Dear friends of scouting, I am a local volunteer in scouting and assist within the district as time permits. It is crucial that our voices are heard on this issue and that the people making this decision change their stance. It's not just about Camp Gustin, its also about Hinds, Bomazeen and Nutter, the only 4 remaining camps owned by this council. The sale of this property will not fix the financial woes. We are working to compile an electronic list of people who agree with not selling the property (it makes money for council). If you agree, please send an email with your name, address & email so we can add you to the list. Within the next few days we will have a site page up under www.bsatroop007.org with details and updates as to our efforts. you can send me an email at scoutreed@aol.com. As to the issues over discrimination - thats a national policy not one made by local boys and leaders, don't hold that against a program which continues to turn out excellent citizens and leaders.
City
Scouts protest proposed sale of Camp Gustin
Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
Boy Scouts from Troop 109 in Lisbon Falls attend the Abnaki District Annual Meeting at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Lewiston on Wednesday. In attendance to show their support for Camp Gustin are Josh Sheehan, foreground at left, Dustin Wood, Brandon Hess and Nicholas Corey.
Buy a Print
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
Scoutmaster Allen Ward looks over the grounds of Camp Gustin in Sabattus from behind the totem pole. He and a number of Boy Scouts and leaders say they will fight plans of the Pine Tree Council to sell the property.
Buy a Print
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
Scoutmaster Allen Ward looks over Loon Pond at Camp Gustin in Sabattus. He and a number of Boy Scouts and leaders say they will fight plans by Pine Tree Council to sell the property.
Buy a Print
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
The sun may be setting for good on Camp Gustin in Sabattus. All is quiet by the council ring on the edge of Loon Pond at the camp Wednesday afternoon.
Buy a Print
LEWISTON — In hard economic times, there are circumstances for which even a Boy Scout cannot be prepared.
More than four dozen Scouts, former Scouts and Scout leaders gathered Wednesday night to discuss what has become a matter of great emotion — the potential sale of Camp Gustin, which has been the property of the Boy Scouts of America since 1933.
"Six of my boys went through there," said Sandra Wood, who was at the Abnaki District meeting with two of her Scouts. "We're all looking to keep kids out of trouble and now they want to get rid of something that keeps them off the streets. It makes no sense."
The group at Holy Family Church on Thursday night consisted of dozens of children in full Scouts uniform and grown men wearing similar garb. They came to express dissatisfaction with the notion of selling a camp that has been a temporary home to hundreds — if not thousands — of boys over the generations.
"It's sad," said Andy Beaudoin, who attended the meeting with his 11-year-old son. "You've got kids who have been going to Camp Gustin for years and now they want to get rid of it. The question is, 'Why?'"
Officials from Pine Tree Council, the Maine chapter of the Boy Scouts, were there to try to answer that question.
The reasons they listed were not so different from those difficulties experienced by other businesses and organizations around the nation. Times are tough. Bills are due and the funds to pay them are short.
"We've come to the conclusion that we have to have an open mind," said Walt Stinson, Pine Tree Council's vice-president for properties. "We've got to recognize that these are difficult times."
Last year, the council operated at a deficit of $180,000. Overall, it has a debt of nearly $1 million. And there sits Camp Gustin with its pavilion, two outhouses and a pump house, an arrangement of property that could fetch up to $375,000.
"Could we use those assets, those dollars, to do something else?" asked Pete Ventre, volunteer president of the council and a scoutmaster in Cumberland.
It was a rhetorical question, mostly. Much of the debate Wednesday night focused on whether the money a sale could generate would be worth the loss of Gustin.
The camp is on roughly 100 acres around Loon Pond in Sabattus. It was deeded to the Scouts by Charles W. Gustin in 1933. Since then, countless boys have learned to swim, tie knots, pitch tents, build fires and save lives at Camp Gustin.
Those who are in the process of learning those things had plenty to say Wednesday night.
"Gustin, it's been part of my life since Cub Scouts," said Ian Clavette, now 16 and a senior patrol leader with Troop 109. "Without it, I couldn't have gotten this far. It's a beautiful camp. It would be a shame if they sold it."
"All the people there are so nice," said 11-year-old Scout Ajay Beaudoin. "Every time I'm there, I say, 'Hallelujah for Camp Gustin.'"
"I've been going there since I was a Tiger," said 13-year-old Robert Wood, a second-class Scout with Troop 109. "We've done a lot of work there and learned a lot. I hope they don't get rid of it."
But sentiment was not enough to convince those on the council that the camp should not be sold. Of the four properties they could potentially put on the market, they said, Camp Gustin is used the least.
"It's being used," said Sandra Wood. "It's not just sitting there."
According to council records, however, Camp Gustin remains empty almost as much as it is occupied, in spite of its use as a day camp for 100-plus kids. Of the four properties they have to possibly sell, Ventre said, Gustin makes the most sense.
Although not everything could be explained with dollars and cents.
One man, who owns property around Loon Pond, near Camp Gustin, said he feared what would happen if the land falls out of the hands of the Boy Scouts. Development could begin, the ecosystem could begin to decline and the pond could suffer.
A representative from the Androscoggin Land Trust also expressed concerns on behalf of that group. Earlier in the year, it was approached by Pine Tree Council executives about possibly buying the property. The land trust requested a meeting to discuss how conservation efforts might be addressed.
