A-Hole Cambridge Officials Put a Stop to Boy Scout Drive to Aid Troops in Iraq
Friday, November 16, 2007
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The city that's home to Harvard and MIT solidified its nickname as "The People's Republic of Cambridge" when it put a stop to a Boy Scout troop's Election Day drive to collect care packages for American soldiers in Iraq, claiming it was "political."
“We just wanted to make a lot of troops happy,” Scout Patrick O’Connor told the Boston Herald.
The big-hearted Scouts from Cambridge Troop 45 had placed donation boxes at the city's 33 polling stations in hopes of collecting toiletries, magazines, candy and other items after one of O'Connor's relatives was injured in an IED explosion while serving in Iraq.
But someone complained to the city, allegedly claiming the boxes were a “political statement,” and the boxes were removed.
“I was devastated that someone would think to take (the donation boxes) out,” O'Connor told the newspaper.
“This was not about supporting the war or any politician or political view," troop committee chairman Jamisean Patterson told the Herald. "This was supporting the brave men and women who are stationed overseas.”
Patterson said the Scouts obtained a verbal OK from the city election commission and polling station officials.
Cambridge Vice Mayor Timothy J. Toomey Jr. told the Herald that a breakdown in communication, rather than malice, led to the boxes being removed.
“Boy Scouts Troop 45’s efforts to support our troops are a benefit for the entire community, and the council will be working with them to ensure that their goals are fully realized,” he said in a written statement.
What do you expect from the 'ol "People's Republik"? I'm surprised the Boy Scouts even exist in Cambridge....I would have thought the "Lenin Youth" to be more appropriate.
The Lenin Youth get merit badges for burning American flags, distributing copies of "Pravda", spitting on soldiers, etc.
Posted by: quality617
Political? Ahhh...did they also remove the signs and the annoying handshakers that are supposed to be 150ft from the entrance of all polling places?
At least thats the rule in Boston. Does Cambridge even have such a rule?
Posted by: Wolfman
So let me get this straight...
It's wrong to engage in political activities at a polling place?
That's like saying you can't practice medicine at a doctor's office.
The Cambridge Election Commission yesterday was bombarded with phone calls and e-mails protesting its decision to remove boxes Boy Scouts had left at polling places to collect care packages for U.S. soldiers.
“This is outrageous,” said Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson, who spent 20 years as an Air Force pilot. “Our troops serve willingly and selflessly to protect this country along with liberties such as freedom of speech.”
Patterson is vice chairman of Move Forward America, agroup that supports the war in Iraq. The organization issued an “action alert” to its members after Cambridge officials pulled boxes Boy Scouts had left at the city’s 33 polling stations on Election Day to collect toiletries, magazines and other items to send to troops.
Neither Cambridge Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves nor Marsha Weinerman, executive director of the Cambridge Election Commission, could be reached yesterday for comment. But on Thursday, Weinerman told the Herald she had ordered the boxes to be removed after receiving a single complaint from someone who claimed they were a “political statement.”
“I told her it had nothing to do with any political party or politician,” Troop 45 committee chairman Jamisean Patterson, 35, said yesterday. “It was just kids trying to do something nice for soldiers away from home.”
The troop decided to make the care packages rather than go to an amusement park, using proceeds from an August fund-raiser, Patterson said. Since then, the boys have spent $1,500 to make the packages and to make and distribute 25,000 fliers asking people to donate items for soldiers, he said.
“We have no ill will toward the city,” Patterson said. “We just feel it was a bad decision.”
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