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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- United Way officials voted Tuesday to cut funding for a Boy Scout council because it refused to guarantee it won't discriminate against gay Scouts. The Triangle United Way, which serves the Raleigh-Durham area, said it cut funding for the Occoneechee Council of Boy Scouts of America, which serves 21,000 boys in 12 counties. The council, which has an annual budget of $2.4 million, received about $448,000 from the United Way last year, 62 percent of it from the general fund. The decision would bar the Scouts from receiving money after July 2003 from Triangle United Way's...

WE HAVE ALARMING NEWS TO REPORT. During our last update, we confirmed that the United Ways of Broward County, Florida, Tucson, Arizona and Everett, Washington had withdrawn funding of the Boy Scouts. Sadly, these are not isolated incidents. Your reports have confirmed our worst fears. THE ISSUE IS WIDESPREAD, AND COULD SERIOUSLY UNDERMINE THE SCOUTS. Based on your Field Reports (we received thousands-thank you!), and our team's follow up work, here is what we have learned... The California United Ways in Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose, Santa Barbara and Woodland are ALL using policies to limit or deny...

From: Autosend2@grassfire.net (Grassfire.net) Date: Fri, Apr 12, 2002, 6:29pm (EDT-1)Subject: URGENT: Widespread United Way Discrimination Confirmed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + GRASSFIRE.NET BOY SCOUTS UPDATE           FIELD REPORTS PAINT GLOOMY PICTURE FOR      SCOUTS IN THE WEST.           WE WILL BE DELIVERING PETITIONS TO THE      UNITED WAY AT THE END OF THIS MONTH!           FORWARD TO YOUR FRIENDS AND URGE THEM           TO SIGN THIS IMPORTANT PETITION TO HELP THE     SCOUTS. http://www.grassfire.net/scouts.asp?PID=960194 (AOL Users click the line below, all others use the above link: ) Click here...

They are mirror images, really, two photos that are exact opposites despite looking awfully similar at first glance. Jeffrie Herrmann, executive director of the South Florida Boy Scouts Council, is in both of them. So is a podium. And a speaker at the podium. But that’s where the similarities end. In the first shot, the speaker is presenting Herrmann with an award for refusing to sell out to homosexual activists. “Our values aren’t for sale,” Herrmann said before receiving the award. “You can offer us tens of thousands, millions, bazillions . . . it won’t make any difference. We believe...

<p>March 30, 2002 -- Break out the haggis - the Scottish are coming!</p> <p>Actor Sean Connery will lead a brigade of as many as 10,000 bagpipers through the streets of Midtown next weekend to celebrate Tartan Day.</p> <p>Pipers from 30 countries, including Japan, Australia and Pakistan, are expected to fill the air with rich - and occasionally piercing - notes as organizers try to break the world record for assembling the most pipers in one place.</p>

Who's Selling Out the Scouts? Some local councils are backing away from the Boy Scouts' policy on homosexuals. Why is the national office allowing it to happen? By Candi Cushman They are mirror images, really, two photos that are exact opposites despite looking awfully similar at first glance. Jeffrie Herrmann, executive director of the South Florida Boy Scouts Council, is in both of them. So is a podium. And a speaker at the podium. But that’s where the similarities end. In the first shot, the speaker is presenting Herrmann with an award for refusing to sell out to homosexual activists....

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Department of Education will investigate a complaint filed against a Maryland county that alleges government officials there broke the law by discriminating against the Boy Scouts of America. A group calling itself the Public Advocate of the United States filed the complaint against Montgomery County, Md. for the county's decision to reverse a long-standing policy and bill the Boy Scouts for meeting space on public school property. The scouts had previously met on the same property for decades at no charge. The Boy Scouts are still feeling the effects of their highly publicized policy to...

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Department of Education will investigate a complaint filed against a Maryland county that alleges government officials there broke the law by discriminating against the Boy Scouts of America. A group calling itself the Public Advocate of the United States filed the complaint against Montgomery County, Md. for the county's decision to reverse a long-standing policy and bill the Boy Scouts for meeting space on public school property. The scouts had previously met on the same property for decades at no charge. The Boy Scouts are still feeling the effects of their highly publicized policy to exclude...

A North Carolina United Way group is demanding that the Boy Scouts sign a non-discriminatory pledge that would conflict with the national Boy Scouts of America national charter banning homosexuals from serving as troop leaders or becoming scouts, a policy upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. At a time when critics are attacking Roman Catholic dioceses in the U.S. for allowing gay priests to have access to teen-age boys, thus exposing them to the strong possibility of molestation, others are demanding that gay scout leaders be allowed the same kind of risky access to teen-age boy scouts. According to the...

