Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 2, 1995 TAG: 9511020008
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
So badly shaken, in fact, that at one point the Boy Scout was ready to give up.
But he didn't. And now he's finished a phase of his Eagle Scout project and moved out of the realm of vandals who had pestered him for most of the summer.
As part of the requirements for his Eagle Badge - performing a community service project - Moran was trying to develop what he hopes will become the first section of a greenway trail in the Roanoke Valley.
Last July, he started bushhacking and chainsawing trees and underbrush to create a three-quarter-mile trail to connect Stonebridge and Goode parks, northeast of Vinton.
He built a 30-foot bridge over a rocky gulch, made and put up eight signs along the trail, cleared a spot for a volleyball court and put up a net, and built three benches along the trail.
But, Moran was bedeviled by vandals who hit his work on four occasions.
They ripped the handrails off the bridge, bent and defaced the signs and ripped two of the posts out of their concrete moorings, and burned the volleyball net, leaving the charred remains hanging on nearby tree limbs.
"What they couldn't get to burn, they threw into the weeds," Moran said.
Only the three benches survived.
After the first attack, Moran replaced the handrails and reinforced the joints with heavy metal plates.
The volleyball net was first snipped in the middle. Moran mended the net but then vandals cut it down and burned it.
After that, Moran began to lose faith.
"If the community is going to let people tear up what I've done, I'm not going to do it anymore," he said at that time. "I'm sick of it."
Rick Wimmer, Moran's scoutmaster at Troop 18 at Campbell Memorial Presbyterian Church in Vinton, said that although the vandalism hit Moran hard, he had serious talks with Moran about not giving up.
Moran's parents, Barry and Jayne Moran; his uncle, Dale Clemmons, and Wimmer assisted and encouraged him throughout the project. Moran said he also received considerable encouragement and help from other members of his Scout troop.
Jayne Moran said her son put in a lot of hours on the original work in the parks. "And he put in a lot of extra hours repairing what vandals damaged."
The vandalism was terribly discouraging for him, she said.
Wimmer, the scoutmaster, has faith that Moran will overcome this discouragement. He said police have three suspects.
"We can't understand why kids would want to do this," Wimmer said. "This is something that benefits them, too."
Despite the vandalism, Moran will get his Eagle badge, the highest award a Scout can earn, Wimmer said. Moran has finished his work in the park. The last step was spreading 14 dump-truckloads of gravel along the trail.
He now has gone on to other projects necessary to earn his badge, a goal he's been working toward for the eight years he has been in scouting.
Moran should complete all the Eagle requirements by January, Wimmer said.
Although Moran was rather hesitant to leave the park phase of his Eagle project mostly in shambles, "I'm not going to repair any more of what they tore up. I put it in once and had it looking nice. It's not fair to me to have to keep doing it over," he said.
Moran, a senior at William Byrd High School, has other activities besides his Scout work. He is bass drum captain for the William Byrd High band and works an after-school and weekend job.
In addition to his regular studies at William Byrd, he also is in a commercial art program at the Arnold R. Burton Technology Center. He plans to become a commercial artist.
Jeff Balon, supervisor of parks for the Roanoke County Department of Parks and Recreation, said his department will take care of any further vandal damage now that Moran has finished his part of the work.
"It is our policy to repair vandalism damage immediately to prevent encouraging more vandalism," Balon said.
Vandalism is a continuing problem in all parks, he said. But Stonebridge and Goode seem to get more than some of the others.
Balon said the money for Moran's project came from a $4,000 grant from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Parks for park improvements.
The greenway designation Moran hopes his trail will win is a possibility, Balon said. The trail meets the qualifications even though no master plan for a greenway system has been devised.
Memo: NOTE" Also ran in November 12, 1995 Current.