Boy Scouts National Jamboree Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Scouts Put Together Cleaning Kits For Flood Victims

The Scouts are having their national jamboree this year in the Summit Bechtel Reserve near Glen Jean, West Virginia

The Scouts are having their national jamboree this year in the Summit Bechtel Reserve near Glen Jean, West Virginia, and participants are helping residents in flood-hit states.

During the jamboree, 15,000 scouts will be partaking in the “Flood Bucket” project. For this project, scouts are assembling at least 5,000 cleaning kits that will help flood victims to reconstruct their lives.

Tom Kraeutler says the scouts pledge is to help other people at all times and this is a great way to put their pledge into action.

“These buckets contain essential cleaning supplies, about 15 different items. There’s soaps, there’s gloves, there’s masks, there’s mildewcide to take care of mold,” Kraeutler said.

There are some flood victims partaking in this project who have had flood happen in their hometowns across the nations.

The Disaster Response Ministries of the West Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church are providing assistance.

Watch the scouts assemble the kits. Any additional information is available here.

Boy Scouts’ Growing Impact On Female Members

As the Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree continues this week in Fayette County, there are more females on-site than ever before.

As the Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree continues this week in Fayette County, there are more females on site than ever before. There’s a growing impact on girls furthering their scouting ambitions, and the boys are learning a new thing or two as well.

Females in the BSA are nothing new. In 1969, the Sea Scouts welcomed females. Girls have been members of Venturing, a core scouting program for young men and women ages 14 through 20, since 1998. Girls were welcomed into the Cub Scouts in 2018, and joined the newly formed Scouts BSA in 2019. There are now scout troops for girls, for boys and co-ed troops.

Volunteer Jamboree Chairman Tico Perez said it is an extraordinary addition to welcome female BSA Scouts for the first time to the 2023 National Jamboree.

“I was watching units side by side, putting their tents together in their campsite yesterday,” Perez said. “All the boys were working on their own tents and getting it together. And all the girls were in swarms working on a tent and the next tent and the next 10. The teamwork and the communication was phenomenal. So it’s a difference in style. And it’s a beautiful thing for our boys to learn.”

Kim Irwin, a scoutmaster with a female troop in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, said there’s nothing gender specific about scouting’s commitment to outdoor adventure, diversity and leadership.

“It builds their development, and the girls weren’t getting that,” Irwin said. “There’s Girl Scouts and Girl Scouts is great. There’s nothing wrong with Girl Scouts, it’s just different. And this, I like the way it’s run. When we look at females in general, we’re not always good at promoting ourselves and may have to promote ourselves in these rank advancement meetings. I’ve seen my daughter go from sort of sheepish and meek and I just yelled at her to go do sustainability because she’s nearly Eagle.”

Scout BSA Aaron Anderson, from Charleson, South Carolina, said her all-female troop 742 is in the process of adding on a brother troop. But she added that she wouldn’t trade her scouting experiences so far, for the world.

“We’ve been able to grow with all these girls and be able to do all these experiences in scouting,” Anderson said. “I know a lot of the girls in our troop, they’ve been in it with their brothers through Cub Scouts. And so once they were finally able to join, I know that a lot of them saw they could experience a lot of the fun things that you see all the other people doing, and they would like, you know, get rank and get patches and camp out with everyone.”

Girls in Boy Scouts has given some parents some pause due to a history of sexual abuse charges. In 2020, the Boy Scouts of America filed for a Chapter 11 financial restructuring to offer “equitable compensation” to survivors and their families. The BSA cited approximately 200 pending lawsuits in state and federal district courts across the United States and 1700 potential claimants in total.

Recognizing the increased risk of abuse in volunteer youth organizations, the BSA created a sex abuse education and prevention program called the Youth Protection program in 1988 to address the problem. Perez said 35 years later, scouting has been labeled as the gold standard of youth protection.

“It’s a valid concern for parents in any organization they’re involved with,” Perez said. “Answer one is get involved. But more importantly, we have the most stringent youth protection program in America. We have a buddy system, we have two on one adults to youth, we have mandatory reporting. We are the best place to put your child. Did we make some mistakes in the 60s in the 70s? We did admittedly. And we want to compensate everybody who we had a problem with. But we have learned many, many lessons and this is the safest place for your child. The only way to make it even safer is for that adult to be involved in that unit and come out and experience scouting with their children.”

Scoutmaster Irwin said those types of problems can happen anywhere. in schools, churches. She says if there’s bad in human nature, bad can get in.

