News

Edneyville Troop 605 honors five Eagles

Eagles saluted at a Court of Honor are Andrew Cass, Derek Cass, Jared Harris, Brant Harris, Bradley Harris

By Bill Moss, Published: May 26, 2013

EDNEYVILLE — Edneyville Troop 605 honored five Boy Scouts who achieved the rank of Eagle on Sunday, May 19.

The five Scouts were members of two all-boy Edneyville families, the Casses and the Harrises, that live within a quarter mile of one another on either side of Edneyville United Methodist Church.
In keynote remarks, the Rev. Steve Bynum, the former minister of the church, recalled living in the parsonage — in the crossfire between the two households. The boys rode bicycles, four-wheelers and motorcycles — using everything but their feet, he said — to ricochet from house to house, where each found an open door, a second mom and a hot meal.
"You didn't have to hike and camp in the rain and the snow, nor spend your vacation days teaching us to swim or cook over a campfire, but you did," the boys said in an expression of gratitude printed in the program. "You didn't have to wake us up on those cold Saturday mornings with a 'brake check' [a sudden jolting stop of the troop bus] but you did. You didn't have to allow us to be homesick at Camp Daniel Boone so we (and our moms) could learn to be tough, but you did."
The Scouts —all but one in college or beyond now, one entering the Army — thanked their scoutmasters and parents and each chose a mentor. The Harrises are the sons of Leca and Rick Harris; the Casses are the sons of Rich Cass and Anne Campbell (the daughter of the late 100-year-old swimmer Boyd Campbell).
Edneyville Troop 605 now has had 224 Scouts reach the rank of Eagle.
Here are the Scouts who achieved Eagle, their Eagle project and the mentor they honored:
• Jared Richard Harris, retaining wall and landscaped the North Henderson High School baseball field, honored as mentor scoutmaster emeritus Don Henderson. An Army veteran of the Iraq War, he is currently a student at Appalachian State University and a sergeant in the National Guard.
• Brant Alexander Harris, sidewalks and drainage work at Fruitland Baptist Church, honored mentor Kristi Kicklighter, an assistant scoutmaster. A former Navy search and rescue swimmer candidate (injured in basic training), he is a model and aspiring actor in Chicago.
• Bradley Lewis Harris, landscaping at Apple Valley Middle School, honored Scoutmaster Brackley Kicklighter. He has enlisted in the Army and is scheduled for boot camp at Fort Jackson, S.C. He wants to be a helicopter pilot.
• Derek Henry Cass, fencing and landscaping at Edneyville Methodist, honored Don Henderson. He is a rising junior at UNC at Chapel Hill.
• Andrew Michael Cass, circular bench and landscaping at Edneyville Methodist, honored Leca Harris. He is a rising sophomore at N.C. State University.