Camp Richard (Nantucket Island, Mass) being sold to developers

[Kristian]

Any advice on how to get the national scouting community to step up and put pressure on our council to do the right thing?

all past history with bsa national suggests they would always support the pro's in selling off land donated for scouts actual use.

[ghinson]

Any advice on how to get the national scouting community to step up and put pressure on our council to do the right thing?

Ugh. We're starting to get a little press. If not support, maybe shame will work.

[King Ding Dong]

Any advice on how to get the national scouting community to step up and put pressure on our council to do the right thing?

Find a celebrity at speak out on it. Preferably a gay one. If you can't pull that off you could try a hunger strike. Some other options might include, a handbook burning, plant some endangered species of vegitation all around the camp (see another thread)

 

Occupy Camp Richard (scouts could really rack up NOA camping nights with that one ).

[eaglewolfdad]

I remember reading about a similar situation in Florida in the 2006-2008 time period. Council kicked a well known and liked scouter out for leading

the charge against the sale to developers. Fortunately the County stepped in and rezoned the land to recreational use with some other long term provisions.

Needless to say the Council was not very pleased with the outcome as they lost out on a 13 million dollar payday. Some of the strategies used may be helpful in

your situation. The name of the camp is Camp Flying Eagle

[ghinson]

Thanks! That idea is bouncing around town. Zoning changes like this have to be approved at Annual Town Meeting. But, if nothing else works, I'm pretty sure a warrant article to this end will be submitted to the meeting!

[RememberSchiff]

This is VERY fishy. Land across the street sold two weeks ago for $30 million, for 70 acres. And someone is trying to steal this land from our boys for $3.5 million for 30 acres. There hasn't been an acre to sell for that price on the island in 20 yrs!

 

The whole thing stinks. This land was donated by the Nantucket Civic League, to the Nantucket troop, 40 yrs ago.l It was given with a deed restriction that said that if it were to ever be used for something other than scouting, ownership reverted by to the Civic League. Well, no one paid attention that such a restriction automatically expires after 30 years.

 

Since the Nantucket group is a troop, and not a council, at some point we joined the Cape Council. All tax and deed records show "Nantucket District, Boy Scouts of America" as the owner, but the Cape Council is assuming that means them. All improvements on the land have been paid for in donations and sweat equity by island volunteers. The troop is run solely by volunteers. But the Cape Council has decided to sell 30 of the acres to a developer. This land is pristine. Dark. No noise. No light. A wonderful place. Putting a development on even a part of the property will be disastrous!

 

Knowing this, our volunteer leaders decided to transfer the deed from "Nantucket District" to a non-profit "Camp Richards Foundation" to block the sale. And, in response, the lawyer-treasurer-board member and the $100,000+/yr salaried executive scout of the council is suing each of the volunteers personally, are seeking to have them removed from the scouts, and have changed the locks on the camp! Reportedly the money is needed to rebuild the endowment that pays the executive scout's salary!

 

We go back to court on Friday for the court to decide who should run the place until a trial can be set.

 

This is not good. We have a petition going and are trying to sway public opinion. You can help us here: http://tinyurl.com/kidsnotgreed as well as share this with as many camp loving scouts as you know!

 

Thanks!

1.470 supporters to petition so far!

https://www.change.org/petitions/boy-scouts-of-america-northeast-region-save-nantucket-s-camp-richard

[RememberSchiff]

http://www.ack.net/AmidLawsuitIsland...ampRichard.htm - Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror, Friday Aug 16 update.

 

An interim agreement was reached today with the following stipulations:

• The operation, management and oversight of Camp Richard will be conducted jointly by the Cape Cod & Islands Council and the Camp Richards Campers Association.

 

• A four-member committee, including two members of the campers association and two members of the Cape Cod Council, will be formed and meet monthly at Camp Richard or by telephone to ensure the operation of the property.

 

• The campers association agreed to immediately turn over all records regarding current and future reservations, financial documents, and scouting unit contact information.

 

• Future reservations to utilize the campground may be made with either party, provided there is notification to all involved.

 

• All funds collected from the use of Camp Richard will be held in a separate escrow account by the campers association.

 

• The Council agreed to provide to the campers association keys and/or combinations to the new locks that were installed at Camp Richard last weekend.

 

• The campers association will continue to provide "campmasters" at the property.

 

• Portions of the temporary restraining order against the campers association were lifted, including the order barring them from the campground.

