GIRL SCOUTS REFUSE TO LOSE LAND

Stewart reminisces about some of the good times she's had at Camp Teata. She held her first day camp here.

Camp Teata is located in Marble Hill, just west of Highway 51. This is the entrance, with a sadly decaying bridge just behind this gate.

Denise Stewart, executive director for the Otahki Girl Scouts Council and LaWanda Rhodes, a Girl Scout troop leader from Marble Hill, discuss some of the plans for the camp.

The Girl Scout promise begins, "On my honor, I will try ..." And that's just what Scout administrators and troop leaders are doing. They're trying, in this case, to save a piece of six-acre campsite called Camp Teata on the outskirts of Marble Hill.

Camp Teata, one of three pieces of property in this area owned by the Girl Scouts, is a little more rundown than the others and, in the past, was rarely used.

"It's kind of primitive," said Denise Stewart, executive director for the Otahki Girl Scouts Council. "It wasn't used, quite frankly, because the girls want a little more modern facilities."

Camp Teata, which sits west of Highway 51, still doesn't have flush toilets and the cabin could use a little work.

The old bridge that is needed to drive into the camp is not stable enough to even hold the weight of a car.

The road to the cabin would be hard to drive on even if the bridge could maintain the weight.

So, naturally the girls would much rather use the more plush Camp Cherokee Ridge with its 1,100 acres with 20 horses, a pool and a lake. Cherokee Ridge is a little farther, but apparently worth the drive.

So where does that leave Camp Teata?

A task force was formed, consisting of members of the Otahki Girl Scout Council and Girl Scout volunteers.

"The rationale behind the task force," Stewart said, "was to look at everything we had to see if we could consolidate our services and streamline them. Maybe then we could focus more in the area of Cherokee Ridge and better benefit the girls."

There were other options. Maybe they should buy something a little closer to the population base which is Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City, Stewart said.

"We charted the use of this piece of property for a couple of years," Stewart said, "and we are literally talking about it being used maybe two or three times a year, maybe by a total of 45 girls."

So the Girl Scouts of America considered selling Camp Teata. It would only stand to reason that if the property isn't to be used, then the property isn't useful, right?

People in Marble Hill didn't quite see it that way. The people, headed by Troop Leader LaWanda Rhodes of Marble Hill, appealed to the board for a second chance.

"The adults, and not just from this area, saw a use for it," Stewart said.

Maybe if there was a small amount of money invested in Camp Teata, girls would want to go there and it could serve a purpose, Rhodes said.

Plus, Camp Teata is rich with history. It's been a part of the Girl Scout program since the late 50s. It was the first day camp in the Rolling Hills area. And it has lots of memories.

In fact, Stewart had her first overnight camp here in 1983.

"The people look on this property as their camp," Stewart said. "It's a real sentimental ownership issue."

Camp Teata is beautiful land, and would be ideal for nature identification, camping, hiking and whatever else the girls would want to do outdoors.

And with a little work, the cabin would be great for cooking, sewing and sleeping.

So Teata got its second chance.

"In April," Stewart said, "the board agreed to begin some maintenance out there, some development so the girls will feel more comfortable utilizing the facilities.

"What money is put into this property cannot be put somewhere else. I think the Board of Directors showed an enormous amount of faith in listening to LaWanda [Rhodes]."

The first thing they are going to do is build a cement bridge and fix up the road to the cabin so the girls won't have to carry their equipment and luggage so far.

A coat of paint is going to be put on the cabin and a flush toilet is going to be installed, which will obviously make the girls much happier than the old wooden outhouse.

"There's nothing here that can't be fixed," Stewart said.

But Teata isn't out of the woods yet.

After the improvements, the council is going to monitor Camp Teata as well as the other camps and for the next two or three years.

"Then we will make a decision as to whether or not we will keep this property or not," Stewart said.

Stewart said if the discovery is that the land is not being used, the decision will be made to sell the property.

"We may discover that our girls much prefer to go to a very well-manicured park with a bathroom for the day and then go home at night," Stewart said. "In that case, there is not a reason for us to maintain three camp properties."

If the camp is sold, the girls would have access to other camps. Of course, with the loss of any property, Stewart says, there is a loss of Girl Scouts.

"It's not the girls, though," Stewart said, "it's the adults."

If a piece of property is sold, Stewart said, and the adults have that "sentimentality mentality," then they say, "That's it, I'm not ever going to be involved in the Girl Scouts again."

So troops dissolve and funders say the Girl Scouts of America don't use their resources wisely.

The last thing the Girl Scouts want to do is to sell their property.

"The key to saving this property is rebuilding adult attitudes," Stewart said. And she and the Girl Scouts are confident the land can be saved.

"And Girl Scouts usually don't fail," Stewart said with a smile.