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(CNSNews.com) - Frustrated by an unsuccessful campaign to achieve religious recognition from the Boy Scouts of America, a Seattle-based Wicca church has launched its own youth program, which is based on tolerance for different beliefs, including differences in sexual orientation. SpiralScouts founder Pete 'Pathfinder' Davis believes that many of the things the Boy Scouts are doing are "socially inappropriate." He said he created to the SpiralScouts to "fill the void left by prejudicial treatment of other established children's programs." Davis, who serves as the Archpriest of the Wiccan Aquarian Tabernacle Church, said his main argument with the BSA is that...

BOWLING GREEN, Va. -- Four adult Boy Scout leaders were killed Monday afternoon in an electrical accident during the opening day of the organization's 2005 Jamboree. Jamboree spokesman Gregg Shields said the accident occurred between 4:30 and 5 p.m. while the leaders were setting up camp. One other leader and a contract worker were injured, and were hospitalized in stable condition, Shields said. No youth Scouts were seriously hurt, he said. He did not say how many might have sustained minor injuries. Shields did not have additional details about the accident, including the victims' names. "We have an investigation under...

Springville, Utah -- A black bear that bit a sleeping Boy Scout through the wall of his tent was shot after it later returned to the camp, authorities said. Colton Stewart, 14, woke up early Wednesday to a burning sensation in his upper arm, then realized it was a bear biting his arm through the tent, state wildlife officials said. He pulled away and heard the bear run off through the brush. "It wasn't biting viciously. They put their mouth on things to see what they taste like," said Anis Aoude, regional wildlife manager for the state Division of Wildlife...

San Francisco,CA; March 09, 2006: The California Supreme Court today ruled against the Berkeley Sea Scouts in Evans v. Berkeley, and upheld the City of Berkeley’s discriminatory campaign to force the local nonprofit youth group to end its lifelong affiliation with the Boy Scouts of America. "The California Supreme Court’s decision today unfortunately has given the green light to activist city officials to discriminate against groups they disagree with politically," said Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Harold Johnson, co-counsel in the case. Johnson also represents Sea Scout Tonatiuh Alvarez, one of the plaintiffs and petitioners before the state Supreme Court. "The...

N.Y. teen performs Heimlich on nurse who gave him CPR years earlier Call it a simple twist of fate — times two: A teenager in western New York state has saved the life of the same woman who years ago saved his life.

Monmouth Boy Scouts to Charge Annual Fee(MARLBORO, N.J.) The Monmouth Council of Boy Scouts will start charging a $52 annual membership fee, beginning March 15. Previously, parents paid a one-time registration fee. The group says it needs the money to help erase more than $1 million in debt that was caused by expenses and professional fees. The group also is asking parents to match the fee with a voluntary donation. Families with more than one Boy Scout will get a 25 percent discount on each additional child. Membership in the Scouts has been on the decline in recent years. Monmouth...

MAHWAH - The hill was steep, rocky and muddy. And members of Boy Scout Troop 334 of Montvale on Saturday had to figure out how they would guide their 100-pound-plus homemade sled down the slope to a paved road. They tied rope around their waists, they pulled hard, but a series of rocks and logs didn't make their challenge any easier. Instead, it caused one of the sled's skis to snap. "These old skis couldn't take the stress," said Anthony Dobbs, 14. After about 15 minutes of trudging through water, mud and fallen trees, the team emerged, wet and tired,...

The fear of lawsuits from the American Civil Liberties Union has driven 216 Boy Scout, Cub Scout and related troops across the state - including 35 in North Jersey - to sever their charters with public institutions. Many of them, including Troop 124 in Northvale, have enjoyed a long friendship with municipalities that have sponsored the Scouts, provided them with funding and offered a comfortable meeting space. But an ACLU threat has sent troops scrambling for new sponsors. The Boy Scouts of America issued a directive last April for all troops to transfer their sponsorship by the end of the...

Golf Manor, a subdivision in Commerce Township, Mich., some 25 miles outside of Detroit, is the kind of place where nothing unusual is supposed to happen, where the only thing lurking around the corner is an ice-cream truck. But June 26, 1995, was not a typical day. Ask Dottie Pease. Cruising down Pinto Drive, Pease saw half a dozen men crossing her neighbor's lawn. Three, in respirators and white moon suits, were dismantling her next-door neighbor's shed with electric saws, stuffing the pieces into large steel drums emblazoned with radioactive warning signs. Huddled with a group of neighbors, Pease was...

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D. (R-TN) today praised the pending passage of the “Support Our Scouts Act of 2005,” which is included in the Department of Defense Authorization bill and the Defense Appropriations bill. Sen. Frist authored the legislation, which was co-sponsored by over 50 other senators, "to ensure that the Boy Scouts of America receives equal access to public facilities, programs, and forums and that the Defense Department will continue its support of Scouts and their Jamborees." “The passage of this legislation is a victory for the Boy Scouts of America and the many other organizations that...

