8/7 Letters: Boy Scouts ‘deserved far better’ than Trump speech

Regarding “Trump speech to Boy Scouts elicits criticism for its partisanship, profanity” (July 25): The “Dennis the Menace” cartoon on July 24 was a wonderful tribute to the community service that is a hallmark of the Boy Scouts, both troop service and individual service such as that provided by thousands of Eagle Scouts.

Scouting continued to be the focus of the day as I was made aware of the totally inappropriate political speech given the night before at the Boy Scout Jamboree. The more President Trump talked the more obvious it was that in many ways, he and Scouts are polar opposites. Scouting is based on core values and leadership development. Scouts respect the environment and practice “no impact” camping in which they leave a campsite better than they found it. Scouts earn merit badges in areas such as “Citizenship in the Community/Nation/World” and “God and Country.” The Scout oath says “On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country.”

The president may not be capable of inspiring outstanding young people, but he could have profited from trying to learn what Scouting is about before he gave his embarrassing speech. The Scouters at the National Jamboree, which is held every four years, came from all over the country. Their leaders also paid their own way and gave up vacation time to enable their Scouts to have a high-adventure, once-in-a-lifetime experience in Scouting. They deserved far better than to have their idealism countered with Trump’s crassness.

Gov. Cooper breaks promise

Regarding “McCrory declares his actions vindicated by Cooper teams’ safety standard for coal ash” (July 15): Last year, former Gov. Pat McCrory was excoriated by the Democrat “environmentalists” for adopting a different measure than the scientists for the level of allowable coal ash in drinking water. In a debate, current Gov. Roy Cooper said, “One of the things I’m going to do is listen to scientists who are providing advice, unlike Gov. McCrory.”

Surprise. Cooper just adopted the standard proposed by McCrory. Did the scientists change their minds? No. They even made new objections to the McCrory standard. Did the Democrat “environmentalists” change their minds? No. Was their concern counterfeit – a tool in their politically-motivated box? North Carolina families were deliberately deceived about the safety of their drinking water for political gain. (Remember Flint?)

What other “concerns” were fabricated to scare families and detract from the positive leadership of McCrory: job creation, teacher pay raises and tax relief? What additional campaign “promises” will Cooper next abandon with the mute assent of his Democrat supporters?

This story was originally published August 6, 2017 at 6:00 PM with the headline "8/7 Letters: Boy Scouts ‘deserved far better’ than Trump speech."