Scout project larger than life

WOODS CROSS, Utah — Tommy Smith, 15, has undertaken one of the most ambitious

Eagle Scout projects around — he's raising $35,000 to commission a

bronze statue to commemorate the first 100 years of Boy Scouting.

He has raised $12,000 so far — over a third of the goal — and has high hopes to get the rest.

"It does sound very ambitious," said Kay Godfrey, spokesman for the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts.

Rich Hawkes, the district executive for the south Davis County area of

Scouting, said it certainly ranks as one of the most ambitious Eagle

projects he's ever known.

Utah sculptor Stanley J. Watts is creating the statue. He's best known

for National Fallen Fire Fighters 9/11 Memorial in Emmetsburg, Pa.,

that was created from the famous picture of the three firemen raising

the flag on the rubble of the fallen World Trade Center.

When completed the Boy Scout statue will sit in Hogan Park, 720 W. 1500 South, by the Woods Cross City Building. Woods Cross is north of Salt Lake City and south of Bountiful.

The statue is from a sketch that Boy Scouts founder Baden Powell made of a Scout in the group's earliest years.

Smith said he noticed that another Scout in Woods Cross had helped put

up three plaques to honor veterans at Woods Cross City Hall as his

Eagle project. He decided he wanted to do something inspiring like that.

So, he started looking around.

"I wanted to do a monument," he said.

Soon after, he found the sketch Powell had done on the cover of a pamphlet called "Boy's Life," in 1907.

"We searched for sculptors and checked on prices," Smith said. As it ended up, Watts was an easy choice.

"He dropped the price," Smith said. "Also, he doesn't do unfulfilling projects."

The Eagle project was officially started on Nov. 20, 2007. Smith has no

deadline but hopes he can get all the funding before he turns 18.

He created a flier and got 47 individuals to donate to the sculpture.

Now he's working the business angle and searching for donations from

there. He's also gotten support from a lot of boys in his troop.

Anyone wanting more information about the project can contact Ron Smith, Tommy's father, at 801-688-2633.

E-mail: lynn@desnews.com