[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6] [Senate] [Page 7657] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]CONGRATULATING STEVE McGOWAN Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, today I wish to congratulate my friend Steve McGowan for receiving this year's Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America. This is the highest commendation Scouting extends to individuals for their distinguished service to the organization, and I am so proud that the Boy Scouts have honored Steve for his extraordinary efforts on their behalf. Steve McGowan is a very successful lawyer in Charleston, WV, with the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson. And even though his law practice is demanding, Steve has devoted countless hours to the Boy Scouts of America as a volunteer. This should come as no surprise to anyone who knows Steve. He was, after all, an Eagle Scout long before he ever was a lawyer. The Boy Scouts of America inaugurated the Silver Buffalo Award in 1926, and in its 87-year history only 732 awards have been presented. This year, Steve is one of 12 Americans chosen to receive the award-- and the first ever from West Virginia to be so honored. And in receiving the Silver Buffalo Award, Steve now holds all three of the Boy Scouts highest commendations for adult Scout leaders and volunteers, having already been awarded the Silver Beaver and Silver Antelope Awards. Steve's background in Scouting was one of the reasons I reached out to him in 2007 when the Boy Scouts decided to move their National Jamboree from a Virginia military base to a permanent location. As Governor, I assembled a team of government officials and private volunteers to identify the best site in West Virginia and market it to the Boy Scouts. I called the group the West Virginia Project Arrow Task Force, and it was headed by Steve McGowan. The competition with other States was tough. Proposals were submitted for 82 sites in 28 States. But with Steve as its chief, the West Virginia Project Arrow Task Force hit the bull's eye. The Boy Scouts chose a home in West Virginia--a 10,600-acre site in the New River Gorge, with easy access to whitewater rafting, hiking, bicycling and rock climbing. And this July, this permanent new home for the National Jamboree, the Summit Bechtel National Family Scout Reserve, will welcome more than 40,000 Boy Scouts and their leaders from all across the country to their 10-day long gathering of Scouts. This is going to be a wonderful experience for the Scouts. But it's also going to be an unprecedented opportunity for the entire world to see West Virginia hospitality at its best. Steve McGowan helped to make all of this happen. And on Friday, when he accepts his Silver Buffalo Award at the Boy Scouts of America National Annual Meeting in Dallas, I hope he will take a well-deserved bow for all his contributions to Scouting. The Boy Scouts oath begins with a promise to do one's best and to do one's duty to God and country, and that is a promise Steve McGowan has kept every day. Again, I extend my sincerest congratulations to him on being honored with the Silver Buffalo Award, and I thank him for all he has done for the Boy Scouts of America, for God and country and for the great State of West Virginia. ____________________