NH Boy Scouts to sell property to pay settlement

By MAUREEN MILLIKEN

Manchester Ink Link

Published: 12-22-2021 3:53 PM

MANCHESTER, N.H. — The Boy Scouts of America Daniel Webster Council will list for sale its longtime headquarters at 571 Holt Ave. and its five-acre Unity Program Center in Sullivan County in order to meet its $3.5 million obligation to the national Boy Scouts of America, which has to cover a proposed $2.6 billion settlement related to sexual abuse lawsuits.

The move comes as the national organization and 272 regional councils across the country approach a Dec. 28 deadline to vote on a reorganization plan that would pay more than 82,000 sexual abuse claimants. If the claimants approve the settlement, it will be the largest sexual abuse settlement in U.S. history, legal experts have said. It would also free Boy Scouts of America and other litigants from future claims related to past abuse.

Monday, the BSA reached a tentative agreement with its largest insurer, Century Indemnity Co., to pay $800 million into the fund. The Hartford, another BSA insurer and former major troop sponsor, has agreed to pay $787 million, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will pay $250 million.

Boy Scout councils across the country must contribute $820 million, and they are scrambling to find ways to meet their part of the cost, including selling off property.

Jay Garee, DWC Scout executive, said the Daniel Webster Council board authorized the $3.5 million contribution of cash and real estate “after careful deliberation.” He said the national BSA and local council “are working together to achieve two key imperatives: equitably compensate survivors of past abuse in Scouting and ensure that Scouting continues.”

Most of the regional councils, including Daniel Webster, control their own finances and are not undergoing a financial restructuring. The council oversees eight districts in New Hampshire, with about 6,000 boys and girls participating. According to its 2020 annual report, the council had $2,511,159 in income, and $2,509,383 in expenses.

The decision to list the Holt Avenue office, the DWC’s headquarters since 1982, and the Unity Program Center was a difficult one, Garee said. Neither property has been listed yet.

The 10,800-square-foot one-story building at 571 Holt Ave. was built in 1982 and has been home to the Daniel Webster Council’s headquarters ever since. It is assessed by the city for tax year 2022 at $748,500. Since the DWC is a nonprofit, it doesn’t pay property taxes to the city.

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The Unity Program Center is on five acres on Mica Mine Road in Unity, and has indoor space, an outdoor theater, but few facilities, offering rustic camping for Scouts.

While Garee didn’t elaborate on DWC’s headquarters plans, its Scout help center recently moved to the 250-acre Camp Carpenter property off Bodwell Road.

The 3,500-acre Griswold Scout Reservation in Gilmanton Iron Works and Camp Carpenter in Manchester “are not for sale and will continue to play an important role in the delivery of our programming,” Garee added.

Maine campground sales challenged by community

Across the border, in Maine, the decision to list three BSA camps for sale has caused an uproar. The Pine Tree Council last year authorized sale of Camp Bomazeen, in Belgrade, which celebrated its 75th anniversary as a Scout camp in 2020, as well as Camp Nutter, in Acton, and Camp Gustin, in Sabattus. None of the three are officially listed for sale.

In June, the Maine attorney general’s office filed a suit against Pine Tree Council to stop the Bomazeen sale, saying it would violate the terms of the camp’s deed. The 100-acre property on the shore of Great Pond was donated to the Boy Scouts in 1944, with the provision that it be held in trust for the Boy Scouts. The property is assessed by the town and just under $1 million.

Scouts across Maine say time spent at the camp helped them to become successful adults, and the 300-member Bomazeen Old-Timers Association joined the state as a plaintiff in the suit.

Maine Scout volunteers and former Scouts opposed to the property sales say that highlighting the positive aspects of Scouting is a better solution to solving debt than shedding property.

Chris Bernier, of Winslow, Maine, a leader in the push to keep Bomazeen off the market, in a recent open letter on the Friends of Bomazeen Facebook page, urged the community to get involved, including writing to officials and seeking board positions in 2022.

“The answer to debt is not selling stuff and hope membership rises,” Bernier said. “The answer to debt is increase membership and give as many opportunities to children within Scouting at as many places as possible. Without our well-distributed camps, providing outstanding programs becomes that more challenging.”

NH’s Scouting tradition ‘alive and well and safer than ever’

Scouting in New Hampshire began in Manchester in 1912, with the Manchester council chartered in 2020, and the Daniel Webster Council in 1939. “We remain as dedicated as ever to delivering our nation’s foremost program for character development and values-based leadership training in New Hampshire,” Garee said.

He said the council is “confident that this decision is the right course of action to ensure the future of Scouting in our communities and do not anticipate any direct impact on the local Scouting experience for youth or families.”

He said New Hampshire Scouting “is alive and well, and safer than ever before with some of the strongest expert-informed youth protection policies found in any youth-serving organization.” Volunteers and employees take youth protection extremely seriously, he said, “and do their part to help keep kids safe.”

He said plans for 2022 include the Granite Base Camp programs; community service, such as Scouting for Food and other projects, and a variety of summer programs at Scout camp properties.

Boy Scouts of America, based in Irving, Texas, filed for bankruptcy in February 2020, as lawsuits by men who said they were sexually abused as Scouts piled up. The settlement, which has yet to be finalized, would require BSA to assign some insurance rights to the settlement fund in return for liability release.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.]]>