Scouts Don’t See Much Merit to Grandmother’s Case

--The battle, years in the making, pits the Boy Scouts of America against a grandmother from Milford, Conn. So far, Catherine (Kay) Pollard is winning--well, almost. Pollard, 67, has been seeking since 1974 to become the first female scoutmaster. In January, 1984, the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities ruled in her favor, saying that the Boy Scouts could not discriminate against her because of her sex. But last week, the organization appealed the ruling. George Davidson, a New York attorney representing the Boy Scouts, said: “A (male) scoutmaster has gone through the biological changes taking place in boys of that age group.” Meanwhile, the group has offered Pollard, active as a member of the local Boy Scout council board of directors, posts in directing Cub Scouts or Explorer Scouts. Pollard, who is rearing several grandsons whose father died, said: “I would like someone to explain to me why it takes a male to build character. I would also like to know why I can be an Explorer adviser because boys and girls age 14 to 18 know their sexuality, but why boys 11 to 14 can’t have me as their leader because they don’t know their sexuality.”

--Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine A. Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic presidential ticket, were reunited at Brown University in Providence, R.I., to help launch a parents’ weekend. Mondale, in a speech fit for battle, warned students that “Rambo may be strong, but he is also a fool.” Mondale, however, did not make a clear distinction between Sylvester Stallone, who played Rambo, the Vietnam veteran who fights a one-man guerrilla war, and President Reagan, who at one time jokingly evoked the name in referring to how he could deal with terrorists in the future. “I see where Rambo is now ‘it’ with the young,” Mondale said. “War is great. You can shoot and won’t be shot. Complexity is blown away by simple violence. Be careful, for this is history’s most difficult lesson.” Besides William Mondale and Laura Zaccaro, the Ivy League school also has as a student Amy Carter. Her dad, the former President, did not attend the festivities.

--To Mayor Yvelyne Marix of Palm Beach, Fla., the gag is not all that amusing. Taking a page from the Palestine Liberation Organization, a group of Marix’s constituents has turned to guerrilla warfare. The group, calling itself the Palm Beach Liberation Organization, mailed the Town Council a photo of a gagged parking meter being held “hostage.” The demand was, quite simply, for lower parking fines. Marix reacted swiftly. “It’s totally inappropriate. Hostages are nothing to kid about,” she answered.