An Eagle Scout Project for 'Old Glory'

A group of Boy Scouts from Troop 62 wore shorts and T-shirts on a cloudy Saturday morning, as they applied coats of blue paint to wooden flag boxes they had built inside Chris McCauley's garage. McCauley, 15, a junior at Masuk High School, oversaw the project in his quest to earn the rank of Eagle Scout, one that few Scouts ever attain.

"A lot of people have flags and they don't know how to retire them properly," he said of the Stars And Stripes.

Once the project is complete, McCauley said townspeople will be able to drop their flags off in the boxes, which will be kept at Monroe Town Hall, the Monroe Senior Center, Edith Wheeler Memorial Library and the Monroe Police Department. He said each box can hold about 50 flags.

The Troop 62 website will be posted outside each box, so people can send an email when it is full. Then McCauley said those flags will be retired by Boy Scouts in a ceremony held around a campfire.

McCauley, who has been a Boy Scout since 2006, currently holds the rank of Life Scout. The ranking of Life Scout, along with earning certain merit badges, are needed before a Scout can even consider pursuing his Eagle.

McCauley said he got the idea for the flag boxes from talking to Chris Nowacki, deputy director of Monroe Public Works.

The project is outlined in a thick book in which McCauley included information such as a detailed description, photos of the buildings where the flag boxes will go and work schedules. He said he built a scale model of a flag box as part of the presentation before a Board of Review.

Nowacki, Liz Kraynik, Patricia Day and a Unit Committee member signed off on McCauley's project.

Once the project was appoved, McCauley had to display leadership in getting other Scouts to volunteer. He could not do any of the work himself, rather it was his job to make sure everything was done correctly.

Before the Scouts started their work, which involved an electric saw and nail guns, McCauley said he had to give them a safety briefing with tips including, "Don't eat paint."

McCauley's parents, Brian, who is a lieutenant in the Monroe Police Department, and Jodi made sure doughnuts were on hand for the work crew Saturday. Work on the project had actually started the day before.

Carol St. John, a Trumbull school teacher, sat in a chair outside and corrected papers, while her son, Eddie Lucano, painted a flag box in the garage a few feet away.

"It's a great idea, because so many people don't know what to do with the flags," she said of the project. "It's nice seeing the older kids show the younger ones how to use the equipment, like the nail gun."

The flag boxes appeared to be sturdy, though the color wasn't exactly what McCauley was going for.

"I tried for Boy Scout blue paint," he said, adding with a smile, "It looks more like recycle bin blue."