Scout hut may have to move for Patterson park project

Area Boy Scout leaders are upset that plans to renovate Morey Park on Main Street in Patterson appear to include getting rid of a Scout hut they say has stood at the park for 58 years.
Assistant Scoutmaster Phillip Begley of Troop 41 in Patterson said the troop’s Scout hut was built in 1957 after the original hut burned down. Troop 41 was chartered by the Boy Scouts of America in 1942, when the original Scout hut was constructed, he said.
Begley said troop leaders originally had a verbal agreement with city officials to allow the hut to stay there, but that agreement appears to no longer be acceptable. City officials approached the troop last year about plans to renovate Morey Park where the hut is located, Begley said.
“No Boy Scout has ever set foot in my office to discuss this matter with me,” Mayor Rodney Grogan said. “I have yet to hear from any Boy Scout leader to call me or talk to me personally about it.”
Troop 41 has been maintaining the Scout hut for more than 58 years and has kept the building in good condition, Begley said.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the Lower Atchafalaya Cultural-Main Street Committee is scheduled to submit its proposal for improvements to Morey Park. At that time, the council will be able to vote whether to accept the plans, Grogan said.
If the troop’s Scout hut is torn down, the Scouts could meet at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Patterson, Begley said.
“But meeting at the Knights of Columbus Hall, it just wouldn’t be the same,” Begley said. “It wouldn’t be the boys’ own hut.”
The troop is chartered through the Knights of Columbus 1710 in Patterson after originally being chartered through the Patterson Rotary Club, which disbanded in 2013, Begley said. The troop meets each Tuesday and Cub Scout Pack 339 also uses the hut, Begley said.
Cultural Committee member Frank Guarisco, who has been involved in Boy Scouts for more than 50 years with Troop 41, said, “Scouting has really been good to this area, and we need scouting.”
Guarisco serves on the Boys Scouts of America Evangeline Area Council Executive Board.
At a May 22 meeting, the majority of the Cultural Committee voted not to include the hut in the plans to renovate Morey Park, Guarisco said. Even though Guarisco and one other committee member voted to allow for the hut to be moved to the side of the park, it couldn’t be moved without being torn down and rebuilt, Guarisco said.
If possible, Guarisco “would the love the Scout hut to stay in that area” and maybe move somewhere close to Morey Park, he said.
The project to improve Morey Park will be a great addition to Patterson along the Lower Atchafalaya River, but the Scout hut doesn’t fit into the plans at the park, Guarisco said.
No deeds exist for the property where the hut is located, Grogan said. Patterson Pavilion & Amusement Co. owned the land back in the 1920s, but that company no longer exists, he said.
City Attorney Russel Cremaldi said once city officials made plans to improve the park using public funds, they wanted to make sure they had the proper title to the property, Cremaldi said.
The city has a deed for the front of the Morey Park property but hasn’t been able to find a deed for the back of the property, Cremaldi said. However, the city has maintained that property going back to at least to the early 1940s, Cremaldi said.
The city has filed a lawsuit against the now-defunct Patterson Pavilion & Amusement Co. in order to try to attain ownership of the property, Cremaldi said. If an entity maintains property and treats the property as though that entity is the owner for at least 30 years, it can then claim ownership of the property, he said.
Grogan wants to ensure, if the scout hut stays in Morey Park, the legality of having a private entity on public property, he said. Also, if the hut remains, city officials would need to determine whether the public would have to be allowed access to use it, he said.
In the meantime, Grogan is trying to see if someone will donate a piece of property adjacent to the park for the Boy Scouts to use, he said.
The mayor cited a city ordinance from 1942 that allowed the Boys Scouts to construct the hut, but also stipulated that the city had the authority to remove the building and give a 90-day notice, Grogan said. However, the first phase of renovations to the park probably won’t start until 2016, anyway, Grogan said.
Through Begley and his wife’s research, so far, Troop 41’s scout hut is the third oldest they’ve located in the entire country that is solely used as a scout hut, Begley said.
Assistant Scoutmaster Leo Grizzaffi Jr. of Troop 49 in Morgan City said the Scout hut is “far more” than just a meeting place for scouts. Scout huts “are places of history,” Grizzaffi said.
“They (Scout huts) mean so much to so many of us who have served as scout leaders and watched these young boys grow up into fine young men and leaders of our country,” Grizzaffi said. “We can’t look at that building as just a shack that can be torn down because it’s still such a useful and integral part of our community and has such a deep, steeped history for the people of our community.”
Troop 41 members are “our brothers in scouting,” Grizzaffi said. The present scoutmaster of Troop 49 is a former Scout in Troop 41, Grizzaffi said.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com.