Eagle Badges OKd for Twins

Local Scouting officials on Sunday recommended that a set of Anaheim Hills twins who have refused to recite the religious portion of the Scout’s oath be awarded the group’s highest rank.

The six-member panel, which included three members from the Orange County Council of the Boy Scouts of America, voted unanimously to grant Eagle Scout badges to 16-year-old Michael and William Randall.

The local chapter was ordered last month by Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard O. Frazee Sr. to make sure that the boys’ Eagle Scout applications were reviewed and voted upon by Sunday.

The Randalls have been locked in a seven-year battle with the Scouts’ Orange County Council.

The dispute erupted in 1991 when the twins, then 9, successfully contended in Frazee’s court that their 1st Amendment rights were violated when they were ousted from the Scouts for refusing to swear an oath to God.

The California Supreme Court, which is reviewing the case, is expected to deliver an opinion by April 6.

Devon Dougherty, a spokesman for the local Scout council, said Sunday night that the local group will send its recommendation to the Scouts’ headquarters in Irving, Texas. Scouting administrators routinely take four to six weeks to act on such recommendations--which means that the Supreme Court will probably rule on the case before then, Dougherty said.

James G. Randall, the twins’ father and attorney, said that his sons were “excited and delirious” at winning approval from the local group.

Randall said he did not know what would happen if the Supreme Court released an opinion siding with the Scouts before the Eagle badges are conferred.

“But it is clear that these boys are deserving of being Eagle Scouts,” Randall said. “No one should try to deny them that achievement.”