Stories From the Brooklyn Scout Camps

Headquarters Camp

Bill Dixon

     That was some place. Lots of school teachers or whoever and families trying to make the place seem like Kuthners. I recall a nurse asking me to go to a square dance at TMR headquarters. No way!  They probably had mambo dance lessons in the morning. And the people there stayed as far away from the Divisions as possible which was great with us.  They had the good trucks. They had a scout emblem on the side of the door and were lettered Ten Mile River Scout Camp. Our trucks in Brooklyn...maintained by Ed Ryder, were W.W.I surplus. 

     A few people did came over from TMR HQ.  There was a guy who was in charge of the dinning halls or I should say the food supplies.  I recall... he is lecturing Jay Lucker and me on costs. The entire TMR reservation has an average cost of feeding one scout per day of 32 cents. But we in Div. 1 are spending 34 cents a day! Jay Lucker who was (I hope still is) a very funny guy with an absolute straight face says ..."Maybe we should cut out the Epco".  This guy never cracks a smile.  Running the Div. 1 dining hall was not easy since it was Kosher. D 3 had two kitchens but D 1 had one. Do you recall we had coolers. Every few days a truck would come with ice and put the ice way up over the coolers. That was probably the toughest job a truck driver at Camp had.  The ice came from a house by the lake not too far from the D 4 dock.  During the winter it was cut out of  the lake and packed in saw dust. It lasted all summer.

     It was not easy keeping that Dining Hall Kosher.  One day I am have a serious discussion with the chef..you might say Christian to Christian on the importance of NOT putting butter and milk in the mashed potatoes for an evening meat meal.  This was not a Ethiopian Jew...this was a Bedford Styvestant Baptist.  He absolutely could not comprehend how a religion could have a rule that prevented the proper preparation of mashed potatoes.

     Another guy that would show up from TMR HQ was a very short and very fat guy who was in charge of the bank and canteens. He always wore a broad brimmed hat which made him look even more funny. Our banker was usually a 14 or 15 year old kid whose academic achievements were like having completed 8th grade.   If we had today's computers we could not have balanced the bank books.  Every day we had over 150 transactions and not one exceeded 25 cents. Except, of course for the first and last day of a period. This guy would want to charge this young kid with Bank embezzlement!   He was also pushing candy bars at the canteen. Like he thought we should have a quota!  He did bring us some stuff....for the handicraft lodge. The leather strands that you could make belts with..and the balsa wood for carving and for those talented few the beads that put on all those strings and make wonderful belts and other stuff.   I could never do that.

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Last Updated: January 18, 2003
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