"If this job had been put out to bid," said Frisby, "it would have been at least $50,000 just to fix what needed fixing, without all the cleanup."

That was $50,000 the BSA didn't have.

Besides the chance to actually build something, another reason so many construction majors showed up, said Todd Baxter, a sophomore from Baker City, Ore., and one of the 10 CM team leaders, had to do with Scouting itself.

"So many of us are Scouts, many of us Eagle Scouts," said Baxter. "What Scouting has done for us had a lot to do with why we came. It felt good to give something back."

"We all owe a lot to Scouting," added Nelson Porter, a senior from Canada and a Queen's Scout.

The job didn't quite get finished — it's a construction project, right? — but several of the CM students plan to return to the camp tomorrow to work on their punch list.

Everyone is now confident Camp Maple Dell, which welcomed its first Boy Scouts in 1947, will be open for business as usual on June 1.

But at that, the CM majors don't want to quit. Baxter said they'd like to return later this spring and build a new pavilion and maybe a new pool.

They may never get rid of these guys.

Lee Benson's column runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com.