SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
                     Copyright 1993, San Jose Mercury News
 
 DATE: Saturday, August 14, 1993
 PAGE: 8B                         EDITION: Morning Final
 SECTION: California News         LENGTH:  6 in. Short
 SOURCE: Associated Press
 DATELINE: Mission Viejo
 
                 *SCOUTS*SPARK OUTRAGE WITH SOLICITATION NOTE
 
    Some residents and gay-rights groups are bristling over a fund-raising 
letter from the Boy Scouts suggesting the organization is besieged by gay 
people and atheists.
    ''Today, even the Boy Scouts are under attack for sticking to the 
traditional values you and I grew up with,'' says the letter from the Orange 
County Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
    ''Some want to remove all mention of God from the Scout law. Others want 
to make openly avowed homosexuals Scout leaders,'' the letter says. ''Do you 
care enough about our basic, tried-and-true American values to make a special 
gift to the Boy Scouts of America today?''
    Carol Crockett, one of about 20,000 people who got the letter this week, 
said she was offended.
    ''They could have found another way to get my money,'' Crockett said. 
''They could have talked about all of the positive things their group does, 
instead of launching this ugly attack on gays.''
    Scouting officials said the letter wasn't meant to offend.
    ''In no way was it ever intended to take any opposition to any lifestyle 
or to any belief or any practice,'' said Kent W. Gibbs, who signed the letter 
as president of the local council.
 
 KEYWORDS: ORANGE COUNTY JUVENILE ORGANIZATION CONTROVERSY
 
END OF DOCUMENT.
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