Politicians learn the ropes at course ceremony

Chris Rodgers, a Douglas County Board member, scooted his size 13 sneakers across a wire 20 feet up and deliberately did not look down.

Politicians generally love ribbon-cuttings — feel-good events that are photo opportunities. But this one Thursday morning at the new $300,000 Hitchcock High Ropes Challenge Course in north Omaha required more physical activity than snipping scissors.

Rodgers, Omaha City Councilmen Ben Gray and Pete Festersen and Nebraska State Sens. Brenda Council and Tanya Cook suited up in helmets, harnesses and ropes with clamps to ascend what essentially looks like free-form Lincoln Log sculptures connected by wire and rope.

The high ropes course is run by Outward Bound and planted at the base of a hill on the east side of the Omaha Home for Boys Campus at 52nd Street and Ames Avenue.

From below, the eyes and cameras were on the newsmakers who inched their way across or — as was the case with Cook and Council — rappelled down.

So most attendees might have missed two less-familiar faces performing far more difficult tasks from 35 feet up.

Riley Griffy and Ande Frasier, both teenagers, are new Outward Bound staffers. Last year, the two got to canoe and camp in Minnesota as part of the wilderness program for which the nonprofit group is known.

Griffy’s ascension to the top of the ropes course Thursday was symbolic as well.

The 18-year-old appeared headed down instead of up more than a year ago after his brother was shot and killed. Griffy also faced a gun charge in a separate incident and was struggling at an alternative school.

The trip to Minnesota was life-changing.

“They opened up a whole bunch more opportunity that I didn’t really have,” he said. “Doing Outward Bound, it helped me get a lot of things straight and in order.”

Contact the writer:

444-1136, erin.grace@owh.com

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