RRVT News
Pancake breakfast will help an Eagle Scout trail project
Logan Laughery
YALE, Iowa, March 13, 2007 — Last year when leaders of the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association began calling for more amenties in the communities along the trail, one person who stepped up is 14-year-old Logan Laughery, who lives near Yale and thought some trail-related development would make a good Eagle Scout project.
His leaders in Boy Scout Troop 153 agreed, so did City of Yale leaders and now young Laughery is pulling together a plan to convert the pit toilets at the RRVT trailhead in his hometown to permanent flush toilets, with running water and electrical service in them, too.
“I wanted to do something to help the bike trail,” Laughery said. “I started out thinking about possibly re-doing a nature trail in Springbrook State Park (west of Yale), or making mileage markers for the Raccoon River Valley Trail. But then when I heard the trail association wanted to get permanent restrooms along the trail in all the towns, I thought that would be good for the trail,” and good for Yale, too.
As he has worked with city officials and Yale Tiling company’s Dale Louk on the construction and plumbing plans, Laughery has also launched a $4,000 fundraising campaign to cover the estimated costs.
A key part of that is a pancake breakfast on Sunday, March 25, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Yale Community Center. Laughery and the other scouts and leaders in Troop 153 will be doing the flapjacks and table service. There will be a free-will offering for the pancakes, with all proceeds going to the restrooms project.
RRVT Association board members will have the new display booth set up in the community center, and explain the projects and ideas that are being considered all up and down the 56-mile hard-surfaced trail in west central Iowa.
“Now that spring weather has started and we’re starting another trail season, we hope some RRVT users will bike or drive into Yale and have pancakes to help Logan’s project,” said Carla Offenburger, of Cooper, president of the RRVT Association.
Yale Mayor Steve Stanton, who has become an ardent trail booster, said Laughery “is a young man doing a great job on this project. He’s very well-organized on this. He’s got the support of our City Council and he’s got the support of the whole community.”
The town of 287 has come to believe it is well positioned to be a favorite stopping point for trail users in the years to come. That optimism is based on the total renovation of the 116-year-old Yale hotel that is underway now by new owner Sarah Brewster, and the City’s renovation and restoration of the round Yale gym for use as a venue for live theater, concerts and other gatherings.
“At our last City Council meeting, we had a discussion on how we’re going to help Yale become as supportive and friendly as possible to users of the RRVT,” said Mayor Stanton. “We want this to be an inviting place for them.”
He said when the town celebrates its Quasquicentennial during the annual 4th of July celebration this summer, “we’re going to be getting special invitations out for trail users to come to Yale and have fun at the celebration, and we hope to have some special events and attractions for them.”
Laughery said his target date for having the trailhead restrooms project completed is the 4th of July celebration.
As part of his fundraising campaign, he has applied for a $1,000 grant from the Guthrie County Community foundation. He volunteered at another pancake breakfast earlier this month sponsored by the Cass Pioneers 4-H Club, and the 4-H’ers decided to donate $250 of their profits to Laughery’s project. And the City Council voted to cover the costs of the
“perc test” necessary for installing a waste disposal system. Laughery said he would be organizing his mates in Troop 153 “to do some of the physical work, including cleaning up the restroom building after the construction and clean-up the park there, too.”
A freshman at Panorama High School in nearby Panora, Laughery is a football player, wrestler and golfer. He has been involved in Scouting for 10 years, starting as a Cub Scout in second grade. He and other boys of about the same age were involved in starting up Boy Scout Troop 153 when they were in fifth grade. He has two merit badges left – for “family life” and “citizenship in the nation” while he also works on his Eagle award.
He is the son of Carol and Mark Laughery, who live west of Yale, near Springbrook State Park. His mother is a dietician providing services at both the Guthrie County and Greene County hospitals, and his father is a lab director at Broadlawns Polk County Medical Center in Des Moines and he is also the adult leader of Troop 153. The Laugherys also have a younger son Ethan, 10, and daughter Cameron, 7.
“I think it’s great that we’ve got the bike trail coming through Yale,” Logan Laughery said. “I’ve been riding it since I was five or six years old. My grandparents Bob and Charlotte Schmidt live in Jefferson, and they both ride on the trail. I probably ride it myself 15 times a summer. Our Boy Scout troop has gone out and ridden together from Yale to Jefferson. During football season, I know we’ve had players from here in Yale and from Linden, down south of Panora, that have ridden their bicycles on the trail to practice every day at the high school. I like the scenic part of it, and besides, it’s just fun being out there on a bike.”
Donations for Laughery’s Eagle Scout project can be mailed to him in care of the City Hall, 230 Main Street, Yale, Iowa 50277.
Article Published: 03-13-2007
