logo
ENع
Discussion over possible Sand Hill Scout Reservation sale held despite former owner's dying wish

Discussion over possible Sand Hill Scout Reservation sale held despite former owner's dying wish

Yahoo22-05-2025

The Brief
Controversy surrounding a portion of the Boy Scouts' Sand Hill Reservation was addressed Wednesday evening.
The Boy Scouts Greater Tampa Bay Area Council wants to sell a portion of the 1,400-acre reservation in Brooksville to the Withlacoochee River Electric Co-op.
The land battle has been going on since September 2024, when residents learned the Greater Tampa Bay Area Council was in talks to negotiate the sale.
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. - Controversy surrounding a portion of the Boy Scouts' Sand Hill Reservation was addressed Wednesday evening.
The backstory
The Boy Scouts Greater Tampa Bay Area Council wants to sell a portion of the 1,400-acre reservation in Brooksville to the Withlacoochee River Electric Co-op. But, concerned citizens said it was the former property owner's dying wish to keep the property for the Boy Scouts.
Follow FOX 13 on YouTube
The land battle has been going on since September 2024, when residents learned the Greater Tampa Bay Area Council was in talks to negotiate the sale of 51 acres to the northwest of the property to the WREC.
"They have a substation that's adjacent to our camp," Scout Executive Mike Butler said. "They approached us about perhaps carving out a portion of the camp for their purposes, for a new western district service center area and perhaps expansion of the substation."
Dig deeper
Butler said all proceeds from the sale would go towards reservation improvements for its four camps.
READ:Brooksville community rallying around 100-year-old firetruck
"Most of them are at least 50 years old, two of them are almost 100 years old," he said. "Many of them have not had a lot of improvements or upgrades over the years."
That's in addition to more inclusive sleep and restroom areas, sports facility enhancements, and recreational structural improvements.
The other side
Warren Hunt said a road in the reservation was named after his grandfather who helped acquire the land from the former property owner, Larry Die Polder. Hunt said, according to Die Polder's will, "Mr. Die Polder, when he passed away, donated it to the scouts, and it was supposed to stay a scout's camp forever. If it doesn't stay a scout's camp, it's supposed to go back to the county for a park."
The Greater Tampa Bay Area Council found a discrepancy between Die Polder's will and the land deed and said the Scouts actually have full rights to the land with no restrictions.
MORE: Brooksville bride brings wedding ceremony to dying grandmother, garners 1M views on TikTok
In a Wednesday evening Public Inquiry Workshop with Hernando County reps and The Greater Tampa Bay Area Council, the proposal details were shared with the community.
Hunt said this could be a slippery slope into more commercial land sales.
"I wish the commissioners would think long and hard about what they're planning on doing here," he explained. "It's a Pandora's Box. Once they open it up, they're going to continue to wiggle off and sell portions of it."
Barber would not comment on future commercial land sales.
"Our primary focus right now is just working with Withlacoochee River Electric and consummating that arrangement partnership," he said. "We have every intention to remain here as a scout camp for generations to come."
What's next
The topic will be further discussed in a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting in the coming weeks.
The Source
The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Jennifer Kveglis.
WATCH FOX 13 NEWS:
STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA:
Download the FOX Local app for your smart TV
Download FOX Local mobile app:Apple |Android
Download the FOX 13 News app for breaking news alerts, latest headlines
Download the SkyTower Radar app
Sign up for FOX 13's daily newsletter

Hashtags

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Marines to patrol LA streets as some residents say: ‘Our city is not at all on fire'
Marines to patrol LA streets as some residents say: ‘Our city is not at all on fire'

News24

time26 minutes ago

  • News24

Marines to patrol LA streets as some residents say: ‘Our city is not at all on fire'

