Dick Dowline Picnic & Clean Up

Pack Service Project & Cub Scout Fun

25 April 2010

Twelve Cub Scouts and families from Pack 287 met at the Sabine Pass Battleground State Historical Site (Dick Dowling Park) on a Sunday afternoon to have a picnic, have some Cub Scout fun, and Do a Good Turn for our community.

We brought hot dogs to grill, but the wind was blowing so hard that we were concerned the charcoal would not light. Fortunately Mr. DeLeon brought his deep beach grill and got the hot dogs going. In the meantime, the boys learned some of the history of the battle, where Dick Dowling and his small band of heroic Confederate soldiers bombarded and defeated four Union gunboats and prevented Union forces from penetrating the Texas interior in 1863. Then, the "Rebel" Cub Scouts launched a defensive effort of their own against enemy forces (the leaders and parents), bombarding us with water balloons, and scoring a direct hit on an (unused) grill.

After a satisfying lunch, we took advantage of the windy conditions when Martha broke out some kites she had with her. The only problems that the boys had flying kites were strings breaking or kites getting torn up. The conditions could not have been more ideal!

Finally, we got down to business. As the main park had minimal trash, we walked along the beach past the boat launch to pick up the trash collected along the Intercoastal Waterway, including a number of items washed up by Hurricane Ike. Not only did we fill up a dozen bags of trash, but we hauled out four tires which were littering the shore.

Our pack feels strongly about being good stewards of our land and waterways, and we look forward to many such service projects in our future.