Termination of Camp Ranger - 21 years of service

[virginia o 10]

I am contacting you today with a very troubling story.

 

My brother, Carl Rennell, has been the Ranger at Camp Teetonkah located on Big Wolf Lake in Jackson, Michigan for the past 21 years.

 

On November 2, 2006 his position was terminated and he was notified by means of a note being taped to the office door by James McClelland of the Great Sauk Trail Council located in Ann Arbor, Mi. Later on that day, Bradley Bowersox of the Great Sauk Trail Council contacted him by phone to ensure he had received his notice. He also advised that his last date of employment would be November 16, 2006 and that he was to vacate the property by midnight on December 31, 2006.

 

He was advised that his termination was due to budgetary cuts, however, there is in existence an endowment earmarked for Camp Teetonkah.

 

Carl volunteered for 18 years as the Camp Ranger without any reimbursement but his former Assistant Scout Executive, Todd Wardell insisted that he receive a salary. Carl then accepted a salary of 20 hours per week, never working less than 60 hours per week, plus some benefits.

 

Carl has been involved in Scouting since the age of 6 and is highly respected in all of his participation at every level of Scouting.

 

He is recognized in this community as a leader and respected by thousands of Scouts at every level.

 

This has had a devastating effect on not only Carl but also hundreds and hundreds of Scouts throughout the State of Michigan. Parents are questioning who will provide a safe haven for their Scouts while camping at Camp Teetonkah because the Great Sauk Trail Council is advising there will be no Ranger onsite.

 

There have been sizeable monetary contributions made to the Camp Teetonkah endowment fund, however, when inquiries are made regarding these contributions, these inquiries go unanswered.

 

Please advise if the National Council can look at this most serious situation and possibly intervene?

 

If you need to speak to Carl Rennell, his phone number is 517-581-0806

 

ThankYou,

Virginia Rennell-Overmyer

ginnyjac@sbcglobal.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SemperParatus 1]

If you go to Guidestar (www.guidestar.org) you can look at the Forms 990 that are filed by your council with the IRS.

 

There is a separate Great Sauk Council Trust Fund that shows investments in marketable securities of $4,002,323 at the end of 2005. This looks like money that just sits there. Budget cuts my

@%&!

 

Maybe they should be taking a look at the salaries they pay to their suits, like (2004 numbers)

 

Robert Poole - retiring scout exec - $100K

Ed Michlatcher - field director - $64K

Todd Wordel - Asst. Scout Exec - %72K

Victor Pooler - Endowment Director - $82K

 

It looks like Bowersox was hired at the beginning of 2005.

 

(This message has been edited by a staff member.)

[local1400 10]

First of all leaving a note on the door is certainly cowardly!A SCOUT IS LOYAL. SemperParatus---you certainly have dug up the goods. It seems the council was not HONEST when it gave the reason for termination. I am glad I am Union.Unions were created because of employer behavior just like this.I think every unit in the council should stop the FOS and sustaining member monies from coming in then the PEOPLE will be heard. Sorry about your brother,but even if the council reversed its decision when the contributions dried up there would be hard feelings.

[SSScout 1615]

Haven't we heard about similar things in... Florida? Chicago...?

 

Oh Semper, you are good...

 

V/O: (1)Make sure your brother saves all his documentation. Wrongful termination is a sue able offense. Does he have his Job Evaluations (assuming). Around here, in the DC area, I know a couple of union labor relation lawyers that would fairly salivate over such a case. 21 years and then let go like that? Not even a "Thank You BBQ Dinner?" If they even sort of kind of put another person in a similar position of similar responsibility after they have fired your brother...

(2) Have your bro think back... has he made any enemies of late in the Council world? Pointed out problems someone should have fixed? Helped a Scout along the way when someone else said not to?

(3) Call your local newspaper. There is an eager newshound out there lookin' for a chance to embarrass someone important. The Scout Exec that signed off on this does NOT want to be that person, because....

(4) "Follow the Money" . This may only be the start of something bigger. Is the Camp in the way of some "OTHER" project? Who else has seen the "notice pinned to the door" of late. Are you on good terms with the Camp Manager? What does he/she say?

(5) Do you have any entre into the Council Meeting? Any Allies there? Might want to notify them too.

(7) Please realise that this forum has NO official imprimatur. We ain't National. I might hope, however, that someone here might know someone who knows someone. IMHO, I don't think National would dein to intervene in something so CLEARLY local. ,But a letter to our new National President, good ole was his name (?something about ice cream, I seem to remember...) certainly couldn't hurt.

 

Oh yes, Tell you brother, Merry Christmas from the REST of the Scout world.

 

And keep us informed.

 

YiS despite...

[Gonzo1 10]

Virginia,

Welcome,

 

Sorry to hear about your brother's situation.

