DATE:     6/30/98
CONTACTS: Jorge Calzadilla, (864) 656-1659
          Robert Frager,    (803) 649-9512
    
4-H Begins Camp Long Renovation

     AIKEN --  In 1997 the South Carolina General Assembly
approved  $500,000 for upgrading facilities at W.W. Long 4-H
Leadership Center near Aiken.
     It's work that's been needed for a long time, according to
Robert Frager, resident director at Camp Long.
     "The last significant renovation here was in the mid-1970s
when a conference center and office complex plus a kitchen
addition for the dining hall were added," he said.
     The conference center and kitchen addition are of cinder
block and wood frame construction, but most of the buildings on
the 418-acre site are log cabins. Fourteen were built in 1933
with timber taken from the property.
     Time has taken its toll.
     "The cabins have settled, logs have shifted and many of the
bottom logs next to the ground have been eaten away by termites,"
Frager said. New electrical wiring, new windows and new roofs are
needed. Chinking needs to be replaced in several places.
     Eight cabins are used to house campers. The other log
structures include the assembly building, a dining hall and staff
housing.
     "The cabins are still safe, but if we wait much longer 
before making repairs they could be lost," Frager said. Log
replacement will begin this fall after the busy season.
     Frager said the strategy for two decades was to just hold
things together for one more summer camping season.
     "When we recently reroofed cabin No. 1 we found five or six
sets of shingles. Instead of removing the old shingles and making
needed repairs they had just put new shingles on over the old
ones," he said.
     While state funding totals $500,000, the 4-H staff has
identified $800,000 in repairs, improvements and additions that
are needed. The work should be finished some time in the year
2000.
     "We'll come up with the extra $300,000 by using some of our
own labor and finding contributions in the way of materials and
in-kind donations," said Jorge Calzadilla,
executive director of the 4-H leadership centers.
     For example, Cox Lumber Co. of Orangeburg has donated about
$20,000 worth of lumber which will be used to repair porches.
     "Our main goal is to get damaged logs replaced and the
cabins leveled," said Frager. "We're in touch with someone who
thinks he can jack up the cabins so we can do that." 
     Calzadilla wants the 4-H maintenance staff to learn how to
do the replacements so the cabins can be maintained on a more
regular schedule.   "If we don't do that, we've wasted an opportunity," he said.
     Improvements started in October 1997 with a new roof for the
conference center, a new septic pump and the gathering of
materials to enclose a screened area call Noah's Ark. Water
system upgrades have also begun.
     "We need a bigger well so we can take care of peak demand
and allow for future growth," Frager said. A new water storage
tank and new water lines are part of that project. 
     Air conditioning for the dining hall is high on the priority
list. Noah's Ark is being converted into dormitories 5 and 6 with
heating and cooling for about 40 campers. 
     "We're also in the midst of turning an unfinished room
beneath the dining hall into office space," Frager said.
     "Once the cabins and other buildings are where they should
be, we want to redo the sidewalks, repair the fireplaces -- do
the "pretty" kinds of things that will add to the environment,"
he said.
     Despite needed repairs, the cabins are still safe, according
to Calzadilla. He said, though, that the staff doesn't like to
use three or four of the cabins on the north side of the pond.
They've had to on occasion when they've had to sleep 400 people.
Normal capacity is around  360.
     "Renovations may not increase our population, but it will
give us more flexibility in when we use those cabins," he said.
If all the cabins are good, we can spread the kids out."
                         END