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Boy Scouts under fire
Lawsuit ousts scouts from Balboa park
Hans Zeiger
The ACLU needs a new summer camp for its young
folks, preferably in San Diego's Balboa Park. The PC Scouts,
as we'll call them, will head off to Balboa to obtain Rights
Badges (as opposed to merit badges) and learn the meaning of
the PC Scout Oath: "On my self-esteem, I will do whatever
feels good for myself; and to question authority, to help myself
at all times, to keep myself physically gratified, mentally
interested, and morally tolerant."
But the ACLU has a bit of a problem: The coveted
camp in Balboa Park is currently being used by the Boy Scouts
of America, the archenemy of the ACLU. In order to train up
a vast new generation of PC scouts, the ACLU must figure out
a way to move the Boy Scouts out of Balboa Park (and out of
the rest of America too).
On Thursday the ACLU came much closer to its
goal. The landlord of the Boy Scout camp in Balboa Park, the
City of San Diego, switched sides from supporting the Boy Scouts
to supporting the ACLU in its quest to destroy the Scouts. As
settlement of an ACLU lawsuit against the City of San Diego
and the Scouts, the City of San Diego decided to abandon the
Scouts in their appeal to remain in Balboa Park.
Last July U.S. District Judge Napoleon Jones
ruled that the Boy Scouts of America is a religious organization.
Their presence in Balboa Park was considered a violation of
the separation of church and state. Because the Scouts believe
in God, Jones said, there is "overwhelming and uncontradicted
evidence" that the Scouts have received preferential treatment
in being able to lease Balboa Park. Under terms of the new settlement,
San Diego must request Jones to cancel the Boy Scouts' lease
on Balboa Park.
The city will also pay the ACLU nearly $1
million in court costs and attorney fees, which will, of course,
help finance further attacks against the Boy Scouts.
Now that the City of San Diego has given up
on the Boy Scouts of America, a nearly 90-year relationship
has come to an end. It began after the 1915 San Diego World's
Fair in Balboa Park when the Santa Fe Railroad donated its Pueblo
Indian Village to local Boy Scouts with approval by the San
Diego Parks Commission. For 25 years the Scouts used the Indian
Village as a headquarters and recreation site free of charge.
During World War II, the military took possession of Balboa
Park and the Boy Scouts launched their volunteer campaigns to
help the war effort from a makeshift headquarters in a local
theater.
At the end of the war, the San Diego City
Council passed a resolution authorizing the Boy Scouts to take
charge of several acres of land in Balboa Park. Through fundraising
and volunteer work, a state-of-the-art swimming pool and a 600-seat
outdoor amphitheater were constructed. In 1949 the Boy Scouts
Desert Pacific Council headquarters building was completed.
Parts of Balboa Park remained undeveloped
by 1957, so the city council agreed to transfer additional property
to the Boy Scouts for maintenance and operations. A 50-year
lease was signed with a rental fee of $1 per year.
Today Camp Balboa accommodates up to 300 campers
at a time, and it offers a variety of year-round programs. Each
year 12,000 Boy Scouts take part in day camps, weekend camps
and merit badge classes.
But the Boy Scouts don't have exclusive access
to their own camp. Anyone can use it. Last summer, the two-day
San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Festival
was held at Balboa Park.
And the Boy Scouts take good care of Balboa Park.  The
Scouts have spent millions of dollars developing and maintaining
the public park over the years, without burden to the city and
its taxpayers. In the language of free market think tanks, that's
a classic public-private partnership.
The ACLU cares nothing about saving taxpayers
money, nor that the Scouts perform millions of dollars and thousands
of hours worth of public service for the San Diego community,
nor about the fact that the Scouts have been in the park for
most of nine decades. The ACLU simply wants to destroy the Boy
Scouts of America.
The ACLU is celebrating the capitulation of
the City of San Diego. Now the Boy Scouts are left quite alone
in a hostile court system to appeal the ruling of Jones. It
is likely they'll be kicked out of their historic camp for good
if Americans don't act fast.
The Boy Scouts need our help. Citizens of
San Diego must pack the next city council meeting and express
their disapproval of this hideous surrender to the ACLU. Congress
must immediately seek the impeachment of Judge Napoleon Jones
who ruled that the Boy Scouts cannot have dealings with government
because the Scouts is a religious organization.
And the Boy Scouts need help with legal bills.
Americans from coast to coast must send checks to the Boy Scouts
(http://www.scouting.org)
and to the Scouting Legal Defense Fund (http://www.defendscouting.com).
The Boy Scouts have done plenty of good turns
for San Diego. Now it is time for San Diego-and all of America-to
do a good turn for the Boy Scouts.
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