2017 April PASO Magazine

PASO BOY SCOUTS HOLD OPEN HOUSE DEDICATION FOR NEW BUILDING
By Chuck Desmond
On a beautiful and sunny Saturday,
March 4th, Troop 60 Esteemed Eagle
Lodge held a dedication ceremony
and open house for its new building
on the campus at 23rd and Oak. With
130 people in attendance, Scoutmaster
Steve von Dohlen said, “Well, that
does it. We need to build a new building.
We've already outgrown this brand
new hall!” The who's who in Paso were
gathered for sure. It was another testimonial
to the power of scouting that
helps sculpt young men into successful
adults. Mayor Steve Martin, present
and past 1st District Supervisors, John
Peschong and Harry Ovitt, Supervisor
Debbie Arnold, regional Scout executives
plus a cadre of successful business,
city and community leaders were in
attendance along with current scouts,
moms, dads and siblings.
It was back in 1956 when Richard
Smithen was Scoutmaster of Troop
63 which was sponsored by Rotary.
Troop 62 was also in Paso with Robert
Smeltzer as its Scoutmaster. It
was sponsored by Kiwanis. The two
troops merged and became Troop
60 with Richard at the helm until
1972. Throughout Richard's successful
career, he never lost his contact
with Paso's scouts. Two years ago,
he popped in just to see how things
Ribbon cutting – Scouts, Pat Crawford, Debbie Viborg, Paul Viborg cutting,
Sandy Viborg and John Hamon officially open the new Curtis Cropper Hall.
were going. What he saw were so
many scouts yet barely enough room.
He approached John Hamon, president
of the board foundation that
oversees the property, with a suggestion
to tear down one of the two
buildings and erect a new one.
That led to a conversation
with avid scout supporter
Ole Viborg. His son,
Paul, and grandson, Ole,
are both Eagle Scouts. The
Viborg family decided to go
all in and make it happen. The
full story of how things unfolded from
that point on is in your February issue
of PASO Magazine.
With John Hamon as Master of
Ceremonies, the event started with
Scoutmaster von Dohlen's Color
Guard performing a flag-raising ceremony
followed by a Flag salute. Immediately
after that, with the Viborg family
on one side and Ms. Pat Crawford
(Curtis Cropper's sister) on the other,
an official ribbon cutting was done
by Paul Viborg which officially
opened the building.
As the guests moved indoors
into the building's
large hall, Hamon provided
some history and perspective
on how El Paso de Robles as a
community, came together to make
the new building go from an idea to
a functional facility that will be used
by so many levels of local scouts from
Cubs to all sorts of advanced ranks.
First on the list was an extremely
well-deserved thanks to Scoutmaster
von Dohlen who has been in charge
since 2007. Some very passionate
speeches were made about how scouting
indeed shaped lives for so many in
the room. The hall itself is named the
Curtis Cropper Hall. Curtis Cropper
was a Roblan from his birth in 1943.
His best friend, Bill Fell, Assistant
Scoutmaster Dave Kudija, and Curtis'
sister gave eulogies of sorts, as to how
scouting became so important to the
heroic man that died in a plane crash
during the Viet Nam War. When
Kiwanis did a refurbishment of the
building in 1975, they decided to name
the hall after Curtis to honor his life of
service. Photos and mementos including
the bugle Curtis played as a Paso
Scout were presented to Scoutmaster
von Dohlen.
Please see SCOUTS page 21
Curtis Cropper's bugle
20 PASO Magazine, April 2017