Legislator Prepared to Be a Good Scout

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer’s office will give $1,000 to a Placentia Boy Scout troop to replace camping supplies stolen from outside the troop leader’s home.

Spitzer (R-Orange) was moved to action when he heard how the troop’s weekend outing to Joshua Tree was canceled Saturday because a trailer containing its equipment was stolen. The gear had been acquired through troop fundraising over several years.

Spitzer, last year’s Boy Scouts of America citizen of the year and whose in-laws live in Placentia, also will present the troop with gear, including sleeping bags.

The group offers “camping experiences that teach these boys to be responsible citizens,” said Spitzer, who is providing the funds from an account used for community activities, including charity and travel back to the district. “They were victims of a crime, and I hate to see them impacted by it.”

Scoutmaster Carl Martinez was ecstatic.

“This is great, because we can’t go camping unless we get something. We were going to borrow equipment,” said Martinez, who has a Scout camping trip scheduled next month.

Police are still looking for the white 1990 Dico trailer, license 4D-M1726, that was in front of Martinez’s house in the 500 block of Stardust Drive. Martinez’s six Scouts, ages 11 to 15, packed it with the equipment Friday but found it was too late to leave on the trip and planned an early Saturday departure.

The trailer contained three stoves, five ice chests of perishables, $120 worth of other groceries, tiki torches, lanterns, paper towels and drinking cups, all worth about $900, Martinez said.