 

• Both parties agreed they will not destroy or alter any records pertaining to the ownership of the property.

 

"The Council has also reinstated Michael Wilson, an island attorney, Eagle Scout and volunteer Cub Scout leader who had been stripped of his membership in the Boy Scouts of America by the Council as the rift over Camp Richard deepened."

[RememberSchiff]

Link to map showing the 3 parcels (30 acres) of Camp Richard that Cape Cod Council wants to sell. Most disturbing is this map shows Camp Richard divided into 9 parcels! What could Council be thinking?

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130817/NEWS/308170324&Template=photos

[RememberSchiff]

Cape Cod Times - Sat Aug 17 update

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130817/NEWS/308170324

 

 

On Friday, the Cape Cod & Islands Council of the Boy Scouts of America and the Camp Richard Campers Association, which runs the camp for the Nantucket District Committee of the Boy Scouts of America, filed a memorandum of understanding in Barnstable Superior Court.

 

The memorandum "doesn't go to the ultimate ownership, and there's a sharp disagreement on that," attorney David Kelston, who represented members of the Camp Richard Campers Association, said. Under Friday's agreement, the Camp Richard association is barred from transferring or selling the property. But discussions with the developer about those 30 acres aren't off the table, attorney Thomas Perrino, who represents the Cape council, said.

"I can say there are still some discussions concerning that," he said.

The Nantucket district, however, believes the sale of those parcels is at least on hold until the land disagreement is settled, either by the two parties or through the courts.

"We're not going to do anything with any part of the land. But nobody else can either, because we own it," Kelston said.

 

The Cape Cod Times article further adds a time line. Interesting reading.

 

[ghinson]

From a local writer...

 

LICKSPITTLE by Robert Barsanti

 

The clustered hypocrisy of the Boy Scout Land and Bake Sale has become well known. The Cape Cod and Islands Council of the Boy Scouts of America decided to drop a sweetheart deal into the hands of a developer. They offered thirty acres of Nantucket land for a price not seen since the Ron Reagan was dropping jelly beans on the White House floor. The deal has the hallmarks of Doctor Evil and his finger sucking. At its grossest level, adults who tried to finagle this deal are neither “mentally awake†nor “morally straight.†At its most petty, the deal smacks of ripe stupidity; who sells thirty acres of Nantucket at a tenth of what it is worth. It reeks of Dunkin’ Donuts Duplicity. Boy Scoutmaster Mike Riley and The Donald Trump of Rockland D.J. Mackinnon sat down over a couple of crullers and came up with a wicked good idea.

 

Even if you sit on the stool next to them and order your own Mochalatta, you can’t figure out how this works. Did they assume that nobody on conservation loving Nantucket would notice when Laurel and Stan tried to drag thirty acres through a loop hole? Did they think that somehow, in August when the island is collecting checks from the nation’s top 1%, this sale would hide under the 50% off sale at Molly Bloomers? Did they forget the sharp finned realtors sniffing for blood at a huge giveaway? Who thought this was a good idea and do they travel through Wal-Mart on a scooter?

 

To blame the stupidity of this situation on those two spittle sprites misses a deeper point. They made slapstick comedy out of a bruised and bleeding tragedy. We can’t let these lackwits walk away with kick me signs and shoelaces tied together. This obscenity has deeper and fouler roots.

 

In America, we build these cretin professionals. You need to be a manager or an earner, with a leather chair with lumbar support in your office and a leather binder from Staples. They measure their data, they craft their mission statements, and the collect input from the Board on neon green post-its. You don’t measure your performance in the eyes of Scouts, or projects, or graduates. You measure it in data. So, Boy Scoutmaster Mike has to justify and explain why he makes $100,000 a year. He can’t say that he tells really good ghost stories or can make bowline knots faster than anyone; he has to put his professional goals on crème paper in raised print. He doesn’t build a ropes course or make chili, he “manages.†So, even with a 2.7 million dollar endowment, he needs to build and “manage†it. The Cape Cod and Islands Council doesn’t need the money to pay off some legal judgment or to buy more lanyards; they need it to fluff Scoutmaster Mike’s resume.

