This Jamboree has a Mosh Pit!
Posted on 07/27/2005 9:25:30 PM PDT by SandRat
BOWLING GREEN, Va. -- About 300 people, most of them Boy Scouts, were sickened by the heat Wednesday while waiting for President Bush to arrive at a memorial service for four Scout leaders who were killed while pitching a tent beneath a power line.
The president's visit to the Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill was postponed because of severe thunderstorms and strong wind. Instead, Bush is scheduled to visit the gathering Thursday.
But before the president's appearance was called off, many Scouts fell ill from temperatures that rose into the upper 90s, made worse by high humidity.
Half of those were treated at the base hospital, about three miles frmo the event arena, and released. Dozens more were sent to other hospitals, where they were in stable condition Wednesday night, said Gregg Shields, a Jamboree spokesman.
Soldiers carried Boy Scouts on stretchers to the base hospital, and others were airlifted from the event.
Jamboree officials called for emergency help from surrounding areas, and ambulances transported Scouts during the storm, which brought high winds and lightning.
Jamboree spokeswoman Renee Fairrer said she was not sure if any of the illnesses were serious. "If there are any, I haven't heard about them yet," Fairrer said.
Hours earlier, Scouts began gathering for the event, passing through security screening to get a place in an open field facing the stage where the president planned to speak.
Scout leaders distributed water by the caseload, and the Scouts were told they could remove their uniform shirts if they had another shirt underneath.
"This is hot for me," said Chad McDowell, 16, who lives in Warrenton, Ore. "Where I'm from if it's 75, we think that it's a heat wave."
Those who fell ill suffered from dehydration, lightheadedness and fatigue, among other symptoms.
The gathering has drawn more than 40,000 Scouting enthusiasts from around the world to the fort about an hour south of the nation's capital.
The memorial service had been planned to honor four men who were electrocuted Monday while pitching a dining tent at the Jamboree.
On Wednesday, a spokesman said the group had ignored scouting teachings by putting the tent under a power line.
The Scout leaders also had taken the "somewhat unusual" step of hiring a contractor to help with the task, Scouts spokesman Gregg Shields said.
"Boy Scouts are taught not to put their tents under trees or under power lines. I don't know what happened in that case," Shields said.
Some Scouts witnessed the deaths of the leaders as the large pole at the center of a large, white dining tent came into contact with power lines. Screams rang out as the tent caught fire and the men burned.
An investigation into the accident is incomplete.
While power lines crisscross the Jamboree's 7,000 acres, the leaders of Western Alaskan Troops 711 and 713 had ample room to erect a tent out of range of overhanging limbs and power lines.
The Jamboree is divided into subcamps, each of which is responsible for putting up a mess tent for what could be the hundreds of Scouts in their division. Shields said he did not know if Scouting has a specific policy regarding the proximity of tents to power lines, and he could not identify the contractor hired by the Alaska troop.
Flags flew at half-staff near the shooting range Wednesday. Cameron Ogilvie, 15, of York, Pa., said he heard of the deaths from his bus driver as he was riding back to his campsite.
"It shocked all of the boys on the bus hard. We all just got quiet," he said.
Scoutmaster Brad Mohr, 51, of Pasadena, Calif, said an announcement after the accident informed leaders not to erect structures taller than 6 feet.
Those killed were Michael J. Shibe, 49, Mike Lacroix, 42, and Ronald H. Bitzer, 58, all of Anchorage, Alaska; and Scott Edward Powell, 57, who had recently moved from Anchorage to Perrysville, Ohio. Shibe had two sons at the Jamboree and Lacroix had one.
Three adults were injured, and one returned to the Jamboree after being released from the hospital.
___
On the Net:
CDC explanations of heat illnesses: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hsb/extremeheat
It's a rough Jamboree!
President postponed his visit. (Did they postpone the memorial service?)
Scouts ill, and some still hospitalized.
Wonder if there's anything left to go wrong?
Someone did a terrible disservice to the family publishing the "Leaders screw up and violated our standards" release. It's always possible to say there's an investigation going on and give the family a bit of emotional breathing room before they point the finger at them.
Is it just me or does this read like its Bush's fault for the effects of the heat wave?
I think the intended messages are: #1 Bush's fault, #2 Boy Scouts are dumb, and #3 Boy Scouts are wusses when they don't have air conditioning. Lib media triple header.
300 out of 40000 scouts = less than 1%
Shouldn't the headline be:
More than 99% of Boy Scouts successfully brave the extreme heat with no ill effects.
If truth and accuracy was the media's stock and trade.
Yep. But it wasn't Bush who cut the power line. That was Karl Rove.
This Jamboree has a Mosh Pit!
Geeeeeeeee.... Where was the media when my Reserve Unit transitioned from C-130s to C-141s; stood at Parade Rest for three hours in an open, un-air conditioned, 100 degree plus Maintenance Hangar awaiting the arrival of then Maryland Governor William Donald Schaeffer???
Oh, yeahhhhhh... Schaeffer decided to No-Show and sent some third string hack flunky instead!
Jack.
I would not have gone flying in todays' thunder and lightning storm. Not with wind gusts of 40mph! It's getting so very, very sad. Not funny sad. Just sad when the left instantly blames everything on the President.
It definitely reads that way. In fact, the headline combined with the first few sentences makes it sound like the evil and diabolical George Bush ran late, left the poor Boy Scouts hanging, and failed to notify them he wouldn't be there until they were all sick already.
Bingo. Folks just don't watch their water intake, and it has to be water (The caffeine in soft drinks apparently is a mild diuretic, pretty much offsetting what you take in as water). I regularly work outside with temps in excess of 100.
Still, they should know better, especially when the humidity is high and they're sweating bullets. We don't get that kind of warning here most of the time. You don't sweat all that much when the RH is howering in the teens or less.
I think the lib-media is blowing this all out of proportion though. It looks like a pretty small percentage to me.
I was looking at the Dummies posts at thier site and they are all blameing Bush for this. I know he is the controller of the U.S., but damn he can control the weather too?
I just looked back through my old scouting manual - 'heat stroke' IS in there; didn't bother looking for 'metal tentpoles'.
(out of curiosity - can a single 'Darwin Award' entry have MULTIPLE names?
I tell my Boy Scouts that if they don't need to pee at least twice a day then they aren't drinking enough water.
Heat stroke in listed under the First Aid Merit Badge knowledge requirement. It is also a knowledge requirement for Second Class rank, which is the rank that is one step up from Tenderfoot.
Reminds of the time in Miami when I waited 11/2 hours from GWB to show up back in 2000. It was hot as hell, but at least I got to shake his hand.
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