Fremd Student Achieves Eagle Scout Rank

Zachary Matuszczak, of Boy Scout Troop 209, recently completed his service project in Creative Art Therapy by creating and donating more than 200 medical play dolls to help ill and traumatized children during hospital stays.

Zachary Matuszczak, a 16-year-old sophomore at Fremd High School, recently received the highest ranking possible in Boy Scouts. On Novemer 13, he became an Eagle Scout. Matuszczak is a member of Boy Scout Troop 209 which meets at First United Methodist Church of Palatine. The troop has more than 100 members which hail from Palatine, Inverness, Hoffman Estates and Rolling Meadows. When Boy Scouts decide they want to become an Eagle Scout, they are required to choose a service project that will benefit the community, and they must also find a way to fund it. Included in the project is required paperwork, documenting every action taken to complete the project from start to finish. “I definitely learned leadership, I didn’t think it would be …

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Boys Scouts’ Perversion List a Sad Legacy of Abuse

Recently released documents reveal Boy Scout leaders in Patch towns who were expelled from the organization and placed on list.

The Boys Scouts of America's method for handling allegations of child abuse by local troop leaders was expelling the accused and putting the person’s name on an ineligible to volunteer list, or what has become known as a "perversion list." The list was kept a secret and many of the allegations remained confidential, often not reported to police agencies. Last week, a Portland law firm posted 14,500 of files outlining names and cases of abuse involving the Scouts, according to Huffington Post. Within hours, the firm's website crashed, Huffington Post reported. The list includes troop leaders from around the country, including the Chicago area. It has in-depth information about some cases and just the barest of details about other cases. …

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Palatine Happenings

Eagle Scout Project Restores Pioneer Cemetery

History and final resting place of early settlers are preserved at Wolfrum Cemetery.

Averry Wolfrum Cemetery is hard to find. Tucked away behind a row of town homes off a cul-de-sac in Rolling Meadows, these days the cemetery is forgotten by most. The cemetery is one of five historic pioneer cemeteries maintained by Palatine Township. Thanks to a recently completed Eagle Scout project by Brian Winkelmann, this Palatine Township pioneer cemetery has been restored. One of the final steps in earning the rank of Eagle Scout is to plan and execute a project to provide a service to the scout's community. I think this Eagle Scout service project certainly fits that requirement.  Palatine Township Assessor and Cemetery Committee Chairman Terry Kelly said in a recent press release that Eagle Scout Brian Winkelmann had proposed an …

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