Qualcomm Stadium, to which thousands of evacuees fled throughout the day Monday to escape approaching fires, the hazy and acrid air pinched the throat. Despite those reminders of the nearby inferno, the stadium seemed an oasis of order.  Hundreds of volunteers and city workers stacked up towers of pizza boxes, water bottles and blankets. Steaming cups of coffee were on offer as well as free massages and reflexology sessions.  A clown twisted balloons for children, several autism specialists were available to give parents of disabled children a break, and an electric guitarist jammed with his speaker turned low. -snip-Carl...

Big-hearted Boy Scouts collecting donations for care packages for U.S. troops are still scratching their heads after being sent packing from polling stations when Cambridge officials ruled their generous effort “political.” “We just wanted to make a lot of troops happy,” said Scout Patrick O’Connor, 16. “I was devastated that someone would think to take (the donation boxes) out,” he said. O’Connor of West Cambridge was one of the Scouts who wanted to collect toiletries, magazines, candy and other items for care packages after one of his relatives was injured in an IED explosion while serving in Iraq. “He mentioned...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2007 – A local Boy Scouts of America organization recognized Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates for his lifelong devotion to scouting during an award ceremony here yesterday. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates thanks members of the Boy Scouts of America National Capital Area Council after receiving the organization’s Citizen of the Year award at their annual dinner in Washington, D.C., Nov. 15, 2007. Photo by Cherie A. Thurlby  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gates received the “Citizen of the Year” award, bestowed annually by the National Capital Area Council. Since 1968, the council has recognized...

They were just trying to collect donations for American troops. But the Boy Scouts end up getting busted by the City of Cambridge. All their boxes were taken down at polling stations for being too "pro-war." FOX25's Ted Daniel reports from Cambridge with details.

Neighbors sue, saying charity shooting events at the Scout ranch are noisy and pose a risk to residents and wildlife. The Denver Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and a gun club were slapped with a lawsuit Wednesday over charity shooting events at the Peaceful Valley Scout Ranch in Elbert County. Neighbors to the 3,300-acre camp filed the suit claiming three events last summer were noisy and represented a risk to local residents, wildlife and property values. "They just want to be able to inhabit their property in peace and quiet," said the neighbors' attorney, Lorri Salyards. The council...

Calling him “a demon,” a Bucks County judge Monday sentenced a former Boy Scout troop leader to 10 to 20 years in a state prison for attempting to arrange a sexual encounter with a 12-year-old boy. County Judge Albert Cepparulo said 52-year-old David Mayberry, who is HIV-positive, knew his actions could have been a “death sentence” to the child. “A predator you are, in the surest sense of the word,” Cepparulo said. “You are a danger to our youth and need to be removed from society.” (snip) Mayberry was arrested in November 2005 when he showed up at a Bensalem...

Perry book to tout Scout values http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA103107.10B.PerryBook.31f57c2.html http://tinyurl.com/2a97dx 10/30/2007 10:11 PM CDT Peggy Fikac, Express-News AUSTIN — Add another title to Gov. Rick Perry's resume: author of a book defending Boy Scout values against "lawsuit-happy do-gooders." The GOP governor, who proudly wears his Eagle Scout pin on his lapel, has written — with some assistance — a book on scouting that paints the organization as a leading indicator in the battle between right and wrong. The book isn't due until February, but Perry described it in remarks Tuesday, referring to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a lawsuit brought by...

Former Boy Scout troop leader David Mayberry was sentenced for having unprotected sex with a 14-year-old boy. Mayberry, 52, committed the crime knowing he was HIV-positive. A teary Mayberry cried in court when he saw the more than a dozen family members and friends there to support him. The Montgomery County man, a former Boy Scout leader, admitted to soliciting a 14-year-old online. The two met in a parking lot where the boy performed a sex act on Mayberry. Prosecutors said the crime was made more horrific because Mayberry is HIV-positive and he knew his health status when he met...

FOR FOUR YEARS the architect of the U.S. Capitol has censored letters from constituents by removing political and religious messages. That outrageous policy was halted by a 17-year-old Ohio Boy Scout originally from New Hampshire. Andrew Larochelle of Dayton, Ohio, whose grandfather Marcel is an Army veteran from Manchester, wanted to celebrate his attainment of the rank of Eagle Scout by giving his grandfather a flag that had been flown over the Capitol. He wrote this message to go on the certificate: "In honor of my grandfather Marcel Larochelle, and his dedication and love of God, country, and family." Well,...