Published: June 09, 2008 12:59 pm      

Girl Scouts breathe new life in Rusk park

By Cristin Ross

cross@jacksonvilleprogress.com

Girls Scouts from Rusk and Alto have completed the first phase of the troop’s project to spruce up Butler Park in Rusk. And thanks to their attention, the park has been designated as a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation.

“They’ve done a wonderful job out there,” Rusk City Manager Mike Murray said. “They’ve taken a park that really doesn’t get as much attention as we’d like to give it and done some really great things with it. We appreciate all their hard work tremendously.”

The troop presented its plans for the park to the Rusk City Council during the March regular meeting.

“We are working on our Bronze Star awards, which is the first step in earning our Gold Star awards,” troop leader Jeanna Heidel told city council members in March. “The Gold Star award is the Girl Scout’s equivalent to the Boy Scout Eagle Scout award.”

The troop started the project in February and continued their work on the park through April. Troop 139 members spent most of their Saturdays through the spring season rehabilitating, building, planting and generally cleaning up the park.

“This is the “spring phase” of the project,” Troop leader Sheilah O’Heaney said. “That covered the bulb planting season. The second phase will continue in the fall, when we add wild flowers, which have to be planted at that time.”

The troop also created a walking trail, built and installed birdhouses and planted a butterfly garden and many native plants as part of the first phase of the project.

The final touch of this phase of the project was to build a new sign for the park’s entrance.

“We started out with plans to just paint the existing sign,” O’Heaney said. “But once we started working on it, we came to realize it was just too weather-damaged.”

So the park got a whole new sign, complete with lantana planted around its footings — to attract butterflies. The Scouts got some of their very first lessons in work working and in using power tools, since each Scout got to affix a letter of the sign to the sign’s back board.

Scouts collected many donations of native plants and bulbs plants to use at the park. Donations of recyclable lumber came from James Wood Construction and Cherokee Civic Theatre. Other materials and tools used in the park project were supplied by the city of Rusk.

Six members of Rusk/Alto Girl Scout Troop 139 received their Bronze Star awards for their work on the park on June 5.

Scouts Leigh Anne Wood, Rebekah Heidel, Elizabeth Heidel, Moira Debbs, Margaret Beckworth and Erin Beckworth earned this highest award in Junior level Girl Scouts.

Other Scouts will continue to work for their awards during the second phase of the Butler Park project, which includes planting wildflowers and creating plant identification signs.

Pre-requisites for a Bronze Star award include tackling a community service project that required contributing at least 15 hours of leadership and hands-on work by each Scout, O’Heaney said. Bronze Star applicants must also earn specific badges so the award usually requires 18 to 24 months to complete.

Members of Troop 139 would also like to thanks the many friends, family and community members who assisted with the project, including Rusk City Manager Mike Murray, Rusk Roads and Parks Supervisor Neill Holcomb, Clyde Brown, Jerry Parker, Marty Wood, Ted Debbs, Kendra Brown, Elmer Beckworth, Clyde Brown, Patricia Ross, Tracy Gohlston, Amanda Goff, Jeanna Heidel, Shelley Wood, Jamie Becker, Brittany Brawley, Johnathan Ross and Blaine Wood.