 

Scoutmaster Mike has taken the oath and has administered it, but may never have figured out what the words mean. None of his actions could be termed “trust worthy, brave, or loyal.†Hard to see how selling this land is doing “his duty to God and country.†My knowledge of modern Christianity is a little thin, but Jesus didn’t say that Atlantic Development will inherit the earth, for pennies on the dollar. Nor can Scoutmaster Mike’s disappearance behind the Big and Tall suits of his lawyers qualify as “brave or trustworthyâ€Â. “Lawyer Up†hasn’t become a badge yet.

 

Of the oaths Boy Scoutmaster Mike has besmirched, the muck on “loyalty†is particularly thick and ripe. As members of the Boy Scouts, the Nantucket Boy Scout Leaders spent decades building up Camp Richard...for free. They maintained and built the camp over the years, then brought other Boy Scout Troops out here. Then, when they challenged the Dunkin’ Donuts Deal, the Boy Scouts threw them out of the organization, barred from entering and then sued for “fraud and conspiracy.†So, years of volunteer service to young men and the camp get tossed out as “fraud.†There was no meeting, no conversation, and no campfire of the Council. Instead, there were envelopes and lawyers. Thank you for your service, see you in court.

 

Scoutmaster Mike and the lickspittles that surround him aren’t just in scouting. You can find them skittering along the darkened rooms of musical groups, athletic teams, and 4-H clubs (they love animal husbandry). The create these three hole punched paper mountains to scale with diarrhea and data; they sit in offices filled with binders and lit by PowerPoints that illuminate the “process†and the “feedbackâ€Â, but not the kids. Scouts, musicians, athletes, and those future farmers aren’t the center of all activity, but something minor and petty like a river that flows outside the window.

 

At its best, the Boy Scouts of America instill character. Character doesn’t define itself well in the dictionary, but it can be seen much more clearly on the playing field, classroom, and at the dinner table. For my sons, character means doing the generous and open in spite of the opinions of others. I want my children to speak the truth, to help others, to work hard, and to consider what’s going to happen seven years from now. And I want my boys to walk that walk during the day and at night.

 

So many of the former Boy Scouts I know walk with that same character. They are doctors, lawyers, architects and builders. They are sons, fathers, and husbands. They stand when others will only sit; they speak when others will only mutter; they lead when others will only fade. They show up, line up, and even get punched in the mouth. This is the character the scouts are famous for.

 

And that their leaders so sorely lack.

[ghinson]

Link to map showing the 3 parcels (30 acres) of Camp Richard that Cape Cod Council wants to sell. Most disturbing is this map shows Camp Richard divided into 9 parcels! What could Council be thinking?

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130817/NEWS/308170324&Template=photos

The 100-ac property is divided into 10-ac plots. Not sure why. I think they have been like that since donated 50 yrs. ago. But each plot's deed is recorded with "Nantucket District, Boy Scouts" listed as the owner!

 

The developer is interested in all 100 acres. By selling 30 ac, the council might be thinking that if scouting doesn't survive here on the island, then they would be able to sell the rest later, profit from it, and not hurt their own kids' experience (just ours).

[RememberSchiff]

From a local writer...

 

LICKSPITTLE by Robert Barsanti

 

The clustered hypocrisy of the Boy Scout Land and Bake Sale has become well known. The Cape Cod and Islands Council of the Boy Scouts of America decided to drop a sweetheart deal into the hands of a developer. They offered thirty acres of Nantucket land for a price not seen since the Ron Reagan was dropping jelly beans on the White House floor. The deal has the hallmarks of Doctor Evil and his finger sucking. At its grossest level, adults who tried to finagle this deal are neither “mentally awake†nor “morally straight.†At its most petty, the deal smacks of ripe stupidity; who sells thirty acres of Nantucket at a tenth of what it is worth. It reeks of Dunkin’ Donuts Duplicity. Boy Scoutmaster Mike Riley and The Donald Trump of Rockland D.J. Mackinnon sat down over a couple of crullers and came up with a wicked good idea.

 

Even if you sit on the stool next to them and order your own Mochalatta, you can’t figure out how this works. Did they assume that nobody on conservation loving Nantucket would notice when Laurel and Stan tried to drag thirty acres through a loop hole? Did they think that somehow, in August when the island is collecting checks from the nation’s top 1%, this sale would hide under the 50% off sale at Molly Bloomers? Did they forget the sharp finned realtors sniffing for blood at a huge giveaway? Who thought this was a good idea and do they travel through Wal-Mart on a scooter?