“As someone who was a pediatric nurse prior to teaching, I saw the horrible things that happened to kids,” she said. “But I’m also seeing all of this and this is amazing. And I know there were a lot of naysayers with females entering BSA as well, like it’s gonna cause problems, boys and girls. My kids go to church camp, and it’s boys and girls together. They go to 4-H camp and it’s boys and girls together. So now our girls have a chance to be Eagle Scouts.”

14-year-old Ruth Olsen from Utah said she wants to try everything scouting has to offer so she can “learn stuff”.

“I think it’s good that girls have the same opportunities as boys because I think girls are a lot more capable than people think we are,” Olsen said.

The 2023 Scouting Jamboree at Summit Bechtel Reserve in Fayette County runs through July 28.

2023 National Scouting Jamboree Highlights Adventure, Achievement

For the next 10 days, 15,000 scouts from around the country will camp out in the wooded hills and hollows of Fayette County. The action-packed 2023 National Scouting Jamboree takes youth development and diversity to a whole new level.

Entering the park, visitors can hear “swooshes” from five multi-strung zip lines stretching more than a half-mile over the nearly 11,000 acre Summit Bechtel Reserve. Dubbed “the adventure of a lifetime,” scouts can skateboard and scuba dive, there’s archery and shooting ranges, fishing, rock climbing, disc golf.

Fourteen-year-old Steven Belk, from Troop 3239 in Virginia, said, “there’s never nothing that’s not to do here.”

“This is just a good time to be a scout,” Belk said. “They’re just trying to involve people from all aspects of life, say like zip lines. BMX biking, a bunch of fun stuff, and we learn stuff, too.”

In 2019, the Boy Scouts of America expanded to Scouts BSA, opening up its ranks to female members. This year is the first National Jamboree to include female participants.

Fourteen-year-old Ruth Olsen, from a co-ed troop in Utah, said “it’s about time.”

“I think it’s good that girls have the same opportunities as boys,” Olsen said. “I think girls are a lot more capable than people think we are.”

California Scout Leader Andrew Blessum is sharing living history at a 1910 mock up of America’s first scout camp. Even though there are 13 cell towers and more than 250 Wi-Fi hot spots spread out over the camp’s 16 square miles, Blessum said the initial pledge of scouting as a value based organization hasn’t changed in more than a century.

“I believe the things that we still have at the core of scouting are outdoor living and character development,” Blessum said. “One of the founders himself, Luther Gulick of the YMCA, actually preaches that mankind is not complete without physical, mental and spiritual symmetry. And that itself is really the basis of our scout oath.”

The scouts camp in tents and cook their own food. Scout Aaron Anderson, from an all-female troop in Charleston, South Carolina, said the leadership and practical life skills scouting teaches help kids succeed.

“A lot of those things that we learn in our leadership programs I use in my daily life,” Anderson said. “I use it at school for interviews and things like that. A lot of us have been in situations where we’ve had training in emergency first aid and to be able to help people in emergencies. We know these skills and we can take them out and use them in the real world.”

And then, there’s 13-year-old, First Class Scout Max Dehnke from Milan, Illinois. Dehnke was enjoying hanging out at the busy scout patch trading tables and shared his reason for becoming a Boy Scout.

“My parents said, ‘Max, you need to do something.’ I’m like, sports? Or – I have all my friends in this big group thingy where you go camping and get pocket knives. So it was a no brainer. Boy Scouts,” he said.

A “no brainer” at the National Scouting Jamboree that enriches brain and brawn.

Are There Too Many Plea Deals?

Here’s what happens 97 percent of the time in federal court: a plea deal. The defendant agrees to plead guilty to a lesser offense, and the prosecution gets a guaranteed conviction.

But earlier this month, Judge Joseph Goodwin rejected a plea deal for a drug dealer, saying the defendant should face the “bright light” of a jury trial. He said this is especially important in West Virginia, which has the highest drug overdose rate in the country.

“A court should consider the cultural context surrounding the subject’s criminal conduct,” he wrote. “Here, that cultural context is a rural state deeply wounded by and suffering from a plague of heroin and opioid addiction.”

On this week’s Front Porch, lawyer Laurie Lin explains what makes Goodwin’s statement so extraordinary.

Also, we discuss President Trump’s address to Scouts in West Virginia, Sen. Capito’s big Obamacare decision, and why Pluto doesn’t wear pants, and what it says about what makes us human.

Welcome to “The Front Porch,” where we tackle the tough issues facing Appalachia the same way you talk with your friends on the porch.

