EASTON: Clearly, it's best for boys

Even though the response at the Town Hall meetings was overwhelmingly AGAINST the sale of Camp Easton, the recent Scout Council “survey” amazingly states the majority are now in favor. The “survey” was a series of crafted questions designed to achieve a desired response. It essentially gave you two choices.

1.) Should we build a brand new camp, with new features and new program opportunities, and get $2.5 million? or 2.) Should we keep the old broken down camp hoping we can raise $9.5 million in less than two years? (They now admit needed repairs will take less than $2 million.)

What’s never mentioned, is the $2.5 million as proposed by Gozzer will be “donated” over 10 years and split between three camps. This money will come from an L.L.C. set up by Discovery with no assets, leaving the council with limited recourse in case of default.

The council’s dream is to create a Club Med type environment with more of everything, and it will be newer and better; until of course it wears out and the endowment money is gone. This is worrisome since they have already shown they can’t maintain what they already have.

Many points have been made, but there’s one nobody can dispute: The new property’s waterfront is dramatically inferior to what the Scouts already own. It sits on aptly named Windy Bay making it very unsafe for novice boys learning how to sail, canoe, kayak and row. Conditions here can change from placid to high winds and waves in minutes. Add to the mix, increased boat traffic from the nearby marinas and you have a disaster waiting to happen.

Our current site has excellent accessibility, sitting in a protected bay. The new property’s waterfront activities will be crammed into a very small rocky area with no beach that’s continually deposited with lake debris. This entire narrow rocky shoreline cannot be altered under Department of Lands rules. It is a 175-foot steep climb down to the waterfront where boys must wear protective footwear at all times because of all of the jagged basalt rock. The proposed swimming area will be an artificial environment, created by placing a man made underwater tramp with side walls. It’s essentially, a swimming pool in the lake. This expensive piece of equipment will have to be replaced or repaired often. This in no way compares to splendid natural beach we now enjoy.

MARK WHITT

Athol