{Glen Jean, West Virginia}...Tuesday, members of an interims committee, Finance Subcommittee C, plan to visit Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, the new home for the Boy Scouts of America's National Jamboree. The facility is the permanent host of the National Jamboree starting next July. Senator Bill Laird of Fayette County, the panel's co-chair, says the committee believes visiting the site would help them better understand the scope of the project and its potential for the state of West Virginia. The Legislature passed several bills this year to help the Summit, but an unsuccessful measure sought to allow it to lease facilities to for-profit organizations. An attorney with the Charleston law firm of Steptoe & Johnson, McGowan renewed his effort last month for a proposed amendment to the West Virginia Constitution that would allow the complex to lend its facilities to other activities without risking its tax-exempt status. The measure was put before the Legislature by Laird last winter and easily cleared the Senate, but stalled in the House of Delegates. Any new legislation would originate with Laird’s committee before it is sent on to the full finance panel.
