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McDuffie County’s Scouting organization honored two from its own Thursday. The Lokey-Perryman Awards were presented, as they are each year, during a luncheon meeting of The Rotary Club of Thomson.
Scout Jack Barnes of Troop 125 and Troop 125 Cub Scout Leader Chris McCord accepted the awards from Rotarian and Scouting leader George Lokey. The award was established to honor one Scout and one Scout leader each year. It was named for Lokey’s father, James Lokey, and for then McDuffie Superior Court Judge C.J. Perryman. The award was established in the mid-1950s. EachScout unit in the county nominates a person for each award; the Rotary Club makes the selection.
Barnes, the son of Catherine Barnes and First United Methodist Church Pastor John Barnes, has completed the badges and projects necessary to become an Eagle Scout. Lokey said only some paperwork stands between Barnes and that honor.
Troop 125 Scout Leader Donnie Reese said Barnes will be the 113th Thomson Scout to earn that honor since the Troop was founded in 1949. Barnes is a senior at Augusta Preparatory School, where he plays baseball and has earned honors in chemistry, physics and English. He plans to attend Emory University. At his father’s church, Barnes is a member of the Pathway Choir and the Drop Zone youth group.
For his Eagle project, Barnes led a crew of Scouts who repaired tombstones and filled sunken graves at Thomson Memorial Cemetery.
Only five in every 100 Scouts will earn the rank of Eagle Scout.
McCord, the adult winner, and his wife, Amy, took over as Cub Scout Pack 125 leaders about four years ago. Lokey said McCord has rejuvenated the program, which feeds into the Boy Scout program. McCord is an engineer for John Deere.
Rotarians also heard from Anand Suthar, a club member and the district executive for the Georgia-Carolina Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Suthar said the council represents 16 counties. At the end of 2011, the council served 2,372 Cub Scouts (grades one to five), and 1,050 Boy Scouts (grades six to 12), and had 1,429 adult volunteers.
In 2011, the council served 250 Cub Scouts through the Cub Scout Day Camp, 1,400 Scouts through Spook-o-ree, 800 Scouts at Cub Fun Day, 600 at Camporees, 250 at Merit Badge University, and 3,000 Scouts at Jimmie Dyess Days in Augusta.
The council saw 61 Boy Scouts achieve Eagle Scout, and 115 Cub Scouts achieve the Arrow of Light, while Scouts provided 22,000 hours of community service.
Nationally last year, 1,583,166 Cub Scouts, 909,576 Boy Scouts, 231,127 Venturing Scouts and 51,473 Eagle Scouts provided 25 million man hours of community service.Suthar cited national statistics showing that of every 100 Scouts, 12 will have their first contact with a church, 28 will develop hobbies that will last throughout their lifetime, 18 will enter professions learned through a merit badge, 17 will become future volunteers, one will use his Scouting skills to save a life, and one will use his Scouting skills to save his own life.
The council’s office is in the Enterprise Mill Building in Augusta, 1450 Greene St., Suite 150. Call Suthar at (706) 733-5277. Send him an e-mail at asuthar@gacacouncil.org. Check the council’s Web site at www.gacacouncil.org.
Suthar recruits members and leaders and raises funds for scout activities. He has been in the scout role professionally for four years, and has been involved in Scouting for 22 years. He is an Eagle Scout, and a graduate of the University of Georgia.
