Boy Scouts bring touch-ups to town

The community is getting a facelift this summer, thanks to two groups of Eagle Scout candidates.

Six local Eagle Scout candidates are working on community projects this summer to earn their titles as Eagle Scouts. The two troops, 1971 and 1970, each have three eagle scout candidates this year.

The candidates have been preparing for this, and putting in work since they were Cub Scouts from the age of seven-eight. At the age of 11-12 years old, the boys joined the Boy Scouts where they worked to earn the 21 merit badges necessary to become an Eagle Scout, including personal management, finance, wellness, cooking, emergency preparedness, swimming and lifesaving.

“I’m pretty proud of the boys,” Scoutmaster Frank Votapka for the 1971 troop said. “They worked pretty hard on [the projects], it kept them pretty busy all summer.”

Votapka, a retired civil engineer for the U.S. Forest Service, has been the scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts for 17 years. The troop has 12 scouts overall with three Eagle Scout candidates. This year, the candidates were high school graduate Declan Faulkner, high school senior Ryan Nagle and high school junior Kaleb Thomas.

“This is an extraordinary amount of kids,” Votapka said. “They followed through.”

Lora Ercanbrack, unit commissioner for Boy Scouts Troop 1970, is impressed with this year’s Eagle Scout candidates. Ercanbrack said that her husband, Scoutmaster Lance Ercanbrack usually does more hands-on activities with the scouts, and Lora puts together all of their paperwork and organizes their activities and events. According to Ercanbrack, the troop has eight scouts overall with three Eagle Scout candidates, high school junior Jarun Graziano, senior Galen Graziano and Tucker Carvey.

“They’re really great young men that have worked really hard to get to where they are,” Ercanbrack said. “We’re really excited for them.”

Ryan Nagle, of Boy Scout Troop 1971, is currently refurbishing of the smaller gazebos at Riverfront Park, scraping the old paint and repainting while also refurbishing the poles. Nagle and his two friends, Eagle Scout Steven Shuey and Boy Scout Shawn Warner. According to Nagle, he heard about the project through his mom, who heard through the city administrator.

Faulkner, of Boy Scout Troop 1971, painted the gym at Kootenai Valley Christian School, which hadn’t been painted in 20 years. Faulkner, along with 12 other workers, six adults and six students, went out to paint the gym on June 12, and finished the project on July 2.

“In scouts, you do need leadership positions, but the Eagle Scout project is kind of the cap because you need to prove that you are capable,” Faulkner said. “It’s about proving to yourself, and proving to leaders that you can help in your community when you’re needed.”

Faulkner became a Cub Scout when he was nine and became a Boy Scout in 2010. In June of this year, he applied for the Navy to become a nuclear technician. Faulkner ships out for boot camp in February.

Kaleb Thomas, of Boy Scout Troop 1971, is working on the St. John Lutheran Church.

From Boy Scout Troop 1970, Jarun Graziano’s Eagle Scout project is going to refurbish the playground equipment at Kootenai Valley Head Start and Tucker Carvey, of Boy Scout Troop 1970, completed his project in helping to refinish part of the softball field.

Galen Graziano, of Boy Scout Troop 1970, recently finished restoring several Libby High School football field structures. The project included replacing rotten boards, removing old paint, resurfacing and painting two ticket booths, a timer’s both and the car gate.

Galen’s mom, Kelly Graziano, said she’s honored to see what her son has accomplished.

“It’s definitely made him more responsible,” she said.

Galen joined Cub Scouts at eight years old. According to Chuck Braun, public affairs representative for Libby Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Galen would rather talk about the people who helped him than himself. Galen did not want to take full credit for the project, thanking community members for donating tools, supplies and materials as well as the 15 volunteers who gave 70 hours of their time to help. After working on paperwork and planning the project for 20 hours, the project lasted two days in total with paint scraping on July 29 and refurbishing on July 20.

Galen said joining the scouts has helped him become a better man, teaching him his personal virtues such as loyalty, helpfulness, respect.

“Being a Boy Scout has really taught me a lot of my own limitations, but more importantly a lot of my own potential,” Galen said. “I’ve been able to experience things like swimming in the river or hiking the mountains.”

According to Votapka, the troop has also helped with several service projects around town including gardening, tree committee and working on some of the boulevards around town.

“It’s really nice.” Votapka said. “It’s my hope that they continue to contribute to the town or city that they eventually arrive at and mentor some teenage boys, and continue with scouting.”

“[Votapka] has been there for all of us,” Faulkner said. “He’s never failed us.”

Reporter Bethany Rolfson may be reached at 293-4124 or by email at Reporter@TheWesternNews.com.