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Show 1 7 N t i s J U fT nk U A. Chamber Spotlight New Chamber Members First Friday Forum Pleasant GroveLindori Chamber News At 102 years of age, George . Freestone has seen a lot of changes in the Boy Scouts of America. Chamber of Commerce Serving Utah County wwv.thechamber.org August, 2000 .Jill of them actually. -4 lt - I,,, J., . Till ' u.'-. -- . . "hk i - n , hi. m W r" 1' Boy Scout museum opens doors in Provo BY ROMNEY STEWART PROVO - At 102 years of age, George E. Freestone has seen a lot of changes in the Boy Scouts of America. All of them actually. Born in 1898, Freestone is America's oldest living Boy Scout, joining in 1910, the first year the organization was founded in America. Freestone reminisced at the grand opening of the museum bearing his name with memories of watching Buffalo Bill Cody put on a Wild West Show and shaking shak-ing hands with Thomas Edison. Located at 257 E. Center Street in Provo next to the Crandall Historical Printing Museum, the George E. Freestone Free-stone museum is home to numer ous uniforms, books', awards, patches and one-of-a-kind Scouting Scout-ing pieces, including the world's only complete bound seneTofthe first Boy Scout Handbook, called "Scouting for Boys. " "This museum will shine as a beacon to the world for the services ser-vices Boy Scouts render," said Tom Powell, Utah "National Parks Council Scout Executive. More than 100 cub scouts, boy scouts and scouting leaders were among the large crowd, with Troop from Elk Ridge cooking a classic scouting dish for the crowd's refreshment - Dutch oven-cooked peach and cherry cobbler. Brent Ash worth, president and curator of the museum, shared a brief history of scouting from its beginnings with Sir Robert Baden Powell, a British war hero and Boy Scouts founder. While caught in a siege during the Boer war in South Africa, Powell wrote the first book on scouting, originally intended for non-commissioned officers and soldiers. It was adapted shortly thereafter for young men. Other scouting leaders shared their feelings on the impact scouting has had on the hundreds of thousands of boys who have been involved in scouting during the century. Many of the grown men in the crowd raised their hands when asked who was an Eagle Scout (scouting's highest award). sit pGiwei lgf? BY ROMNEY STEWART S'f 1 E" -i Brent Ashworth, president and curator of the museum, shared a brief history of scouting from its beginnings with Sir Robert Baden Powell, PROVO - The light at the end of the technology tunnel shone this past month as the ProvoOrem Chamber of Commerce unveiled their new Web site at www.thechamber.org. The new Web site incorporates some of the latest features available in a searchable database complete with links and an interactive events calendar. In addition, news articles and the popular Friday Facts are updated on a weekly basis for viewers. A year in the making, the site is unique in its ability to be updated regularly by merely copying and pasting information from documents Ashworth shared the stories of ne 8te' yP8"1 e nee mPu ne text into HTML format. . . Wr ii U7 TT ,0 The site was created by Southern Sun Business Solutions with the two American World War 11 war J ...... heroes who had been active chamber staff and Chamber President Steve Densley providing the large amounts ot lnlormation needed. "It's important for Southern Sun to provide business with the means to control their content. The ability for businesses to update and modify their sites' content easily translates into saved money and met deadlines," dead-lines," said Brian Grayless, CEO of Southern Sun. "This removes the need for an in-house Webmaster or technology person. Any office employee em-ployee can update the online information. This can drastically save The Boy Scouts of America businesses money in the long run." has a strong history in Utah The online membership directory is complete with a company's name, County, as many of the troops link to the organization's Web site, business category, address and phone are sponsored by the Church of number. With a membership of more than 1,000 companies, the infor-Jesus infor-Jesus Christ of Latter-day mation is useful for those relocating to the area and prospective cus tomers. "The new Web site is designed to give valuable information to both chamber members and those seeking information about our community," commu-nity," Densley said-One said-One unique feature is a page with links to every other chamber in Continued on page 9 scouts as youths, and the influence influ-ence scouting had on them. "You just can't beat the guy who wears a scout badge," said Al Gaudio, a scout leader for more than 56 years and scout memorabilia collector. Saints, the first church to sponsor spon-sor troops, in America. For more information on the George E. Freestone Boy Scout Museum call 375-5555. There is no charge for admission to the museum. |