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Boy Scouts roll in to Fort A. P. Hill by the thousands for the national jamboree; Alaskan scouts recall tragedy of opening day five years ago Date published: 7/27/2010
BY PORTSIA SMITH
Caroline County got bigger yesterday. Fort A.P. Hill became the 13th largest "city" in Virginia with nearly 45,000 Boy Scouts and Scout leaders staying at the Army post for the 10-day National Scout Jamboree. Scouts came in from all over the country and as far away as Guam and Bangladesh to celebrate the Boy Scouts of America's 100th anniversary. But what really pleased the BSA officials is that all Scouts arrived safely. "We had a very good day," said Bob Dries, a BSA spokesman. "I'm sure there were some bumps during the day with buses being late, but overall, there haven't been any real issues." Dries said they're living up to the goal of making it "the best, most exciting, fun-filled, safest jamboree ever." "That's not just a marketing gimmick or a catchy phrase," he said "A lot of thought went into this." They want to avoid a tragedy like the one that occurred at the last jamboree in 2005 when four Scout leaders were killed on move-in day. The Scout leaders died July 25, 2005, when a pole for a large dining tent they were erecting struck a power line. The victims were Michael J. Shibe, 49, Mike Lacroix, 42, and Ronald H. Bitzer, 58, all of Anchorage, Alaska, and Scott Edward Powell, 57, of Perrysville, Ohio. Shibe and Lacroix had sons participating in the jamboree. An Army investigation deemed the deaths accidental. That tragedy didn't stop Alaskan Scoutmaster Wayne Watson from returning. He even recruited more Scouts to attend. Watson said 90 Scouts traveled to Virginia for the jamboree. That's compared to 72 Scouts in 2005. There are no official plans to memorialize that day in 2005, but Watson said his contingent will do something privately to remember their late leaders. In Alaska, a granite memorial was built in their honor, Watson said. Andrew Walther, 16, of Troop 744 in Alaska, said they are all just trying to move forward. "They've advised us on what to do and what not to do to avoid that type of situation again," he said. "Now, we are focusing on just having fun." And they did.
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