Hosts include WVPB Executive Director and recovering reporter Scott Finn; conservative lawyer, columnist and rabid “Sherlock” fan Laurie Lin; and liberal columnist and avid goat herder Rick Wilson, who works for the American Friends Service Committee.

An edited version of “The Front Porch” airs Fridays at 4:50 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s radio network, and the full version is available at wvpublic.org and as a podcast as well.

Share your opinions with us about these issues, and let us know what you’d like us to discuss in the future. Send a tweet to @radiofinn or @wvpublicnews, or e-mail Scott at sfinn @ wvpublic.org

The Front Porch is underwritten by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Charleston Gazette-Mail. Find the latest news, traffic and weather on its CGM App. Download it in your app store, and check out its website: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/

Boy Scout Leader Apologizes for Trump’s Political Rhetoric

The Boy Scouts’ chief executive apologized Thursday, July 27, to members of the scouting community who were offended by the aggressive political rhetoric in President Donald Trump’s recent speech to the Scouts’ national jamboree.

The apology came in a statement from Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh, three days after Trump’s speech to nearly 40,000 scouts and adults gathered in West Virginia.

Other U.S. presidents have delivered nonpolitical speeches at past jamborees. To the dismay of many parents and former scouts, Trump, a Republican, promoted his political agenda and derided his rivals, inducing some of the scouts in attendance to boo at the mention of Barack Obama, his Democratic predecessor.

“I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree,” Surbaugh said. “That was never our intent… We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program.”

Surbaugh noted that every sitting president since 1937 has been invited to visit the jamboree.

“It is in no way an endorsement of any person, party or policies,” he said. “For years, people have called upon us to take a position on political issues, and we have steadfastly remained non-partisan and refused to comment on political matters.”

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, at a news briefing, was asked about the Boy Scouts’ statement and whether Trump owes them an apology.

Sanders said that she’d been at the event and didn’t see anything inappropriate.

“I saw nothing but roughly 40-45,000 boy scouts cheering the president on throughout his remarks,” she said. “And I think they were pretty excited that he was there and happy to hear him speak to them.”

Asked about the parents who have publicly criticized the speech, Sanders said she had nothing to add.

Surbaugh, in his statement, contended that the Trump controversy has not diminished the success of the 10-day jamboree, yet he acknowledged its impact.

“Scouts have continued to trade patches, climb rock walls, and share stories about the day’s adventures,” he said. “But for our Scouting family at home not able to see these real moments of Scouting, we know the past few days have been overshadowed by the remarks offered by the President of the United States.”

His statement echoed some of the sentiments expressed by the Boy Scouts’ president, Randall Stephenson, in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Stephenson said Boy Scout leaders anticipated Trump would spark controversy with a politically tinged speech, yet felt obliged to invite him out of respect for his office.

Hoping to minimize friction, the Boy Scouts issued guidelines to adult staff members for how the audience should react to the speech. Any type of political chanting was specifically discouraged.

Stephenson, who was not in attendance at Trump’s speech, said the guidance wasn’t followed impeccably.

“There were some areas where perhaps they were not in compliance with what we instructed,” he said. “There’s probably criticism that could be leveled.”

Stephenson was asked whether the Scouts would invite Trump back to address the next national jamboree if he wins re-election.

“I don’t see why we would break with tradition, whoever is holding office,” Stephenson said. “We are not to going to censor or edit the president of the United States. That’s beyond our pay grade, regardless of who it is.”

Justice: Trump's Scout Speech was 'Unbelievable'

As the 2017 National Boy Scout Jamboree continued in West Virginia Tuesday, members of the organization were joined by Gov. Jim Justice to dedicate their welcome center.

Justice used the ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday afternoon to share a story about his interaction with President Donald Trump who made his first visit in office to West Virginia Monday.

Justice and representatives of the Boy Scouts of America cut the ribbon and officially dedicated the J.W. and Hazel Ruby West Virginia Welcome Center in Mt. Hope Tuesday afternoon.

The event was just one of many during the Boy Scout Jamboree’s West Virginia Day celebration.

Justice told the crowd gathered at the ceremony said he met Trump at the Raleigh County airport Monday and rode with him to the Summit Bechtel Reserve before his speech in front of more than 40,000 boy scouts and volunteers.

Justice said he enjoyed Trump’s speech and called it “unbelievable,” but the president has received pushback on social media from the scouting community for politicizing it.

Trump used it as an opportunity to push his energy and health care agendas and criticize members of the Democratic party, including former President Barrack Obama and former Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.