News

The John Newton Project
2008 05 09

During February 2008, The Better Hour, a documentary on William Wilberforce, was shown on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television channels right across the United States of America. PBS reaches 73 million people a week. Kevin Belmonte, on our Board of Reference, contributed very significantly to the programme from its inception. John Pollock is interviewed. Marylynn adds a little on Newton.

From the website http://www.thebetterhour.com:

‘The goal of the documentary is to focus on how strength of character is harnessed in the service of high and seemingly unattainable goals for society. Character and community join together to bring into the world what the English poet William Cowper described as “the better hour.” The documentary highlights William Wilberforce’s drive and love for humanity and reveals how he and his colleagues took up the cause of abolition of the slave trade at a time when the British economy depended upon slavery.’

To benefit more fully from how Wilberforce’s ‘compassion, self-discipline, and respect for others offer lessons for a contemporary audience on how to change the world for the better’ there are several resources available:

1. Book

Creating the Better Hour: Lessons from William Wilberforce, with foreword by Rick Warren. Os Guinness, Chuck Colson, Baroness Caroline Cox, Kevin Belmonte and others reflect on the need for qualities of leadership and character in order to effect changes for good. It includes a study guide with group discussion questions.

Books are a good start. One of the first things Newton did was to recommend some good books to Wilberforce (by urgent request).

‘There are 2 or 3 good books of Bunyan’s for plain enquirers, such as The Jerusalem Sinner Saved and Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. Baxter’s Call, and Alleyne’s Alarm to the Unconverted have been useful to many. Flavel on Providence – on The Keeping of the Heart, and any of his works, most of which have been published in small books – his Spiritual Navigation. These are some of the plainest I can think of at present.’[2]
Newton to Wilberforce, 6 March 1786

2. Wilberforce’s Book

A Practical View of Real Christianity by William Wilberforce. Selected and foreword by Chuck Stetson.

Wilberforce (to Newton):

‘it is a great relief to my mind to have published what I may term my manifesto – to have plainly told my worldly acquaintances what I think of their system and conduct and where it must end. I hope also that my book may be useful…’

Newton:

‘What a phenomenon has Mr Wilberforce sent abroad! Such a book, by such a man, and at such a time! A book which must and will be read by persons in the higher circles, who are quite inaccessible to us little folks; who will neither hear what we can say, nor read what we may write.

‘I am filled with wonder and with hope. I accept it as a token for good, yea as the brightest token I can discern in this dark and perilous day.

‘Yes, I trust that the Lord by raising up such an incontestable witness to the truth and power of his Gospel, has a gracious purpose to honour him as an instrument, of reviving and strengthening the sense of real religion where it already is, and of communicating it, where it is not.’
Newton to Charles Grant, 18 April 1797

3. Audio CD

Engaging the Culture - Changing the World: Lessons from William Wilberforce presented by Chuck Stetson. This has four 27-minute talks on how and what change was effected, how Wilberforce kept on track and how people like Wilberforce are engaging the world today.

‘Yea, if his mind be comprehensive, and his eye single, if he be fixed in his determination to obey and please God rather than man, in cases where it is not possible to please both – in proportion as his character is formed upon this plan, and generally known, he may compel their respect and reverence and have an influence and weight among them, in the common affairs of life, greater than they usually have over one another.

‘The points of his public profession of religion, from which I think he cannot warrantably recede, are such as these: He will say with Joshua, or his example and conduct will say it for him, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. He will neither be afraid nor ashamed to have it publicly supposed or known, that he worships God…’
Newton’s advice to Wilberforce on engaging the culture to change the world, 1 November 1787.

4. DVD

The DVD of the documentary, The Better Hour: The Legacy of William Wilberforce, can be used to bring together ‘people of good will who, like William Wilberforce and his Clapham Circle, want their lives to have meaning and who want to make their community a better place’. Showings of the DVD at ‘Gatherings’ held at local schools, colleges, public libraries, churches, or in homes, can be followed with group discussion, the goal being ‘to find a way to make change for good in your community’. This may mean your neighbourhood, city, nation or the world. The website gives a link for purchasing the DVD. You can also view the trailer here.

