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PHOTOS / PAT McDONOGH, THE C-J Steven Lamb talked to Cub Scout members about the mock rescue mission yesterday. Members of the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and several emergency organizations participated in the exercise. Patrick Kurkoski, 14, left, and Bud Walker, 10, walked a search line at Camp Crooked Creek near Bernheim Forest. At the mock crash site, the Scouts were to provide first aid for the various simulated injuries without the benefit of any written instructions. Besides helping Cub and Boy Scouts, the effort, which began Friday, served as a drill for emergency personnel.

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Dozens of Cub and Boy Scouts formed lines across Bullitt County hillsides yesterday, learning search, rescue and first-aid skills as they looked for a plane fuselage and survivors of a mock plane crash.

More than 300 Scouts and about 100 emergency personnel from various organizations, including the Civil Air Patrol, took part in the Winter Camporee at Camp Crooked Creek near Bernheim Forest.

"Most of the things we go to are not as elaborate as this," said Scout John Ward, 14, of Troop 488 in Radcliff, Ky.

The event began Friday and was to end today, but officials sent Scouts home at the end of yesterday's activities, anticipating bad weather.

Most of the Scouts were from the Lincoln Trail District, which covers Breckinridge, Grayson, Larue and Hardin counties. Others from Southern Indiana and throughout Kentucky took part as well, organizers said.

Normally the winter camping event includes snow skills, said Bill Beauchamp, activities and civic service coordinator for the Lincoln Trail District.

Since snow couldn't be counted on, Beauchamp said he took inspiration from reality television shows in planning yesterday's event.

"This is something they can talk about the rest of their life," he said.

Emergency aid groups, including the Jefferson County Search Dog Association, also took part and a STATCARE helicopter landed at the scene.

Not all the Scouts participated in every event of the Camporee, which culminated in the simulated search for a downed plane and its passengers.

To the blasts of an air horn, the Scouts assembled at a central location and received their mission from Ricky Marlatt, coordinator of Hardin County Search and Rescue.

Marlatt told the group that a plane had gone down around 8 a.m. and "we need some help to find it."

The Scouts divided into nine groups, with leaders from each getting a special briefing on details of the mission, where they received a topographic map of the search area and radios.

From there, the Scouts branched out in their groups, forming lines along the hillsides where they searched for anything that could have been from the plane.

"It's hard work trying to do all this," John Ward said.

About 40 people were to pose as the injured near the crash site. The Scouts were to provide first aid for the various simulated injuries without the benefit of any written instructions.

Besides helping the Scouts, the effort served as a drill for the emergency personnel as well, said Kevin Cottrell, spokesman for Hardin County Search and Rescue.

The event also showed youngsters what could be a future career, Marlatt said.

One of the Scouts, 13-year-old Anthony Merriman of Troop 488 from Radcliff, said the first-aid skills could help him in a career in law enforcement.

Scout Sam Stidham, 11, was taking part in his first winter camping event. After describing it in a drawn out pronunciation of "cold," Sam said it wasn't a problem.

"I was completely prepared for it," he said.

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