Sunday's were a special day at camp for me, both as a camper and a staff member. As a camper, we always got the nice breakfast, and there was Mass in the morning. As a Senior it was really cool to get to sit next to your girlfriend and spend the day, without the supervision of a normal camp schedule. As a young teenager, that was a big deal.
As I think back, I really enjoyed the Masses as well. They always had the Session theme incorporated into them, which made them special. But also, you were celebrating Mass in the midst of some of your best friends, out in the middle of God's creation. I remember that the music was always new to me ( that was a big deal), I think Earthen Vessels had just been released, and it felt like a real music ministry was happening.
As a staff member, especially as AD, Sunday was also kind of a check to see how well I had done my job. Cathy U, my counterpart, and I were responsible for the cabin assignments. It seems as the years went by it became more and more important to honor the bunking requests that parents would send in with their camping applications. It got to be a matter of life and death for Hunter to bunk with Justin and Christopher. More than once I was confronted by an indignant parent who could not understand why a midget camper could not be in Junior cabin just because they had requested it. It was worse when Juniors requested placement into Senior Cabins. All in all though, we rarely had a complaint that we could not resolve somehow. The sad part was, by the time we had gotten really good at it , the summer was over. Camp closed the next summer, so we never got a chance to improve our skills further.
I always liked getting to greet each camper as they came to check in also. It got me excited for the new session.
Bob
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
The pause that refreshes
Its been hot here lately, with temps at record highs, above 90. It reminded me of how much I liked that water fountain that was in between the Boys lodge and the AD shack. I always thought it had the best water in camp. There were other places to get a drink, but for some reason I loved that one. Then one year maintenance decided to turn it off. I never knew why, but I guess it was just beyond repair.
I remember the silly games that the boys used to play with it, plugging the little hole so it would fill up, and sometime playing in the mud and gravel from the overflow.
Getting a drink in the 8-1/2 was sometimes and adventure, if the place hadnt been cleaned properly, but the best part was that you could stick your head underneath the faucet and really get cooled down.
About the best place to get cooled down, besides the pools, was under the watertower when it overflowed. That didnt happen very often, but it was a real treat when it did.
Thats all I have for today
I remember the silly games that the boys used to play with it, plugging the little hole so it would fill up, and sometime playing in the mud and gravel from the overflow.
Getting a drink in the 8-1/2 was sometimes and adventure, if the place hadnt been cleaned properly, but the best part was that you could stick your head underneath the faucet and really get cooled down.
About the best place to get cooled down, besides the pools, was under the watertower when it overflowed. That didnt happen very often, but it was a real treat when it did.
Thats all I have for today
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Ricky
My first year as a camper we were in Cabin 15, with George Clayton as a counsellor, and Steve Leonard in 16 as a buddy counsellor. The one kid that I remember clearly was Ricky. Strangely enough, I even remember his last name, after 30 years.
Ricky was fanatical about having his bunk clean, and being on time to everything. He always had to be first in line, and would complain bitterly if he felt he was being taken advantage of in any way.
Of course this got old quickly, and Ricky got to be the butt of many jokes and harmless abuses.
I remember one rest period it was raining, and we were stuck in the cabin. We were teasing the way 11 year olds would tease, and Ricky was becoming more and more agitated. The funny part was that the madder he got, the more he cleaned. He would even close the windows because of the water that would puddle on the tilting windows of the cabin. Eventually the rain stopped and we were able to go out before there was any blood shed.
I mention Ricky because I teach a boy just like him now.
His parents medicate the hell out of him.
I wonder what Ricky would be like today, and I wonder how my student would have done at Camp.
Bob
Ricky was fanatical about having his bunk clean, and being on time to everything. He always had to be first in line, and would complain bitterly if he felt he was being taken advantage of in any way.
Of course this got old quickly, and Ricky got to be the butt of many jokes and harmless abuses.
I remember one rest period it was raining, and we were stuck in the cabin. We were teasing the way 11 year olds would tease, and Ricky was becoming more and more agitated. The funny part was that the madder he got, the more he cleaned. He would even close the windows because of the water that would puddle on the tilting windows of the cabin. Eventually the rain stopped and we were able to go out before there was any blood shed.
I mention Ricky because I teach a boy just like him now.
His parents medicate the hell out of him.