 

To blame the stupidity of this situation on those two spittle sprites misses a deeper point. They made slapstick comedy out of a bruised and bleeding tragedy. We can’t let these lackwits walk away with kick me signs and shoelaces tied together. This obscenity has deeper and fouler roots.

 

In America, we build these cretin professionals. You need to be a manager or an earner, with a leather chair with lumbar support in your office and a leather binder from Staples. They measure their data, they craft their mission statements, and the collect input from the Board on neon green post-its. You don’t measure your performance in the eyes of Scouts, or projects, or graduates. You measure it in data. So, Boy Scoutmaster Mike has to justify and explain why he makes $100,000 a year. He can’t say that he tells really good ghost stories or can make bowline knots faster than anyone; he has to put his professional goals on crème paper in raised print. He doesn’t build a ropes course or make chili, he “manages.†So, even with a 2.7 million dollar endowment, he needs to build and “manage†it. The Cape Cod and Islands Council doesn’t need the money to pay off some legal judgment or to buy more lanyards; they need it to fluff Scoutmaster Mike’s resume.

 

Scoutmaster Mike has taken the oath and has administered it, but may never have figured out what the words mean. None of his actions could be termed “trust worthy, brave, or loyal.†Hard to see how selling this land is doing “his duty to God and country.†My knowledge of modern Christianity is a little thin, but Jesus didn’t say that Atlantic Development will inherit the earth, for pennies on the dollar. Nor can Scoutmaster Mike’s disappearance behind the Big and Tall suits of his lawyers qualify as “brave or trustworthyâ€Â. “Lawyer Up†hasn’t become a badge yet.

 

Of the oaths Boy Scoutmaster Mike has besmirched, the muck on “loyalty†is particularly thick and ripe. As members of the Boy Scouts, the Nantucket Boy Scout Leaders spent decades building up Camp Richard...for free. They maintained and built the camp over the years, then brought other Boy Scout Troops out here. Then, when they challenged the Dunkin’ Donuts Deal, the Boy Scouts threw them out of the organization, barred from entering and then sued for “fraud and conspiracy.†So, years of volunteer service to young men and the camp get tossed out as “fraud.†There was no meeting, no conversation, and no campfire of the Council. Instead, there were envelopes and lawyers. Thank you for your service, see you in court.

 

Scoutmaster Mike and the lickspittles that surround him aren’t just in scouting. You can find them skittering along the darkened rooms of musical groups, athletic teams, and 4-H clubs (they love animal husbandry). The create these three hole punched paper mountains to scale with diarrhea and data; they sit in offices filled with binders and lit by PowerPoints that illuminate the “process†and the “feedbackâ€Â, but not the kids. Scouts, musicians, athletes, and those future farmers aren’t the center of all activity, but something minor and petty like a river that flows outside the window.

 

At its best, the Boy Scouts of America instill character. Character doesn’t define itself well in the dictionary, but it can be seen much more clearly on the playing field, classroom, and at the dinner table. For my sons, character means doing the generous and open in spite of the opinions of others. I want my children to speak the truth, to help others, to work hard, and to consider what’s going to happen seven years from now. And I want my boys to walk that walk during the day and at night.

 

So many of the former Boy Scouts I know walk with that same character. They are doctors, lawyers, architects and builders. They are sons, fathers, and husbands. They stand when others will only sit; they speak when others will only mutter; they lead when others will only fade. They show up, line up, and even get punched in the mouth. This is the character the scouts are famous for.

 

And that their leaders so sorely lack.

I am reminded of the movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, where young Senator Smith (Jimmy Stewart) fought for a scout camp against greedy politicians (Council) and developers. Here's a youtube clip of that movie.

Scout salute to those in Nantucket District who are fighting for scouts and Camp Richard. I hope "Scoutmaster Mike", aka Council Scout Executive Mike Riley, goes on ten mile south hike into Atlantic Ocean!

[ghinson]

Here is the full text of the article from the local newspaper, not available online due to paywall:

 

FROM THIS WEEK'S INQUIRER & MIRROR, BY REPORTER JASON GRAZIADEI

http://www.ack.net/Councilsuesislandscoutleaders081513.htm

 

Cape Cod council sues island Boy Scout leaders, locks them out of their camp

 

Judge orders two sides to mediate while developer eyes property

 

By Jason Graziadei

 

I&M Staff Writer

With a developer eyeing the 100-acre Boy Scout campground on Nantucket known as Camp Richard, a feud has erupted be¬tween the Yarmouth-based Cape Cod & Islands Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which intends to sell a portion of the property, and Nantucket’s Boy Scout leaders, who want to protect it.

