Collectibles Stolen from Jamboree - Caveat Emptor

[Pete T. Northmoss]

Be on the lookout for and cautious about buying any stolen collectibles from the 2005 Jamboree being "traded" here and on ebay, etc. Sorry to say in the last few days of jamboree, scavengers took advantage of their impending getaways, and it seemed they took "whatever" wasn't tied down. Some adult "traders" MAY have been involved since several items were taken from the Mahone staff area facilities. Several unique jamboree band t-shirts, jamboree "Eagle" socks, and other jamboree-only items were lifted from washers and dryers in that laundry.

 

I just want to serve notice to those scoundrels with their own questionable set of "Timeless Values" that they are being watched... Plese, don't patronize them. Thanks.

 

[scouter-mom]

Caveat Emptor:

How sad. Really! Worse is that I am not terrifically surprised. In every group or gathering of humans, there seems to be a percentage of robbers (or worse).

In 2001 (at Jamboree) my older son was actively trading patches. His container of patches was sitting on the picnic table top. He was leaning against the table top, so the container (labeled with name and troop) was just slightly out of his view but very close to his body. While he was distracted by a trading transaction, some one "lifted" the container. He was very hurt by this, especially that it would happen at a national gathering of Boy Scouts. Reality can be the pits.

I won't be shopping on e-bay. Sadly, you are probably right, those items will be sold via e-bay or a similar venue.

Bummer.

 

[brustleen]

That really stinks. My son would have been devistated. Just to let you know that there is good in the world. He told me that at the lost and found there were two bags of patches to be claimed. A small silver lining on that dark black cloud

[Trevorum]

Last week, late one day, we discovered a zip-loc full of patches that had been left at our booth. We stashed it hoping the scout would come back the next day. No one showed up, so my booth partner looked through the bag, realized which council the fellow must have been from (from all of the trading dupes in the bag) and she took it all the way across the jambo to his camp and turned it in to his SM, who immediately knew whose it was. He was plenty pleased to get his patched returned!

[Bob White]

Pete, wWhat is your source of information on that story? I was in the the Mahone staff area and visited the laundry on a few occassions. I never heard of any theft. In addition, my son was in the jamboree band and only heard of one shirt/laundry incident in which a band member left a shirt behind for a prolonged period of time before remembering it and when he went back it was gone. It very well could have been in on its way to either the Mahone of Heth Lost & Found. At the time my son was told of the event the scout had not bothered to check either one.

 

 

[dancinfox]

One of the Scouts in the troop had his hat taken from the back of his tent. I found the hat minus our council strip the next day. We had our council strip sewen on the hats.

Dancin

[Pete T. Northmoss]

Hi Bob (White),

 

I know from my source closest to home that his incident was reported to Mahone security and lost-and-found, with formal paperwork filed at Heth (central) lost-and-found. Since this particular incident occurred on the next to last full day, if anyone did turn the lost load of laundry in, I suspect the lost-and-found process at that point was probably overtaxed, to say the least. And yes, an entire load of laundry vanished.

 

I dont know if your son was talking about the same incident but an arguably prolonged absence from the Mahone laundry was a factor indeed. On the other hand, I also would hope you're not implying that the practice of Scoutings Timeless Values has some sort of expiration date under such prolonged circumstances. I think a lot of hopes were placed on Scoutings values being in action at all times at jamboree, but that discussion is for another thread.... As far as what prolonged means to some who find an unattended load of wash in one of the Mahone washers or dryers, I suspect one second was prolonged enough. I fear a quick trip down the gravel path to the dumpster was more expedient....

 

Sadly,

Pete

 

[Bob White]

Pete, what I am saying is that even in a scout town of nearly 40 thousand just as in any town, the owner of the property has a responsibility to make a reasonable effort to safeguard their belongings.

 

The scout should not have started a load of laundry and then left it unattended. There were perhaps a dozen washers and a dozen driers to serve several hundred staff members. Often a small line of people waiting to do their laundry. To leave a machine unattended inconveniences everyone. Had the scout stayed with his laundry as he was supposed to his belongings would not have disappeared. His lack of care with his personal belongings makes him as responsible for the disappearance as the person who may have taken them.

 

If the scout had placed his name and troop number on every peice of clthing as he was instructed to do then the clothing, if turned into the lost and found, will be returned.

 

Otherwise, all L&F items have been send to the national headquarters where staffers will try to match the THOUSANDS of abandoned items with the loss reports in an effort to reunite them with their owners.

 

Far more items were lost due to poor onwership than to theft.

[SR540Beaver]

One of our commissioners came around towards the end of Jambo to let us know that the time was approaching where theft shoots thru the roof. We used footlockers that can be locked as opposed to oversized duffle bags. We told our boys to lock away any valuables unless they needed them out. We experienced no theft. Being a troop instead of staff, we had no opportunity to leave our laundry unattended. We did ours at the edge of the trees with several commisary containers and a tent pole and had clothes lines strung from one end of camp to the other!

