December 02, 2008 05:47 am
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When referring to the generous but eccentric benefactor who made a killing in the stock market and gave so much money to the Girl Scouts and other worthy recipients during the 1930s, '40s and early '50s, members of the Ernest Turner Memorial Fund Inc. just call him "Ernie."
Since 1954, his generosity has provided local Girl Scouts with Camp Tapawingo located in Point au Roche. It's been a magical place for scouts to hold their activities and summer camps on Lake Champlain ever since.
But recently, problems have arisen and times have changed. Difficulties started with a statewide ruling by the Health Department prohibiting summer camps from using lake water. So the Turner Board, which had already invested in new buildings and many other improvements over the years, had to expend precious resources on a well. Unfortunately, it was drilled too close to the lake, and another one had to be drilled at an even greater expense.
Meanwhile, the Girl Scouts have been undergoing major changes, perhaps even struggling for survival. It's been a challenge making scouting relevant to the MTV and Facebook sets, and the scouts' national leadership has been trying to adapt to changing demographic and economic conditions and expand and update the Girl Scouts' image and programs.
Most notably, that resulted in Girl Scout councils having to merge, and the North Country Girl Scout Council — once a strong local organization — had to combine with councils from Albany, Schenectady and the Hudson Valley to form a mega group of which they are only a small part.
With size comes bureaucracy, and the new leadership has insisted on formal leases and legal procedures in dealing with local camps, a change in protocol and attitude that has rubbed members of the Turner Board the wrong way. This and the water problem combined to close Tapawingo for the past two years, and no agreement is yet in place for 2009.
At least the water problem has now been fixed, and it's time to break the logjam.
For their part, the Girl Scouts, in their rush to update their image and attract more members, shouldn't abandon their traditions, such as camp life and cookie selling, in order to make their programs more modern and relevant, but should build on these historic strengths.
Camp Tapawingo, with a history that dates back to 1930, has hosted hundreds of girls per year for all those decades, for a total of tens of thousands of local campers. The impact on the community and the importance to the Girl Scouts can't be overestimated — just ask the many who have attended and cherish those experiences.
And, for its part, The Turner Board should realize the profound change that has been forced upon the Girl Scouts and do its best to go the extra mile. In difficult economic times, it's not likely abandoning the scouts for another youth group — even if their charter allows it — would work out any better.
All youth agencies in this day and age are economically stressed and limited in what they can provide in matching funds. They all have strict oversight, liability concerns and bureaucracies in need of legal documentation, transparency and formal agreements in all their dealings.
Camp Tapawingo needs to reopen next year. Let's hope the two sides can come together in a spirit of compromise and get it done for the sake of all concerned.
Ernie would approve.
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