AUBURN (NY) - City councilors may vote Thursday to seek proposals from other banks to handle the city's money, instead of closing the city accounts with HSBC bank. The council's lone Republican, William Jacobs, told councilors last week he wanted to end the city's dealings with HSBC over the bank's decision to evict the local Boy Scouts council from its downtown office. Instead, city administrators are putting together a resolution that would seek proposals from local banks to handle the city's financial dealings, Councilor Robert Hunter said Monday. City lawmakers and City Manager John Salomone said they could not provide...

Cayuga County will use part of its $1 million in HSBC to pay local municipalities and school districts for delinquent taxes, and not replenish the accounts, if a measure before the Legislature is adopted Tuesday. The move, and similar decisions by the town of Throop, some churches and individuals, come after the bank ended its lease with the Cayuga County Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The bank does not agree with the Scouts' policy banning gays as troop leaders - a policy the U.S. Supreme Court allowed to stand in a court case two years ago. Cayuga County...

Many Scouts and Scouters have seen, or at least heard of "Follow Me, Boys!, " the heartwarming and humorous story of Lem Siddons (a fictional character played by Fred McMurray) becomes a Scoutmaster, and how he courts and marries the lovely Vida. But mostly, it is the story of a man who sacrifices his own personal goals to devote himself to several generations of boys, teaching them enduring values through Scouting. Well Disney Video and DVD is asking its on-line visitors to it's website to vote for the "Best 100 Movies" of the 60's. I suspect that if it get's...

The race is not to the Swift: Controversial acting Jane Swift withdrew today from the Massachusetts governor's race and threw her support to Winter Olympics boss Mitt Romney. Later this afternoon he announced his candidacy. ``I believe that this is in the best interest of our state as it will allow the Republican Party's best chances of holding the governor's office in November,'' said Swifty, fighting back tears at the Statehouse in Boston. After a Republican activist recently tried to get her a job in the Bush administration to ease her out of the race, Swifty fumed, ``I guess...

AUBURN (NY)- The town of Throop is taking nearly $700,000 out of HSBC bank and moving it elsewhere in response to the bank's decision to oust the Boy Scouts from space they rent in the bank's downtown offices. The town board voted unanimously to withdraw the money after HSBC told the Cayuga County Boy Scouts that they would have to vacate their basement offices by June 30 because the Boy Scouts do not allow gay men as leaders. Throop Town Supervisor Leo Herrling said there was little discussion, and no dissension, during the board's vote on Wednesday. "The board decided...

By Joyce Howard Price THE WASHINGTON TIMES At least 39 United Way affiliates around the country have stopped direct community funding of the Boy Scouts to protest the Scouts' ban on homosexual leaders. "I'd estimate these decisions affected 10 [percent] to 15 percent of the average income of an affected [Boy Scouts] council, and they've totaled millions of dollars. And when it happens, we have to find other ways to raise those dollars," said Gregg Shields, spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America. But the United Way chapters that have chosen to stop giving money directly to the Boy Scouts...

NewsMax.com March 16, 2002 You Can Help Save the Boy Scouts! In case you missed it, the Washington Times reported yesterday that at least 39 United Way affiliates around the country have stopped direct community funding of the Boy Scouts to protest the Scouts' ban on homosexual leaders. "I'd estimate these decisions affected 10 [percent] to 15 percent of the average income of an affected [Boy Scouts] council, and they've totaled millions of dollars. And when it happens, we have to find other ways to raise those dollars," said Gregg Shields, spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America. Some of...

<p>At least 39 United Way affiliates around the country have stopped direct community funding of the Boy Scouts to protest the Scouts' ban on homosexual leaders.</p> <p>"I'd estimate these decisions affected 10 [percent] to 15 percent of the average income of an affected [Boy Scouts] council, and they've totaled millions of dollars. And when it happens, we have to find other ways to raise those dollars," said Gregg Shields, spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America.</p>

<p>AUBURN (NY)-- The Boy Scouts of Cayuga County have to find a new meeting place after they were forced out because of the group's ban on gay leadership.</p> <p>The Boy Scouts currently hold meetings at the HSBC Bank building in Auburn, near Syracuse. The group had rented 1,200-square feet on a month-to-month basis since 1993.</p>

HERE#146;S A QUESTION for you. Who would you rather have watch over your children for a weekend: a scoutmaster or a member of the clergy? There was a day when the choice would be a toss-up. But that day is long gone. Now parents have to beware of bad men in all sorts of authority positions that were once considered to be stocked with only the purest individuals. We do not mean to impugn all men of the cloth, the vast majority of whom are honorable, wonderful people. However, the evidence of late would indicate that a boy or...

It has recently come to light that many local Boy Scouts of America troops, and their legions of community supporters, are unaware of their legally enforceable rights under the "No Child Left Behind Act", which was passed by both houses of the United States Congress and then signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8 of this year. The "No Child Left Behind Act", a new reauthorization of the ESEA, is the all-encompassing federal law which is binding upon every school and every school district in the United States of America, without exception. The part of the ...