Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007 | 7:20 a.m.
One by one, the 40 or so juvenile offenders stepped forward as their names were announced to hearty applause.
From the voltage of their bright smiles, it appeared that receiving public praise was a new experience for many.
They were graduating from the forestry program at the Spring Mountain Youth Camp, on Angels Peak near Mount Charleston.
The camp is populated by delinquent boys ages 12 to 18, including armed robbers, drug dealers, gang members and sex offenders. They are sentenced by Clark County Family Court judges and hearing masters to the camp as a first step in their probation sentence, before being released back to their home environment.
For six - month stays, the camp becomes their home. Administrators say the goal is to provide a place where these offenders - selected because they are seen as not-yet-hardened and still socially redeemable - can go to receive schooling, therapy and rigid structure.
The camp isn't a locked facility, but it is controlled like a military camp. The juveniles are supervised at all times by probation officers. The juveniles wake at 6 a.m. - 7, at the latest, on weekends - and do chores and other work to earn their keep. Lights are out by 9 p.m.
The camp has had ongoing funding issues, and the county recently lost a battle in Carson City over increasing the state's contribution to the facility.
But according to county administrators, the camp is working, at least according to short- and medium-term measurements. During the past five years, 80 percent to 85 percent of the roughly 230 youths who attend the camp each year are deemed "successes" - meaning they have completed their full probation sentence and have not committed any new crimes.
"I try to get the kids who really are workable," Family Court Judge William Voy said. "That camp can really make a difference for that kid, can turn him around."
Clark County bought the site from the Army Corps of Engineers in 1970. Initially, the camp mostly housed delinquents for short stays, while they awaited trial or sentencing.
In 2004, many started being sentenced to the camp for longer stays, and the Spring Mountain School - a Clark County School District facility - broadened its reach to accommodate them. Now, most youths stay at the camp for six months. The camp can house 100 offenders.
The camp functions as a full-time school, complete with 10 Clark County high school teachers and a principal. It also provides facilities and a field for football, baseball, basketball and other sports teams, which compete with Las Vegas public schools.
The camp's mountainous, sometimes snowy location is ideal as a reminder that the youths are far from their often troubled Las Vegas Valley homes, administrators say. It's a perfect spot to mend them before they do something that would cause them to be locked up more permanently as an adult.
The boys undergo "behavior modification training," said David DeMarco, the camp's manager. This is enforced through group discussions, one-on-one chats and more subtle reminders.
A sign hanging at the exit of one of the boys dormitories reads: "1. Appropriate Appearance. 2. Self-Correcting Own Behavior. 3. Patience."
DeMarco, who has worked at the camp for 34 years, said the emotional and physical changes he sees in many of the teens are nothing short of amazing. He and other administrators say it's preferable to have a county-run facility that's close to the offenders' families than to send these teens to a state-run facility in Northern Nevada.
But much of the camp's infrastructure and facilities are old. A tour of the facility shows the 1940s-era classroom buildings - which once served as Army and Air Force barracks - and the gymnasium are most in need of replacing.
According to Voy, the small school buildings are without sufficient heat in the winter, forcing students to bundle up in coats.
DeMarco said the judge overstates the issue.
But the county has fought for more state money to improve the camp. Voy, Cherie Townsend, director of Clark County Juvenile Justice Services, and many others fought for a bill this past Legislature to "equalize" the amount the state would contribute to Spring Mountain and to two similar youth detention camps in Northern Nevada.
Currently, Clark County provides more than 95 percent of the camp's $7.1 million operating budget. The bill would have upped the state's share from about $340,000 to $1.8 million. It failed, but a last-minute push by county lobbyists persuaded lawmakers to pony up a one-time $400,000 appropriation for the camp.
According to Townsend, although replacing the makeshift school buildings and the gym is a priority, increasing the camp's budget is even more important so it can bolster programs such as "functional family therapy," in which families are counseled on how to help keep the young offender on the right track.
Administrators say additional money also could boost the camp's vocational efforts, including the culinary and forestry programs, to help provide productive avenues for some of the teens once they leave camp.
The teens who took part in the forestry program graduation last Friday said it had expanded their horizons. The program has worked in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service since 1971 to repair and maintain hiking trials on Mount Charleston.
"It's been cool. We've learned a lot working in the woods," said James, a 17-year-old from west Las Vegas. (The Sun is using a pseudonym to protect the teen's identity.)
James, who was arrested after firing a gun in a public place, said the camp has taught him to talk with people, accept compliments and, perhaps more important , resist peer pressure.
James said his long-term goal is to get a high school equivalency certificate and go to a southern college such as Georgia Tech.
He'd also like to take his father hiking when he is released from the camp in a few months and show off skills he's learned.
"He's disabled, never had much," said James, who he thinks has never gone hiking in the mountains. "I think it could be fun for him."
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