RECLAIMING THEIR HOMELANDS?

For years, Milwaukee area Boy Scouts could rough it at Indian Mound Reservation, which, yes, had an effigy mound on the grounds; and, toward the end of the American High, there was an all-county gathering of the troops and patrols to plant trees on a field that the council had recently acquired.

Those trees were gone within a few years for reasons I don't know.  But now the council has to sell some assets to cover the liability the Scouting movement has incurred thanks to generations of Akela Groomer.

Three Harbors Council paid $3,685,000 to the BSA Settlement Trust for survivors of abuse in Scouting, according to the website. That trust was formed through BSA's Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

With that payment looming, the council reviewed its two camps.

"In addition to the financial considerations of our contribution to the BSA Settlement Trust for survivors of abuse, the board’s committee reviewed multiple factors including camp usage, programs, facilities, and current and future Scouting membership trends," the council web site said."The decision to sell the camp was a necessary and important step as we support survivors of abuse in Scouting and continue our important mission," said Andrew Hardin, Three Harbors Council executive director, in a statement.

Three other Scout camps in Wisconsin, owned by other local councils in Wisconsin and Illinois, have been sold to support payments to the BSA Settlement Trust.  Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula still have 13 Scout camps.

Indian Mound's new owner will be the Forest County Potowatomi Community.

“While our reservation today is in Forest County, the Potawatomi continue to have a strong connection to our treaty homelands in southeast Wisconsin. Places like Waukesha, Oconomowoc, and Muskego are all named after Potawatomi words, and all places our tribe considers home,” said Forest County Potawatomi Chairman James Crawford, in a statement.

“We are excited about the opportunity to acquire this property and enhance our presence on our treaty homelands," he said.

I wonder if the site will be converted to a sacred place, or whether there's a business opportunity to build a casino there.

Those town names, incidentally, are also useful shibboleths, as flatlanders and other aliens have trouble pronouncing them in the local way.