Boy Scouts rally for camps
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David Fleming
Oct 13, 2009
12:28 pm
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Boy Scouts rally for camps
Charleston Daily Mail Original Source @ Charleston Daily Mail Many especially upset by plan to sell Buckskin reservation in Pocahontas As the Buckskin Council looks to rid itself of three Boy Scout camps, community members, officials and former scouts are rallying to save the landmarks. At a meeting of the Chief Cornstalk District last month, Michael Bledsoe, district commissioner, told attendees that Camp Chief Logan could be shut down. Buckskin Council President Art King and executive scout Jeff Purdy were at the meeting to represent the council, which owns and operates the Logan County camp. The council also runs the Buckskin Scout Reservation in Pocahontas County and Camp Roland, located about 20 miles outside Bluefield, near Bastian, Va. Camp Chief Logan's proposed closure is among the Buckskin Council property task force's five recommendations to the council's executive board. The others are:
The recommendations are meant to fix the council's finances. King says the council has lost about $80,000 on the camps every year for several years. Logan County Commission President Art Kirkendoll, and state House of Delegates members Greg Butcher, Jeff Eldridge and Ralph Rodighiero were at the meeting, and pledged to find money the council said it needed to keep Camp Chief Logan up and running. Rodighiero, a former Boy Scout himself, said the Logan County camp accounts for about half of the Buckskin Council's $80,000-a-year loss. That $40,000, he says, pays the park ranger's salary. "We're going to try to obtain half of it from Charleston, and the County Commission is also going to try to obtain matching funds," he said. Each delegate is allowed to steer $67,000 in state funds each year to organizations in their communities. Rodighiero said he and the other delegates likely would pledge $6,000 or $7,000 each for the camp. "If the problem was being able to pay the ranger and the upkeep, that problem's solved," he said. Rodighiero said it's important to keep scouting alive in the area, because the program is such a good influence on boys. "In our area, drugs have taken over our youth and this is a positive role for our kids to lead them in the right direction and it's working," Rodighiero said. And Rodighiero says the council shouldn't be concerned if the camps aren't all that profitable. "I never did know of scouting being a profit. I thought the profit was seeing kids learn stuff and making a better young man out of them. I think that's profit enough," Rodighiero said. But even with county and state officials pledging financial support, he said he got the impression the Buckskin Council was still considering getting rid of the camps. The Pocahontas County Commission is also joining the fray, lobbying the council to hang onto the Buckskin Scout Reservation, also known as Dilley's Mill. David Fleming says he and his fellow commissioners don't want to see the council sell off its land. He said the reservation is a county asset frequently used by the community, especially the area's active senior citizen community, who recently hosted a picnic at the camp. "I don't know what they would do if they didn't have the Buckskin Reservation," Fleming said. The commissioner said he's worried about what the property's future owner would do with the lushly forested land, a tract of about 2,000 acres. "My concern is it might just be overdeveloped or something in a way that wouldn't be compatible with the Boy Scout reservation," he said. Like the Logan County Commission, Fleming said his county is willing to "step up for our part of it." With Logan's $40,000, Fleming said the Pocahontas camp's share of the deficit couldn't amount to much. "I'd invited Mr. Purdy to come to us at the Pocahontas County Commission to see what kind of situation they're in and see what we can do to help," Fleming said. Purdy hasn't met with the county commission yet, but Fleming says he's not optimistic about the executive scout's viewpoint after talking with him. "The impression I got from Mr. Purdy was that, even with that, the board still had this matter of thinking that they were going to sell," Fleming said. Fleming said selling even a fraction of the Buckskin Reservation's land could mean a big profit for the Buckskin Council. Some of the property lies between W.Va. 28 and the Greenbrier River and is prime real estate. "Greenbrier riverfront properties are very attractive, even in this market," he said. The commissioner said land in Pocahontas County is quite expensive, even with the current economic slump, fetching at least $15,000 per acre. The camp's riverfront property could go for $20,000 an acre, and that's a low estimate. With all that potential revenue and Buckskin Council unenthused about taking counties' money, Fleming says he wonders if an unbalanced budget is really the council's motive for ridding itself of the three camps. He says he can't speculate what the council's real motive might be, though. "I'm just concerned they might be too anxious to do something that doesn't need to be done," he said. Camp supporters are also turning to the Internet to influence the Buckskin Council's executive board. Marcus Bailey, 25, started the Facebook group "Save Our Scout Camps" after attending the council's Chief Logan meeting. Bailey, a lodge advisor for the Boy Scout honor society Order of the Arrow, says he started the group to organize scouts' online campaign. "There were blogs here, random news articles here and there, and I was trying to get everything kind of tied in to one hub," he said. As of