 

After attempting to block the sale of the island campground, a group of Nantucket’s adult volunteer scout leaders were sued by the Cape Cod Council, had their registration with the national Boy Scouts of America organization revoked, and were barred from Camp Richard it-self.

 

Over the weekend, the Cape Cod Council went as far as changing the locks at the Camp Richard facilities.

 

The legal showdown for con¬trol of the property got under¬way Tuesday afternoon in Barnstable Superior Court, when judge Gary Nickerson de¬nied an emergency motion from the Nantucket Land Council to intervene in the case, and or¬dered both sides to craft an in¬terim plan by Friday that will determine how Camp Richard will be managed and operated while its ownership in dispute.

 

The controversy began last month after the Cape Cod Council revealed to Nantucket’s Boy Scout leaders that it had received a $3.5 million offer from Atlantic Development, a Hingham, Mass. company, to purchase 30 acres within Camp Richard, according to Bob Graves, the president of the Nantucket District Committee of the Boy Scouts of America.

 

“We have spent thousands of hours and over $200,000 that we raised locally to improve the site so that scouts from all over can enjoy a rural camping expe¬rience, and now they act as though they can just walk in and take over,†Graves said in a statement. “It is outrageous.â€Â

 

“We have spent thousands of hours and over $ 200,000 that we raised locally to improve the site so that scouts from all over can enjoy a rural camping experience, and now they act as though they can walk in and take over.

 

It is outrageous.†– Bob Graves Pres., Nantucket Boy Scouts

 

The 100-acre Camp Richard property was given to the Nantucket District Committee of the Boy Scouts of America by the Nantucket Civic League in a series of deed transfers in 1955, 1971 and 1972. The land was donated with one explicit condition: that if the Nantucket Boy Scouts ever ceased using the property, that ownership would revert back to the Civic League. Those deed restrictions, however, expired after 30 years, as dictated by state law, and were never renewed, leaving the property vulnerable.

 

Given that history, Nantucket’s adult Boy Scout leaders voted unanimously to reject the developer’s offer, and in an effort to scuttle the potential sale, they transferred the deed for the Camp Richard property on July 25 from the Nantucket District Committee of the Boy Scouts of America to the island nonprofit that has been running the campground for decades: the Camp Richard Campers Association, Inc. The response from the Cape Cod & Islands Council was swift, and strong. The regional scouting agency filed a lawsuit last week against 10 of Nantucket’s Boy Scout leaders alleging fraud, conspiracy and unjust enrichment. The council’s scout executive, Mike Riley, stated in an affidavit that the deed transfer was invalid, and “essentially amounts to stealing the land.â€Â

 

The lawsuit aims to annul or void the deed transfer, and seeks unspecified damages from 10 island Boy Scout leaders, including Bob Graves, Bert Johnson, Tripp Cobb, George Rezendes, Homer Ray, Ralph Hardy, Bill McGuire, Chuck Lenhart, David Murray Jr., and Michael Wilson.

 

“It is a well established principle in Scouting that land belongs to the local Council regardless of what may be stated on the instrument transferring the property,†the complaint states. The Camp Richard Campers Association was created by the island’s district leaders nearly four decades ago to provide for the care, maintenance and management of the property. It has essentially the same members and leadership as the Nantucket District Committee of the Boy Scouts of America.

 

Ownership, control of Camp Richard a key question in lawsuit In the Cape Cod & Islands Council’s lawsuit, as well as in accompanying affidavits from members of its leadership team, the organization asserted that the Nantucket District Committee had been disbanded and consolidated into the regional council roughly five years ago. As further proof, the lawsuit states that the Camp Richard property was added to the council’s insurance policy.

 

As such, the island-based Nantucket District Committee “does not legally exist nor does it have legal authority to act or convey the property in question,†the complaint states.

 

But the island’s Boy Scout leaders believe the Nantucket District Committee was never disbanded, and documents verifying its nonprofit status have been filed with the Internal Revenue Service annually, and as recently as June 2012. According to Graves, Riley said as recently as July 9 that the Nantucket District Committee remained an active entity. Its name has remained on the deed for the property for over 40 years.

 

Determinations of the ownership and control of Camp Richard, as well as the existence of the Nantucket District Committee as a legal entity, will be the two key points as the case moves forward.

