By FULLER ROYAL
Staff Writer

The Boy Scouts of America’s Lakes District has a new face.

John Harniman, 25, was employed this month as the new executive for the district, which includes Bladen and Columbus counties. He replaces former district executive Ben Gill, who left late last year for another job.

Harniman will serve as a liaison between the district and the BSA’s Cape Fear Council, working with troops, packs, boys and leaders. Duties include chartering new units and re-chartering existing ones. He will recruit new Scouts and new leaders, providing training for the latter.

Raising funds and securing supporters will round out his job.

A native of Delhi, N.Y., Harniman is no stranger to the region.

For more than a decade, his family spent their summer vacations in Myrtle Beach, S.C. During the last two of those years, Harniman was allowed to go to Myrtle Beach on his own with the idea he would check out colleges in the area.

Harniman was accepted to The Citadel, in Charleston, S.C, but opted for Coastal Carolina where, in 2004, he received a bachelor’s degree in communications and radio with a minor in journalism.

During his junior and senior years at Coastal, he hosted a 7 p.m. to midnight radio show on WKZQ five nights per week.

After graduation, he moved to New Jersey and made a 70-minute commute one-way to a car dealership in Philadelphia, Pa.

He soon found that he was spending all of his money on gas and keeping warm.

“There was a 24-inch snow and I discovered that living in the South had thinned my blood too much to stay warm,” he said. He moved back to Myrtle Beach and worked in the service industry before landing another radio gig in Jacksonville.

He said he became disenchanted with radio and returned to his family, who were now living as retirees in Calabash.

He met a golfing buddy of his father’s who was a retired Boy Scout executive. The friend suggested to Harniman that he might enjoy working in Scouting.

Harniman, who has three older sisters, had grown up in Scouts in his mostly rural county. He was active in the Order of the Arrow serving as chapter chief and attending the National Order of the Arrow Conference as well as the BSA National Jamboree at Ft. A.P. Hill, Va. in 1997.

He said that his love of emceeing campfires – and being the center of attention – is what led him to radio. Harniman said that the two summers he worked at his council’s camp were the best of his life. He made it as far as the Star rank. He said he never made it to the Life or Eagle ranks because of “girls and golf.”

“We had a change of leadership in the troop and I didn’t have anyone to really push me when I needed it,” he said.

Harniman said he contacted Cape Fear Council District Executive Joshua Reilly, formerly the Lakes executive, and applied for the job. After several interviews, the position became available.

“I enjoyed Scouting the whole time I was in it,” he said, adding that his background in Scouting and his background in public relations should serve him well.

Harniman hit the ground running three weeks ago, making the rounds and meeting the volunteers and supporters in the Lakes District.

He said he wants to re-invigorate the program in the two counties and has been told repeatedly that the Lakes District has the best volunteers in the council.

“This is a great program,” he said. “It’s taught me a lot.”

Harniman is living in Whiteville and can be contacted at 642-4032.