http://weymouth.wickedlocal.com/article/20140827/NEWS/140827674/11436/NEWS
By Maureen Walsh
Correspondent
Posted Aug. 27, 2014 @ 10:00 am
WEYMOUTH
One of the newest things to read in town is the sign “Weymouth North Library” at the curb outside the branch at 220 North St.
“It looks like just a brick building. Not a lot of people know it’s a library,” said Jonathan Bruynell, 18, who installed the post and sign as part of his Eagle Scout project. “There used to be letters with the name, but they all fell off.”
The new sign includes slots for a separate “Open” sign that can be put on and taken off in a spot that passing patrons can see clearly.
“That library has weird hours," Bruynell said. "It’s only open three days a week, and they’re different hours each day.”
Bruynell also organized a work crew of Scouts to strip overgrown plants and weeds from the fence on the side and back of the library, constructed and installed a wooden bench in front of the library and planted a young white cherry tree.
He planned the project after consulting Troop 2’s Eagle Scout adviser Brian Chase and Weymouth Public Libraries Director Robert MacLean.
“We came up and walked around and saw the overgrowth on the fence. It looked dirty,” Bruynell said. “And we wanted a place where, if they wanted to, people could sit out front. There’s a nice shade tree and shade off the actual library building, too.”
In carrying out the project, Bruynell said he learned “different aspects of leadership” and “all the planning that needs to be involved for what seems like not a lot of work. You have to make sure people show up, and you have to work around different schedules.”
The first phase of the project, stripping away the overgrowth, went more smoothly than planned, he said, taking only one three-hour day rather than two days.
“Everyone there was working hard and did what we needed to do to clear it. We had 20-some-odd bags of just weeds,” he said.
Bruynell said he worked with Joseph Keenan, whose son Joe is a Troop 2 Scout, to construct and install the bench and the sign post.
“The bench was probably the most difficult," he said. "Everything had to be measured exactly and be perfect, or else the steel rods on it would not be able to make it through to the other side, and we wouldn’t be able to get all the legs on. It’s a sturdy, solid bench; it wasn’t very light."
A gas-powered digger was used for the anchor holes for the bench, but could only penetrate two feet of soil for the sign post, Bruynell said.
“We hit different dirt, clay or something, and it got jammed up," he said. "We had to dig the last 2 1/2 feet with a manual post-hole digger.”
Bruynell said the sign was donated by Signs by J of Dorchester, the white cherry tree by A. Thomas & Sons of Milton and the lumber by Lowe’s Home Improvement in North Weymouth.
Bruynell started Scouting in second grade as a Wolf Cub in Pack 73 at Immaculate Conception Parish, and crossed over to Boy Scout Troop 2, chartered by the Weymouth Heights Club. He served as a den chief, helping at meetings when his younger brother Tom was a Cub Scout; and as a patrol leader, mentor to younger Boy Scouts and troop scribe. His Eagle Board of Review will take place in the fall.
Bruynell said the best part of Scouting for him is “all the different things you do, the trips you go on. You learn a lot. I never would have gone water-skiing or canoeing or rowing or kayaking. I’ve always been an outdoors type of kid. I’ve never been one to sit around doing nothing all day. I always have to do something to keep busy."
“I’ve learned to have a lot of patience, especially with the younger kids when we have to collect firewood or get everything on the island (the Cliff Island, Maine, Scout camp) from the beach,” he said. “My favorite memories are water-skiing, motorboating and the campfires, having everyone there, the social aspect.”
Bruynell is entering his senior year at Weymouth High School, where he runs track. He said he is thinking of either college or the Coast Guard after graduation with an eventual career in criminal justice.
He is a son of Buddy and Karen Bruynell of Weymouth and has an older sister Hilary and brother Tom, a Star Scout in Troop 2.
The Weymouth North Library branch is open Mondays from 2 to 6 p.m., Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursdays from 1 to 5 p.m. When the library is closed for a Monday holiday, it will open the next day, Tuesday, from 2 to 6 p.m.
