Friday, June 5, 2009

Scout leaders electrocuted

Four adult boy scout leaders died of electrocution Monday as they were setting up camp on the opening day of the group's 2005 Jamboree in Virginia.
The accident happened as more than 40,000 scouts and volunteers from around the world converged at the U.S. Army's Fort A.P. Hill, just south of Washington, D.C.
The four leaders were from a troop in Alaska.
Utility workers shut off power lines following an electrical accident that killed four scout leaders near Bowling Green, Va., Monday, July 25. (AP Photo/The Free Lance-Star, Rebecca Sell)Jamboree officials declined to discuss how the accident happened, but the Washington Post quoted Sheriff A.A. "Tony" Lippa Jr. of Caroline County as saying that a pole may have struck a power line.
Among the dead was scoutmaster Ron Bitzer of Anchorage.
Family spokesman and the troop's scoutmaster, Ken Schoolcraft, told the Associated Press that Bitzer was a retired administrative judge and an assistant scoutmaster of Troop 129 in Anchorage.
"Scouting was what he loved. He spent many, many, many hours working with scouting," Schoolcraft said. "It was a way for him to help others."
The names of the other victims have not yet been released.
One other leader from Alaska and two contract workers were hospitalized in stable condition. No boy scouts were seriously injured.
Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski offered his condolences to the victims' families and troop members.
"These individuals were killed while serving Alaska's young people – and I admire and thank them for that service," he said in a statement.
Jamboree organizers said the event will go on and they have brought in grief counsellors.

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