2 December 2008
BSA Iowa Camp Closing a Surprise to Camp’s Board Chairman
Posted by admin under: camps .
Cindy Toopes at Ottumwa.com says the Mid-Iowa Council plans to close Camp Wapello, a 75 year old camp.
The Mid-Iowa Council of Boy Scouts of America has sent a letter to its members and stated “financial facts” make it necessary to stop using Camp Wapello.
Scouts, the council argues, should use Camp Mitigwa instead, according to Scout Executive A. Ely Brewer Jr.
…
Dr. J.L. “Doc” Stogdill of Pulaski is still waiting for his copy of the letter. Stogdill is chairman of the Camp Wapello Preservation Board.
“I’m chairman of the group that owns Camp Wapello,” he said.
“I’ve seen the letter but, as of today, neither at home, office nor Camp Wapello press mailbox have I received the letter.”
Stogdill said his board had received a letter from the council one year ago and “everything was fine.”
“[The council] extended the contract through 2016,” he said. “We have a signed, valid contract, and have received no word the contract won’t be honored.”
Cindy also says there will be a meeting to discuss this development
The Mid-Iowa Council of Boy Scouts of America will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Strothers Lodge near the Indian Hills Community College campus to discuss the council’s proposal to stop using Camp Wapello near Drakesville.
…
Those interested in contacting the Mid-Iowa Council can do so by writing to Mid-Iowa Council, BSA, P.O. Box 3009, Des Moines, IA 50316; or calling (800) 999-SCOUT or (515) 266-2135.
I’m not a fan of closing camps and it’s generally hard to get information about it once the process gets rolling. Good luck to the Boy Scouts in Iowa.
Update: I noticed a lot of traffic coming from a community bulletin board http://community.cnhi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/31610611/m/2561033661 that is following this story and even has Mr. Stogdill as one of the thread’s participants. This sounds like a good place to go if you’re following the story. Thanks for the shout out Sam. I think it was your comment that I somehow accidentally deleted. From the thread it appears there are a lot of people trying to figure out how to change the council’s mind about closing the camp.
Update: There’s a whole blog that’s been created in response to this issue. They’ve got an online petition to try to garner support for those wishing to save Camp Wapello. They also have a copy of the letter that was sent out. If you’d like to see a copy of it, click here.
They also have a link to a video from WHOtv.com. Let’s see if I can get it to embed here. Yep, and WHOtv even gets a commercial in. Good for them.
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