From: deitch@gisatl.fidonet.org (David Deitch)
Newsgroups: rec.scouting
Subject: Scouts N the Hood
Date: 9 Sep 92 03:49:22 GMT
Organization: Galaxy Information System (GIS) 1:133/411 Atlanta, Ga

The following article is from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution by Keith L. Thomas reprinted here without permission.

     The boys know the Scouting oath by heart, earn their share of camping merit badges and can whip a rope into a sheepshank knot.

     They also know a thing or two about drive0by shootings, late-night police raids and the dark corners where crack is sold.

     They're the homeboys of Troop 685 in Bankhead Courts, a Northwest Atlanta public housing development where choices for young boys are stark.

     "We'd rather be going camping and canoeing than doing drugs or getting shot at," says Jesse Stewart, 14, a member of the troop, along with his twin brother, James.

     Jesse and James are among the lucky ones - the bare tip of the iceberg of boys who might be helped by an 11th-hour effort to resurrect Scouting from the clutches of crack and urban decay in Atlanta's public housing developments.

     The Atlanta Area Council, Boy Scouts of America has started "Operation First Class," a $1 million initiative for at-risk youths in central Atlanta.

     Nowhere is Scouting more sorely needed than in housing developments.  And nowhere is it more invisible.  Yet when inner-city Scouting works, it can be a thing of beauty.

     On a chilly night last week, members of Troop 685 jammed into a small apartment to listen to "Sarge" - Scoutmaster Willie Beedle, 31, a muscular man not much taller than his Scouts.

     "I didn't see some of you guys last week," he said.  "But I knew you'd all be here for the camping trip."

     In a few days, the Scouts will leave for Blairsville, Ga., on their monthly foray into the hills to pitch tents, hike and ckook over an open fire.

     When they gather with Sarge and other adult leaders, the Scouts wear their uniforms like badges of honor.

     "You should see the little boys," says Nancy Stewart, 57, grandmother of Jesse and James.  "Some of them walk around here iwth their little chests all poked out the moment they put them on."

Spreading the Pride

     Scouting officials hope "Operation First Class" will spread the pride.  With support from local churches, businesses, civic groups, community leaders and a handful of parents, the Atlanta Area Council has targeted seven of the city's 2 public housing developments: Bankhead Courts, McDaniel Glenn, Carver Homes, Perry Homes, Eagan Homes, Techwood Homes, and East Lake Meadows.  The goal is to recruit and, more importantly, retain 3,000 inner-city youngsters in Scouting programs over the next three years.



     It won't be easy.

     Of more than 60,000 boys served by the metro council, only 6,000 (10 percent) are from central Atlanta communities.  In the seven targeted public housing communities, more than 1,600 boys (ages 6 to 17) could benefit from the program, the council says.

     "The truth is we're no longer just competing with other recreational and motivational programs.  We're now competing with the local drug dealers, youth gangs, whatever is out there on the streets," says James L. Moffitt, director of the council's Central Atlanta Project.

     "A lot of these kids need more than learning to tie knots.  They need some real guidance, spiritual leadership, something positive they can feel a part of."

Continued...

          David Deitch, (GIS) Atlanta
      

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