Local Boy Scouts to honor President Thomas S. Monson

SALT LAKE CITY – Boy scouts along the Wasatch Front are being invited to take part in a tribute to Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints President Thomas S. Monson.

Officials with the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts of America say they wanted to find some way to honor President Thomas S. Monson’s four decades of working closely with the scouts.  One district chairman proposed that boy scouts line up along the funeral procession route between the Conference Center and Salt Lake City Cemetery.

That idea has the full support of the council, but, Scout Executive Mark Griffin says only boys who have the day off from school are encouraged to participate.  If they still have to attend school, Griffin says there are other ways scouts can pay their respects.  “We encourage some of those scouts to maybe wear their uniforms to school. We’re not going to advocate for kids skipping school,” Griffin says.

Griffin adds, “We’ll continue to recognize his service for a long time to come.”  There are plans to build a new scouting service center in West Valley, and President Monson will be featured, somehow.  “The church has been behind that and helping us build it.  They gave us the land and some funds to get started and we’re doing some fundraising for that.  When we do build that building, we plan to honor President Monson in some way out there, as well,” he says.