Monday, the group had 213 members. Bailey, who went to the Pocahontas reservation for five years as a camper and three years as a staff member, goes to the Buckskin Reservation every year with Order of the Arrow members to set up camp, trim weeds, paint and do other general maintenance before summer camp starts. Jack Furst, chairman of the National Scouting Center project, has said the Boy Scouts' 10,600-acre Garden Ground Mountain property in Fayette County could host a national summer camp. In its list of recommendations to the executive board, the council's property task force suggested selling off all of the Buckskin Reservation "if satisfactory arrangements are worked out." Bailey said the loss of local camps would mean a loss of local scouting legacy. "If everything goes to the national camp, that's a national camp. You lose your local sense of tradition, the heritage aspect of the whole program," he said. "There's something special about going to the camp that your father went to." So Bailey is working on his own set of property recommendations, ones that would allow scouts to keep their camps but ease the Buckskin Council's financial strain. Bailey's recommendations include setting up a 501©3 nonprofit corporation to lease and run the Buckskin Scout Reservation. He's also suggesting the council log parts of the 1,200 acres it wants to sell to fix up all three camps. If the Boy Scouts' national summer camp does come to fruition, Bailey said the Buckskin Scout Reservation could host a non-merit badge-based event for scouts attending the summer camp. He said groups could extend their stay by a couple of days for an Appalachian heritage program that shows off the Pocahontas County camp. Contact writer Zack Harold at 304-348-7939 or zack.harold@dailymail.com |
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Martin Saffer
Oct 13, 2009
5:53 pm
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Re: Boy Scouts rally for camps
I/m going to read the Deeds and see if there are any restrictions that would govern the property if no longer used as a Scout Camp. I have had calls from people who expressed a great love for the camp and what it stands for and in particular the admonition that "once it's gone....it's gone". I think the Commission should go full throttle to keep the camp. I disagree with Commissioner Griffith that it's a private group which government ought not support, although I see her pure Republican point she is making. |
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normanalderman
Oct 13, 2009
7:16 pm
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Re: Boy Scouts rally for camps
I have been deeply disturbed by Reta's display of bad judgment. It didn't matter that Sharp's Farm was private but now it matters if the Scout Camp is private. |
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Tom Shipley
Oct 14, 2009
2:08 pm
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Re: Boy Scouts rally for camps
My thoughts on the scout camp. The week I joined my Boy Scout troop in Parkersburg my scoutmaster was being honored for 50 years as scoutmaster. I was number 749. That was back in the 1960's. The membership numbers are now well into the thousands. We had our own scout camp. One of the original members owned a large tract of mountain land outside of Parkersburg. He let our Troop camp on it. During the several decades of our using it, he had sections of it logged from time to time. The place was so big, we didn't even see the timbering. The land has since been donated to the troop by his descendants. While some Troop activities are subsidized by alumni donations, the option is always there for additional income to cover expenses. While we used relatively few acres for camping and daily activities, the expanse of the place allowed us to explore the 'wilderness' as we honed our Scouting skills....worked on merit badges, participated in hiking contests, etc.. One of the most beautiful sights I ever experienced was on an October weekend at the camp on the Hughes River. We were just kids, but canoeing through the water topped with a 2-3 ft thickness of fallen fall leaves was a wonder! Several decades later, our Scoutmaster died at this camp...well past the 50 year mark we celebrated when I first joined the troop. The dedication of this man, many others since, and the generous gift of the camp by the family provided so many kids with opportunities and friendships that carried us into adulthood. Certainly, 'managing' the land at Dilley's Mill would be a better alternative to selling the land outright. Done at the right time and with care, a timber harvest can bring in plenty of money to pay the salaries and expenses that are the concern of the council. Money from this would, most likely, far exceed any expense that might be incurred by the council. The landowners who donate land for scout camps would die a second death if they ever imagined that their good will would be 'sold' to the highest bidder. If the council moves to sell off this land, even when alternatives abound that would provide income far in excess of their needs, then there may be another driver behind the proposed sale other than is being presented. I support my Troop in Parkersburg, but would be willing to do what I can to help support this camp. Scouting is a refuge for many boys struggling to make it through to adulthood. It is so important to keep this tradition alive. |
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Martin Saffer
Nov 13, 2009
5:39 am
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Re: Boy Scouts rally for camps
