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WOODGATE
In 1918, Ilion resident Samuel Russell had a hunch. He was inspired by the relatively new Boy Scout movement, and he thought it might do well on his property around White Lake. He was right. Over the years, Russell’s initial donation of 15 acres to the Scouts of Utica, Rome and Ilion grew into the popular Camp Russell, where thousands of Boy Scouts from New York and beyond have learned rope work, swimming, conservation and more. But this year, three years before its 100th birthday, likely will be the last for the camp. Last month, the executive board of the Boy Scouts of America Revolutionary Trails Council voted to sell Camp Russell and its Cedarlands property, which hasn’t been used as a camp since 2011. The sales, Scout Executive Steven McEwan said, will be made as soon as possible, with the agreement that Camp Russell is to remain open for the duration of the 2015 camping season. Although McEwan couldn’t remember the vote count, he said the decision to keep only Camp Kingsley was favored by a “vast majority.” Still, he said, it wasn’t effortless. “This is not an easy decision for the board,” he said, explaining that they’ve been discussing the issue with one another and with parents, youth, volunteers and more for about a year. But it goes back farther than that. For more than 10 years, the council has been watching enrollment decline as more entertainment options emerge for youth. In the early 1960s, McEwan estimated the council’s four districts had a combined enrollment of more than 20,000. Today, it’s closer to 2,000. In other words, running three camps is not sustainable any more. “We’ve put a little into all three camps, but there’s not a whole lot to show for anything,” McEwan said. “If we put everything at one camp, we don’t have to have three kitchens, three shower houses, three of everything.” And while many who are or were affiliated with the council agree with that, they have a different question: Why keep Kingsley — northwest of Rome — open, and not Russell? Orlo Burch, an Ilion resident who is a former Cub Scout Pack leader and whose son is a member of Ilion’s Troop 9, is one of those. Kingsley, he said, doesn’t have access to a body of water as big as White Lake, so Scouts could miss out on opportunities such as small boat sailing they had at Russell. “You can call any troop — they’re all upset,” Burch said. “This is taking away skill development and programs that they won’t (immediately) be able to do at (Camp Kingsley). They’ve punched every Boy Scout in the stomach.” Read more at http://www.uticaod.com/article/20150106/NEWS/150109783.
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ABOUTPieces that were published during the eight months I spent covering Herkimer County and other topics in upstate New York. Archives
February 2015
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