Girl Scouts circulate petition in effort to save camps

Members of the Girls Scouts of the Missouri Heartland have begun a petition effort to remove and replace the council’s board of directors over the closing of two camps.

Some troops even are refusing to sell Girl Scout Cookies in protest of the board’s action.

Those troops are accepting donations that would go entirely to their troops rather than sell boxes of Thin Mints and other Girl Scout Cookies.

Most of the money from cookie sales goes to the council, said Vicki McLemore, a longtime volunteer with the Girl Scouts service unit office in Cape Girardeau.

She and others are unhappy with the council leadership and want to save the camps.

Besides calling for the removal of the board, petitioners also want council officials to order a forensic audit of the Missouri Heartland Council. They are demanding council officials halt the sale of property or assets until the audit has been completed and any “issues revealed” have been addressed.

The petition states signing members are casting a vote of “no confidence” in Missouri Heartland CEO Anne Soots and chief financial officer Janet Dingman “for perceived mismanagement of the affairs of the organization and for blatant disregard of the questions, input and feedback from Girl Scouts of the USA and the girl and adult members of the council.”

According to the petition, a minimum of 2,800 signatures are needed under council bylaws to proceed with such changes.

The online petition is posted on a Facebook page titled “BE FAIR,” which stands for Board of Equity, Fairness, Accountability, Inclusiveness and Reason.”

McLemore said the petition originated in the Joplin, Missouri, area and Cherokee Ridge supporters are joining in the effort.

The petition effort has just begun, she said. So far, more than 320 girl and adult members and non-Scout supporters have signed the petition, she said.

Council spokeswoman Lori Enyart said Friday council officials are “aware of the petition and its contents.”

She said the closing of the camps would allow the council to put its finances toward membership support and recruitment.

The board of directors of the Springfield, Missouri-based council voted in September to close Camp Cherokee Ridge in Wayne County and Camp Mintahama in Newton County. The camps closed last month.

The council is seeking to sell the 1,100-acre Cherokee Ridge property and the 180-acre Mintahama tract.

Supporters of both camps have been critical of the board’s decision and of the council’s top executives. McLemore said the council leaders have refused to disclose finances related to the operation of the camps.

Cherokee Ridge, located near Sam A. Baker State Park on the banks of the St. Francis River, has been a popular destination for Girl Scouts in Southeast Missouri since it opened in 1966.

The camp allowed for several outdoor activities, including horseback riding.

As part of the camp closure, horses have been sold.

Soots said in a news release in September that the camps would be sold in an effort to improve council finances.

“We have tried for 10 years to find a sustainable solution to managing our property portfolio while maintaining our fiscal responsibilities,” she said.

“Our board of directors made this difficult, yet necessary, decision to move our council forward,” Soots said.

The Cherokee Ridge property, which includes 21 cabins, a dining hall and a 20-acre lake, has a listed sale price of $1.85 million, McLemore said.

Soots said last fall that fewer than 10 percent of the council’s girl members attend a resident camp.

But McLemore said numerous Girl Scout troops use Cherokee Ridge for weekend outings. Soots’ assessment does not factor in those outings, she said.

Krista Antill, a lifetime member of the Girl Scouts and a troop leader in Cape Girardeau, said she and others feel the Southeast Missouri area has little representation within the council leadership.

“I wish we could save Cherokee Ridge, and I hate to give up on that,” Antill said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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