In the news again

FYI

Tim Zich
@gmu.edu
================================================
Boy Scout Troop Leaders Are
Being Roasted for Arranging to
Let

AP
23-APR-98

DALLAS (AP) Boy Scout troop leaders are being roasted for arranging to let
hatchet-wielding scouts catch, kill and dress chickens for a camp dinner.

Leaders of Lake Highlands Troop 890 said they wanted to show scouts how
their meals got to the table.

"Chicken to them is a chicken nugget," said Scoutmaster James Shepherd. "So
the feeling was that, educationally, if they could see this is where their chicken
comes from, it would be good for them."

So the troop, on a camping trip Saturday, was turned loose on a flock of
chickens from a processing plant. The scouts were shown how to kill, pluck,
dress and prepare chickens for eating.

Ten to 15 of the 80 scouts declined to participate, and two parents later
complained.

"It was obvious they were upset," Shepherd said. "In retrospect, we obviously
shouldn't have done it."

"Scouting's position is that killing an animal isn't part of any BSA program," said
Rob Hoffman, a spokesman for Circle 10 Council of the Boy Scouts of
America, which oversees scouting in 13 north Texas and Oklahoma counties.

The idea came from the fathers of three troop members who fondly remembered
a similar trip during their scouting days.

"Evidently the troop hadn't done this since then, 25 years ago," Shepherd said.
"Now I know why."

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