January 7, 2003 Girl
Scout camp focus of land battle
By Jen Roppel
FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP More than 100 Girl Scouts, leaders, parents and community members
met Monday evening at a local church to help save Camp Timber Hill following a real estate developers offer to buy the site
from the Great Rivers Girl Scout Council.
We want Camp Timber Hill to stay there because we like it, said 10-year-old Leanna
Smith of Fairfield Township.
Smith, a member of Troop 5840, made signs on fluorescent-colored poster board to
help save the camp, a 58-acre camp located of Ohio 4 in Fairfield Township. At the bottom of one of her posters, she drew
activities, such as hiking and roasting marshmallows at camp fires, that are important to her.
Her mother, Troop 5840 Leader Jan Smith, said she will have her troop of 12 girls
write letters to the board of directors for the council.
Were going to have the girls write letters expressing what Camp Timber Hill means
to them and why they want to keep it, she said.
Meeting organizers and local leaders Kris Roselle, Patti McDonald and John Lawson
encouraged scouts, parents and community members to also write letters to the board to let its members know the scouts and
others oppose the sale.
Rachel LeMaster, 12, of Hamilton, said she too wants to save the camp following
a December proposal by Dixon Builders to purchase the property for $1.14 million, or about $20,000 per acre.
The camp is not on the market, according to the Great Rivers Girl Scout Council,
but the offer is being considered because of concerns over proposed housing developments on two 60-acre sites that abut the
property, Roni Luckenbill, assistant executive director, said on Friday. Concerns raised include fears of increased vandalism
and safety for the girls.
The purpose of Monday nights meeting was to make sure local scouts are aware of the
potential sale, and to let council delegates know the majority of scouts do not want to lose the camp, said Roselle, of Fairfield.
The meeting, which was videotaped, will be summarized and sent to board members,
said McDonald.
Many of those in attendance asked questions they would like the board to answer,
such as whether there is any evidence of increased vandalism or safety issues at other camps near housing developments, what
would be done with money from the sale, and where would the Butler County troops go if the camp closed.
Suggestions made to Roselle and McDonald, who attended a Dec. 16 meeting about the
potential sale, was for troops to move camps to the three other camps two are in Warren County and one in eastern Indiana.
But thats too far for many Butler County girls to go, Roselle said after talking
with several area troop leaders.
So far more of them have been unwilling to travel that far, she said.
Another suggestion made was for the camps to use public parks, which Roselle said
would likely limit camp programs because not all parks have creeks, overnight facilities or open/reserved spaces.
Although one of the smallest camps in the Great Rivers Girl Scout Council, it is
certainly not the least used camp in our council, Roselle said.
In 2001, more than 2,500 girls attended four day camps at Camp Timber Hill. This
represents about 10 percent of the 23,000 council membership, she said. And due to increasing demand, a fifth camp is planned
for the summer of 2004.
If the sale goes through, however, the camp will remain open for this coming summer,
Roselle said.
If the concern is that the camp will be surrounded by housing, the heart of the camp
with the buildings, shelter and activity areas is inside a 10-acre buffer zone to the properties, Lawson said.
There is enough land that we can have a 10-acre buffer zone around Camp Timber Hill,
he said.
A Feb. 1 meeting is scheduled for delegates and board members.
