Dear Editor:

The Boy Scouts of America have been a wonderful organization for molding young boys into men of character with the skills they need to be self-reliant and helpful to others in need. A Scout in full uniform, proudly displaying the merit badges he has earned and perhaps the Order of the Arrow sash across his chest, is not the image I would hope to see standing on a street corner in Jim Thorpe, or in the Shop Rite in Brodheadsville, holding a can like a common beggar asking for money from passers-by so they can to "go to scout camp."Scouts are "physically fit, mentally awake, and morally straight", and the time on the street corner or in front of a grocery store holding a can could be better spent doing odd jobs for someone, mowing lawns or raking leaves, to earn their way to scout camp.Even the Brownies and Girl Scouts at least sell cookies to earn funds.Leaders, whomever you are, please think of the image a beggar makes as opposed to all the values scouting stands for. I, for one, will not put a dollar in the can but would gladly give a large tip at a Scout run car wash.Robert Drewes,former ScoutmasterTowamensing Township