For the past couple of years, Nathan Tew had quit taking part in Boy Scout activities.

He had gotten a job and was busy with school. Still, the junior at Roseburg High School wanted to finish one last project so he could earn the rank of Eagle Scout.

"I wanted to find a project and get it done," said Tew, 17, who chose to spruce up the roses planted along the base of Roseburg's Mount Nebo.

Only about 4 percent of all Boy Scouts fulfill the requirements for scouting's highest achievement. Since 1911, about 1 million Scouts have become Eagle Scouts.

The percentage of Douglas County residents who earn recognition as Eagle Scouts is a bit higher, 5 percent, said Chris McCullough, who reviews Eagle Scout projects for the Douglas Fir District. Twenty to 30 local Scouts finish the Eagle requirements each year.

To earn the rank, Scouts must complete requirements in the areas of leadership, service and outdoor skills. They must complete at least 21 merit badges -- given to show proficiency in a particular discipline -- in areas such as citizenship, fitness, first aid, communications, family life, camping and personal management.

The Eagle program is aimed at helping a Scout show leadership in a service project that benefits the local community. The Scout has to come up with an idea, develop a plan for carrying it out and find helpers. The Roseburg-based Douglas Fir District recommends that at least 100 hours be spent on the project, although many Scouts spend many more.

"They can't just go out and paint a building. It has to involve leadership, putting together a plan and arranging for a crew to do the work," said Keith Cubic, who also oversees local Eagle projects.

All of the requirements for the project must be met before a Scout turns 18. The youngest a Scout could earn an Eagle Scout ranking is about age 13, said McCullough, himself an Eagle Scout.

In the late 1980s, McCullough, now 33, worked to make two bridges on the Delta Nature Trail in the Willamette National Forest accessible to handicapped people. He spent 356 hours on the project for the trail near Cougar Reservoir, east of Blue River.

Most of the local Eagle Scouts finish up when they're 16 or 17, he said. McCullough was 17 when he completed his.

President Gerald Ford was an Eagle Scout, as were Olympic triple jumper Willie Banks, former NBA great and U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Apollo astronaut James Lovell Jr.

Life Scout Mike Godsey, 17, a senior at South Umpqua High School in Tri City, carried out his Eagle Scout project last weekend. Godsey developed an identification kit that parents could use to supply police with personal information if their children were ever kidnapped.

He set up a booth outside Wal-Mart where hundreds of children had their photographs taken, along with fingerprints and a DNA sample. Those items were all placed into a kit that were handed back to the children's parents. The kits had room to record other personal information about the youngsters and space to place new photographs as they got older.

When he decided to take on the rose project, Tew, a member of Troop 195, didn't realize the extent of the work that was needed. Bark mulch and manure added to the soil when the roses were planted in the late 1990s had became a breeding ground for weeds. Even though offender work crews from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office had periodically come in and weeded the plot, the unwanted plants had taken over by the time Tew got started last summer.

More than 1,000 Blaze roses donated by Jackson & Perkins of Medford were planted in 1998 by a group spearheaded by former Roseburg dentist and legislator Andy Anderson, jeweler Alan Knudtson and Paul Sykes, then a member of the Roseburg City Council. The roses were planted on three levels along the side of the hill, among 1,300 railroad ties brought in and stacked up.

Anderson's health deteriorated and he later died, while both Knudtson and Sykes found themselves with less time to help maintain the roses.

<b>Eagle program</b> at a glance Eagle Scouts are the highest honor in the Boy Scout program. Requires completion of projects that build skills in the areas of leadership, service and outdoor skills. <b>Merit Badges:</b> Scouts must earn merit badges, which signify the mastery of certain skills, in at least 21 of 120 available areas of interest. Twelve are mandatory: citizenship in the community, nation and world, communications, environmental science, fitness, personal management, camping and family life, along with a choice between emergency preparedness and lifesaving and between cycling, hiking and swimming. <b>Eagle project:</b> The Scout must plan, develop and provide leadership to others in a project that benefits a school, community or church. The project must be approved in advance by Scout leaders and is evaluated after the work is completed. <b>Numbers:</b> About 4 percent of all Boy Scouts attain the rank of Eagle Scout. In Douglas County, it is a little higher, about 5 percent. Since 1911, more than 1 million Boy Scouts have become Eagle Scouts. <b>Boy Scout information: </b> (800) 801-4430 Local branch: http://www.geocities.com/otc_scouts

Tew, who works evenings and weekends at Abby's Pizza on Northeast Stephens Street, originally thought he would be able to finish the project in a matter of weeks. He envisioned getting all of the work done last August. Clearing all the weeds took him and a group of helpers until the end of December.

"My Scoutmaster and I thought it would only take a couple of days out there," he said, laughing. "It was so infested with weeds."

It took only one work day to clear out the weeds from the end of the rock face of Mount Nebo to West Harvard Avenue, paralleling the Interstate 5 onramp. However, it took four full days to get rid of the weeds along the rock wall, where the weeds grew taller and were more plentiful.

"There was more grass here," Tew said, pointing toward the open area before gazing back to the rock wall. "Over there, there were a lot of thistles."

About a dozen friends and other Scouts helped Tew with his project. The number of people who showed up on a given day varied from five to 12. Besides getting rid of the weeds, the group also added bark mulch to the rose beds.

He laughed at the memory of pushing a wheelbarrow full of mulch along the narrow path toward Harvard Avenue in rainy weather. The mud along the path made it hard to push the one-wheel cart and the crew had to push it back and forth over a long distance to where the mulch was.

Tew estimates he logged between 150 to 175 hours on the project. And although that might be more than he had anticipated, he's proud of the results.

"I had never noticed them before. I had driven by millions of times. Roses, what roses? Now, I see them every time I go by," Tew said.

"Some projects have a lasting physical impact on the community," McCullough said. "Others, such as Mike's, leave something with parents that could be used later."

Traditionally, many of the Eagle projects involve building or painting something, Godsey said. He wanted to find something different, he said.

Godsey, a member of a coed Venturing Scout group, Troop 127, spent about two months researching ideas. During that time, he discovered that a few Scouts in other parts of the United States had developed a child ID kit. He wasn't aware of such a project being done locally, so he decided that would make a good activity.

"The whole point of this project is to have all of this information in one spot if a child goes missing -- a name, description, fingerprints and a DNA sample," Godsey said.

Godsey worked with deputies from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and agents from the FBI to develop the kit and decide what elements would be included. A computer was used to print digital photographs. Deputy David Bartley took fingerprints. Other volunteers used a swab to collect a DNA sample from inside each child's mouth.

All of the information and samples collected for the kits were given to the parents. The police agencies did not hang onto any of it.

Lisa Blix said she thought putting together the kits was a good idea. The Roseburg resident, waiting in line with her children Jadeann, 6, and Kaleb, 15 weeks, said she was concerned by an increasing number of child kidnappings taking place throughout the country.

"There's been a lot more kids taken. It provides more security," Blix said. "I don't know what I would do if someone took them."

Originally, Godsey planned to operate his booth somewhere in Myrtle Creek. Later, he decided he might reach a larger audience in Roseburg. He would like to see the project, which involved about 300 hours of work, become an annual event.

"I would like to see my troop or another Scout group take it on," he said.



* You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.