THE SUSQUEHANNA LOOKOUT

July 4, 1971 Camp Susquehanna, New Milford, Pennsylvania 18834

Tennis Report

 After only one week, the tennis program is off to an exciting start. With the addition of new leaded tapes and a new roller, the courts appear to be in fine shape. Such beginners as Mark Rogers, Curtis Rist, Jim Schmutz, and Pete Macabe have shown great promise in learning the fundamental strokes.

Additionally, with the aid of fine weather and the excellent coaching of John "really" Brearly and Andy "Rocky" Bershad, the courts have been busy throughout the day. More interest has been shown than in previous years, with nearly half the camp signing up for tennis. As a result, the number of classes has been increased to five, with eight players in most of them.

In short, all should have a fun and constructive summer on the tennis courts.

Andy Bershad


A Close Call

 By Adam Owett & Scott Shostak

It was a cool summer night at the waterfront, a few of us slept around the fire (some closer than others). In fact, one camper was sleeping with half his sleeping bag in the fire!

This unbelievable camper slept while his sleeping bag was aflame. Even once he was awakened and told about his sleeping bag, he just coughed and started back to sleep! He finally woke with a big surprise saw that his sleeping bag had a hole in it as big as any normal LP record. Now we will tell you who this unbelievable camper is: Mark Schlossman!


The Big Hunt

 Thursday night the lower camp participated in the first big scavenger hunt of the 1971 camp season. As the opening whistle sounded, everyone charged out of the clearing and into the woods, in search of salamanders, worms, and used BBs.

Tim Joyce was one of the first contestants to come racing back to the clearing , after counting the number of canoes at the waterfront, and finding a huge toad in the process. Teddy Forbath found five different leaves, a piece of moss, and a skyhook! But the going got tough as the articles came in. Greg Vogel was seen chasing a moth across the clearing, while Scott Orr looked everywhere for a mosquito. Finally unit seven completed the list and the searchers retires, weary but happy.


Camp is Saddened

 Bill Kinney, friend of all and Camp Susquehanna's own favorite disc jockey, passed away in his sleep Thursday morning, July 1st at his home in Johnson City, New York. Bill was seventy-one years old last October. A professional boxer in his younger days, Bill was a referee for many years following his retirement from the ring. For over forty years he operated a machine in a shoe factory in Johnson City. Following his retirement from manufacturing shoes, Bill and his wife Hatch, a Registered Nurse decided to spend their summers with young people. Bill became an Administrative Assistant at Camp Susquehanna in 1968, and has been in charge of the Program Office each season since then. His friendly nature and fantastic announcements on the public address system will long be remembered by everyone who has known him at Camp Susquehanna, and is missed by all. Mrs. Kinney plans to return to the camp infirmary a little later this season.


The Story of the Break-In

 Last Fall as we were driving up to camp we saw a light in the 'A' building. When we stopped at the end of the walk, a kid ran by our car, and we tried to get Gina to go after him. When my father went into the building, he caught one of the boys, and found out who both of them were. We called the police, and then had to clean up the 'A' building. They got into everything from a first aid kit to clothes. They rammed the Jolly Green into the kitchen gate, and drove it without water so we had to get a new motor for it. They ruined the VW bus, and they got into some candy left in the canteen. We found that they had scrambled some eggs in a popcorn popper, and ate a box of Slim Jims while watching TV in the back room. The boys were 13 and 14 years old, and we had been talking to one of them just before we closed camp. He knew when we were leaving, and they broke in a day or two later.


Program Office Orderlies

A new opportunity has opened for Susquehanna campers this year, the chance to be a Program Office Orderly. Orderlies will usually work in teams of two, serving for one hour at a time. The hour of duty will be during free period or the time just before lunch or dinner. While on duty, Program Office Orderlies will make announcements, will play the record of bugle calls for the program schedule, and will be in charge of the switchboard. Only those campers designated as Program Office Orderlies will be allowed to serve. If you have not signed up, and wish to be an Orderly, see Mr. Schroder at the Office.


Next Week

Read the true life adventure story in next week's Lookout - "A Camp Comes to Camp" or "Lash's Ace Trucking Company gets Moving" or "Hey, Ma! Dig that Crazy House Trailer with Two Guys Playing Hockey on the Roof". It's unbelievable, fantastic, impossible, it's Lash.


Musing with Michelson

 With Eric Michelson (Our roving reporter)

To usher in the only full month of camping of the season of '71, Thursday we suffered the worst thunderstorm since the flood of '69, when half of the lake road (the road leading from the main camp to Camp Equinita to the lake in which we swim) was deposited on our waterfront beach. That was also the year when campers, as well as the counselors, C.I.T.s, and the directors all gathered around the flagpole on their knees and started a ritual of praying to the Almighty (whoever he might be) to please stop the raining.

But we really got hit with a doozer. It all started at approximately 2:10 in the afternoon, with a few flashes of lightning here and there, along with an occasional role of thunder. There was no noticeable precipitation.

At about 2:30, the cloud above us decided to take all its tension out of poor, defenseless us. Of course, we were overwhelmed. (Wouldn't you be?) Visibility was limited to our nasal arches, and to complicate matters, you couldn't walk any faster or farther than one tiny step. (May I?) Lightning flashed all over the place, here, there, and everywhere. It frequently hit trees in the woods around us. The rain then thundered down in bucketfulls, with only a few breaks here and there where the rain came down as a drizzle.

Turning to the human relations side of the rain, I asked several campers what they thought about the rain. Danny Myers said, "It's very dull looking, but, uh, this camp needs it. I think it needs it now, it hasn't been raining."

Bobby Dobbs replied, "I think it is good."

Jose Carrera said while reading a comic book (Superman #210 Oct., for all you collectors out there) "It is cold and wetty." You can tell he really put a lot of thought into that answer.

I am sure that campers here at Susquehanna look forward to another storm of this calibre to get away from the pedestrian incumberants of the routine camp schedule.

Eric Michelson


Unit Day Impressions...

 First we went on a hike. We all got tired and Todd Schroder found a toad. We went to a stone quarry, but had to be careful in case of snakes. It was hot, so we came back to camp and went swimming. We had hamburgers for our cookout.

- Phil Halpern (7 1/2)

We went to Barn Number Two. We played a game, and I saw a moonshiner when I got up at twelve o'clock. He walked towards the barn in a little lot where there was tall grass. And then we got up in the morning and we walked back to camp, and took a shower, and then ate breakfast.

- Billy Doolittle (10)




Home | History | Yearbooks | Unit Signs | Lookouts