In a statement handed out at the meeting, officials of the ALT said: "We were declined an option to sit down and discuss a conservation outcome and to be honest, remain concerned that a facility that has been so important to generations of Scouts and their introduction to the outdoors and the Androscoggin River watershed has been reduced to a real estate transaction seeking to attain maximum financial returns."
Maximum financial gain, the statement suggested, should be taken off the table as a priority and other alternatives explored.
The Abnaki District and the Pine Tree Council will meet again next week. Should they decide to sell Camp Gustin, Ventre estimated it would take a few months to become final.
"Once it's sold," he said, "it's gone for good."
Which was a point not lost on many.
Dennis Bowden, a lifelong Scout and now chairman of the Abnaki District Training Committee, suggested that dollar figures may prove insufficient when compared to the loss of a camp so immersed in the history of Maine scouting.
"What happens after that money runs out?" he said. "You'll never, ever get a piece of land like that again in Maine."
mlaflamme@sunjournal.com
Comments
I agree, no one should
I agree, no one should assume all members hate or want to discriminate against others. Rules of the organization at the very top are what's hurting funding and support. I hope the rules can be changed to allow all families. That would be truly wonderful!!
Edited to add: I was a den mother and my girls were in Scouts too. It was years later that I learned about the organization's policies of exclusion, back in the early 80's it was not even talked about and not an issue I knew about.
mckinnley does have a point.
mckinnley does have a point. After the Supreme Court determined in 2000 (BSA v Dale) that BSA was a private organization and as such has the right to continue to discriminate, funding from organizations such as United Way, Chase Manhattan Bank, Levi Strauss, Fleet Bank, CVS/pharmacy, and Pew Charitable Trusts stopped. This has certainly harmed BSA's bottom line to the tune of millions of dollars across the board.
Regarding Obama, he was asked not to accept the title of Presidency of the BSA because of their policies of exclusion. He chose to ignore the request.
The boys may like and accept
The boys may like and accept people for who they are, but if they have a friend who is gay, athiest, or agnostic, that friend is NOT allowed to be a fellow member of the boy scouts. You may think it's a good policy. Many do not, and have withdrawn financial support for BSA.
fixit001 - You need to be
fixit001 - You need to be fixed. Your agenda has absolutely NOTHING to do with this story. But trying to link them, you have lost ALL credibility. Go away and let well-meaning people try and solve a real problem.
Pine Tree Council is the Boy
Pine Tree Council is the Boy Scouts. They are the governing/administrative body for the southern half of that state.
vink80 100
vink80
100 acres 0n a pond or lake should be worth more than the $375.000 ---- some developer would get that or more for each acre. You people need some professional advice and
not from some greedy developer. ------ (Just a reaction from an outsider who only knows what was just put here in the news.) BUT TALK AROUND !!!!!!!
"Since then, countless boys
"Since then, countless boys have learned to swim, tie knots, pitch tents, build fires and save lives at Camp Gustin."
I've never had the chance to swim there (every time I went it was pouring) but just about everything I know about knot-tying, tent-pitching and fire-building I learned at Camp Gustin. They need to keep this camp open.
Its a shame that a properity
Its a shame that a properity thta was donated to the BoyScouts has to be put on the Auction Block !!!! They better rethink their stance!!!
There are serious questions
There are serious questions as to where the money goes in Maine. Sounds like another way to screw the locals while padding the pockets/salaries of those in the LARGE, BRAND NEW Portland office. Maybe they shouldn't have made that investment. And of course it sits empty more than it's sued, no one can camp during the middle of the school week! It's especially sad considering how many troops have put money and hard work into improving their camp sites and doing service projects for camp, like that hand carved totem-sign, the camp picnic tables, painting and refurbishing the fire ring, and many more.
Why not ask OBAMA to bail
Why not ask OBAMA to bail out the boy scouts OHHH Sorry they have not filled the pockets of the politicians!!! these are kids of working familes and as such are considered by our goverment as non-producing political fund donators so its tough luck for you!!!! While the execs at Citi got thier Millions for bonuses This is probably one institution we dont mind bailing out however that is not ment to be a cart blance to buy buy buy by the Boy Scouts it is ment to support them in a time of need as they have help thousands of our children over the years!!!!
Add comment
Radio City Racing
NASCAR fantasy racing at its finest! Compete for local and national prizes. This year's grand prize is a flat screen TV from Radio City valued at $800.. Click here to play!
The Pine Tree Council is
The Pine Tree Council is being short sighted in this too make money.As an Asst. Scoutmaster with a Boy Scout Troop,and a father of a Life Scout and a Webelos who's crossing over to Boy Scout this year are disheartened at the council. We have been at Camp Gustin more times than I can count and enjoy having a place to campout and go canoeing at the same location is priceless. I've been to Camp Bomazeen and it is an lousy place to get to in the winter and you have to hike up a hill to use the bathroom and Camp Hinds hasn't been improved any since my kids went there. The council wastes our money on the new store and over bloated staff. As for you mckinnley what is your problem with some thing that benefits kids are you that bitter you turn out your lights on Halloween and tell young kids there is no Santa Claus also.