May 27, 2008 by Muir Scouter.

From KYW Radio:

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 national group’s policy on gays or leave their city-owned headquarters.

Mayor Nutter had 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 from the city for free.

Negotiations between the administration and the scouts have been going on for months (see related story), apparently for naught. The local scouting group has now filed a lawsuit in federal court, basically contending that the Nutter administration is violating the Scouts’ First-Amendment rights by delivering this ultimatum.

Jason Gosselin is an attorney for the Boy Scouts:

“What the city has done is essentially ordered the Boy Scouts, the Cradle of Liberty Council, to repudiate that policy. And when they refused to do that, they’ve now been penalized by the city with the notice to vacate their headquarters.”

Mayor Nutter says simply that the city cannot countenance the national Scouts’ policy on gays:

“We don’t support discrimination by organizations against individuals for any particular reason as they deliver their services. And certainly not on city land. In the cradle of liberty, the City of Philadelphia, that’s just unconscionable.”

Read the entire complaint (Acrobat required)

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May 16, 2008 by Muir Scouter.

From the Associated Press, via the San Francisco Chronicle:

Woman sentenced for having son dress up as Scout

Friday, May 16, 2008

(05-16) 12:42 PDT Easton, Pa. (AP) –

A former Bethlehem woman will serve up to 23 months in prison for having her 7-year-old son dress as a Cub Scout to collect money for a nonexistent cause.

Sally Ann Gombocz, 51, told a Northampton County judge she wanted to apologize to anyone she hurt. She previously pleaded guilty to theft by deception and corruption of a minor.

Gombocz had her son dress as a scout in 2003 and tell people he was raising money for a camping trip. A prosecutor says the family collected $69.

Gombocz was sentenced Friday to six to 23 months in the county jail. She also was fined $2,000, ordered to perform community service, take parenting classes, have psychological counseling and submit to random urine screens. She also must pay restitution.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/05/16/national/a124244D49.DTL

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