Wilberforce:

‘Sir, I wish to have some serious conversation with you.’

Newton:

‘Whenever you can call you will be a welcome guest. Great subjects to discuss, great plans to promote, great prospects to contemplate, will always be at hand. Thus employed, our hours, when we meet, will pass away like minutes.’
Newton to Wilberforce, 21 March 1786

Wilberforce:

‘When I came away I found my mind in a calm, tranquil state, more humbled, and looking more devoutly up to God.’

More information about the whole project can be found at http://www.thebetterhour.com or by contacting Shelia Weber . When Newton’s friend Henry Venn heard about the spiritual stirring in Wilberforce’s heart he was so excited that he exclaimed, ‘And what will be the issue, who can say?’ May this project promote similar effects in many hearts.
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Why the BSA Is Valuable
2008 05 09

Over the weekend I finished reading Texas Governor Rick Perry’s book, On My Honor. The book discusses what the Boy Scouts of America means to him and to other men that he knows. Some of these men were boys in the troop of which Perry was a member during his boyhood in rural Texas. Others are notable figures, such as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, hotel magnate J. Willard Marriott Jr., and Capt. James Lovell of Apollo 13 fame, all of whom are Eagle Scouts.

A number of the men mentioned by Perry (not all are listed above) are not strangers to controversy. Perry himself should bear some scrutiny over his handling of the FLDS situation in his state.

As one of my parent’s five Eagle Scout sons, and having two Eagle Scout sons myself (and hopefully two more on the way), I was interested in reading this book. Perry discusses the history of the Scouting movement and of the BSA in particular in chapter 4. He also discusses how the 4-million member BSA functions and is organized. Chapter 9, which delves into accounts of Scouting heroism, is worth reading on its own.

In chapters 2, 3, and 8 Perry writes both generally and specifically about Scouting values. It is here that he presents why he believes the BSA is such an important and valuable organization. The BSA doesn’t create perfect citizens. While there are many great men among the 1.7 million that have earned the Eagle Scout rank, there are also a number that are infamous (see list). But the BSA does create leaders, and it engenders a culture of service, respect, accomplishment, and self-reliance.

Lawyer Wars
The remaining chapters (1, 4-7, 11, and 12) are devoted to the central thesis of Perry’s book: the culture wars, and especially the specific attacks by the Left on the BSA. Perry documents the various legal challenges that have been repeatedly brought against the BSA and notes how the Left is pursuing its agenda of forcing the BSA to accept the Left’s view of morality.

First came challenges to the BSA’s policy of only admitting young men to its programs for 7-14-year-olds. Each of these was rebuffed by the courts. (The BSA has long allowed young women ages 14-21 to participate in its Explorer and Venture programs.) Then came challenges to the BSA’s requirement that members believe in and reverence God. These were likewise turned back.

Next came objections to the BSA’s policy against admitting homosexual activists to its ranks. Perry explains that the BSA policy is akin to the military’s don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy. The Boy Scouts is not designed to be about sexuality. It doesn’t want adults bringing sexuality of any kind into troop meetings. But when someone creates their identity around sexual activism, such cannot be avoided. Thus, sexual orientation activists are not permitted to join. The Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the BSA was within its rights to exclude homosexual activists from its ranks.

While the BSA does not go out of its way to find out about any member’s sexual orientation, it does go out of its way to exclude known abusers from its ranks. To become an adult volunteer, you must give the BSA your social security number, your driver license number, and permission to do a background check. If you have a record of any kind of abuse (or of other serious problems), you will not be permitted to join.

Even with these kinds of precautions, abusers still manage to get into the ranks of the BSA. A few years ago, the BSA became aware that the North American Man/Boy Love Association, which “advocates the legalization of sexual relations between adult males and under-aged boys,” was distributing information about how to infiltrate the BSA (plus little league and other youth programs) undetected, as well as specific instructions about how to get away with raping boys.

Unable to beat the BSA legally after decades of assaults, the Left has now turned to trying to get governmental entities to deny the BSA access to various public venues, from military bases to buildings to campgrounds. The results have been a mixed bag, with the Left winning some and the BSA winning some. All of this legal wrangling has been very expensive for the BSA. If the Leftists can’t beat them legally, at least they can make them bleed money through continual legal challenges, regardless of their merit.