This letter is posted with permission of the author: Tom Shipley Art King, President Dear Mr. King, Thank you for taking the time to consider my thoughts on the matter of Dilley's Mill Scout Camp. I implore you to reconsider selling any part of this camp. A local scout camp with wilderness for young scouts to explore is what scouting is all about. These experiences will help hone the skills needed in adulthood...to help the boys think on their feet..to compete as a patrol, but work for the good of the troop. A special place has been set aside for them through the generous gift of this land....a gift that, most likely, would never have been given if the donor imagined the council would sell it off to pay bills. As you are making your difficult decision, please keep in mind the incredible sacrifice...not just of the family who gave the land, but the many scout leaders and community members who gave...investing their time, money and efforts to keep things going all of these years for the scouts. My scout troop in West Virginia was given a mountain by a former troop member from the early 1900's. It gave us an opportunity to explore the world of nature and to survive in it with our own efforts.....learning as we went along. We built our own latrines, maintained our water well, established primitive campsites for each patrol, cooked our own meals, were responsible for nighttime 'river watch' and much more. Our summer camp culminated in a major event....the senior leaders fanned out in the vast expanse of the camp and planted clues and scout riddles. We had to use all of our scouting skills to go out in the wilderness and find those clues, decipher them and then go find the next. It was contest that tested even the strongest and most studied scout. To 'place' in such an event was a matter of immense pride. In regard to a wilderness camp. THE most beautiful sight and experience I ever had was on an October camping weekend with my patrol. The river current was but a meander. A two to three foot thick layer of multi-colored leaves covered the water. We paddled our canoes through this mass of natural beauty and had to duck on occasion to give way to the flight path of a great blue heron. I will never forget that experience...my patrol members...the sounds of the leaves brushing against the canoe..the wonderment of it all. On the day I joined my troop, my scoutmaster was being honored for having been the scoutmaster of my troop for 50 years. He went on to serve many more years. He died at scout camp well into his 80's. We were taught by him (and many others who served with him) in a skillful, friendly way. Campfires, stories, songs...all of it an experience none of us will ever forget. I attended a National Scout Camp at Farragut State Park in Idaho in the 1960's. It was a good experience. It was formal. It was ceremony. It was an opportunity to meet scouts from around the world and from other parts of the US. It did not hold a candle to our rustic, wild mountain on the river. It is not just 'land' that your council owns. It is the blood, sweat and tears of the family who worked to obtain, maintain and keep the land. It is the sacrifice they made when it was deeded to the scouts. It is the decades of volunteered hours and effort by individuals who are pillars in the community...giving, sharing. It is also the hopes and dreams for future scouts in our community. The experiences in the natural surroundings, camaraderie gained and skills acquired at Dilley's Mill have and will continue to contribute to the success of these boys. We will benefit as a community. I do not pretend to know the details of the challenges you have to keep things up and running, but I do know a bit about the possibilities of managing land. When our troop was short of funds, our leaders hired professionals to selectively timber some of the camp. In the years I attended I never noticed one felled tree. The income was substantial. In fact, some decades later, the practice was repeated and has allowed our camp to continue on well into the future. To sell one acre of this gift, a 'gift' in so many ways, is unnecessary. Properly managed, the land can provide more capital than any organization could possibly need...well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Timber is a gift that keeps on giving. Over time, this resource will see more dollars than an outright sale. And, of course, don't forget the value, that cannot be expressed in dollars and cents, to the young men who depend upon your good judgement and the continued existence of the Dilley's Mill Scout Camp for their future well being. Please keep Dilley's Mill Camp for the scouts and for our community. Sincerely, Tom Shipley |
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Martin Saffer
Nov 13, 2009
10:50 am
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Re: Boy Scouts rally for camps
Jeff Purdy, Scout Executive of the Buckskin Council, is going to meet with the Commission on December 15, 2009 at 11:00 AM to discuss ways the Commission, Community and Buckskin Council can work together to preserve the Dilley's Mill Scout Camp. The Buckskin Council has recently met and decided to take much more time in deciding on ways to proceed. This is great news. I urge my readers to attend this meeting and in the interim to think of how to forge a "Community Partnership" to keep the scout camp. |
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Martin Saffer
Nov 18, 2009
12:54 pm
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Re: Boy Scouts rally for camps
The more I think about the possibility of losing the scout camp, the more resolute I become that it wont happen on my watch. But to keep the camp it's going to take "every hand on deck" and not simply the County Commission. So I urge everyone to write the Buckskin Council, B.S.A. Officers for the Council: |