A court-sponsored Boy Scout troop in Vernon Hills for teenage delinquents won’t be disbanded despite criticism that the arrangement supports an organization accused of discrimination, officials say.
“It’s safe to say that there will still be a Boy Scout troop here,” said Lake County State’s Atty. Michael Waller.
The 19th Judicial Circuit of Lake and McHenry Counties established Troop 19 two years ago at the Depke Juvenile Justice Center in Vernon Hills.
The troop is part of an in-house treatment program for delinquents, said Robert Zastany, executive director of court administration, who is also the troop’s representative with the Boy Scouts of America. The court is the chartering organization for the troop, he said.
Although the troop’s 12 members go camping and engage in other scouting activities, they are detainees serving criminal sentences, he said.
Chief Judge Jane Waller of the 19th Judicial Circuit said officials were examining whether public funds were used to pay for the program, or whether it was appropriate for the court to charter a scout troop.
“If there’s any public funding at all, it’s in the range of a few dollars,” Waller said. “Private donations are available to fund the program. If we conclude that the troop has to be chartered through a community organization, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Waller said participation by court personnel in the troop is voluntary.
Rob Sherman, an atheist, recently told the Lake County Board that by making the troop part of a court-ordered treatment regimen, participants were being forced to join an organization that he said discriminates against homosexuals and atheists.
“The intent of the [court] program is to teach positive values, but because the Scouts exclude homosexuals and atheists, it instead teaches discrimination and bigotry,” Sherman said. “And it uses tax dollars to do it.”
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2000 that as a private organization Boy Scouts of America has a constitutional right to exclude gays as troop leaders.
Just last month the executive board of the Boy Scouts met to reaffirm its traditional leadership standards.
The board’s view is that homosexuals can’t serve as Scout leaders because they can’t be traditional role models. The board also restated its view that duty to God “is not a mere ideal for those choosing to associate with the Boy Scouts of America; it is an obligation.”
Zastany, who has been in scouting for 15 years, defended the organization’s role in Family and Community Engaged in Treatment, a residential treatment program for ages 14 to 16.
“We were looking for programs that would help build moral character, provide positive role models and teach leadership and citizenship skills,” he said.
The parents, not the minors, sign troop application forms, Zastany said.
“When it comes to religion, that’s up to the parents,” he said.
