Boy Scout coffee stop tradition goes on

New London (WTNH) - It's been two years since Scout Leader Merton Ferguson has pulled out signs for free coffee, coke and donuts. Ferguson has been helping organize the Boy Scout Coffee stops at the Waterford weigh stations for twenty years.

"We noted there were 250 dozen donuts plus some bags of bagels," Ferguson said. "It's always been a lot of work but it's one of those things you always get a lot of satisfaction from it because it's worthwhile," Ferguson said.

Last Labor Day though I-95 weight stations were empty, the boy scouts put the brakes on the 24-hour stops because the state said they couldn't stay set up overnight.

"There's just too much to set up and take down each of four days," Ferguson said.

The reason the governor and the DOT don't want the overnight stops is for safety reasons. Under Scout rules there are two adults with the troops at any time day or night.

Come next month the Boy Scouts will be back.

"I was kind of hoping for last year but at least we get to do it this year," Ben Dawson, a Boy Scout, said.

Lawmakers passed a bill allowing the 24-hour stop Labor Day weekend. The governor vetoed the transportation bill it was part of but then the General Assembly overrode her veto.

"It's too bad that it happened that way, but it did," Ferguson said.

Still, he's happy to set up the tables, tents, and these signs again and so are the Scouts.

"I remember we had this guy came in with his truck and we got to look inside to see what it was like and it was pretty cool," Dawson said. "You meet some pretty nice people too."

The boy scouts don't ask for donations when they give out the coffee but they say plenty of people do give them money. That money is then given to local charities.