Perry wonders why the Leftists are so opposed to allowing the BSA to operate according to its own desires. Why try to remake the BSA in their own image? Why not simply start their own youth organization that has all of the features they so much desire?

Scouting Values
In chapter 10, Perry goes through studies done in 1995 and 2005 that compare various values among people that have been members of the BSA under five years, those that have been members over four years, and those that have never been members. The results are about what might be expected between the three groups. While the long-time Scouters almost always come out on top, there has been some overall decline in all groups over the decade. Still, the vast majority of Americans, even those that have never had anything to do with the BSA, align themselves with the values espoused by the BSA.

In chapters 11 and 12, Perry gives his personal interpretation of what all of this means. He includes political as well as religious interpretations. He worries that the U.S. has been tranquilized by its affluence, and that this will have both moral and economic impacts.

“If we believe our technology, firepower, and educational attainment will save us from licentiousness, godlessness, and undisciplined living, we bet on a losing proposition according to the history of civilization (Rome, Greece, Babylon, to name a few). Sure, prior empires did not have access to weapons that could annihilate mankind from the face of the earth. But it won’t take a military invasion to remove us from our perch atop the world: only our wandering into a moral wilderness of indifference.”

Since he is governor of our largest border state, it was not surprising to see Perry soft peddle immigration issues. Of Hispanic immigrants, he writes, “I see a population that is largely law-abiding, aspiring to be upwardly mobile, and hungry … for an opportunity to provide a good life for their family. … We are better off for what they bring to the table.” While we do need immigrants that become real Americans, I can only assume that Perry doesn’t see the disproportionately large number of illegal immigrants that make up our prison population.

I was surprised that Perry never mentioned in his book that Learning for Life is a subsidiary of the BSA. This 1.8 million member organization “utilizes programs designed for schools and community-based organizations ... to prepare youth ... for the complexities of contemporary society and to enhance their self-confidence, motivation, and self-esteem.” This program works with many inner city youth. It doesn’t have the structure, uniforms, and insignia of regular BSA programs, nor does it have religious belief or sexual orientation requirements.

Having been a member of the BSA since age eight, I appreciated Perry’s discussion of Scouting values. In chapter 8 he addresses the 12 points of the Scout Law. However, I was disappointed in his brief take on reverence. Of this point, the Scout Handbook says, “A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others.” Although Perry makes his Christian belief clear throughout his book, when he writes about reverence, he writes only about respecting “people in positions of authority.” I’m sorry, but saying, “Yes sir, Mr. Governor” is very unlike praying, “Help me to know and do thy will, O God.”

Perry does make a significant point about respecting the beliefs of others. Not only does he point out the Left’s intolerance for those whose opinions differ from theirs, but he claims society benefits by protecting the BSA’s right to espouse its values.

“I do not advocate state-sponsored morality in the most general sense, but I do argue for the protection of organizations and entities whose influence on American values have been profoundly positive. And I do argue that we continue to make the case to our fellow citizens about the virtue of making right choices, while recognizing in a free society people must ultimately have the prerogative to make wrong choices.”

Finally, Perry expresses faith in the values held by the American middle class. He writes, “I believe Scouting will survive as long as it sticks to the virtues and values of the great middle class.” He qualifies this by adding, “… if those values are not replaced by a culture of licentiousness.”

I appreciate the fact that Gov. Perry wrote this book. It explains the whys and hows of Scouting. It especially explains why Scouting values are worth fighting for. Given that some of the Left see the BSA as the enemy, the BSA can expect to continue to have to fight for those values.
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Governor Perry Book Celebrates Values of Boy Scouts
2008 05 05

AUSTIN—When he’s not busy with his day job, Gov. Rick Perry is zipping around the state and the country for his new gig — book author.

This past week found the Republican governor in Abilene and Tyler to speak about and sign his book, “On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.”

Other recent stops have been in Fort Worth and Houston. Coming soon: Lufkin, Beaumont, Woodville and beyond.

