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Bowden to be featured at Boy Scouts dinner

VIENNA – Volunteers gathered Thursday at the Parkersburg Country Club for the kickoff meeting for the 45th annual leadership dinner and fundraising campaign to support area Boy Scouts.

Dale Musgrave, Scout executive with the Allohak Council, said the June 4 dinner at the Grand Pointe Conference Center in Vienna is the biggest fundraiser for the organization.

Musgrave said the dinner, called the Leadership Dinner of the Mid-Ohio Valley, is the main fundraiser of the Allohak Council serving 17 West Virginia and two Ohio counties.

Over the years attendance at the dinner has ranged from 250 to 400.

Ryan Taylor, president and senior project manager at Pickering Associates of Parkersburg, is the chairman of the 2014 dinner. He is Cub master of Pack 12 at Stout Memorial United Methodist Church on Broad Street and is a member of the board of the Allohak Council.

“This is a major fundraiser for the year to support and fund the entire program,” he said. “This year our goal is to raise $100,000 to help support functions and programs of the council.”

Taylor had high praise for this year’s speaker, University of Akron football coach Terry Bowden, son of Bobby Bowden, a former West Virginia University and Florida State University football coach, who was the speaker at the 2012 dinner.

“This year we have a wonderful speaker and every year the attendance is excellent,” he said. “I would love to see more support. Our Scouts depend on this dinner and the council depends on the dinner; these are good times for us.”

Taylor said the dinner will be preceded by a private reception with Bowden.

Musgrave said Bowden’s talk will most likely touch on a number of topics.

“He will be speaking about West Virginia,” he said. “A little about his lessons along the gridiron, University of Akron football and leadership.

“Leadership is the focus of the event because it is about raising funds for scouting and scouting is all about developing character and leadership qualities in young men and young women,” he said.

Musgrave said the audience will be primarily the business community, but Scouts will be on hand to escort people to their tables.

Musgrave said the dinner’s proceeds will help the council’s administrative functions and program delivery.

Anyone who would like to have tickets for the June 4 dinner can contact the Allohak Council Scout Service Center at 1340 Juliana St. in Parkersburg or call 304-422-4507. Information for tickets also will be available on the council’s website, www.allohak.org.

Bowden was previously head coach at Salem University, now Salem International University (1983-1985), Samford University (1987-1992), Auburn University (1993-1998), and the University of North Alabama (2009-2011).

Bowden attended and played football for West Virginia University, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in accounting. Bowden lettered twice as a running back for his father’s successor, Frank Cignetti Sr.

In addition to his post-graduate work at Oxford University in England, Bowden received his Juris Doctor degree from Florida State University College of Law.

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