Area Boy Scouts take on challenges, find solutions during ....Winter Camp

CAMP PERRY — Boy Scouts were busy taking turns fingerprinting, changing oil on a truck and rappelling from a tower more than 30 feet high Saturday at Camp Perry near Rio Hondo.

Those were just a few of the activities that the scouts were able to participate in during a five-day Winter Camp that is held at the site each year.

“We focus on Eagle rank-required merit badges, which are a little more adventurous and take a little more focus,” Boy Scouts executive board member Heather Blakemore said.

There are 25 classes, which are one and a half hours long, available during the camp. The scouts can earn one or two merit badges for each class, camp director Mark Blakemore said.

Most students go to four to five classes each day, Heather Blakemore said.

There were about 90 boys, ages 12 to 17, from across the Rio Grande Valley participating in the camp, with a group of eight scouts from Sugarland, Heather Blakemore said.

Boy Scout Troop 148 Scout Master Allen Largent, of Sugarland, said the camp offers more merit badges than winter camps at other locations.

The troop hadn’t been to Camp Perry in six years, Largent said, so the camp offered a change of scenery.

“A new place is always fun,” Largent said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Senior Patrol Officer Frank Palomino demonstrated how to take fingerprint samples during a class in which the scouts could earn their fingerprinting and crime prevention merit badges, Heather Blakemore said.

“I’ve been doing these for 15 years,” Palomino said as he took fingerprint samples from one of the scouts. “You guys may think it’s really easy right now, but wait until you get in here and actually try it.”

The scouts split into groups of two and used fingerprinting ink and cards used by Border Patrol agents.

He cautioned the boys to take their time with the task so they wouldn’t make a mess, but some of them still managed to get the dark ink on their clothing and faces as they laughed and tried to get good prints.

Afterward, Palomino discussed crime prevention with the class, including ways the scouts can protect themselves and their families in their homes, communities and while they’re at school.

Palomino also talked to the group about ways to look for signs of child abuse and resources available in the community for people with drug or alcohol abuse problems.

Each Boy Scout was required to share the information they learned with at least two of their peers as a requirement for earning their crime prevention badge, Heather Blakemore said.

“I’m the senior patrol leader of my troop and I want to use my time in a productive way — and it’s fun,” Seth Sweatt, 17, of Brownsville, said.

Sweatt said he plans to start a neighborhood crime watch program in his community when he returns home.

Later in the day, a group of Boy Scouts attended an auto mechanics class and another group rappelled from a tower as part of a camping and backpacking class.

Class instructor Richard Sanchez spat auto mechanic questions at the group as they replied with answers quickly as the group sat near two trucks, each with the hood propped open.

“I’m not trying to teach them to be auto mechanics,” Sanchez said. “I’m trying to teach them the basic skills to survive in the world we live in.”

Each member of the class took turns changing the oil inside a car, just after Sanchez went over safety procedures and methods to be environmentally friendly.

“I’ve been wanting to take this class for a while now,” Boy Scout Christ Martin of Mission said. “I have a good instructor and that makes it all the better. I’ve always been interested in auto mechanics and auto repair.”

Martin said he also wants the knowledge to use in case anything ever happens to his vehicle.

In a nearby open field, the camping and backpacking class was completing the task of rappelling down a wall 30 feet high, a requirement necessary to earn the merit badge.

“It’s one of several choices they have and since it’s available here, we do it,” class instructor Harsha Puttagunta said.

The class had a 5-mile hike scheduled to begin 9 p.m. Saturday, he said.

There were 15 adult instructors at winter camp, all volunteers, Heather Blakemore said.

“Adult association is something that’s so important for these boys to have,” she said. “And attending these classes can spark an interest they didn’t even know they had.”