Editor, The Commercial:
Several articles have appeared in the Pine Bluff Commercial and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette regarding the closing of Girl Scout camps in Arkansas.
Camp Taloha on Sulphur Springs Road is one of them. In 1953 when the then Arkansas Post Girl Scout Council obtained a lease on 140 acres from Pinchback Taylor, the council appealed to the Kiwanis Club of Pine Bluff which appointed R.J. Rhinehart Sr. to guide the project of developing the camp.
With Carl Tillman and other Kiwanians joining in, the Kiwanis Club built a dam and 20 acre lake, improved the roads, and constructed several buildings, one of which was named Kiwanis Hall. The Girl Scouts used the camp for many years. In 1996 members of the Taylor family wanted to cut down many of the trees on the property to pay the mortgage. With the help of Kiwanis member Buddy Dean, the Kiwanis Club held fund raisers and paid the mortgage.
In 2010, the Girl Scouts Diamonds Council of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas acquired the camp stating that it and others were a financial burden on the council, using the term “rested” or closed. The Kiwanis Club of Pine Bluff would like to see Camp Taloha used for Girl Scouts and other groups so it could remain open. Kiwanis supports children in the community through many activities and would like to be a part of the camp again.
Barbara E. Rhinehart, Pine Bluff
Kiwanis past president and past lieutenant governor