The Charges Against Ward Akers, Part IV

All this month, we’ve been looking at the events that led to the retirement of Ward Akers. If you recall, our story started on July 1, 1975. Reporter Larry Brinton in the Nashville Banner raised questions concerning Akers’ salary, nepotism in the Council office, and some generally questionable practices of the Council, specifically concerning trips and reimbursements. He followed up these charges 2 days later with accusations that the Council was trying to bury the publicity in hopes it would go away. Undeterred, Brinton pressed forward and a week after the first accusations, he then charged Akers with violating the Council’s own policy of no professional holding an outside position or interest. Akers was an investor in Camp Hy-Lake and his eldest son Ward E. Akers ran the camp. In response, the Council formed six ad hoc committees in Accounting, Administration, Budget, Ethics, Program, and Salary. Ward Akers “stepped aside” while the review was conducted.

The work of all six committees was completed by the middle of September 1975. However, the work of the committees was not made public for approximately two more weeks. The results were first reported in The Banner on the afternoon of October 4th and published in more detail in The Tennessean the morning of October 5th. The reports from the various committees total over 200 pages of investigation into the Council’s dealings and Akers’ performance. As The Tennessean explained, “The committees scrutinized the administration, ethics, salaries, budgeting, programs and bookkeeping procedures of the organization. The Committee which considered the question of salary paid to Ward E. Akers was especially concerned with how he received his raised and whether his salary was too high.” In the interests of brevity here, we direct you to attachment. This is _The Tennessean_’s summary of the various reports and tackles the highlights clearly. The short version: no outrageous violations occurred, though there were some misunderstandings and some poor decisions made. The nepotism and salary charges were clearly explained and dismissed. Camp Hy-Lake was not so easily dismissed.

Of course, because this was a “no stone unturned” investigation, the committees looked into more than the charges. They found some evidence of “ghost” enrollments and some evidence that the farming operation sometimes personally benefited Akers and the rangers. One of the most interesting finding came from the Administrative Review Committee, which found “that the [Executive] board is little more than a ‘rubber stamp’ to the scout executive, probably because it is the easiest, fastest way to get things accomplished.” It was clearly a necessary, but painful examination into Council operations.

While the Council basically found nothing horribly inappropriate with Akers’ behavior, Akers knew what had to be be done. The Council would always function under a cloud of suspicion, even with these reports, if he stayed on as Council Executive. On Saturday, October 4, 1975 Akers announced his early retirement. He would stay on until a new man was hired. Hershel Tolbert was announced as the new Executive on January 4, 1976.

And so ended the era of Ward Akers, council executive from 1947 through 1975 and visionary of Boxwell at Old Hickory Lake…

Nancy Varley, “New Executive Sought to ‘Reorganize’ Scouts,” _The Tennessean_, October 5, 1975, pg.1-A, 6-A.

“Scout Committee Report Excerpted, Summarized,” _The Tennessean_, October 5, 1975, pg. 6-A.

Nancy Varley, “New Executive Sought to ‘Reorganize’ Scouts,” _The Tennessean_, October 5, 1975, pg.1-A, 6-A.

“Scout Committee Report Excerpted, Summarized,” _The Tennessean_, October 5, 1975, pg. 6-A.

The Charges Against Ward Akers, Part III

For the last two weeks we’ve been exploring the charges against Ward Akers, a topic we have been asked about several times. To recap, on July 1, 1975, Larry Brinton in the Nashville Banner raised questions concerning Akers’ salary, nepotism in the Council office, and some generally questionable practices of the Council, specifically concerning

Larry Brinton, “Akers Steps Aside During Full Review of Scout Program,” _The Nashville Banner_, July 11, 1975, pg. 1, 18.

trips and reimbursements. He followed up these charges 2 days later with accusations that the Council was trying to bury the publicity in hopes it would go away. Undeterred, Brinton pressed forward and a week after the first accusations, he then charged Akers with violating the Council’s own policy of no professional holding an outside position or interest. Akers was an investor in Camp Hy-Lake and his eldest son Ward E. Akers ran the camp.

It was clear by this point it was not going to be possible to completely bury this story without doing *something*. Money was clearly one motivator here. The United Way, where a percentage of Council funding came from, was demanding documentation that funds were being spent appropriately. Further, the Council’s own fund raising efforts (the SME campaign that year) was well short of its goal. Given this reality and the accusations, it seemed that some sort of investigation was warranted. Indeed, for the good of the program and the Council’s reputation, a thorough audit could only be a good thing. And so despite some members of the executive board being opposed, such as former Linton Boxwell camper and former Judge and Metro Mayor Beverly Briley, a “blue ribbon committee” was formed.

At a meeting at Boxwell on Thursday evening, July 10, the Executive Board announced a “no stone unturned” review. Ad Hoc Committees were established to investigate the following areas: Accounting, Administration, Budget, Ethics, Program, and Salary. Still, the Council was going to control the situation as best it could. The names of the Committee chairs would be released, but there would be no discussion of their work until said work was concluded. In other words, they could conduct their investigations without further interference from Brinton.

And the kicker? Ward and his wife/secretary Elizabeth Akers agreed to “step aside,” “temporarily relinquish[ing] their duties” while the investigation was conducted. This was July 10, 1975. The “Blue Ribbon” Committee work would not be complete until the first week of October, 1975, 44 years ago this month…

Larry Brinton, “Akers Steps Aside During Full Review of Scout Program,” The Nashville Banner, July 11, 1975, pg. 1, 18.

The Charges Against Ward Akers

We’ve hinted before about the allegations against Ward Akers, just earlier this year in fact. The topic has generated a great deal of interest, especially for those who weren’t around at the time. For those who were, a bitterness about the unfairness of the charges is often readily apparent. Nevertheless, this week, we thought we’d dig a little deeper.  For setup, you’ll need to understand that there were two major newspapers in Nashville at the time. Both were locally owned and operated, shared the same office building and press, but each had different staffs and outlooks.  The Nashville Banner ran in the afternoon, while The Tennessean ran in the morning.

Seen here is the article written by The Banner reporter Larry Brinton that launched the investigation on July 1, 1975. Brinton had been asking questions about salaries, specifically about Akers’s salary as well as the salaries of his wife and mother in law, both of whom also worked at the Council office. Brinton was scooped somewhat that morning when The Tennessean ran Council President C. A. Craig II’s letter in response to the allegations. So, the response was out there before the charges.

Brinton started by alleging several things. First, Akers’ salary was suspiciously high, especially in time of falling revenues and a weakening economy. Second, there was nepotism at the Council office, which compounded the salary issue. Finally, Brinton pointed out what he saw as some smaller, but equally sketchy financial practices of the Council. These were the charges that C. A. “Neil” Craig was responding to in his letter than ran in the morning Tennessean.

We say “started” because The Banner article here was just the first salvo. Brinton continued to pressure Akers and the Council repeatedly over the next several days and the allegations expanded. More on this next week.

Larry Brinton, “Boy Scouts Pay Akers Family $68,000; Action Is Defended,” The Nashville Banner, July 1, 1975, pg. 1, 8.