THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 7, 1995 TAG: 9507040107
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUSAN W. SMITH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
On his path to becoming an Eagle Scout, Dean Combs built a bridge. Although he's only been a Boy Scout for three years, he's already an Eagle candidate from Troop 320 and would be the troop's first Eagle.
Combs, 16, is a rising junior and an honor student at Great Bridge High School and the son of Claudia and Dean Combs. His long-range goal is to be an automotive engineer, but his immediate goal is to make Eagle.
For his Eagle requirements, he needed a community service project that had to benefit and also be supported by the community. When camping with his troop last year in the Scout area at the Naval Auxiliary Landing Field in the Fentress section of Chesapeake, he spotted a crumbling bridge. Just two pine logs nailed across a small ravine, it was the only access to an old family cemetery.
In November, his father and scoutmaster, Dean Combs Sr., reviewed the situation, and together they contacted Senior Chief Bill Gibson for permission to undertake the project.
``We gave him the green light,'' Gibson said. ``Occasionally, family members or visitors would want to go back to the graveyard, and the bridge obviously needed replacing. We also thought it would be a great Eagle project.''
Frances Benson provided some of the cemetery's history. Her ancestors bought the land in 1809, and her grandfather, great-grandfather and perhaps even earlier members of the Cason, Nicholas and Dudley families are buried there. The last burial, she said, was in the 1930s.
For several months, the young Scout contacted community members and local businesses and mailed requests for materials and donations. By May, Dean was ready for action.
The first day, fellow Scouts, scoutmasters and several volunteers helped Dean tear out the old bridge, chased away a family of snakes and prepared the area for construction. About 5 a.m. the following day, the Scout crew started on the new bridge. Made of salt-treated lumber, it would be 8 feet wide and 27 feet long.
Dean said volunteers David Cowen donated a generator and Bill Yanetti helped with the construction, motivation and with the bonfire later that evening. Ron Holtzscheiter also assisted with construction, and William Sawyer provided a backhoe and lots of help.
``As Scouts, we had some minimum construction skills, but we had some great instructors who showed us what to do as we built,'' Dean said.
``Along with all the lumber and nails, they also went through 72 drinks, 25 hamburgers, 40 hot dogs and dozens of cookies,'' Claudia Combs said.
About midnight, the old bridge had one last mission. It was used to build the bonfire to celebrate the completion of its replacement.
``We didn't request this, but it's greatly appreciated,'' Benson said. ``And the Scouts did a beautiful job.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Eagle candidate Dean Combs, 16, is a rising junior and an honor
student at Great Bridge High School.
by CNB