SOUTH OGDEN — Citing a deep appreciation for the Boy Scout program and its high ideals, President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, rededicated the remodeled Trapper Trails Council Service Center here Tuesday evening.
President Monson had also dedicated the Boy Scouts of America's original $100,000 service center here 37 years ago. The rededication climaxed several years of fund-raising and remodeling work that totaled $900,000.
"My appreciation for the Scouting program is deep," President Monson said before some 500 people at the Service Center, 1200 E. 5400 South. "Scouting molds character. . . . I think it's a marvelous organization."
He said this was a very tender moment because of his original dedication of the facility on Oct. 24, 1966, when it served what was then known as the Lake Bonneville Council.
"I don't know where the years have gone," he said.
Praising the Scouting codes of conduct, he said the facility will be a resource to help leaders and Scouts build the future.
In his brief dedicatory prayer, President Monson asked God to protect the facility and help it fulfill its noble purpose.
Rephrasing remarks he made last week at a national BSA event in Philadelphia, President Monson stressed that youth need fewer critics and more role models to follow.
He also spoke fondly of one of his former Scout leaders, who never chastised or criticized the boys.
President Monson told a story of how he saved a girl from drowning in the Provo River in his youth, while floating alone on an inner tube with no one else around who could swim.
"God saved her," President Monson said, explaining it was no coincidence he was there at just the right time for a rescue.
David J. Ross, assistant chief Scout executive with the national BSA Council, said Scouts in America celebrate 94 years of history in 2003 and that the LDS Church Scout affiliation is now 90 years old.
"It's been a long and great relationship," Ross said of the LDS Church and BSA. He said President Monson has dedicated his life to help youth and has been a national BSA director since 1969.
"President Monson's example is a life of service," he said. "This center is a beacon."
Rick Barnes, a Trapper Trails Scout executive, said donors of the original structure in 1966 had set the tone for the facility, declaring that treasures of the world should be placed strategically for the good of the public.
Reed Richards, Trapper Trails Council president, honored three men — Dave Wadman, Robert Stringham and Brad Allen — as being instrumental in getting the remodeling project completed. It expanded the facility by 3,300 square feet to 11,000 square feet.
The Trapper Trails Council serves more than 45,000 Boy Scouts and 19,000 registered adults in 3,268 units (the nation's third-largest council by total units) from central Davis County into southern Idaho and southwestern Wyoming. The council also operates eight camps.
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