Missoula County Detention Officer and Assistant Camp Director Patrick Tveraa gives a high five to camper Owen Doyle. "You're awesome, Pat," said Doyle. "So are you, buddy," said Tveraa.
The Seeley Lake Volunteer Fire Department joined the fun at Camp Paxson and allowed the campers to check out the engine and play with the hoses.
Campers participate in a flag ceremony every day. In the morning they raise the flag with the National Anthem and in the evening they lower the flag, fold it and close the day with Revelry.
SEELEY LAKE – The campers at the Missoula County Law Enforcement Youth Camp at Camp Paxson were playing games for more than peanuts this week. Boys ages 10 and 11 had the opportunity to build relationships with local law enforcement officers (LEO), increase their self confidence and learn a new respect for themselves, each other and the flag.
Missoula County Sheriff T.J. McDermott was one of the 20-40 LEOs that helped at the camp at any given time. He attended the annual barbeque and Peanut Carnival.
"This is a unique opportunity for our youth to interact with local law enforcement, city, county and juvenile officers," said Missoula County Sheriff T.J. McDermott. "They can have a positive interaction in a beautiful area like Seeley Lake at a wonderful camp. This is something truly unique and something that we are very proud of. We support the youth camp and it has become a tradition to send and handful of our deputies to work at the camp. I think for some of the kids this truly is their summer vacation, this is their family vacation that is missing. It gives them a chance to come to the lake, recreate, have fun playing games, learn new things, and interact with positive role models."
The camp was moved to Camp Paxson 38 years ago. Other Missoula County law enforcement agencies including the Sheriff's Department, Juvenile Detention Center, Department of Corrections, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Montana Highway Patrol have also participated when staffing would allow.
Boys are referred to the camp primarily through the school system or recommended by other associated agencies. Whether it is because they are considered a high-risk youth, have gotten in trouble in the past, their family could not afford a camp experience or because they are good kids that love the outdoors, the boys are welcomed with no labels for four days at no charge for the camp.
Every morning the day starts with the National Anthem and raising the flag. The day closes with taking the flag down, folding it and Revelry is played.
"It means a lot to be able to teach these kids what the flag actually means and the respect that it should have," said the Assistant Camp Director Patrick Tveraa who works at the Missoula County Detention Center. "With military vets and law enforcement officers, dealing with what they deal with every day and actually fighting for our freedom, it is really important that [the campers] understand how important the flag is to us and should be to them."
Camper Owen Doyle has never participated in a flag ceremony until this camp.
"I love that we have freedom for our country," said Doyle. "I've learned how to fold the flag and to have respect for it."
Doyle said that his family has a flag that was flown over the White House at Christmas. He hopes to hang it up at home. "Now I know how to do it right."
The camp has the regular camp activities including arts and crafts, games and water front activities included swimming, kayaking, canoeing, boat rides and fishing. This year they added permanent marker tattoos which were very popular with campers.
The camp is steeped in more than 50 years of tradition. Some of the traditional events include Land and Water Olympics and the Peanut Carnival.
At the Peanut Carnival, each cabin is tasked with creating a game that all the campers play for peanuts. They are each given a bag of peanuts to "spend" to play the games. They "pay" each cabin peanuts to play the game and can earn peanuts for completing the task. Individual cabin members then add their earnings to the cabin collection for the final weigh-in. The cabin with the most wins the carnival and a tub of Red Vine licorice.
This year's games included an action figure shoot out, Frisbee golf toss, peanut toss for points, catch-the-peanut in the mouth, football toss, lure pitch and arrest and opponent. Cabin 5 won the Carnival this year.
"We want to get the good publicity out for law enforcement [in a time when there is so much negativity]," said Tveraa. "We are not the accused ones that are doing anything wrong. We are here to just have fun with these kids."
Tveraa's intent is to continue to grow the camp and include campers ages 10-12. He hopes that adding 12-year-olds will allow brothers who have attended the camp to encourage their younger siblings to come.
"We want to provide good male and female role models and positive influences for these kids," said Tveraa. "And we want to inspire counselors to be the ultimate person and role model that these kids need. We aren't the bad guys, we are the good guys and we are here to help. That's what it is all about."
For more information, find the Missoula Law Enforcement Youth Camp on Facebook.
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