I wonder what Ricky would be like today, and I wonder how my student would have done at Camp.
Bob
Thursday, September 20, 2007
If you want to be heard
Please send me via the G mail account, anything that you would like to say to Mr. Meyer, provided that it is respectful.
Bob
Bob
Open Letter
September 20, 2007
Douglas Meyer
C/o Fort Scott Development Corp. LLC
Dear Douglas Meyer,
I am writing to you today in regards to the Fort Scott Development project, of which I have received a flyer and have also heard the radio advertisements.
I have followed the development of this property with a great deal of sadness over the years, as I am a former camper and Staff member of Fort Scott Camps. I had hoped that Fort Scott Camp would be a legacy that would be passed on to my children and grand children. Needless to say, that is no longer possible.
Fort Scott Camp was a very special place for me and many of my friends. It was a place where children could still be children, safe and isolated away from the cares in the world. For many children who came from less than privileged lifestyles, it was a brief break from what would otherwise be a very bleak circumstance.
Fort Scott was also a wildlife refuge and home to many plants and animals that cannot be found anywhere else in the Tri State area.
To many of us, Fort Scott was sacred ground. The sale of this property and use of it for anything other than a summer camp to me is tragedy.
I have learned through my correspondence with other Fort Scott Alums that the mailing list that was maintained by another Fort Scott Alum was used by you or marketing personnel working on your behalf to solicit sales of homes in your development. I find this disgusting and liken it to attorneys using the list of persons killed in an airline crash to find new clients.
I also have learned that you are using the names of Fort Scott icons, such as the Fort Scott Bugle, to name your streets and landmarks. I am respectfully requesting that you stop this immediately.
It is painful enough to drive down State Route 128 and see the signs for Fort Scott, knowing that instead of a magnificent camp that impacted the lives of thousands of people, it is now a collection of four bedroom houses on cul de sacs.
Surely there are other names that could be given to the streets of your development that would entice people to buy there. Must you continue to re open the wound of losing camp by stealing the names of things that were precious to us and using them in ways they were never intended?
I can assure you, that if your marketing department thinks that by naming the streets of a subdivision that is built on holy ground, after the icons that made it holy, that they will somehow entice Fort Scott Family members to purchase these properties, they are sadly mistaken.
I will be placing this letter on my website http://fortscottmemories.blogspot.com/. If you care to respond to this letter, I will place your response in the website as well, verbatim and unedited.
I am attaching letters that I have received from my friends and readers regarding this issue so that you can see that I am not the only person who finds your choice of street names profoundly offending and hurtful.
I realize that there is no stopping the development now. I am merely asking on my own behalf, and on behalf of the other Fort Scott family members that you find other names for your streets.
Regards,Robert J. Saurber
Douglas Meyer
C/o Fort Scott Development Corp. LLC
Dear Douglas Meyer,
I am writing to you today in regards to the Fort Scott Development project, of which I have received a flyer and have also heard the radio advertisements.
I have followed the development of this property with a great deal of sadness over the years, as I am a former camper and Staff member of Fort Scott Camps. I had hoped that Fort Scott Camp would be a legacy that would be passed on to my children and grand children. Needless to say, that is no longer possible.
Fort Scott Camp was a very special place for me and many of my friends. It was a place where children could still be children, safe and isolated away from the cares in the world. For many children who came from less than privileged lifestyles, it was a brief break from what would otherwise be a very bleak circumstance.
Fort Scott was also a wildlife refuge and home to many plants and animals that cannot be found anywhere else in the Tri State area.
To many of us, Fort Scott was sacred ground. The sale of this property and use of it for anything other than a summer camp to me is tragedy.
I have learned through my correspondence with other Fort Scott Alums that the mailing list that was maintained by another Fort Scott Alum was used by you or marketing personnel working on your behalf to solicit sales of homes in your development. I find this disgusting and liken it to attorneys using the list of persons killed in an airline crash to find new clients.
I also have learned that you are using the names of Fort Scott icons, such as the Fort Scott Bugle, to name your streets and landmarks. I am respectfully requesting that you stop this immediately.
It is painful enough to drive down State Route 128 and see the signs for Fort Scott, knowing that instead of a magnificent camp that impacted the lives of thousands of people, it is now a collection of four bedroom houses on cul de sacs.
