Tecumseh boat ramp gets new life jacket loaner station as part of Eagle Scout’s project


Times photo/Jessi Dreckman Connor Strack of Mountain Home, Arkansas, installed this life jacket loaner station at the Tecumseh boat ramp as part of this Eagle Scout project. He also installed stations at Gamaliel, Cranfield and Panther Bay.

There’s a new life jacket loaner station installed at the Tecumseh access and three other boat ramps and swim beaches on Norfork Lake thanks to the hard work of Mountain Home, Arkansas, resident Connor Strack. 

The life jacket loan stations were completed as an Eagle Scout Project by Strack with assistance of other scout members and adult volunteers. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Mountain Home (Ark.) Project Office agreed to the project and provided the materials. The project was coordinated through USACE Ranger Elizabeth Anderson.

“As we are always committed to continued water safety efforts, the Mountain Home Project Office was happy to provide all supplies and materials for the loaner stations,” said Corps Chief Ranger of Norfork and Bull Shoals Lakes Dylan Edwards.  

The stations are intended to provide life jackets for boaters and swimmers who come to the lake and might have forgotten life jackets.  

Visitors are encouraged to borrow a life jacket if they need one and return it to the loaner station for others to use when they are finished.  

Each station is equipped with adult-, child- and infant-sized life jackets and instructions on how to properly use them. 

Additional loaners stations are located at Gamaliel Park Boat Ramp, Cranfield Park Boat Ramp and Swim Beach and Panther Bay Park Boat Ramp and Swim Beach. 

“Wearing a life jacket while swimming and boating is an integral part of drowning prevention,” Edwards says. “Statistics show that approximately 90 percent of all drowning victims were not wearing a life jacket.”

With the help of Stracker’s project, more boaters may wear a life jacket while enjoying the lake.

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