[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 75 (Monday, May 24, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1067-E1068]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    COMMEMORATING THE LEADERSHIP OF EAST SIDE SCOUTMASTER DAN NELSON

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BRUCE F. VENTO

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 24, 1999

  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, we must recognize outstanding efforts by 
individuals that are continuing to set aside private lands for the 
general welfare of today's youth and future generations.
  Dan K. Nelson of St. Paul, a neighbor of mine back home, was recently 
awarded the Boy Scouts of America's ``William T. Hornaday Gold Medal'' 
award. The award is surely a positive recognition, but I know that Dan 
Nelson's real joy is the knowledge that this special landscape along 
the St. Croix River will be a legacy for future generations.
  Thanks Dan and congratulations on your good work. Mr. Speaker, I 
would like to submit for the Record an article from the May 17, 1999 
East Side Review outlining Dan Nelson's life long vocation and 
profession which has been inspired by experiences and lessons learned 
as a Boy Scout.

               [From the East Side Review, May 17, 1999]

             East Side Boy Scout Leader Wins National Award

                           (By Scott Nichols)

       The developer in possession of the 1,100 acres adjacent to 
     the St. Croix River wanted to turn the property into a golf 
     course community boasting more than 200 homes.
       Through the persistence of East Side trial lawyer, resident 
     and assistant Scoutmaster Dan Nelson, the developer never got 
     his chance.
       Nelson joined in the neighborhood push for the sale of the 
     property. Together the group was successful, eventually, in 
     coming up with the developer's price tag of $1.1 million, 
     through private donations and appeals for funds to the 
     Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
       It's for continued effort like that that the Boy Scouts of 
     America Indianhead Council announced April 12 that Nelson has 
     been awarded what is perhaps the most prestigious award in 
     all of scouting, the William T. Hornaday Gold Medal.
       ``Rare is not an appropriate term (for the award). They are 
     very, very extremely rare,'' says Ron Phillippo, chief 
     executive of the Indianhead Council.
       The award is given out to adult Scouters who render a 
     distinctive and unusual service to natural resources 
     conservation over an extended period.

[[Page E1068]]

       According to Phillippo, less than 100 of these awards have 
     been given out nationally since 1910, the birth of scouting.
       ``I've been in this business for 41 plus years, and I only 
     recall in my entire career three or four ever given out,'' 
     says Phillippo, noting that he's served the Boy Scouts 
     organization in various locations all over the country. 
     ``It's a very prestigious award. It takes a good deal of 
     character in terms of project.''
       Nelson's project saved the 1,100 acres just 34 miles 
     northeast of the Twin Cities from being developed. Much of 
     the reason he was greatly interested in maintaining the land 
     in an undeveloped state was that the property was adjacent to 
     the nonprofit Beaver Valley Camp used largely by scouting 
     groups.
       Nelson, 51, attended the camp as a child, and was part of 
     the troop whose previous members had formed the camp years 
     before. ``That's where they implanted the curiosity.''
       The curiosity that Nelson talks about is what helped to 
     drive him both into adult scouting and the legal profession. 
     When he was a political science and international 
     undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, the camp had 
     legal problems associated with the land. Those legal problems 
     were severe enough that Nelson says his camp bought one piece 
     of land three times (and, he says, ``under my watch the third 
     and final time.'')
       Boundary disputes and bogus deeds were par for the course, 
     for years, according to Nelson, noting that the legal 
     disputes over the land helped to push his interests into the 
     legal arena, which led to his attending Hamline Law School 
     for his law degree.
       All through that time, he never got tired of spending time 
     at Beaver Valley Camp. For the last 23 years, Nelson has 
     spent anywhere from five to 20 hours a week volunteering at 
     the camp, teaching inner-city kids activities such as soil 
     conservation, trout pond repair and tree planting, the same 
     things that he learned about when he went to the camp as an 
     East Side youth.
       Nelson, as he says, was ``born, raised, and baptized on the 
     East Side.'' He grew up on Stillwater Avenue, and since then 
     has moved only three miles, to his current home close to Lake 
     Phalen, which he shares with his wife Sandy and three of his 
     four children.
       ``He's had many people recognized with our top award, the 
     Eagle Scout award,'' says Phillippo. For the kids to progress 
     that far, he says, Scout leaders such as Nelson need to 
     provide a ``hugh number of opportunities'' for them to work 
     through the roughly 800 requirements necessary to get the 
     badge.
       Nelson's love of teaching doesn't stop at conservation 
     practices. He's a Big Brother, a Sunday school teacher, and a 
     meet director for the local YMCA swim team. He's also taught 
     trial advocacy and been a Moot Court judge for Hamline and 
     the Minnesota Bar Association.
       While Nelson's past accomplishments include being listed in 
     the Hamline Law School's Hall of Fame and four different 
     Who's Who books, and winning roughly a dozen scouting awards 
     since 1990, he's quite elated at having won the Hornaday Gold 
     Medal.
       ``The Hornaday Gold Medal is awarded because of the 
     regional or national impact,'' he says. ``I never thought I 
     would get it, and I'm really delighted and surprised that I 
     did get it.''

     

                          ____________________