By:LARRY MAIER
Construction delays frustrate, educate local Boy Scout
Quite often, the most important lessons learned in life are the ones learned the hard way.
Arthur Rollin had hoped to shortly be putting the finishing touches on a police pagoda in Silver Lake Park that would stand as a remembrance to Baldwin police officers killed in the line of duty.
The construction of the pagoda was to be the final leg of the Baldwin teenager's journey to become an Eagle Scout.
But a recent setback has delayed the project considerably and jeopardized the chances that the pagoda will be completed by May 9, Arthur's 18th birthday and the deadline for completion of Eagle Scout projects.
The holdup stems from a miscommunication between Arthur, the Nassau County Department of Parks and Recreation and the Nassau County Police Department.
After agreeing with a number of county officials on a site in Silver Lake Park for the pagoda, Arthur and his Boy Scout troop, 182, were ready to break ground.
On Saturday, March 24, Arthur, members of his troop, and other volunteers spent the day digging the footing and laying the cement foundation for the pagoda.
The following Monday, Arthur received a phone call from Richard Giannoccora, the county's assistant deputy commissioner of parks.
He told me that one neighbor had called and complained that it was going to be an eyesore. He said we were going to have to move it,said Arthur, who is the son of Gen and Arthur Rollin of Carnation Avenue. I was mad. And disappointed for everyone who worked so hard that day.
It seems there was a misunderstanding as to who was to knock on doors in the neighborhood and ask residents if they had any objections to the project. Arthur thought the county was doing it and the county thought Arthur was making the rounds.
The incident has taught Arthur a valuable lesson. Always get things in writing,he said, and laughed. Since beginning his Eagle Scout project, Arthur has learned other lessons as well.
It was a little over a year ago when Arthur began to think about what he wanted to do for his Eagle Scout project.
I wanted something that the whole community could enjoy, that was visible, and that was difficult to do,he said.
A picture in his father's Baldwin Fire Department 100th Anniversary Yearbook of the police pagoda that once stood at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Merrick Road provided Arthur with an answer. He would try to reproduce the pagoda and dedicate it to fallen police officers.
Arthur's first step was to find out if the county had any blueprints for the pagoda. That job was more difficult than it seemed. He got out the phone book and started making calls.
It actually took a couple of months just to figure out that the county didn't have any blueprints,Arthur said. One department just kind of sends you to another.
It was Arthur's first foray into the world of local politics and, he said, a real eye opener.
Arthur was able to work with a local architect and draw up plans from the old pictures. The next challenge became finding a site for the pagoda. Original plans to place the pagoda at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Foxhurst Avenue had to be scrapped because of parking and traffic concerns.
Getting the okay from the county to locate it in Silver Lake Park took several months, as did getting permission from the police department to dedicate the pagoda to fallen officers.
An ongoing challenge has been fundraising. Arthur has received donations ranging from jars of screws and nails, to checks both large and small, generous supplies of lumber and building materials, and construction expertise from many local residents and businesses. He even received a donation of pizza from two pizzerias, to feed the hungry troops as they worked on the pagoda's foundation.
The fundraising has been both a pleasant and a frustrating experience.
I like how people can be so generous, people I don't even know,Arthur said.
The frustrating part has been not hearing back from many of the commercial businesses he solicited for supplies. It makes it tough to know where he stands, he said.
Overall, the year-long experience has taught him many lessons that not every 17-year-old gets to learn first-hand.
I've definitely learned that sometimes it's not what you know but who you know,Arthur said, referring to the number of people he has met along the way who have helped him develop the project.
Arthur said he has also learned about the power that ordinary people have to make things happen. If you leave stuff to the local government, it doesn't always get done,he said. But the community can get a lot done when it works together.
Arthur's Scout Master, Christopher Mercurio, said Arthur's Eagle Scout project is one of the most ambitious he has seen a scout pursue. Part of the goal of the project, said Mercurio, is to teach young men responsibility and the importance of covering all the bases.