 

Cormac Collier, the executive director of the Land Council, which attempted to secure an option to purchase a $1.5 million conservation restriction on Camp Richard last week, weighed in strongly against the Cape Cod & Islands Council’s claim of ownership.

 

“They have no record title, and their claims are little short of ridiculous,†Collier said in a statement. “This is a heavyhanded, naked land grab by an off-island organization and developer trying to circumvent the intent of the donors and take the money and run.â€Â

 

As recently as early July, the Cape Cod & Islands Council’s own website stated that Camp Richard was “owned and operated by the Nantucket District…†That phrase has since been removed.

 

Follows national trend of selling off camping, conservation land The potential sale of the Camp Richard property reflects a national trend in which regional Boy Scout councils have been selling off valuable camping and conservation land into development. In 2009, a nationwide review by Hearst Newspapers found that the Boy Scouts of America had swelled its coffers by tens of millions of dollars from selling campgrounds and other properties.

 

Riley, whose annual salary was just over $100,000, according to the group’s IRS filing, as well as Deron Smith, a national spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

 

Bob MacGregor, the Cape Cod & Islands Council’s president, also did not return a phone call seeking comment.

 

By Wednesday afternoon, nearly 1,000 people had added their names to an online petition circulating on Nantucket that urges the Boy Scouts regional leadership and Atlantic Development to reconsider the potential sale of Camp Richard.

 

The petition, started by island resident Greg Hinson, stated, in part, “On Nantucket, land is our most precious resource, and land that is set aside for conservation is our Holy Land! We will not let you desecrate it without a fight.â€Â

 

Nantucket attorney Michael Wilson, an Eagle Scout himself who was named in the Council’s complaint, was among those who were stripped of their registration with the Boy Scouts of America and barred from entering Came Richard. Wilson has volunteered as a Cub Scout den leader on the island for several years, and his 8-year-old son is an active scout as well.

 

Cape Cod & Islands Council seeking to boost its endowment with sale “It saddens me that I’ve been taken out of scouting and I can’t be a leader anymore,†Wilson said. “It’s a difficult thing to be told you can’t volunteer in a program that you benefitted from so much as a young man. It meant a lot to me to be able to give back, and when my son told me he wanted to be a scout, I was very proud of him.â€Â

 

The legal dispute “shouldn’t impact the status of all those guys who have been volunteering for years to keep Camp Richard functioning,†Wilson added.

 

The Cape Cod & Islands Council described the offer to acquire a portion of Camp Richard as a “substantial amount of money†in exchange for 30 acres of a “remote and unused portion†of the property.

 

“From a financial perspective the sale proceeds will provide a much needed boost to the Scouting program on Cape Cod and the Islands,†said Riley, the council executive, in his affidavit.

 

In an earlier letter to Graves, Riley said he envisioned the money from the sale of the property being set aside for three distinct purposes, including an endowment used to support the Cape Cod & Islands Council’s operations; funds for the “care and development†of Camp Richard; and funds directly supporting the scouting units on Nantucket.

 

 

 

 

[ghinson]

part 2...

 

 

According to the Council’s most recent IRS filing, it already has an endowment of more than $2.7 million.

 

The island’s Boy Scout leaders suggested that the Council consider a sale to one of Nantucket’s conservation groups instead of a developer, and while it “explored other options,†the Council ultimately continued to negotiate with Atlantic Development.

 

In its complaint, the Council asserted that it had reached an agreement with the Nantucket Land Bank for the sale of a conservation restriction on the property, but Land Bank executive director Eric Savetsky disputed that claim on Wednesday, emphasizing there was no agreement.

 

The purported developer interested in acquiring a portion of the property, Atlantic Development, has been involved in at least two other real estate deals on Nantucket, including its acquisition of the Craig property next to the Boys & Girls Club off Sparks Avenue. On the mainland, Atlantic Development has been involved with the construction of a Lowes complex in West Bridgewater, a senior housing project in Rockland, and the redevelopment of the Hingham Harbor waterfront. Atlantic Development’s owner, D.J. MacKinnon, did not return several phone calls seeking comment. Geri Davis, MacKinnon’s secretary, said he was traveling out of the country this week.

On Tuesday afternoon, Barnstable Superior Court judge Gary Nickerson waded into the dispute by denying an emergency motion by the Nantucket Land Council to intervene in the legal battle, and ordered the two sides to negotiate a management and operational plan for the Camp Richard.