It won't help in the short term, but you an some friends could contact all troops and packs in the council, and let them know what happended and discourage them all from going to Camp Teetonkah ever again. Furhter more, discourage them from selling popcorm, participating in Friends of Scouting and let the council know they if they truly have a money problem despite having +/- $4,000,000 in the bank, then they should rally know what it's like to have a financial hardship. Hit the council in their wallet.

 

Encourage the units to go camping, just not there.

 

Good luck,

 

 

[moxieman 11]

Gonzo1,

 

Be careful, you could be playing right into their hands. It could be that they would like to sell that camp--we don't know--it could be it has a deed restriction to prevent this or maybe they don't want to sell and there is a totally different reason this long time ranger was fired. We only have one side of the story.

 

However, if this is a possibility (would like to sell camp for quick profit as we've seen elsewhere around the country), what better way to justify such a sale then to make it drop in popularity. How do you do that? Tick-off the area troops to encourage them not to go there. "Nobody goes there anymore, let's liquidate the assets and move on..."

 

Sounds to me like Virginia needs to get more info on what is really going on in that council to better determine why the brother was fired and what the Council's real motives are.

 

[Gonzo1 10]

Moxieman,

True enough. The opposite could happen, encourage EVERYONE to go there and flood the place with scouts.

 

What a rotten way to be let go.

 

Just a thought.

 

[eagle019 10]

Here's some of what Paul Harvey would say is "THE REST OF THE STORY" !

I have been involved with Camp Teetonkah since 1986 ! I served on Camp Staffs there with my wife (free full time Camp Nurse) for the last seven years we had summer camp, 1988 to 1994 ! I have been involved with that camp since Ranger Rennell started there ! In 1993, our happy little Council was merged with a larger Council ! It was not a happy situation any more ? Any of you that lived through a merger can spew your horror stories I'm sure ! Before the merger, camp had it's own following from the area that would donate with a phone call from Carl, material, labor and equipment to keep our 90 year old piece of "educational property" operating smoothly !

I was on the Council Camping Committee and the Council Properties Committee ! We always managed our class "A" rating during the annual regional inspections ! Soon after the merger, the Council Executive Board decided to "close" Camp teetonkah for "code violations" ? Folks, this place was 80 years old and mostly "grand fathered" ! (I owned a construction business, and have a State of Michigan Builders License ! Grandfathering justified what we had, as compared to new codes ! Carl worked closely with the local inspectors and we fixed mandated safety violations as needed, but other things like a old wood walk in freezer in the kitchen were allowed to stay because they were there before they had regulations ! Camp was closed and the Council decided to sell off three of the four "camp" properties and put the moneys into an endowment ! Some moneys would be used for upkeep and additions to the fourth camp, Camp Munhacke that is still open ! The Council ran right in a bulldozed many of the historical buildings to clean up the place to get ready to sell ! Before the properties were posted for sale, a group of volunteers, chosen by the Council Executive Board were assembled to screen the individual districts, troops, and chartering organizational reps, using meetings and fire side chats at round tables, to screen the volunteer's as to which camps they wanted to see sold, and which to save ? After a 6 month study, the group came to the Executive Board with the recommendation that "NO CAMPS SHOULD BE SOLD", and funding should be sought to keep them going ! Three minutes after the leader of the study group Dr Craig Younkman finished his very professional presentation with all the facts and findings, the Executive Board voted to sell ? At this point, we from the little old Land-O-Lakes Council knew we were butting heads with a bigger rack ? In a very short time the big camp, 600+ acres, 200 miles north, Wrights Lake Scout Camp was sold ! The community stepped up when they heard that Camp Teetonkah was put up for sale ! Bids that were received by the Council was far lower than they had anticipated ? At one point the County Parks was even involved to see if it could become a county park ! The County wanted the camp donated because of money constraints ? I don't have to tell you how that went ? Within a month, Dr Younkman was very upset and gathered a group of about 40 families for a meeting to see if we could press for a fundraising campaign to save Camp Teetonkah ! A very professional presentation was made to the Executive Board, and the group "FRIENDS of CAMP TEETONKAH" ( a state licensed non-profit) took on the challenge ! We (I was part of the vigilante group) were allowed one year to get the $1,000,000 needed for an endowment that would generate money to "CARE" for camp ! The area stepped up ! The commitment was met ! We thought we were in like Flynn ! Wrong ? Properties committee voted to re-open camp, and crutch up the needed things to get the property back in use by the kids who wanted to camp there ! It's been a fight ever since ! The next Properties Committee meeting would be the last ? Seems the property manager convinced the Council Exec. that the committee was no longer needed on the volunteer side because the Council had a full time paid employee to do that work ! Did I mention the Property Manager was also the other Camp Ranger ? By shutting down the properties committee, the properties manager got rid of (or P o'd) a great group of volunteers, mostly never to be seen again ? Then the camping committee was used as dial indicator of how things should happen in the camps ! I made the mistake of telling the Properties Manager one night at a meeting that "HE" needed to do some of the things that he was he complaining about volunteers not getting done, because he was paid to do them ? You guessed it...next camping committee meeting I was told I was no longer a voting member of that committee ? New people were brought in that voted "correctly" at future meetings ? To this day, I still have feelings that the Council wants to dispose of Camp Teetonkah ! Everyone of us from the "GOOD OLD DAYS" they get rid of, is one less guy that knows the whole story ! Scouting is a short term commitment to 99% of Scouts and Scouters ! Adults get involved while their boys are active ! That's an national average of about a year ! Ten years down the road, the information is lost as to what should be, as compared to what is ? Well we are 13 years into the merger ! There isn't many of us left ! Getting Carl Rennell out of the picture, is multiplied ten fold, no a 100 fold.....? Folks are fed up with what the program has turned into ? We no longer hear much about program ! It's all about endowments, FOS money, and how much pop corn that can be sold ?