[Pete T. Northmoss]

Hi Again, Bob,

 

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree with your assumptions and conclusions.

 

Courtesy works two ways, always. You could assume what you said, but thanks to a seemingly limitless supply of 2005 jambo operational SNAFUs, some things couldnt be predicted, including a prolonged period of unattended laundry. (BTW - At 5PM on 03 Aug, unattended laundry still remained at Mahone.) These circumstances were well-known and equally shared among most attendees and staff there, but are those circumstances a justfiable excuse for being discourteous on their side of the equation? Other Scouters on forums elsewhere have recounted their own tales of bitter turf battles over some very limited yet atonsishingly un-managed (un-supervised) resources at jambo, including the permanent Mahone lav/shower/laundry "Taj" facilities. These Scouter jambo staffers also noted their intent to provide national formal feedback to help them solve those problems for the next-time.

 

I'm really surprised - You seem to be yet another Scouter forum pundit who provides rationale and training in the "finders-keepers-losers-weepers" school of ethics and on placing time limits on the exercise of Scoutings Timeless Values (Oath, Law, etc.). I have hand-written notes of apologies from two "caught-red-handed" individuals (the thief and his fence) who attend a local Scout summer camp a few years back who provided the same excuse, "There was no one there watching it ... so I figured it was OK to take it." Their Scout leaders even supported their rationale to a considerable extent! Whoa! Personally, I dont subscribe to those schools of thought....

 

 

Thats all I have to say....

 

Bye,

Pete

 

[Bob White]

Pete,

At no time did I say that or suggest that stealing was appropriate. However, you cannot deny that the scout left laundry unattended and he should't have. Had he stayed with his belongings thay could not and would not have disappeared.

 

You have no evidence that they were stolen, they could very well have been taken to lost and found and are in the virtual mountain of abandoned property that the staff has been trying to identify and return to its righfull owner.

 

But let's remember that in all the lost and found cases the item did not wander off and leave the human behind unattended. It was the human who wandered away from their property that caused every single case.

 

It is easy to balame the unkown "other guy" for the loss but you first need to take some personal responsibility toward your own property. The scout should not have left his property unattended. He shares responsibility in the loss and he could easily have prevented it all together.

 

When a scout comes to me and says his knife was stolen and then tells me that he last saw it when he left it on a pinic table the day before...I have to think it was not stolen...it is more likely lost and in fact...he gave it away.

 

But let me give you anexample of the kind of people who were at jamboree. Someone left a digital camera in our area where we had hundreds of particiapnts nearly all day long, a scout brought it me, we announced that we had it for the owner to identify. A little while later the owner turned up.

 

Funny that socks and underwear might be stolen but not a digital camera. You would have to see the size of the lost and found to appreciate how careless some people are. And yet while I was at Heth I watched dozens of people walk past expensive equipment that had no identification that they could easily have claimed as their own and yet they did not.

 

The vast majority of people at Jamboree were terrific as individuals and as groups. But with the numbers we had there is bound to be a few bad apples. If you are going to be a sloppy camper then you in effect allow yourself to become a victim. Your scout could have made better choices in his behavior that wouold have made the loss of his equipment impossible.

 

As far as the "taj" goes let's remember that staff is camped at numerous sites throughout the jamboree. Different locations have different services available, largely based on the needs and resources of Ft. A.P. Hill. Mahone just happens to have a permanent facility nearby. Staff has some different resources than participants but participants also have far more program avilable to them. We are there to work and to make the program fun for adult and youth participants, a goal which we seem to have met. The resources made available to us are there to help us be prepared to do our jobs the best we can for those we are there to serve.

 

To this point in time, after having met and talked with hundreds of people who were actually there, you are the only person who seems to have a problem with those resources.

[Pete T. Northmoss]

Sorry Folks,

 

I came here looking for a little help from the community...and got a open-forum senior member whoppin' instead....

 

My Apologies,

Pete

[SR540Beaver]

Pete,

 

With all due respect, just how are we going to determine if someone here or on e-bay are selling/trading stolen Jambo materials? I appreciate you putting a warning out to the scouter community, but don't know how we can know the difference between owned and stolen items.

 

As I said earlier, our commissioner came to our site and warned us that theft increases in the last day or two of the Jambo. We warned our scouts to secure their collections under lock and key or to keep tightly in hand if not locked up. We also let them know that if they did not heed the warnings, they were responsible for any loss and we had no means to replace stolen items.

 

We toured the DC area before attending Jambo. We made it quite clear to our scouts that they were not in Oklahoma anymore. If they set down their duffle or daypack and turned their backs, it could be gone in a heartbeat. Bob is correct. If you load laundry and leave it, don't expect it to be there when you get back. Washers and dryers were in high demand at Jambo. If a dryer completes it's cycle and there is no one around to unload it for the next person, you can expect it to be unloaded for you. A scout is courteous. He doesn't leave a dryer unavailable to a long line of other users for an extended period of time. He can expect it to be unloaded for him eventually. If it lays there too long, chances are someone will send it to lost and found.....to keep it from being stolen.