Four Boy Scout Leaders Killed in Electrical Accident at Jamboree Opening in Virginia

COX.Net AP Story ^ | July 25,2005 | MICHAEL FELBERBAUM, Associated Press Writer

[SandRat]

BOWLING GREEN, Va. -- Four adult Boy Scout leaders were killed Monday afternoon in an electrical accident during the opening day of the organization's 2005 Jamboree.

Jamboree spokesman Gregg Shields said the accident occurred between 4:30 and 5 p.m. while the leaders were setting up camp.

One other leader and a contract worker were injured, and were hospitalized in stable condition, Shields said. No youth Scouts were seriously hurt, he said. He did not say how many might have sustained minor injuries.

Shields did not have additional details about the accident, including the victims' names.

"We have an investigation under way," he said.

More than 40,000 Boy Scouts, leaders and volunteers from around the world are attending the 2005 National Scout Jamboree. The event Monday at the Army's Fort AP Hill, a 76,000-acre Army training base about an hour south of the nation's capital.

The Jamboree runs through Aug. 3 with President Bush scheduled to speak Wednesday evening. Scouts ages 12-18 are to spend 10 days camping in tents and doing activities that include archery, fishing and a GPS-based scavenger hunt.

The Boy Scouts of America have held the event since 1937 with the next gathering set for 2010, the Scouts' 100th anniversary.

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On the Net:

http://www.scouting.org/jamboree

http://www.aphill.army.mil

[GreenHornet]

My prayers are with these men, and to all who mourn their passing.

[xzins]

Yes, I'm clearly in the minority on this one. I will stick by my 30 & 45, though.

I believe my concerns will be met by just the groups affected returning to their home area. That might be the entire Alaska contingent, but it would be the best way to acknowledge the lives lost and to support the mourning of the families who have lost so much.

[xzins]

See my #162. Thank you for your support of these young men.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Scouts carry on in Alaska

by Sean Doogan - Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Anchorage, Alaska - In Anchorage, the Western Alaska Boy Scout Council is trying to cope with the loss of four of its leaders. Any group, whether it be a patrol, a troop or a local council is only as good as the people who lead it. Officials says when Ron Bitzer, Michael Lacroix, Michael Shibe and Scott Powell were around, things were very good.

“On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to obey the scout law.”

Every Boy Scout learns the Scout Oath and tries to live by it. Tuesday at Camp Gorsuch, scouts continued their daily routine. Four roses and flags lowered to half-staff were the only visible reminders of Monday's tragic loss at the National Boy Scout Jamboree in Fort AP Hill, Va., thousands of miles away. The flowers were placed there by a camp staffer who knew the fallen leaders.

The rest of the story

Several other stories can be accessed at the bottom of the page.

[Chena]

Thank you for posting this. My heart just aches for everyone so I can't even imagine how those who really knew these fine men in person must be feeling. My deepest sympathies to everyone who knew and loved them. :(

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thank you for that. Scouts are strong and will carry on. I didn't know any of the leaders, bit I work with the man who read one of the wives statements.

[ghostcat]

finished my ticket in January. recieved my beads in Febuary

[SandRat]

Is there an Owl in the house?

Back to Gilwell......

Will get my beads on the last day of the next 3 day session for this years class.

[ghostcat]

I was a little disappointed with wood-badge 2000. I felt that it was too much desk time not enough outdoor time. While it is important to learn leadership skills I feel we need to reemphasize the outdoor skills. I'm an adviser in the Order of the Arrow and it is amazing how few people have decent outdoor skills, both youth and adult.

[ghostcat]

Wood-Badge W7-591-4-04
Vigil 2000

[ghostcat]

Congratulations and keep up the good work!

[RonF]

I'll buy the issue of not enough outdoor time. I'd rather have a patrol camp be the center of activity both weekends. But the lack of outdoor skills cuts both ways. Is Wood Badge, advanced unit leader training, the place to be teaching basic outdoor skills? There's now a separate outdoor skills course for that (back in my generation, all the Dads had been in the Army). People should take that if they need to learn those skills, or hang out in a Troop a while and learn them from the other leaders and kids.

With WB 2000, you can get a Den Leader in there that has no outdoor skills at all, mixed in with someone like me who has all kinds of outdoor skills. There's no way that he or she could ever be put on equal footing with me. In fact there's no reason for them to do so, if the Den Leader is going to be a Cub Scout leader for the next 6 years like my Pack's late Cubmaster. So WB now concentrates on the leadership issues, and leaves the outdoor skills as a separate issue.

I agree that there are many fewer people with outdoor skills. We need to teach them that, but perhaps not in Wood Badge.

[ghostcat]

You make an excellent point. It probably isn't the place for basic skills. I don't mean to imply that the training wasn't excellent, because it was but it just felt more like a business seminar than a scout training to me. I guess the truth is that I feel that Scouting as a whole is seems to be drifting a little bit away from the emphasis on the outdoors. An good example of this is the Order of the Arrow, for 75 plus years it was the national camping honor society of scouting now it is known as the National honor society. I guess I'm just old school, one of those ol farts who look back with rose colored glasses at the old days