Former, current Scouts turn out for breakfast
MAUREEN DOLAN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 14 years, 4 months AGO
COEUR d'ALENE - George Coker was a prisoner of war, a serviceman captured in Viet Nam, and held in Hanoi.
Coker was also a Boy Scout.
His story was told to the 110 people who gathered on Wednesday for this year's Boy Scout Leadership Breakfast at the Best Western Coeur d'Alene Inn.
Coeur d'Alene attorney Rusty Robnett, one of the event speakers and a former Boy Scout, told the crowd that Coker, who hailed from New Jersey, endured brutal torture at the hands of his Hanoi captors. Prayers, counting, and thoughts of his loved ones kept his mind off what was happening to him - for a while. Eventually, he couldn't count to 60.
"The very last thing I could consciously hold onto was the Scout Oath," said Coker, according to Robnett, who read the quote from a book, "Legacy of Honor: The Values and Influence of America's Eagle Scouts," by Alvin Townley.
Coker returned to the United States after the war, Robnett said, and became a scoutmaster.
The keynote speaker at the Boy Scout breakfast was former Washington Congressman George Nethercutt.
Nethercutt said he achieved Life Scout status when he was growing up in Spokane.
There are 200 members of Congress who were former Boy Scouts, Nethercutt said. There are 22 members of Congress who were Eagle Scouts, the highest rank a Boy Scout can achieve.
"Scouting permeates society. It's a fabulous organization that creates leaders," he said.
The breakfast tables were filled with many local leaders who are Boy Scout alumni.
Harry Amend, former superintendent of the Coeur d'Alene School District, said the greatest impact scouting had on him was "respect for the flag."
It also taught him that there was a chain of command to be followed.
"My scoutmaster was a no-nonsense guy. He was very strict about saluting the flag, having your hand over your heart," Amend said, and smiled. "I can still remember his name."
There were a lot of kids in the troop who didn't have strong, supportive families at home. Even in the '50s and '60s, Amend recalls moms dropping their boys off and picking them up. The scoutmasters became role models.
"You see a lot of that in the schools today," Amend said.
Dean Opsal, of Hayden, coordinated the breakfast sponsored by Hecla Mining.
Opsal said that two years ago, he was out in public and a man approached him. The gentleman said Opsal had been his son's scoutmaster.
"I just want to thank you for all the time you spent with him. He still talks about you, and now he's a lawyer in New York," the man told Opsal.
Opsal is no longer a scoutmaster, and his children are all grown, but he still volunteers his time to the organization.
"I call it giving back," Opsal said.
About 90 percent of the mostly male crowd was grown former scouts. Several local scouts were at the breakfast also.
Dan Edwards, a 17-year-old Eagle Scout, began in scouting as a young boy.
"It's helped me to be a better citizen for Coeur d'Alene. I see the potential that citizens can do for their community," Edwards said.
Edwards' brother, Matthew, said being a Boy Scout has taught him to "go the extra mile."
The breakfast raised $26,126 for the local district.
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