Carl has been "retired" as a cost saving measure ? Up until a few years ago, Carl worked in that camp for the house he lived in ! Then the Council started paying him a very small salary, about $9000 annually, out of an approx. $60,000 budget ! The properties manager / ranger gets the rest ! Remember this is a cost saving measure ? Seems like we boned out the roast, and threw away the meat here ? Grapevine has it the Properties Manager and some Council Staff will make the 30 mile drive when needed to camp, in Council owned and maintained vehicles, with the Council Gasoline charge card ? At what $.40 per vehicle mile, that's $24 a trip ! If someone goes out there once a day to make sure the place hasn't burned to the ground, $24 x 30 = $720 ! Carl's pay $750 month ? The Council saves $30 a month and no full time resident Ranger will be in camp ? Can you say "POLITICAL" ? I feel it will be years before the Council will see sufficient FOS money from the old "WEST SIDE", to make this "SMOOTH" move pay ? Carl has always been the warmest of friends to every Scout and Scouter that ever touched a foot in that Camp ! He could not be replaced in any matter, just because he's been involved with that camp since he was in Cub Scouts ! He had great relations with the property owners around camp ! If we had a big to do out there and needed a neighboring piece of land to camp a Jamboree troop in or park cars in, Carl took care of it ! Carl saw to all the "light" maintenance around camp like mowing grass and plowing snow, and cutting up down trees from storms himself ! He had to be in camp every weekend for campers ! This left no "FREE" time as we are so used to ! These things never summed up the agreed upon 20 hours a week the Council thought Carl should work for his "SALARY" ?

Carl is a strong individual who will succeed in what he gets himself into next ! Carl is a people person ! The Council.....I'm not so sure how this will affect them ? They have become so cold to what happens between the volunteers and the paid Staff ? They will have to go a long ways into proving to me, that this "COST SAVING" move was nothing but the continued friction between the "EAST and the WEST" ! I have been in business and if we can't make money with the full time staff we have, someone gets laid off ? We all understand that ! Ranger Renell's termination makes no financial sense ! This is purely political ! A lot of things have changed with me and my dedication to the Council since this rude behavior to an employee took place ? I have removed all of my Scouting memorabilia display out of the Camp Museum ! I won't leave that there with no one watching the place full time ! I surely hope the Scouting Program succeeds ! I hope they change their policy and go back to what Baden Powell wanted for youth ! We are about three light years away from there now ?

They can't cut my pay ? I'm not afraid to put my name on this thread either !

Asst Scoutmaster, Troop 432 Brooklyn 1986 - 1993

Scouters Training Award 1989

District Award of Merit 1989

Teetonkah Lodge Honor Award 1989

Woodbadge EC 357 W, 1987, Staff EC 410 W 1991

Vigil Teetonkah Lodge 206

National Jamboree Scoutmaster 1989, 1993

NOAC contingent Leader 1988, 90, 92, 94

Philmont Retreat Contingent Leader for Section C-2A 1995

Silver Beaver 1995

Founders Award 2003

Current Historian Manitous Lodge 88

 

Cary M Sitarz

[nldscout 18]

I heard through a friend at this council there is more to this story and possibly pending legal action against several individuals.

 

Me, I will wait for the rest of the story

[Beavah 205]

Yah, another council sellin' camps to build endowment, the income from which is used to pay executives to tell volunteers they should run better program, eh? Dat makes it a "program expense" for accountin' purposes.

 

Sounds like a mini version of Chicago. Maybe legal action by the volunteers is the way to go.

 

My bet would be this council has also played fast and loose with membership numbers. Manipulate one figure to pad your evaluation, manipulate 'em all.

 

 

 

 

[Fuzzy Bear 12]

Pinning a note to the door in the middle of the night of an upstanding Ranger doesnt square with being Trustworthy and all of the rest that follows. I suppose it would be easy to backtrack that kind of varmit to deal with him properly but judging from the actions, it wouldnt be worth the walk.