 

“On Friday afternoon, unless a memorandum of understanding resolves the issues, I’ll deal with who has custody, control and possession of the camp property and the management of the camp going forward,†Nickerson said.

 

The judge, not a stranger to Nantucket-related cases, having recently presided over the retrial of convicted murderer Thomas Toolan, indicated his familiarity with the island at the outset of Tuesday’s hearing.

 

After hearing a forceful argument by the Cape Cod & Islands Council’s attorney Thomas Perrino for a preliminary injunction, Nickerson looked at him and asked “Did you ever read Bob Mooney’s book ‘The Nantucket Way’?â€Â

 

But after a lengthy closed-door discussion among the judge, attorneys and their clients, Nickerson returned to the bench and admonished Bob Graves and Tripp Cobb, two members of the Camp Richard Campers Association, and ordered them to undo a document granting the Nantucket Land Council an option to purchase a $1.5 million conservation restriction on the Camp Richard property.

 

The option was signed and recorded Aug. 12, six days after another Superior Court judge had ordered them to refrain from “further conveying, transferring, restricting or otherwise encumbering†the Camp Richard property.

 

“I don’t know how or why you signed the document, but I’m going to be very clear: that document is to be wholly and entirely undone by whatever means necessary, no later than noontime on Friday,†Nickerson said. “I consider what you did contemptuous of this court.â€Â

 

Camp Richard, a wooded area located between Lovers Lane and Fairgrounds Road, was named for the late Rev. Clayton E. Richard, who died in 2001. Richard, an Eagle Scout, was the minister of the First Congregational Church of Nantucket from 1951 to 1957, and served as the scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 97 during his time on the island. Richard was instrumental in securing the Civic League’s donation of the mid-island land for the Boy Scout campground, and it was subsequently named Camp Richard in his honor.

 

Today the campground includes a lodge, obstacle course, orienteering course, a compass course and an Adirondack shelter with four large shelters.

 

It has been used by generations of Nantucket children participating in the island’s Boy Scout troop, as well as thousands of visiting Boy Scouts from the mainland who also make use of the campground.

 

One of those Scouts, Dr. TJ Lepore, a former island resident who went on to become an Eagle Scout, wrote a strongly worded message to the Cape Cod & Islands Council this week. Lepore, who said he participated in the early cleanup effort at Camp Richard with Bob Graves, urged the council to reconsider its tactics with regard to the property.

 

“You can imagine my sadness in learning what the Cape and Islands Council was attempting to do with Camp Richard, a rare refuge on Nantucket where a young kid in scouts can really feel like they are off ‘in the wild,’ without a sight line into a nearby house or within ear shot of a loud party,†Lepore wrote. “To see and read the recent steps you have taken is an affront to much of what scouting stands for. In pursuing legal action you appear to be trying to punish those who watched over that land for the last 30 years, as well as breaking the trust we all had in you, all in the name of making a ‘quick buck’.â€Â

 

The executive committee of The Nantucket Civic League convened last week and voted unanimously to reaffirm the intent of the group’s original conveyance of the Camp Richard property to the Boy Scouts. Two of its members, Mary Wawro and her husband, Peter Morrison, attended Tuesday’s court hearing in Barnstable.

 

“This is a heavyhanded, naked land grab by an off-island organization and developer trying to circumvent the intent of the donors and take the money and run.†– Cormac Collier Executive director Nantucket Land Council

 

“It saddens me that I’ve been taken out of scouting and I can’t be a leader anymore. It’s a difficult thing to be told you can’t volunteer in a program that you benefitted from so much as a young man. †– Michael Wilson Eagle Scout

[ghinson]

From a local writer...

 

LICKSPITTLE by Robert Barsanti

 

The clustered hypocrisy of the Boy Scout Land and Bake Sale has become well known. The Cape Cod and Islands Council of the Boy Scouts of America decided to drop a sweetheart deal into the hands of a developer. They offered thirty acres of Nantucket land for a price not seen since the Ron Reagan was dropping jelly beans on the White House floor. The deal has the hallmarks of Doctor Evil and his finger sucking. At its grossest level, adults who tried to finagle this deal are neither “mentally awake†nor “morally straight.†At its most petty, the deal smacks of ripe stupidity; who sells thirty acres of Nantucket at a tenth of what it is worth. It reeks of Dunkin’ Donuts Duplicity. Boy Scoutmaster Mike Riley and The Donald Trump of Rockland D.J. Mackinnon sat down over a couple of crullers and came up with a wicked good idea.

