Mishaps inconsistent with motto

The accidents were counterintuitive to Scout training, one leader says.
BOWLING GREEN, Va. (AP) -- Their motto is: "Be prepared."
But as the disaster-riddled National Boy Scout Jamboree carries on following five deaths and hundreds of heat-related illnesses, event planners from across the country are wondering just how prepared the Scouts were.
"That's the part that breaks my heart -- there are things you can avoid and things you can't," said Phyllis Cambria, an event planner from Boca Raton, Fla., who has written several books on the subject. "This one sounds like it was an avoidable one."
Scout officials say they are not ready to place blame and are still investigating. But several outside specialists said allowing tents to be placed near power lines and failing to keep Scouts cool in searing heat were enormous oversights.
Disaster
On Monday, four Scout leaders were electrocuted in front of several Scouts after they lost control of the towering metal pole at the center of a large, white dining tent, sending it toppling into nearby power lines. The day before, a volunteer was taken to a hospital where he died of an apparent heart attack.
On Wednesday, 40,000 Scouting enthusiasts waited hours in the stifling heat for an appearance by President Bush, who ended up postponing his visit due to the threat of severe thunderstorms. Sun-sick Scouts began collapsing and more than 300 people were treated for heat-related illnesses.
"I don't think it's wise to make judgment on things that could've, should've, would've been done," Jamboree spokeswoman Renee Fairrer said.
The troops involved in the electrocution accident hired a contractor to set up the dining tent. The contractors asked the Scout leaders for assistance in erecting the structure -- directly below a set of power lines.
Better planning
Sam Waltz Jr., a crisis management specialist from Wilmington, Del., said organizers should have laid out a grid map in advance that clearly identified danger areas where power lines hang and planned for tents to be set up far away.
"If someone had gridded it out, then no one would have been putting a tent under that particular power line," he said.
The Scouts also should have insisted on conducting a background check of the contractor, Cambria said.
Scouting teachings dictate that tents not be erected under trees or power lines, a Jamboree spokesman said. And potential Scout leaders go through rigorous safety training before they join the organization, said Scout leader Kevin Rudden, 51, of Mendon, Mass.
"It's the most safety-conscious, risk-averse organization I've ever met in my life -- there's a policy for everything," Rudden said. "That's why it's just surprising that this happened. I mean, it's just counterintuitive to all that you're trained. You can't explain it."
Freak accident
Fairrer would not speculate on whether the Scouts could have done something to prevent the electrocutions, citing the pending accident report.
"It was just an unusual freak accident that happened Monday," Fairrer said.
What could have prevented the heat illnesses is another question.
"You'd like to say the cool heads should have recognized the potential for heat-related illness, but it's so extraordinary -- I suspect the president's security precautions really were the driver," Waltz said.
Indeed, White House security rules dictated that the Scouts go through lengthy security checks and be waiting inside the arena two hours before the president's arrival, Fairrer said.
"The White House security rules ... are certainly in place to make sure the president and his entourage are protected and we certainly respect that," she said. "But at some point, we have to say this just jeopardizes the health of the youth too much."