Eagle Scout Recognized For Merit Badge Achievement
By Lasca Randels
InkFreeNews
WARSAW — Eagle Scout Jeffrey Naundorf-Miller was recognized at the Kosciusko County Commissioners’ meeting Tuesday, Aug. 3, for earning all 137 Boy Scouts of America merit badges.
Naundorf-Miller of Warsaw is a member of Boy Scouts Troop 715 in the Warsaw-Winona Lake area.
Commissioners presented him with a plaque recognizing him as “an outstanding citizen of Kosciusko County and an exemplary Boy Scout.”
Merit badges are awards earned by Boy Scouts based on participation and completion of requirements in specific activities. The purpose of the merit badge program is to allow Scouts to explore subjects to determine if they would like to further pursue them as a career.
“I went out and did water sports. I’m not the greatest at water sports, but I did it and that’s what counts,” Naundorf-Miller said, giving an example of one of the badges he earned. “It’s making sure that boys get out there and try something they wouldn’t normally have tried.”
“That’s as many as you can earn,” said Troop 715 Leader Richard McCleary of Naundorf-Miller’s accomplishment. “This is something that is rarely done. There are very few that stay with it after they become an Eagle Scout and he did it. No one has finished 137 merit badges in this Council.”
Anthony Wayne Area Council – Boy Scouts of America Senior District Executive Michael Skeens said Naundorf-Miller is only the 475th Eagle Scout to obtain all 137 badges nationwide.
Naundorf-Miller recently graduated from Warsaw Community High School and is attending Ivy Tech. He is the son of Mindy and Stephanie Miller.
In other business, Kosciusko County Sheriff Kyle Dukes received approval from commissioners to apply for the 2021 Patrick Leahy Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant in the amount of $24,000.
The Patrick Leahy Bulletproof Vest Partnership (BVP), created by the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 1998 is a unique U.S. Department of Justice initiative designed to provide a critical resource to state and local law enforcement.
Since 1999, the BVP program has awarded more than 13,000 jurisdictions a total of $522 million in federal funds for the purchase of over one million vests (1,441,013) as of November 2020.
The funds would be used to purchase bulletproof vests for deputy sheriffs in Kosciusko County. Dukes said he will be looking into acquiring vests for jail officers as well.
In other news:
- Morris Folk of Warsaw was recognized as Veteran of the Month.
- County Highway Superintendent Steve Moriarty received approval to purchase a Ring-O-Matic Jetter/Hydro Vacuum for $188,725 with available funds in the highway department budget.
- Syracuse resident Vicki Morton voiced concern about county roads that are in disrepair, specifically Morrison Island Road in Turkey Creek Township. Morton said the entire road floods each time it rains.
- The next regular meeting is 9 a.m. Aug.17.