Requiem for a Friend

I found out this morning that one of our scout leaders had passed away from a heart attack.

Billy Gebhardt was just 45 years old.

Billy was to the Boy Scouts what Joe Paterno is to the Nittany Lions...a legend in our area and one who inspired the boys to become great men.

Billy devoted more than 3/4 of his life to scouting. He was responsible for raising a boatload of money for "Friends of Scouting". He spearheaded a ton of events, and cooked like a gourmet chef. Billy was a Renaissance man and our boys thought the world of him.

Billy probably pushed more lackadaisical scouts to become everything they possibly could be, most achieving Eagle Scout rank with his constant badgering. He did it because he believed in the boys. The boys responded because they believed in Billy.

I must admit, I wept openly in my son's arms this morning upon finding out, via email, that he had passed away.

I wept because I was becoming friends with Billy, which you didn't do if he didn't like you.

I wept because there were things left unfinished that, without his signature, may be only mildly successful.

I wept because my son would never have the opportunity to be badgered into achieving greatness by Billy Gephardt.

Not that Billy was the be-all and end all of Scouting...but if you ask some of those boys who were "badgered" into completing their Eagle Projects and that one more merit badge, they'd beg to differ.

Rest in peace, my friend. I will miss you. Scout meetings will never be the same.

Your spirit will live on in the many lives you have touched, however briefly. I will make sure of it, I promise...on my honor.


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City Urges Scout Suit be Dismissed

Or, in other words, when you have no standing, move for dismissal. The city is so going to lose this "smear" campaign against the Boy Scouts.

By MICHAEL HINKELMAN
Philadelphia Daily News

The city asked a federal judge yesterday to throw out a complaint by the local Boy Scouts chapter that seeks to prevent the city from evicting the chapter from its city-owned headquarters unless it pays $200,000 a year in rent.

The local chapter, the Cradle of Liberty Council, pays the city $1 annually to lease a city-owned 1928 Beaux Arts building at 22nd and Winter streets, near the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Deputy City Solicitor Robert D. Aversa said in a 30-page brief that allowing the Scouts to continue rent-free occupancy "amounted to an improper and undesired subsidization of discriminatory use of city-owned property."

The Boy Scouts of America bars atheists and anyone who is openly gay from being a member.

The city said yesterday that it had attempted to resolve the issue by asking Cradle of Liberty to "state unequivocally" that it would not discriminate while using the building and grounds.

When Cradle of Liberty refused to "adopt a nondiscriminatory membership policy," City Council passed a resolution on May 31, 2007, terminating its rent-free arrangement with the Scouts, the city's court filing said.

Alternatively, the city said that the organization could pay $200,000 annual rent or "vacate and surrender" the headquarters building on May 31, 2008.

The city said that Cradle of Liberty waited almost a year, and then filed a federal suit on May 23 "in anticipation" of being evicted. The Scouts remain in their headquarters pending resolution of the legal matters.

A 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision said that the Boy Scouts is a private group and thus can associate with whomever it wants and government cannot interfere with that right.

Cradle of Liberty charged in its suit that the city opposed such rights and decided to "punish" the local chapter by demanding that it repudiate the national membership policy.

The local chapter also said that the city was censoring it by "singling out" Cradle at the same time that it maintained free or modest leases with others, including church groups, who limit membership. The city said in its filing that neither claim passed legal muster.

hinkelm@phillynews.com 215-854-2656 *



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More On the Boy Scouts

"Charlie on the Turnpike" (whatsit2you.blogspot.com) posted a follow-up to last week's Boy Scout story, with a common sense look at the situation from "The Morning Call":

More on the defense of Boy Scouts of America

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