Scott Swanson
Scout’s Eagle project creates shelter for skate park, wins city recognition
Paden Tyler decided when he was about 13 that he wanted to be an Eagle Scout.
Paden, 17 and a senior at Sweet Home High School, has been a Boy Scout in Troop 363, directed by Rick Jones, since he was 11. He said he is just “a couple” of requirements away from earning his Eagle Scout badge, the ultimate rank in Boy Scouts, before he turns 18 in April.
I have a cousin, who lives in Texas, who’s an Eagle Scout and Bill Langdon, a good friend of our family, was an Eagle Scout,” Tyler said. His dad Lon was a Scout, but never progressed that far.
The big hurdle is the project that all Eagle Scouts must complete, which usually involves planning and design, fund-raising and coordinating volunteers. Paden decided to build a shelter for the city skate park to make it more accommodating for parents who might want to sit in the bleachers and watch their kids or keep an eye on them.
“It was a pretty simple concept,” he said. “I got the idea a couple of years ago. I saw the bleachers out there, exposed to the weather. I wanted to give parents a place to sit. This is not always a child-friendly place to be. I thought parents would probably be here if they had a place to sit that would give them shelter from the sun and rain.”
The project cost approximately $10,000, Paden said, but he got the city to finance $3,000 of it and a lot of the rest came from donations.
His father, Lon Tyler, is a framing contractor and has connections that allowed Paden to locate reclaimed timbers to create the roof, the frame for which they assembled in Lon’s shop. Paden said he got some of the wood from Patrick Wilkins of Eugene, owner of Emerald Valley Reclaimed Timber, and some large support beams from Dean Larson of Custom Excavating in Astoria. The cross beams are from a pier in Astoria, Paden said. He got timber grading help from Pennington Crossarms.
He said South Fork Lumber sold him materials at cost and Langdon, who is a contractor in Lebanon, gave him use of a backhoe, a skid steer and a dump truck.
“He’s not making me pay for any of it,” he said. “It was really generous on his part.”
Paden said he is also getting help from his father, Tim Meyers, his scoutmaster and Grant Jones, Rick’s son.
Paden, who said he hopes to become a contractor himself, estimated that “well over 100” hours of work was required before the structure was ready to erect, which took place Dec. 6-7.
The project impressed city planners to the extent that they named it one of eight Quality Development Award winners for 2012.
“There’s so much paperwork,” he said. “You have to get a permit and get approval. The police had to make sure (the structure) wasn’t obstructing the view of the camera they use to watch the skate park.”