Along the way, Perry — a former Eagle Scout — talks about the virtues of Scouting and what he describes as a “culture war” on the Scouts and traditional values. He formally launched the book tour in February.

“We’ve been all over the state, and it looks like that will continue. It has touched more of a nerve than we had anticipated,” Perry’s spokesman, Robert Black, said Friday. He said Boy Scouts and their parents “will show up in droves, which is fantastic.”

Perry plans to attend a Republican gathering in San Diego this month to promote the book. He has been invited to a meeting in North Carolina. And he’s looking to pump up sales at the Republican state convention in June in Houston and the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., in September.

Neither the governor’s office nor the book’s publisher, Stroud & Hall of Macon, Ga., are saying yet how many of the books have sold or how much money the book has brought in. Net proceeds will be earmarked for the Irving-based Boy Scouts.

Black estimated the first printing at 17,000 books, but he said sales figures won’t be known until next March because of the way sales are calculated. He said a decision would be made soon whether to order a second printing.

Perry pays for his book-related travel from his campaign account, not his state government office, Black said.

News media advisories publicizing his book-signings are done on his political letterhead and e-mail, Black said. He said the governor’s office used state equipment to publicize one Boy Scout event in early February because the event was official gubernatorial business.

The governor’s office and campaign do not sell the book. A third-party book retailer typically attends an event, though some groups hosting an event purchase books in advance for the governor to sign, Black said.
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Gov. Perry Stands Up for Boy Scouts
2008 05 05

’’On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”

That’s the Boy Scout Oath, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, an Eagle Scout, staunchly defends it in On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.

The Scout Law, as Perry notes, says a Scout should be “trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.”

“Few people will quibble with these traits as goals,” Perry writes, “and yet it seems as if we have become used to expecting less in our actual relationships.”

He goes on to say, “We Americans have developed poor manners.”

And he offers an example from his own life — “when I was caught by a live microphone using vulgar language” after a TV news interview. “It fell short of the standard I learned long ago in the Scouts: to be courteous and kind.”

In defending Scouting values, Perry especially takes aim at the American Civil Liberties Union for its legal, political and cultural challenges to the Boy Scouts, alleging sexual and spiritual discrimination.

He sees the attacks as part of a “culture war that has been tearing at the seams of our society for forty years and that pits traditional values such as service, selflessness, and sacrifice for the common good against a newer doctrine that elevates the self above society and relegates morality to a shapeless form of relativity.”

Perry remains optimistic about the future of Scouting “as long as Scouting remains what it is and doesn’t try to bend to the winds of political correctness.”
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Trial Lawyers Get A Break
2008 05 05

AUSTIN — For years now, Texas’ Republican leaders have done their best to convince voters that trial lawyers are to blame for all of our ills, except maybe hurricanes and serial killers.

For a while, they certainly succeeded in branding trial lawyers with much of the blame for rising health care costs.

But the public attitude is changing, according to Republican pollster Bryan Eppstein, who has been tracking this issue for several years for the Texas Medical Association.

In his most recent voter survey, trial lawyers dropped to third — behind health insurance companies and drug manufacturers — when respondents were asked, “Whom do you blame most for the high cost of health care in Texas?”

Some 28 percent blamed insurers, 22 percent drug companies and 18 percent plaintiffs’ lawyers. The percentages were almost as high for insurers and drug companies at the pre-2004 height of the so-called “doctor lawsuit abuse crisis,” Eppstein said. But trial lawyers led the pack of “villains” then with about 30 percent in a similar poll.

Third-highest in U.S.
In 2003 doctors, insurance companies and state leaders sold the voters on a constitutional amendment putting new restrictions on medical malpractice claims filed by “greedy” trial lawyers. That supposedly has improved the health care climate for doctors.

But their patients, including the physicians’ own employees, continue to get whacked with rising health care premiums.

Just last week, a new report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that Texas ranked third among the states in health insurance premium increases — 40 percent — from 2001 to 2005. Small wonder that Texas continues to lead the nation in the percentage of residents — about one-fourth — without health insurance.

There is little state regulation of health insurance in Texas, but the Legislature will get another opportunity to do something about it next year, when the Texas Department of Insurance is up for sunset review.

