Rossville Troop 337

Dane Snyder of Troop 337, Rossville, recently led his troop through the completion of an analemmatic sundial at Camp Cullom's Prairie Grass Observatory (PGO). The sundial itself was created in a 13-foot x 20-foot section of the Observatory. PGO visitors using the sundial on sunny days are required to stand on a block representing a particular month and then read the time of day based upon where their shadow is cast. The sundial attempts to deliver both normal and daylight saving's time readings.

A chart associated with the sundial was created by Snyder and is mounted on a building beside the sundial so that visitors can "correct" the time based upon the analemma associated with each month.

Snyder and 12 of his fellow troop members put in over 250 man hours in the creation of the sundial which is comprised of concrete blocks anchored and set in a grassy area of the observatory. Observatory volunteers Russ Kaspar, John Mahoney, and Hoppy Bray all provided detailed insights and assisted in the completion of the project.

Completes Eagle project

Nick Grady of Rossville Boy Scout Troop 337 has completed an Eagle Scout project that required his fellow scouts to clean tombstones at Zion Cemetery near Monitor in Tippecanoe County. Under the scrutiny of Lou Ann Clugh, Grady assembled necessary cleaning equipment and 10 fellow troop members at the cemetery. After a brief instruction and training session, the scouts set to work removing mold and the discoloration from tombstones belonging to United States war veterans.

A "before" picture was taken of each tombstone. After the tombstones were cleaned another picture was taken to show the improvements made. The resulting pictures are to be placed on the web to assist others in tracing genealogy.

The troop managed to find 38 out of the 40 veterans' tombstones expected to be located within the cemetery.