 

I dont need to say it but we all eat that which we kill. I suppose those in the backroom that figured out how to deal with Ranger Rennell will be eating a meal that most wouldnt put in their mouth anytime but especially during the Christmas season. That kind of gift when opened brings on a smell that will stick in ones nostrils for years to come.

 

I would encourage those affected to not dwell on rebutting acts of the lowest worth because it would only bring on more of the same from the person you need to respect the most, yourself. If you want to respond, please consider building good programs on the local level that would rival any that you lost. Make sure that the Ranger finds a good job and that he has references to go forward with to make a new home and life. He sounds like a person that most of us would want around our own place. fb

 

[SSScout 1615]

Man, what Beaver said.

 

And eagle019 and nldscout, I hope you boys know each other.

 

It's like the realestate broker said when he was asked why invest in realestate: "because God ain't making any more land!"

 

Don't those yoyos understand? Once a Camp is gone, it's gone. You cannot recreate a camp someplace else. The money gained thru the sale of a Camp will never replace what has been lost.

 

As a boy, I spent summers in a private Camp in Maine(anyone recognize the name Stanwood Cobb?), a Private Camp in VA., a Scout Camp on the Chesapeake Bay and a Camp run by my Troop on property owned by our SM's cousin's uncle's brother in law (something like that. What did I know?). The Troop property was saved to a religious retreat center (Scouts can still camp there), the Bay Camp (Roosevelt) became a nuclear power plant and State Park, the Camp in Maine (near Portland, on the ocean)is probably beachfront condos now. The VA Camp wrote to me (30 years later? How did they find my address?) to ask for help to prevent the camp from being developed into a vacation resort. I sent them some money because I remembered.

 

Now there's a concept. The memories and lessons the Scout takes away from Camp remain. Years later, the memories and lessons remain. I believe we call that "program". I would hire Rennel in a minute to run the "program" Here's a man (and I've never met him) who knows about "program". He's lived it from the proverbial ground up. How many thousand of Scouts has he seen go thu Camp Teetonkah? And how have the Council Execs benefitted from his experience?

 

Once a Camp is gone, it's gone. Without the property, there is no place for... the "program". The loss of THREE camps on the premise of reinforcing ONE Camp, does not allow for (dare I say it?) expansion! What would happen if (Praise the Lord!) Scouting became the pre-eminant youth program once again. Where to put all the eager young bodies? The "program" seeds need places to be sown if the crop of memories and lessons are to be reaped. And the Camp ground need never be left fallow. With proper tending, it is nevdr depletted. The crops of lessons learned and memories made are always ready to be gathered.

 

I cannot take my boy to many of the places I camped. Most of them ain't the same. "Heritage" and "tradition" are also part of "program". When the property is gone, that part of "program" is lost forever.

 

Here I must repeat part of my previous post. Find a sympathetic newspaper reporter. Follow the money. Make the Council Execs explain themselves in public forum. Contact the COs that (theoretically) elected the board. Hold the Execs feet to the fire (you do have your Fireman's Chit?)

 

I am no longer too young to know. and too young to care. Now, I must care for my son's sake.

 

Where do I send my donation to the legal fund? And which Newspaper will accept my letter?

 

YiS sceptically

 

 

[virginia o 10]

The name of our local newspaper is the: Jackson Citizen Patriot.

 

I have contacted them as well as many others regarding the situation at Camp Teetonkah. We have an open section which is known as "Voice of the People" however, none of the articles are being published.

 

They have no problem publishing many of the events at Camp Teetonkah and covering some of the renovations that have taken place, such as the new dining hall which is currently under construction.

 

Sounds to me as if someone's hands are tied. Through the grapevine, we have heard that they would not publish anything unless the Camp is being affected.

 

I don't think anyone realizes the effects that this will have on the Camp.

 

Also, if I may ask, does anyone know how I can contact the Regional Director of the Central District?

 

We truly appreciate all of the input.

 

Rangers Sis

[Gonzo1 10]

Now that's irony: Citizen Patriot

 

Since the local paper won't hel, how about the next town over or other surrounding towns? How about local talk radio? Are there TV stations nearby? Some cub reporter must be looking for a scoop.

 

Best wishes,

 

[local1400 10]

SSScout-where in ME did you camp? A lot of camps have fallen to the fate you envisioned but there still are a lot of camps left. I work in South Portland and am curios about camps both public and private. Since I work for a railroad some of the old-timers talk of summer camp trains and the thousands of city kids who spent their summers "up hee-ah in tha sticks". And to echo some others, my best days of my 36 years were spent at my council camp, 4 seasons camping and 4 as a staff member. I,ll never forget the friendships made at what for me is my special place.(This message has been edited by local1400)