POLAND — The 20th annual Celebration of Scouting Breakfast on Tuesday at the Lake Club featured keynote addresses from scout Gordon Moore and Youngstown State University President Bill Johnson.

Local business people and community members were greeted by Bill Moss, curator of the Scouting Museum at Camp Stambaugh in Canfield. He brought a display of scouting artifacts and uniforms, and dressed as Lord Robert Baden Powell, founder of Scouting.

“I have been portraying Lord Powell for over 40 years,” he said.

As the program began, Poland Troop 44’s presence was dominant. The troop, made up of the boys Troop 9044 and the girls Troop 8044, supplied the honor guard to present the flags and members to handle the invocation, and the scout speaker of the event.

Charles James, Stambaugh’s district chairman, presented the state of Scouting in the Valley. He said the Great Trail Council in Northeast Ohio has 241 units with 6,248 youth.

“The Stambaugh District has 62 units with 1,212 youth and 894 adults (involved),” James said. “We’ve had 26 Eagle Scouts (by the end of 2024) and had posted 1,541.85 man hours involved in those Eagle projects.”

The scouting speaker was Gordon Moore, a Poland Seminary High School and Mahoning County Career & Technical Center graduate.

“I started at age 6,” he said. “I am now 18 and realized that two-thirds of my life has been in Scouting.”

Moore received his Eagle award on April 17 for a project he completed at Poland Township Park. He designed and built a chimney swift tower on the cross country course at the park. He said he used to run cross country and felt it would be neat for runners to pass by it and realize how it got there.

As to the future, Moore already has a goal in mind.

“I am going to begin my own business installing resin floors,” Moore said. “I already have business cards printed up. Scouting gave me the opportunities to let my ideas flow.”

Taking the podium as the keynote speaker was YSU President Bill Johnson. His bio included a distinguished 26-year military career and 13 years serving as a member of Congress. He told those present his beginnings were humble as he grew up on a farm in North Carolina that was worked with mules.

“My father couldn’t afford a tractor, so he plowed with mules,” Johnson said. “Every day on the farm was survival.”

He said one joy he had was with his father and an involvement with the local church. He said his father had the task of ringing the big church bell to call people to worship.

“I would accompany my dad and help him ring the large church bell,” Johnson said. “I would grab the rope tight and my dad would give some tugs and then let go and I would ride the rope up and down. My dad was all ready to catch me, just in case. For me, it was my own personal amusement park ride.”

He said church and scouting were both an important part of his life.

“God deals in the affairs of men,” he said. “The same God that spoke to our country’s founders has had an impact in my life….I have been through plane crashes and tornadoes and God has protected me. God created you for one purpose, he desires a relationship with you. Those who built the scouting system knew this.”

Johnson also pulled out an electronic device that he said he designed back before there were laptops or handheld devices. He owned a patent on it and it was meant to take sports data and estimate what was next. It was designed with baseball in mind and could chart a probable course in a game. He never sold one.

In closing, Johnson said he was impressed with Moore and his talk. Before ending his speech, he made the scout an offer.

“Gordon, we have a spot for you at YSU,” he said. “Come and see me.”

Sponsors and supporters of scouting were honored during the meeting. Among the media outlets thanked for supporting scouting were the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.

Stambaugh District Director Todd Davis closed the event with the benediction.