BSA sex abuse settlement prompts sale of popular camp

KILLINGWORTH — Deer Lake Camp, a popular 35-year-old children’s summer camp and Boy Scout wilderness reservation, is up for sale in connection with the Boy Scouts of America’s $850 million sex abuse settlement.

Deer Lake, an unspoiled 255-acre wilderness site, is an attraction for hikers — it’s part of a trail system linking Chatfield Hollow and Cockaponset State Forest — as well as former campers and neighbors.

The camp boasts a mile-long spring-fed lake, a swimming area in a “kettle” (a lake or pond created by retreating flood waters or glaciers) called the lagoon, as well as manicured trails in pristine forest.

And, nearly everyone mentions the unique glacier rock formation called “Fat Man’s Squeeze” that children love to explore.

The private Save Deer Lake Facebook group was created just two days after an announcement was made informally last week that Connecticut Yankee Council Boy Scouts of America wanted to sell the camp, according to Ted Langevin, a scout leader, chairman of Pack 491 in Madison and member of the Quinnipiac district committee.

Many on Facebook posted comments that they were surprised about the potential sale of the property and closing of the camp. Former campers, lifeguards, parents and volunteers were brainstorming online how to prevent its loss.

“They’re really going to miss it if we can’t pull this off,” Langevin said.

“Many of the people that have joined the group — we’ve gotten close to 200 people — they’ve reacted because they were childhood campers or their kids went. They’re up in arms,” Langevin said.

The summer camp rebounded after the pandemic and has remained popular for all of its years, he said. “We usually have a waiting list — this year was no exception,” Langevin said.

According to Langevin, group members hope to raise enough money or get grants to buy the camp, ensure the land remains preserved or attract a large donor or buyer.

$850 million settlement

The parcel was appraised between $3.7 million to $4.2 million. Some $2.6 million will go to the Boy Scouts of America, Langevin said, to help pay the local council’s assessed share of the $850 million sex abuse settlement signed off on by a judge in August

to pay the tens of thousands of abuse victims, according to claimsjournal.com.

“The $850 million agreement is between the Boy Scouts national organization and about 250 local councils along with law firms representing about 70,000 former scouts who allege they were molested,” the website states. “A fund for survivors would receive about $250 million from the national Boy Scouts and $600 million from local councils, along with insurance rights.”

The Save Deer Lake Facebook page’s mission is to raise enough money to either buy the camp outright or to “make sure that the land is protected as an educational and recreational camp or as a conservation area.”

Other Boy Scout facilities in the state also up for sale as part of the settlement are the Connecticut Yankee Council headquarters in Milford and Camp Pomperaug in Union, according to Langevin.

At Save Deer Lake, members discuss the possibility of garnering a state grant, approaching the town of Killingworth for funds, as well as setting up a GoFundMe page and talking to potential donors.

Group members also suggest splitting the parcel into two pieces: an “unimproved section” to sell to the state or other entity to preserve the forest and trails, and the camp portion separately to an organization or owner wanting to continue its operation.

That way, Langevin said, “It would be less expensive and attractive to somebody looking to run a camp.”

For Langevin, the beauty of Deer Lake unique: “It’s a very peaceful place — you kind of get this feeling of all the world is outside, and you’re just watching the sunset on the lake. What it does on the lake is amazing.”

Camp Ranger Mark Clifton and his wife Patty have worked and lived at the camp for some 35 years. They’ve been a big part of the facility during their time there.

“Mark and Patty — they were a young couple — the camp was in a shambles. Essentially, they built it back up with their bare hands,” Langevin said. “The house was uninhabitable.

“They’ve been there ever since. Scouting is a nonprofit organization — they have never seemed to have enough to do what was needed to do,” Langevin said.

The couple, he said, seemed to be “sticking it together with bailing wire and chewing gum.”