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Kevin Anderson is a junior at Southern Lehigh High School near Allentown, Pennsylvania. He is also a longstanding member of Boy Scout Troop 301 in the Lehigh Valley. Kevin needed to do an Eagle Scout project to complete the requirements for the Eagle Scout rank. He decided to clear a 1,000 foot hiking and biking path at Kimmets Lock Park in east Allentown, completing a missing link in the 165-mile Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Trail. The completed trail would allow visitors to walk along the Lehigh River. Kevin and his Boy Scout volunteer helpers logged in 250 hours completing...

In pursuit of an Eagle Scout badge, Kevin Anderson, 17, has toiled for more than 200 hours hours over several weeks to clear a walking path in an east Allentown park. Little did the do-gooder know that his altruistic act would put him in the cross hairs of the city's largest municipal union. Nick Balzano, president of the local Service Employees International Union, told Allentown City Council Tuesday that the union is considering filing a grievance against the city for allowing Anderson to clear a 1,000-foot walking and biking path at Kimmets Lock Park. "We'll be looking into the Cub...

Lucas Wondra has achieved something only about 4 % of those who enter scouting achieve. He has achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. His achievement is particularly significant because the 16-year-old Hutchinson (Kansas) High School student has the genetic disorder Down Syndrome. Lucas is one of many who are demonstrating that individuals with Down Syndrome can be productive members of society. Maybe they are not capable of performing brain surgery or becoming professional athletes, but then neither are the vast majority of the rest of us. Individuals with Down Syndrome have an extra copy of chromosome 21 , a condition...

Lucas Wondra has Down syndrome and communicates with a few words, sign language and a PDA with a speaker and voice software. But when it comes to the Boy Scouts, he concedes no disability. On Monday, Lucas, a 16-year-old freshman at Hutchinson High, became an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America and the latest in a collage of medals and merit badges covering his uniform. Scout Master Bill Whitlow said Lucas is the first Scout with Down syndrome from Troop 301 to achieve his Eagle rank. "I feel like it's been a community effort," his...

Ryan Brenner made a Labyrinth as part of his Eagle Scout project.

Beau Zabel, 23, came to Philadelphia from Minnesota six weeks ago, eager to experience urban East Coast living and to become a math teacher in the city school system. He found a place to live through roommates.com in South Philadelphia near the Italian Market, and took a temporary job at the Starbucks at Fourth and South Streets. He recently updated his page on MySpace.com, which proclaims his optimism: "Just waiting for life to begin." But his life ended about 1:30 a.m. yesterday, when police said Zabel was ambushed as he walked home from the midnight shift at the coffee shop....

You want to build anything in Silicon Valley - a company, a career, a reputation - it's all about networking. Eagle Scout project? Yep. Networking. You need your venture capitalist, your Fortune 1000 company founder and some good-hearted friends and neighbors. Ask Tad Malone, a Homestead High School junior, who took on a project that, looking back, seems slightly insane even to him. "Kids needed help," he says, "so I thought I'd help." Kids in Africa. Orphan kids that Tad met on a family trip in 2005 to a place called Children's Town in Zambia. The 300 children had people...

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...

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...

Eagle Scout ordered to take God out of park projectI can't post the article, but basically it mentions a Boy Scout's Eagle project for a public park that included a mention of God. After the inevitable complaint, the Parks Dept, which approved the original proposal with "God" included, asked the Scout to remove the offending marker.

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...

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...

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,...

Michael Moore Espouses Jesus, Yet He Mocked the Crucifixion, Supports Pro-Choice, And ...Posted by Dave Pierre On Tuesday's episode (6/19/07) of The View, Michael Moore advocated socialized medicine by saying that "Jesus told us that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us." (Video at Hot Air.)  The problem? For one, starting many years ago, Michael Moore has displayed behavior that many followers of Jesus would find offensive. Moore also reportedly has a dubious history in dealing with "the least" around him in his own life.1. Back in high school, the rebellious Moore staged a play...

FORT MYERS, Fla.: Decades after he finished the requirements to earn the rank, an 88-year-old man was honored as an Eagle Scout on Saturday, making him possibly the oldest person to ever collect the honor. Walter Hart couldn't become an Eagle Scout at the time he earned the rank because his service in World War II got in the way. "I've been looking forward to this for a long time," said Hart, who lives in a retirement center in nearby Lehigh Acres. Scout officials say he may be the oldest person to earn the honor. Hart joined the Cub Scouts...

BLACKSBURG, Va. — The gunman in the Virginia Tech massacre was a sullen loner who alarmed professors and classmates with his twisted, blood-drenched creative writing and left a rambling note in his dorm room raging against women and rich kids.  A chilling picture emerged Tuesday of Cho Seung-Hui — a 23-year-old senior majoring in English — a day after the bloodbath that left 33 people dead, including Cho, who killed himself as police closed in. News reports said that he may have been taking medication for depression and that he was becoming increasingly violent and erratic. Despite the many warning...

IN MEMORIAMGerald R. Ford38th President of the United StatesJuly 14, 1913 - December 26, 2006 The Boy Scouts of America joins the Ford family and our country in mourning the loss of President Gerald R. Ford. His presidential term coincided with a very difficult time in American history, but he served with grace and dignity. President Ford achieved Eagle Scout, Scouting's highest rank, which is accomplished by only about 4 percent of all Boy Scouts. By dedicating himself to serving the youth and families of his country throughout his life, he left each of us with a shining example...

To Boy Scout, building labyrinth is a journey itselfhttp://www.oregonlive.com/metrosouthwest/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/metro_southwest_news/1159667704221670.xml&coll=7 http://tinyurl.com/hxpba Service - West Linn Lutheran's new footpath reflects Kevin Lenihan's vision and perseverance Thursday, October 05, 2006 CORNELIA SEIGNEUR The Oregonian Kevin Lenihan first walked a labyrinth at age 14. "I just loved it," he said. "Just finding an inner peace. That is the whole purpose of the labyrinth, to walk silently, really just calming down." Now he's the designer of a new outdoor labyrinth at West Linn Lutheran Church that will be dedicated at 10:30 a.m. Sunday during regular church services. A reception will follow. Lenihan, 17, a West...

It was 1926. Queen Elizabeth II was born, the first liquid-fuel rocket was launched and a pair of men's pants cost less than $6. It also was the year Charles Soldi joined the Boy Scouts. Soldi, the middle of six kids living in Orange, was 12 when he was recruited by a neighbor. He quickly advanced in Scouting with the goal of making Eagle Scout, the organization's highest achievement. He earned 22 merit badges and in February 1932, at a court of honor, he was presented with his sterling silver Eagle Scout pin. Yesterday, Scouting officials from northern New Jersey...

Fitzpatrick steps in for Boy Scoutshttp://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-07312006-691181.html http://tinyurl.com/pvk5s By BRIAN SCHEID Bucks County Courier Times Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, R-8, wants the city of Philadelphia to end its dispute with the Boy Scouts of America. Fitzpatrick has sent a letter to Philadelphia Mayor John Street, blasting the city's pending decision to oust the Boy Scouts from their Philadelphia headquarters for refusing to change their policy prohibiting gay members. Fitzpatrick, an Eagle Scout and former president of the Bucks County Council of the Boy Scouts of America, also gave a brief speech on the floor of the House of Representatives Wednesday in support...