Roughing it left to Scouts
CEDAR BLUFFS, Neb. — While campers are earning merit badges or honing their Scout skills, you usually can find a couple of their adult leaders sitting at the picnic tables near the camp administration building.
They might look more Eddie Bauer than Brooks Brothers, but they’re taking care of business using Camp Cedars’ free wireless Internet connection.
There was a time when a week at summer camp meant staying off the map and unplugged. But in a world of cell phones, smartphones and Internet access anywhere, it’s getting harder to get away, even at Boy Scout camp.
And leaders say that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Camp Cedars installed wireless Internet access three years ago as a way for parents to fulfill professional obligations while with their sons at camp. Camp Eagle, a nearby camp for younger Cub Scouts, also offers Internet access.
The Mid-America Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which runs the camps and three others, decided last week to expand the service to the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in Little Sioux, Iowa.
Scoutmaster Ray Netherton, who leads Troop 141 of Ida Grove, Iowa, typed on his laptop at Camp Cedars while Scouts attended merit badge classes.
He said the Internet access can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, he can’t use time at camp to truly get away from the daily grind for a week.
“There is some peace in not having to respond to things,” he said.
On the other hand, he can save himself two days of catching up on e-mail and project updates when he gets back to work. Netherton, a manufacturing engineering manager at the Gomaco Corp. construction firm, said he receives about 60 e-mails a day.
“The work doesn’t pile up as much as it would have otherwise,” he said.
When food service manager Sandra Roth — known at camp as “Mom” — started working there in 1990, there was only one phone line, and she had to go to the camp administration office to order supplies. Sometimes, if the line was tied up, she would go home to make the calls.
Today she has her own phone line, and she does some of her business online.
“It simplifies a few things,” she said. “Communication is key to a lot of things, and the faster and the easier you can communicate, the better.”
The camp asks troop leaders to tell Scouts not to bring electronics, although Camp Director Don Williamson said about a third carry cell phones.
For staff members who live at the camp for six weeks, it’s easier to keep in touch with friends and family. David Sweeney, the director of shooting sports, lives in Spring Hill, Fla., and has worked at Camp Cedars for four summers. His son, a first lieutenant in the Army, is stationed in Iraq, and the two talk frequently via instant messages.
“Times have changed radically from when I was a Boy Scout,” Sweeney said, “and I say for the better.”
Netherton said his company would probably give him time off for summer camp even if he couldn’t stay in touch.
For others, going off the grid for a week isn’t an option, Williamson said. Providing wireless Internet allows them to go to camp and still check in with work.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for them to come out here and be with their boys and still be in contact,” he said. “In this age of Internet, it’s critical for them to be able to keep in touch.”