Expect a big fight, with doctors and insurers, former allies in the so-called “tort reform” coalition, squaring off against each other.

Small-business owners, another important part of the tort army, probably will jump in with the doctors.

Even physicians affected
The health insurance squeeze hit close to home for the Texas Academy of Family Physicians when it received a policy renewal notice for its 11-member administrative staff in Austin.

Its insurer, a leader in providing group coverage in Texas, raised the academy’s premiums by 23 percent, prompting the medical group to pick a plan (with higher employee deductibles) from a competing company.

Tom Banning, the academy’s CEO, said frustration worsened when administrators learned that only 74 percent of premiums they had paid to the former insurer had been spent on medical care.

The remainder went to the insurer’s administrative costs and profits.

A pleased pistol-packer
Jerry Patterson, Texas’ pistol-packing land commissioner, is happy with Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne.

Kempthorne has proposed a rule change to clear the way for people to carry concealed firearms in national parks, provided they can legally pack a pistol in the state in which a park is located. Since Texas allows people with concealed handgun licenses to carry their weapons in state parks, the federal rules change would allow them to carry their pistols in Big Bend or any other national park within Texas.

Patterson applauded the proposal but isn’t waiting for the rules change to take effect.

“When I’m in a state or national park, I’m (already) armed,” he said. “An unconstitutional rule promulgated by a federal bureaucracy is not sufficient to deny me that right.”

The National Park Service, meanwhile, is considering a land office offer to add the remote Christmas Mountains to Big Bend. Two of Patterson’s conditions for turning the property over to the federal government are that firearms and hunting be permitted. Kempthorne’s proposal, whether intentionally or not, addresses one.

Governor’s book tour
Once a week or so, Gov. Rick Perry is still on the road, signing copies of his book, On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.

Spokesman Robert Black said he didn’t know how many copies have been sold but that the publisher, Stroud & Hall of Macon, Ga., has inquired about a second printing. He said the first printing included about 17,000 copies.

The book, which Perry wrote with former staffer Eric Bearse, praises the contributions of the Boy Scouts and their role in what Perry views as a cultural, moral war for the nation’s future.

All of the governor’s royalties go to the Boy Scouts legal defense fund, Black said.

According to a schedule on the publisher’s Web site, Perry will have several out-of-state book signings in upcoming months, including one at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
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Boy Scouts Push for New Relevance
2008 05 01

HOUSTON — The scene on a recent weekend at Camp Strake, a Boy Scout overnight camp in the woods north of Houston, looked ageless and familiar: A group of youths, their tan uniforms neatly buttoned as they emerged from their tents, lined up eagerly to watch several fathers demonstrate skeet shooting.

But this was not a Scouting tableau as Norman Rockwell might have pictured it.

The African-American teenagers came from some of Houston’s toughest inner-city neighborhoods, where they sometimes must dodge gang shootouts to make it to weekly Scout meetings. Their uniforms, tents and sleeping bags were donated, because the boys’ families have little money to afford them. And most of the fathers on hand were not their own, but rather volunteers and professional Scout leaders recruited to stand in for the many boys in the group growing up without them.

Even the shotgun lesson was extraordinary—the first time officials at the Boy Scout camp had permitted urban Scouts from Houston to try their hands at shooting.

“They’ve always said our kids and guns shouldn’t go together,” said Amal Davis, a senior leader of the Houston-area Boy Scouts. “There was a lot of resistance from some people. And they still won’t let our kids bring pocketknives, which is pretty much a Scouting staple.”

But Davis wasn’t angry. He was beaming, because the two dozen youths he had brought to the camp were experiencing a whole new world just 50 miles from their troubled neighborhoods. His program, to open the Boy Scouts to kids who otherwise would never have access to it, is on the cutting edge of the 98-year-old Scouting organization as it reaches beyond its traditional suburban strongholds.

Centenary in 2010
Bruised by America’s culture wars, battered by lawsuits alleging that it discriminates against atheists and gays, and beset by eroding enrollments, the Boy Scouts of America is approaching its centenary in 2010 determined to regain its footing as the nation’s premier volunteer program to help boys grow into responsible men.