Surely there are other names that could be given to the streets of your development that would entice people to buy there. Must you continue to re open the wound of losing camp by stealing the names of things that were precious to us and using them in ways they were never intended?
I can assure you, that if your marketing department thinks that by naming the streets of a subdivision that is built on holy ground, after the icons that made it holy, that they will somehow entice Fort Scott Family members to purchase these properties, they are sadly mistaken.
I will be placing this letter on my website http://fortscottmemories.blogspot.com/. If you care to respond to this letter, I will place your response in the website as well, verbatim and unedited.
I am attaching letters that I have received from my friends and readers regarding this issue so that you can see that I am not the only person who finds your choice of street names profoundly offending and hurtful.
I realize that there is no stopping the development now. I am merely asking on my own behalf, and on behalf of the other Fort Scott family members that you find other names for your streets.
Regards,Robert J. Saurber
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Small World
I work in the construction business, and I meet lots of people. My Outlook contact list has more than 1200 entries. On one project I was calling for bids for structural steel, and a man came in to look at the drawings.
He worked for a while, and then gave me his business card. I noticed his last name was Hornback. I remembered a Fred Hornback from my early staff member days at camp, maybe first year councilor and CIT. Fred had introduced me to British rock and roll, and loved the band called the Kinks.
We were good friends. He even drove a couple of times when we went to movies, or double dates. He had a red (I think) Volkswagen Bug. That was a fun car to go running around in.
So I asked Mr. Hornback if he was related to Fred.
Mr. Hornback got the funniest look on his face, and asked how I knew Fred. I told him about Fort Scott and the Bug, and how we had been friends.
Mr. Hornback listened quietly and then told me that Fred had been killed in a car accident some years ago.
He has never come back to quote any other work for us.
My world got a little grayer that day.
Bob
He worked for a while, and then gave me his business card. I noticed his last name was Hornback. I remembered a Fred Hornback from my early staff member days at camp, maybe first year councilor and CIT. Fred had introduced me to British rock and roll, and loved the band called the Kinks.
We were good friends. He even drove a couple of times when we went to movies, or double dates. He had a red (I think) Volkswagen Bug. That was a fun car to go running around in.
So I asked Mr. Hornback if he was related to Fred.
Mr. Hornback got the funniest look on his face, and asked how I knew Fred. I told him about Fort Scott and the Bug, and how we had been friends.
Mr. Hornback listened quietly and then told me that Fred had been killed in a car accident some years ago.
He has never come back to quote any other work for us.
My world got a little grayer that day.
Bob
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Letter to Beth- Sept. 18,
Dear Beth,
I have purposely stayed away from the "whys" regarding why Camp really was closed. I don't think we will ever know for sure, but I will go to my grave believing the following:
1. The air, soil, and water at Fort Scott Camp were clean
2. The insurance company "requirement" of a disclaimer in our brochure was suggested, not mandatory.
3. The low pre-registration numbers that were blamed for Fort Scott's closing were either deliberately mis-stated, or else could have been corrected with a minimal PR effort.
4. Fort Scott was an asset to be sold in exchange for cash to pay for settlements to children abused by priests.
As I have grown older, I have become deeply distrustful of lawyers, insurance agents, and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. In my heart I believe that this all was carefully orchestrated among the three parties in order to deal with the scandal that they knew was coming.
I also find it revolting that someone would use names of Fort Scott icons to try and sell houses built on desecrated ground, and I intend to write to them and tell them so.
Bob
I have purposely stayed away from the "whys" regarding why Camp really was closed. I don't think we will ever know for sure, but I will go to my grave believing the following:
1. The air, soil, and water at Fort Scott Camp were clean
2. The insurance company "requirement" of a disclaimer in our brochure was suggested, not mandatory.
3. The low pre-registration numbers that were blamed for Fort Scott's closing were either deliberately mis-stated, or else could have been corrected with a minimal PR effort.
4. Fort Scott was an asset to be sold in exchange for cash to pay for settlements to children abused by priests.
As I have grown older, I have become deeply distrustful of lawyers, insurance agents, and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. In my heart I believe that this all was carefully orchestrated among the three parties in order to deal with the scandal that they knew was coming.
I also find it revolting that someone would use names of Fort Scott icons to try and sell houses built on desecrated ground, and I intend to write to them and tell them so.
Bob
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