Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 22, 1993 TAG: 9306220039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: AUGUSTA SPRINGS LENGTH: Medium
"You're sure there are no snakes here?"
"Yes," Sheets assured him before trying to divert his attention. "Look at that wood duck taking off."
Sheets went on to answer questions from other campers - how much the bear he saw that morning weighed, what a copperhead looked like and was it safe to drink water as it flowed out of an underground spring.
Like many of the inner-city boys out of their element at Augusta Springs Camp, Akers came "off the asphalt" of Alexandria for the first time with a bad attitude and horror stories of neighborhood drug crime. A drive-by shooter just missed him one day. His friend Ricky was stabbed, shot twice in the head and thrown into a trash bin.
"You can just be walking down the street and get in trouble," said Akers, 16.
Still, after getting kicked out of school for carrying a 9mm handgun, Akers was wary of taking his probation officer's advice and spending eight weeks at a camp deep inside the George Washington National Forest.
"I thought it'd be jibber jazz," Akers said, using the street slang for nonsense.
After a few weeks in the woods, Akers has undergone a transformation, camp Director Lee Carson said. Akers is still wary of going out at night - because of the snakes - but Carson said he is a prime candidate for a leadership role in the group.
Twenty-four youths, most of them referred by court probation officers, are spending half of the summer at Augusta Springs Camp, one of three experimental projects loosely modeled after camps of the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps.
The Forest Service and the private National Forest Foundation set up the camps in Augusta Springs, Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon and Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington state. If they are successful, more than 30 similar youth camps will be opened next summer, District Ranger David Rhodes said.
It's costing about $5,000 for each of the 200 youths expected to participate in one of the two eight-week sessions at the three camps. But the Forest Service said it has a huge backlog of unfunded environmental and infrastructure work to be done and expects to get $2 worth of work completed for every dollar invested in the camps.
It's more like boot camp than the typical carefree summer camp. The youths, ages 15 to 18, are expected to work hard for low pay while learning marketable skills like carpentry and forestry and lessons designed to steer them away from a life of crime.
Page 2 of Akers's pocket-sized enrollee handbook explains what he's supposed to get out of the program: "Work ethics, self-esteem, social skills, discipline, environmental awareness and confidence through hands-on labor intensive projects."
They work 40 hours a week for minimum wage - $4.59 an hour - and $4 a day is taken out of their paychecks for room and board. They are awakened at 6 a.m. and lights are out at 10:30 p.m. on weekdays.
Most of the workdays since May 24 have been spent clearing trails, salvaging timber and turning tree branches into mulch.
The campers will build duck blinds and raise a boardwalk around the marsh that will be accessible to people with physical handicaps.
They have evening classes where they learn, as outlined in the handbook, "Skills Alternative To Aggression," and "Skills For Dealing With Stress."
There is an off-duty dress code and strict rules of conduct. Four youths from Oak Hill Detention Center were kicked out during the first week for threatening other campers.
The campers live in room-size platform tents with two cots, two dressers and a clothesline. They wash their own clothes and share cleaning duties. There's a mess sergeant, but not everyone's happy about the lunches.
"I'm sick of the sandwiches," said Tim Wills, 15, of Fairfax. "Four weeks of nothing but sandwiches."
Some campers also complained about having to attend field trips such as skating in nearby Staunton and hiking up mountains.
Sheets said he'll consider the program successful if just a few participants turn their lives around.
A few feet away, Akers kept asking when they were going to deliver another load of firewood.
At the end of the first week, after cutting up trees that were knocked down by storms, Akers and some other campers delivered a load of firewood to an elderly Augusta County woman who was unable to travel.
"She said she was very, very grateful," Akers said. "It made me feel all right. Special."
by CNB