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Clifton Scout, 16, killed by lightning EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. - Lightning struck and killed a 16-year-old at a Boy Scout Camp on Friday night, police said.Matthew Tresca of Clifton was sitting at a picnic table under a dining tarp with 11 other members of his troop at about 7 p.m. Lightning struck a tent about 10 feet away, knocking Tresca to the ground.Camp personnel tried to revive him before emergency crews arrived. Tresca, a member of Boy Scout Troop 21, was pronounced dead at the Pocono Medical Center.He had spent the last week at the Resica Falls Boy Scout Camp...

The largest Boy Scout chapter in Massachusetts this week took more steps to distance itself from the national scouting policy that prohibits homosexuals from serving in leadership positions. The Boston Minuteman Council introduced a new merit badge for "diversity" and asked an openly homosexual Boston radio personality to emcee its annual fundraiser. Last year, the same chapter adopted a "nondiscrimination" policy, a slap at the long held practice by the national organization, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), to ban homosexual scout leaders. The U.S. Supreme Court two years ago declared the BSA ban on homosexuals to be legal, however,...

Homosexual Emcees Boston Boy Scout Fundraiser By Matt Pyeatt CNSNews.com Staff Writer June 12, 2002 (CNSNews.com) - The largest Boy Scout chapter in Massachusetts this week took more steps to distance itself from the national scouting policy that prohibits homosexuals from serving in leadership positions. The Boston Minuteman Council introduced a new merit badge for "diversity" and asked an openly homosexual Boston radio personality to emcee its annual fundraiser. Last year, the same chapter adopted a "nondiscrimination" policy, a slap at the long held practice by the national organization, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), to ban homosexual scout leaders....

<p>August 8, 2002 -- A pervert ex-cop admitted he slept over at a Boy Scout camp while out on bail on kiddie-porn charges - but that wasn't enough to convince a federal judge to keep him locked up.</p> <p>Brian Mathews, 40, was forbidden from being alone with children when he pleaded guilty to perusing a sexually explicit picture of a baby in May.</p>

<p>San Francisco's judges have become the first in the United States to cut ties with the Boy Scouts of America because of the organization's refusal to admit homosexuals.</p> <p>The city's Superior Court judges and commissioners — in response to a resolution from a local bar association — have adopted a policy that prohibits them from participating as members in a chapter or branch of any organization that "discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation by excluding members on the grounds that their sexual orientation renders them 'unclean,' 'immoral,' or 'unfit.'"</p>

Oregon News Boy Scouts cope with loss of historic camp The Associated Press 8/6/02 4:28 PM PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- The hundreds of firefighters battling the enormous Florence and Sour Biscuit Fires have managed to save almost every building in the threatened Illinois Valley. But they were too late to save the historic McCaleb Ranch, a Boy Scout camp destroyed July 26. Boy Scout executive Ed Walsh said it is too soon to say whether the ranch will be rebuilt. Located along the Illinois River, 12 miles west of Selma, the 106 acre camp was surrounded by thick forest and...

(CNSNews.com) - A California legal group has pledged to defend judges who oppose a recent decision by the San Francisco Superior Court to prohibit its members from associating with organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America. The Superior Court judges and commissioners recently adopted a policy that prohibits participation in any organization that "discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation by excluding members on the grounds that their sexual orientation renders them 'unclean,' 'immoral' or 'unfit.'" Brad Dacus, an attorney and president of the Pacific Justice Institute, a legal organization specializing in religious freedom and parental rights, said the...

(CNSNews.com) - A California legal group has pledged to defend judges who oppose a recent decision by the San Francisco Superior Court to prohibit its members from associating with organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America. The Superior Court judges and commissioners recently adopted a policy that prohibits participation in any organization that "discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation by excluding members on the grounds that their sexual orientation renders them 'unclean,' 'immoral' or 'unfit.'" Brad Dacus, an attorney and president of the Pacific Justice Institute, a legal organization specializing in religious freedom and parental rights, said the...

Ventura County, California: Major donor may cut gifts because he wasn't told of decision to stop funding groups that ban gays. United Way of Ventura County could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations because of its failure to tell contributors about a decision to stop funding groups that ban gays. One of its largest individual contributors, former United Way board member Dennis Mark Weinberg, who gave $100,000 this year, said he was not told by the nonprofit agency about the policy change scheduled to take effect in September. He warned that he and others might reduce or cut...

Court rules state can bar Boy Scouts from charity list Tuesday, July 30, 2002 Associated Press HARTFORD - Connecticut did not violate the rights of the Boy Scouts when it removed the group from a list of charities that state employees contribute to through a payroll deduction plan, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled. The Connecticut State Employee Campaign Committee removed the Boy Scouts from its list in 2000. The move came after the state's Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities found that including the Boy Scouts on the list violated the state's anti-discrimination laws, because of the Scouts'...