US Marines will be on the streets of Los Angeles within days to help control protests. Democrats have condemned the Trump administration's action as authoritarian. Some in the city say the scale of the protests is exaggerated. US Marines will join National Guard troops on the streets of Los Angeles within two days, officials said on Wednesday, and would be authorised to detain anyone who interferes with immigration officers on raids or protesters who confront federal agents. US President Donald Trump ordered the deployments over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom, sparking a national debate about the use of the military on US soil and animating protests that have spread from Los Angeles to other major cities, including New York, Atlanta and Chicago. Los Angeles on Wednesday endured a sixth day of protests that have been largely peaceful but occasionally punctuated by violence, mostly contained to a few blocks of the city's downtown area. The protests broke out last Friday in response to a series of immigration raids. Trump in turn called in the National Guard on Saturday, then summoned the Marines on Monday. 'If I didn't act quickly on that, Los Angeles would be burning to the ground right now,' said Trump at an event at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. READ | 'The president wants a big show': Trump sends in Marines as night curfew imposed on Los Angeles State and local leaders dispute that, saying Trump has only escalated tensions with an unnecessary and illegal deployment of federal troops, while Democrats nationally have condemned his action as authoritarian. AFP reported that six days after unrest began - prompting the US president to send soldiers into the streets, over the furious protests of local officials - life in the City of Angels was going on largely as normal. 'Everything is hunky dory right here at Ground Zero,' Lynn Sturgis, a retired teacher who was protesting outside the federal complex that has been at the heart of the demonstrations in Downtown Los Angeles, told AFP. Our city is not at all on fire, it's not burning down, as our terrible leader is trying to tell you. Lynn Sturgis 'Not at all... this is very calm,' protester Ellen Carpenter, a retired federal worker who was demonstrating alongside Sturgis, told AFP. 'I lived in Washington, DC for a long time, so I was part of very large protests there, you know, millions and millions of people. This is a little wimpy by comparison.' 'This whole thing has been manufactured by the current administration,' Sturgis said. According to Reuters, Trump is carrying out a campaign promise to deport immigrants, employing forceful tactics consistent with the norm-breaking political style that got him elected twice. 'President Trump promised to carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history and left-wing riots will not deter him in that effort,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt US military said on Wednesday that a battalion of 700 Marines had concluded training specific to the Los Angeles mission, including de-escalation and crowd control. They would join National Guard under the authority of a federal law known as Title 10 within 48 hours, not to conduct civilian policing but to protect federal officers and property, the military said. 'Title 10 forces may temporarily detain an individual in specific circumstances such as to stop an assault, to prevent harm to others, or to prevent interference with federal personnel performing their duties,' the Northern Command said. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement: 'If any rioters attack ICE law enforcement officers, military personnel have the authority to temporarily detain them until law enforcement makes the arrest.'US Army Major General Scott Sherman, who commands the task force of Marines and Guardsmen, told reporters the Marines will not carry live ammunition in their rifles, but they will carry live rounds. Newsom and the state of California have sued Trump and the Defence Department to stop the deployment, maintaining that none of the Title 10 conditions were met to justify military deployment - such as a when the US is under threat from a foreign invasion or rebellion. California is also seeking a temporary restraining order to immediately stop the National Guard and Marines from participating in civilian law enforcement. A hearing on that restraining order is scheduled for Thursday in San Francisco federal court. The Trump administration argued in a court filing ahead of the hearing that the president has the discretion to determine whether a 'rebellion or danger of a rebellion' requires a military downtown LA, shortly before the second night of a curfew over a 2.5km2 area, relative calm was broken. Police said demonstrators at one location threw commercial grade fireworks and rocks at officers. Another group of nearly 1 000 demonstrators were peacefully marching through downtown when police suddenly opened fired with less lethal munitions in front of City Hall. Marlene Lopez, 39, a Los Angeles native, was demonstrating as flash bangs exploded just a few metres away. 'I am out here because of the fact that our human rights are being violated every day. If we give up, it's over. We have to stand our ground here in LA so that the nation will follow us,' Lopez said. Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Other protests have also taken place in Santa Ana, a largely Mexican-American city about 50km to the south, as well as major cities such as Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Seattle, Boston and Washington and San Antonio, Texas. New York police said an unknown number of people had been taken into custody on Wednesday. On Tuesday New York police said they took 86 people into custody, of which 34 were arrested and charged, while the others received a criminal court summons. The protests are set to expand on Saturday, when several activist groups have planned more than 1 800 anti-Trump demonstrations across the country. That day, tanks and other armoured vehicles will rumble down the streets of Washington, DC, in a military parade marking the US Army's 250th anniversary and coinciding with Trump's 79th birthday.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store