 

Even if you sit on the stool next to them and order your own Mochalatta, you can’t figure out how this works. Did they assume that nobody on conservation loving Nantucket would notice when Laurel and Stan tried to drag thirty acres through a loop hole? Did they think that somehow, in August when the island is collecting checks from the nation’s top 1%, this sale would hide under the 50% off sale at Molly Bloomers? Did they forget the sharp finned realtors sniffing for blood at a huge giveaway? Who thought this was a good idea and do they travel through Wal-Mart on a scooter?

 

To blame the stupidity of this situation on those two spittle sprites misses a deeper point. They made slapstick comedy out of a bruised and bleeding tragedy. We can’t let these lackwits walk away with kick me signs and shoelaces tied together. This obscenity has deeper and fouler roots.

 

In America, we build these cretin professionals. You need to be a manager or an earner, with a leather chair with lumbar support in your office and a leather binder from Staples. They measure their data, they craft their mission statements, and the collect input from the Board on neon green post-its. You don’t measure your performance in the eyes of Scouts, or projects, or graduates. You measure it in data. So, Boy Scoutmaster Mike has to justify and explain why he makes $100,000 a year. He can’t say that he tells really good ghost stories or can make bowline knots faster than anyone; he has to put his professional goals on crème paper in raised print. He doesn’t build a ropes course or make chili, he “manages.†So, even with a 2.7 million dollar endowment, he needs to build and “manage†it. The Cape Cod and Islands Council doesn’t need the money to pay off some legal judgment or to buy more lanyards; they need it to fluff Scoutmaster Mike’s resume.

 

Scoutmaster Mike has taken the oath and has administered it, but may never have figured out what the words mean. None of his actions could be termed “trust worthy, brave, or loyal.†Hard to see how selling this land is doing “his duty to God and country.†My knowledge of modern Christianity is a little thin, but Jesus didn’t say that Atlantic Development will inherit the earth, for pennies on the dollar. Nor can Scoutmaster Mike’s disappearance behind the Big and Tall suits of his lawyers qualify as “brave or trustworthyâ€Â. “Lawyer Up†hasn’t become a badge yet.

 

Of the oaths Boy Scoutmaster Mike has besmirched, the muck on “loyalty†is particularly thick and ripe. As members of the Boy Scouts, the Nantucket Boy Scout Leaders spent decades building up Camp Richard...for free. They maintained and built the camp over the years, then brought other Boy Scout Troops out here. Then, when they challenged the Dunkin’ Donuts Deal, the Boy Scouts threw them out of the organization, barred from entering and then sued for “fraud and conspiracy.†So, years of volunteer service to young men and the camp get tossed out as “fraud.†There was no meeting, no conversation, and no campfire of the Council. Instead, there were envelopes and lawyers. Thank you for your service, see you in court.

 

Scoutmaster Mike and the lickspittles that surround him aren’t just in scouting. You can find them skittering along the darkened rooms of musical groups, athletic teams, and 4-H clubs (they love animal husbandry). The create these three hole punched paper mountains to scale with diarrhea and data; they sit in offices filled with binders and lit by PowerPoints that illuminate the “process†and the “feedbackâ€Â, but not the kids. Scouts, musicians, athletes, and those future farmers aren’t the center of all activity, but something minor and petty like a river that flows outside the window.

 

At its best, the Boy Scouts of America instill character. Character doesn’t define itself well in the dictionary, but it can be seen much more clearly on the playing field, classroom, and at the dinner table. For my sons, character means doing the generous and open in spite of the opinions of others. I want my children to speak the truth, to help others, to work hard, and to consider what’s going to happen seven years from now. And I want my boys to walk that walk during the day and at night.

 

So many of the former Boy Scouts I know walk with that same character. They are doctors, lawyers, architects and builders. They are sons, fathers, and husbands. They stand when others will only sit; they speak when others will only mutter; they lead when others will only fade. They show up, line up, and even get punched in the mouth. This is the character the scouts are famous for.

 

And that their leaders so sorely lack.

Thanks for the salute. It feels like a Mr. Smith like battle. But we're going to win this. For the kids. They deserve it much more than Scoutmaster Mike!