History
The Pushmataha Area Council was established by the Boy Scouts of America in June, 1925. The council was originally named the East Mississippi Council, but this name was changed in 1929 to honor Chief Pushmataha of the Choctaw tribe.
Chief Pushmataha once told a group of chiefs that he was not born, but instead stepped, full grown and dressed for battle, from the split in a tree that had been struck by lightning. This story has been incorporated into the Pushmataha Area Council Shoulder Patch shown above. The patch shows a full-grown Pushmataha emerging from a tree struck by lightning. Camp Seminole has a sign on its grounds noting the tree from which Pushmataha supposedly appeared.
In 1925, the headquarters of the council was in West Point, Mississippi, on Main Street. In 1960s, the council office was moved to its current location at 420 31st Avenue North, Columbus, Mississippi.
The Pushmataha Area Council is one of the smallest Boy Scout councils in America. It is not unusual for other councils to have districts larger than the entire Pushmataha Area Council.
In 1950, the council erected a miniature Statue of Liberty in the middle of downtown Columbus, Mississippi, as part of a national effort in the Boy Scouts to erect 200 of these statues. Fewer than 100 of these statues still exist, and even fewer exist intact. The Pushmataha Area Council statue is one of the few intact ones that exist today.
When fully staffed with professionals, the Pushmataha Area Council has a Scout Executive, two District Executives, and a full-time Camp Ranger. One District Executive resigned in 2007, and the Executive Board of the council did not hire a replacement for the position. The Camp Ranger resigned in the spring of 2009, and the camp is currently (2010) served by a part-time, volunteer, interim Camp Ranger. The second District Executive resigned in the early fall of 2009, and the council Executive Board did not hire anyone fill that position. The Scout Executive announced in November, 2009 that he was resigning, and as of April, 2010, the Scout Executive position is still vacant. The BSA Regional Director is acting as the official Scout Executive for the council until one is hired. The Regional Director is in another state, and is not present to oversee day-to-day operations of the council. The council is being operated by a small corps of volunteers, and the 2010 FOS campaigns are being run by volunteers with no professional guidance or assistance.
The Council President, George Purnell, has been in office for six years. All previous council presidents (1925–2004) served a maximum of three years.
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