The list of merit badges has been updated and expanded. Coed programs for high school students have been introduced. Laptops are as common as rucksacks at many troop meetings. And the Scouts have begun targeting Hispanics, the nation’s fastest-growing minority group, in a new recruiting drive.

“The Boy Scouts of America is either going to figure out how to be relevant and important and exciting to Hispanic kids and their parents, or we’re going to be out of business,” said Rick Cronk, the Boy Scouts of America president.

The Boy Scouts of America counted nearly 2.86 million boys in its program in 2007, 15 percent fewer than in 2000 and a steep drop-off from the group’s enrollment high point of 4.35 million youths in 1970.

But Cronk views the Scouting math more optimistically.

“We’re excited about the possibility of reintroducing Scouting to America,” he said. “There are about 50 million living Americans who were either Boy Scouts or Cub Scouts. If you assume that each of those 50 million Scouts has two living family members, that’s 150 million Americans—half of the country—who in essence understand Scouting, even if they can’t precisely repeat the Scout oath and laws.”

Onset of legal woes
It was the Scout oath and laws, of course, that got the Boy Scouts of America into trouble over the last 20 years.

More than 30 state and federal lawsuits have been filed against the Scouts, variously alleging that the organization discriminates against girls, atheists and gays. Particularly troubling to the American Civil Liberties Union, which has been involved in many of the lawsuits, are the parts of the Boy Scout Oath that require a Scout to do his “duty to God” and to keep himself “morally straight.”

Scouting officials don’t deny that they expect members to believe in God, although they insist the movement is non-sectarian and open to all religious beliefs. And the officials acknowledge that they don’t allow openly homosexual men to become Scout leaders because they believe they would be inappropriate role models. Instead, officials say they take a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach, refraining from questioning Scouts or leaders about sexual orientation.

The Boy Scouts prevailed in nearly every lawsuit challenging membership rules, including a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2000 that the organization has a 1st Amendment right of freedom of association, which meant it could determine its own requirements for members and leaders.

But those legal victories drove critics to try to cut off the Boy Scouts’ access to public and government-supported venues, such as schools and municipal facilities, on the grounds that the Scouts’ membership restrictions violate government non-discrimination rules. Some of those legal battles are ongoing.

Texas governor in fray
The legal challenges outraged one Eagle Scout in particular — Texas Gov. Rick Perry. In February, Perry, a conservative Republican, published a book about Scouting’s struggle against what he termed “liberal elites” and the advocates of “free love and the quick fix of hallucinatory drugs.” He’s donating the proceeds of the book, “On My Honor,” to the Scouts’ legal defense fund.

“The Boy Scouts didn’t go looking for this fight,” Perry said in an interview with the Tribune. “The ACLU came after them. ... This attack on Scouting is part of a larger cultural war. The Boy Scouts are basically just the sentinels standing watch for traditional values.”

Scouting, Perry added, “isn’t about sexuality. It’s about teaching individuals to be men of character, being trustworthy and loyal and kind and friendly. If you have an openly homosexual Scout leader, the issue is going to be forced upon the young men in the troop. Scouting is not a place for those lifestyles to be discussed.”

The Boy Scouts’ legal troubles, although largely over, continue to cast a pall over the fundraising that supports many local Scouting activities.

The kids themselves seem only vaguely aware of the controversies over the Boy Scouts’ membership policies.

The high school-age boys in Troop 878 said no Scout officials had ever asked them about their religious beliefs or sexual orientation. The youths said they were more concerned about explaining to skeptical peers why Boy Scouts are not nerds.

“Some kids think the Boy Scouts are not cool,” said Jay Rose, 14. “But I tell them, ‘If you break your leg or your arm, I know what to do.’ And that’s because I learned first aid from Scouting.”

The controversies are even less relevant for the urban Scouts, who know the Scouting program is providing them with a safe and exciting alternative to the streets.

“When you have nothing to do at home, you have something to do at the Boy Scouts,” said Anthony Carter, 12, as he waited his turn to try shooting down a clay pigeon at Camp Strake. “Scouting for me is a real opportunity to become a young man.”

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