The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
BSA sex abuse settlement prompts sale of 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 milelong 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 baling wire and chewing gum.”
A ‘perfect’ site
Patty Clifton worked alongside her husband, putting together the children’s camp since the mid 1980s. “I really hope that it will remain a wooded and green space. I’m very proud of what we’ve done — the summer camp program that has been my focus for the last 35 years.
“I was really hoping to someday passing it on,” she said. “I just hate the thought of it all ending. It would be a shame if turned into a housing development.”
The clock is ticking for fundraising and supporters are scrambling to come up with a solution, Langevin said, as the sellers will put it on the market soon.
And for the time being, the Cliftons have permission to stay at the camp until December.
Clifton said she takes pride in a well-developed program, and the parcel is a “perfect” site for summer camp activities. “We’re not into huge — we’re into more good, quality programs enriching kids’ lives, and teaching them to be good citizens and good humans,” she said.
Clifton, a camp accreditation visitor, sees many other camps in the region and said she is always pleased to see how Deer Lake stacks up. “I can tell you that this is, by far, the nicest piece of property I’ve been to, and I visit camps every summer — and I’m being objective. I’ve never seen anything like this.
“It’s just beautiful — a nice balance of lakes and fields, ledge and cliffs and wetlands. Perfect for any kind of nature study and exploration out into the woods. It would just be a shame if it could not continue,” she said.
“We’ve really maintained the forest,” she added, noting that her husband Ranger Mark Clifton, with a degree in geology and earth science, has worked with forestry professionals. “Everything is so perfectly groomed.”
They have also taken part in a program to reintroduce chestnut trees — once native to the state, but now extinct. Chestnut seedlings have been planted under the guidance of the American Chestnut Foundation.
Fond memories
One member of Save Deer Lake, Christine Forristall, a lifelong Killingworth resident who worked as a lifeguard while in high school and later promoted to waterfront director as a young adult, said the camp would be sorely missed. Her daughters, in fifth and seventh grades, are campers now, and her family hikes the trails year round.
“It was an amazing experience working with the kids — you were impacting the kids, too,” Forristall said. In that time, she estimates she worked with 150 kids a week for over 10 summers.
She grew up across the street from the park. Part of the fun was getting to her job, “I used to cross the waterfall every day to work.”
From her experience at the camp, Forristall now teaches the lifeguards for the Madison Beach and Recreation Department as well as set up their waterfront management plan.
While at Deer Lake, she said, “The whole program taught us to have an appreciation of not only nature, but getting outside of our comfort zone — knowing there’s a whole world out there that’s right in front of our face.”
“It’s more than just a camp to me and many others — it’s a great to not be in front of a screen,” she said, “to go out and explore the outdoors.”