Understanding

Scouting and its future in Fayette County was the aim of the Fayette County

Chamber of Commerce Before Breakfast recently

Doug Mitchell,

founder and chairman of Pathway Communities, has been associated with

the Flint River Council of Boy Scouts since he was a boy.

"People

like Huie Bray and others who were active in Scouting help to mold my

early character," Mitchell told the chamber members. "Scouting

gave me belief in myself that I had the ability to handle anything that

might come up. It showed me how to fit in and how to contribute to my

community."

He pointed

out that among the goals for the Flint River Council this year is to organize

more units, but not larger units. They want to meet the national recommendation

for 40 in Cub Scout packs and 20 in Scout troops. The council also will

do recruiting year-round, not just in the fall when school begins.

The Southern

Region currently has a membership of one and a half million in 13 states.

Scouting was

originated in England by Robert Baden-Powell in the early 1900s and was

coeducational there. The program came to America in 1910.

It was pointed

out that Scouting is no longer just about tying knots or camping out,

it's about learning such fields as architecture and atomic energy. It

assists in blood drives, landscaping and beautification and increasing

public awareness by participating in city-county events, and courts of

honor.

The Flint River

Council is headquartered in Griffin and can be reached at 770-227-4556

or on the Web at www.thunderbsa.org . The representative for Fayette

County is Mike Reese, Peachtree City, 770-632-6062.