(KUTV) An incredible and un-suspecting accident leaves a Utah Boy Scout just inches from death when he was stabbed right between his eyes. Jeff Jaeger spoke to Kevin Coulter and tells 2News how this was a truly freak accident. While raking leaves for a Boy Scout event, one of the leaders flung a knife from his hand while trying to catch another scout who had tripped. “It was dark, it was like 8:30 and there was a light and I saw it flash before it hit me,” said Kevin. The blade landed in between his frontal lobes. It was 2...

The bird-watching hiking trip that the boys from Boy Scout Troop 44 in Pennington took Nov. 19 to Pennsylvania's Hawk Mountain didn't include plans for a life-and-death rescue mission. Plans changed when the boys encountered fire-and-rescue personnel scrambling on foot up the mountain with their emergency gear. The boys of Troop 44 didn't hesitate to lend a hand to the emergency crews after learning they were rushing to a hiker who had been pinned and badly injured by a massive boulder in an area that could not be reached by vehicle. "We were on the last part of our hike,"...

Poison Ivy Basics Poison ivy is a red, itchy rash caused by the plant that bears its name. Many people get it when they are hiking or working in their garden and accidentally come into direct contact with the plant's leaves, roots, or stems. The poison ivy rash often looks like red lines, and sometimes it forms blisters. The culprit behind the rash is a chemical in the sap of poison ivy plants called urushiol (oo-roo-shee-ohl). Its name comes from the Japanese word "urushi," meaning lacquer. Urushiol is the same substance that triggers an allergic reaction when people touch...

 ANTONIN SCALIA, US SUPREME COURT JUSTICE, NAMED GRAND MARSHAL OF NEW YORK’S COLUMBUS DAY PARADEJustice Celebrated In Pageant of Italian-American AchievementNew York, NY, September 23, 2005 - Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, will be Grand Marshal of Manhattan’s 2005 Columbus Day Parade, Lawrence Auriana, president of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, announced today. The parade, which is produced by the non-profit Foundation, is the largest Columbus Day event in the world and will be held on New York’s Fifth Avenue on October 10, 2005.  "We are honored that Justice Scalia has accepted our invitation to be...

Following on the heels of a major pedophile scandal this past July during the San Diego Gay Pride Festival, radical gay activists have now targeted the San Diego Boy Scouts for atheism, homosexual and transsexual infiltration. Scouting For All, which recently participated in San Diego Gay Pride, was also involved in the same festival that featured pedophile Martin Ramirez, better known as Marty the Clown, who worked in the Gay Pride's Children's Garden. Scouting For All exists for the purpose of forcing the Boy Scouts of America to change its current policies and allow homosexuality into the organization. Additionally, it...

Falling tree kills girl, 8, at Scout camp OCEAN TOWNSHIP - An 8-year-old girl was killed and three others injured Wednesday when an oak tree crashed down on them during a first-aid class at a Boy Scout camp, authorities said. The girls were participating in a class being taught as part of an overnight camp when the 31-foot tree suddenly snapped, falling on the picnic table at which they were sitting, Police Chief Kenneth Flatt said. The tree broke about three feet from its base and crashed through a tarp over the picnic table, landing on the girl's head. She...

While growing up I was a proud member of an organization that emphasized the importance of honesty and "being clean in thought, word and deed." We vowed to serve God and our country. If you think that this organization's philosophy is non-controversial, you are sadly mistaken. We live in an era of Political Correctness. The beliefs and values that our society broadly embraced when I was a member of Boy Scout Troop 77, chartered by Holy Trinity Catholic Church of Racine, Wisconsin, are now endangered.Unfortunately, our federal courts often make decisions that assault our country's most cherished beliefs and values....

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Lightning struck a group of Boy Scouts taking shelter from a storm, killing the troop leader and leaving a 13-year-old boy brain-dead in the latest tragedy to befall the organization this week, authorities and the teen's grandfather said. Six others were injured when the lightning bolt made a direct strike on a tarp the Scouts had set up in a meadow in Sequoia National Park on Thursday. Ryan Collins, 13, was being kept on a ventilator so that his organs could be donated, the boy's grandfather said Friday. Collins was listed in critical condition at the...

Boy Scouts 'All Started Screaming' Jul 26, 9:28 PM (ET) By LARRY O'DELL and JEANNETTE J. LEE (AP) A day following the deaths of four Boy Scout leaders at the National Jamboree, Boy Scouts line up...Full Image BOWLING GREEN, Va. (AP) - They were deeply devoted to the Boy Scouts, traveling thousands of miles to the woods of northern Virginia for 10 fun-filled days of fishing, archery and storytelling beside the campfire. One of their first tasks: Set up a large tent. But the task went terribly awry when they lost control of a giant tent pole and it hit...

Grizzly mauls boy in Alaska Sunday, July 24, 2005 Associated Press Anchorage, Alaska — A 15-year-old boy from Texas who was attacked by a grizzly bear was recovering at an Anchorage hospital from bites to his legs and arms. The attack occurred Friday while Alex Benson and his Boy Scout troop were wrapping up a 42-kilometre hike. Alex apparently startled the bear on the trail, just half an hour from the end of the hike. He was bitten at least twice before the bear ran off. The boy was left with a shredded arm and puncture wounds in his leg....