Conn. Can Bar Scouts As Charity Mon Jul 29, 5:40 PM ET HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Connecticut did not violate the rights of the Boy Scouts when it dropped the group from a list of charities that state employees contribute to through a payroll deduction plan, a federal judge has ruled.   A state panel removed the Boy Scouts from the list in 2000, after a state human rights commission found that including the organization violates state anti-discrimination laws because of the scouts' ban on gay troop leaders. The Irving, Texas-based Boy Scouts and a Connecticut scouting council filed...

Schools Pay for Boy Scout Recruiting 07/13/2002 By AP Staff Portland schools and state officials have been ordered to pay more than $100,000 to lawyers who successfully argued that the district discriminated against atheists by allowing the Boy Scouts to recruit during school hours. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Ellen Rosenblum said state Superintendent Stan Bunn, the Oregon Department of Education and Portland Public Schools must pay $108,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU took up the case on behalf of an atheist whose 12-year-old son was subjected to recruiting pitches at school. David Fidanque, executive director of the...

"It is never a wrong time to talk about hate. It's just not. That's all our show is about. It is not in any way about the homosexual lifestyle. It's not even introducing the subject to most kids." - Linda Ellerbee, producer of "My Family is Different" Nickelodeon advertises itself as a network that parents can trust, but this effort to promote homosexuality shows that parents should think twice before allowing their children to watch this cable channel." - Andrea Lafferty, Traditional Values Coalition

The following is abridged from a speech delivered at a Hillsdale College seminar in Naples, Florida, on March 20, 2002. Let us take a few minutes to think about a 12-year-old American boy living in the early twenty-first century. Now, there are a number of things to say about this boy. Chances are, for instance, that absent the requisite amount of parental pressure, he is likely to be a bit of a slob: his room piled with trash, his hands dirty, his socks sliding down into untied shoes. Chances are, too, that as yet he has no definite idea as...

The Boston branch of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has reportedly chosen to celebrate homosexuality as an element of “diversity,” while pro-family advocates wait to see what actions, if any, the national BSA leadership will take to discipline the council. On Monday, the Boston Minuteman Council, which serves 18,000 boys, picked David Brudnoy — a homosexual radio talk-show host — to emcee its annual fundraising dinner. The Minuteman Council announced the creation of a “diversity awareness awards badge” that contains a homosexuality component. This fall, the Boson council will give the diversity awards to individuals and groups that “complete...

Tuesday, June 11, 2002 BOSTON - Massachusetts' largest Boy Scout council ruffled feathers again yesterday by announcing the creation of a diversity award at its annual fund-raiser, hosted by an openly gay Boston radio personality.<!ENDSUMM!> The Boston Minuteman Council, which last year adopted a nondiscrimination policy despite the national organization's ban on homosexuals, has created a "diversity awareness award badge." And to make its point crystal clear - that it opposes the ban on gay troop leaders - the council invited WBZ radio host David Brudnoy to be master of ceremonies. "There are a lot of straight guys out there...

<p>A year ago a guy came into my office and said that he wanted to connect with the local gay community.</p> <p>He is a person with a disability and finds it hard to make connections to the community. One of the things we did was start a support group for people like us --people with disabilities who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and/or transgender.</p>

ITHACA -- Tompkins County residents will once more be able to include the Boy Scouts of America in their United Way donations. But they will have to do so by adding the name themselves to their pledge cards. United Way Executive Director James Brown, United Way Board President Joann Gruttadaurrio, Baden-Powell Vice President Steve Gray, and Baden-Powell Council Executive Mark Tyson made the formal announcement Thursday>. The Tompkins County agency stopped funding the Baden-Powell Council last year after a June 28 Supreme Court decision allowed the Scouts to keep membership and leadership criteria that exclude avowed homosexuals. It was the ...

Ms. Wright of the San Diego chapter of the ACLU says that you should call to ask her any questions she might have about their support for the law suit against the Desert Pacific Council's lease of Balboa Park. Here are some questions you might ask her:Why does their suit say that the BSA will refuse to register a boy with lesbian parents, when in fact the BSA will register any child on his or her or qualifications, without asking or caring what the parents' sexual orientation is?2) Why do they keep emphasizing that the local council is only paying...

<p>SAN DIEGO (AP) - The Boy Scouts of America should not be allowed to lease 18 city-owned acres because the organization does not allow homosexuals, a lawsuit contends.</p> <p>The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit in federal court. It wants a federal judge to stop the lease based on the Boy Scouts guidelines involving homosexuals and those who want to be Scout leaders but are atheists.</p>