MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — Sixty-one-year-old Mike McClaughry "was always the calm head who figured out we were going to make it happen," said Andrew Prieska, former Mount Vernon Boy Scout turned electrical engineer. "And when you're a Boy Scout looking up to a leader who's just as calm as could be, you knew you had nothing to worry about."
Prieska and Lt. Matt Schwab, a naval helicopter rescue pilot stationed on Whidbey Island, spent their formative years in the scout troop McClaughry helped lead, perhaps most memorably on the troop's annual 50 mile hikes.
"Sleeping in tents, you know, it's raining, especially up in Washington State," says Lt. Schwab. "Sitting around the fireplace, you definitely tell stories. He's definitely a good character."
"Teaching us how to have fun in the wilderness," says Prieska. "He was also doing things in the community that made an impact for a lot of people."
McClaughry is now having a different kind of impact on his community.
Thursday night, he and several Mount Vernon officers responded to a report of shots fired. They were at Ernesto Rivas's house on La Venture Road when more shots were fired. McClaughry was struck in the back of the head.
"This hits close to home for a lot of people," says Prieska.
That includes these men he influenced as boys.
"Mike has been a very positive influence in our lives for so many years that it hurts to know that he's hurting now," Prieska says. "And we're hoping he recovers soon."
A lot of people are hoping for that.
McClaughry's influence extends to adults as well.
We are talking to the co-leader of the scout troop about the qualities that make McClaughry his cherished friend.
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