Eagle Scout induction has Lumberland scout soaring

By DAVID HULSE

GLEN SPEY, NY — After 12 years of work, last Sunday Richard Watts Jr. got to the top of the scouting mountain when a scout Court of Honor ceremony inducted him as an Eagle Scout.

Watts, a senior at Eldred Central School, began scouting in 1992. He told the audience at his induction ceremony that making Eagle Scout then seemed like “an unattainable scouting Everest.”

But Watts persevered and attained the rank of Life Scout, but then, he admitted, other things, like cars and jobs, distracted him.

“Luckily, then my parents [Rich and Bonnie Watts] stepped in and for two years, pushed, pulled and grounded me and took away the car,” he said.

Watts earned his Eagle Scout rank by completing a project of renovations and repairs at the Lumberland Town Hall ball field.

With town historian Frank Schwarz providing supervision, Watts cleaned up the grounds, conducted tests for lead paint content in the existing buildings, storage areas, bathroom, bleachers and playground toys. Tests were negative.

The bleachers were taken apart and the frames sent out for sandblasting. Watts stained the storage building and bathroom, as well as new bleacher lumber. He enameled the cleaned bleacher frames upon their return.

The project also included replacement of two Plexiglas bathroom windows and installation of push-pull hardware and automatic closers on the doors. All told, the project included 174 hours of community service, with lumber and hardware donated by the Neversink, Rowley, 84, Deerpark, and Narrowsburg Lumber companies, as well as Home Depot, Lowe’s, the Highland General Store, and the town. Art Peck donated the sandblasting and tools. Food and other assistance came from friends.

Troop Committee Chair Marion Swope said Watts was the 22nd boy to have earned Eagle Scout rank in Troop 102 since former Eldred teacher Bill McCaffrey became the first in 1930; and the fifth in the past nine years. “We’re proud of our boys and what they’ve done,” she said.

Watts is a high honors student at Eldred, chief editor of the class yearbook and was leader of the 2004 SCIL academic competition team. He is a graphic artist and the designer of the Town of Highland’s 150th anniversary banner. He will be attending Cooper Union in the fall, in pursuit of a degree in graphic design.