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Hunt tests scavengers' history IQ
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Times photo: Brian Gray Jennifer Huinker and her daughter Kaylee, 6, Monroe, carve pumpkins Saturday at Twining Park during Green Haven Family Advocates scavenger hunt. Families played games, ate food and carved pumpkins to help raise money for Green Haven.
MONROE - Some teams took a while to find the answers to the 23 clues Saturday as they competed in the second Green Haven Family Advocates Scavenger Hunt.

The hunt was a little tougher this year, according to last year's winning team members.

"We were stumped a couple of times," team member Laurie Rear said, with a laugh. "We had to turn around three times."

This year's theme was cows and it was important to know where to find painted cows in Monroe and New Glarus, cheese factories and barn quilts. One missed clue could send a team miles out of the way.

Alice Franks-Gray, director at Green Haven, said she and other volunteers spent about six months putting the hunt together for the 17 teams and 125 people that took part in the event.

Teams started out a few minutes apart from Twining Park to travel around the county and look for tokens and stickers and fire numbers. The clues told teams where to go. For example, one clue said to take a road named after the first president (Washington Road) and go to the road named after the 14th president (Franklin Road). Teams had to know a little history to complete the turn. Teams that didn't were left to wonder why Franklin Pierce played a role in their inability to find the answer to a clue.

People who took part in the hunt didn't really mind if they finished first or last, or if they answered all of the questions. The main thing was to have fun.

"Everybody in the car got along really well," Rear said. "Everybody was talking, trying to figure out the next clue. It was a lot of fun."

Monroe High School students Laura Chopp and Jessica Wyssbrod didn't answer all of the questions or find all of their tokens, but they had a good time anyway.

"The best part was when we figured out a clue," Chopp said, smiling. "The hardest part was the historical questions. It was so hard."

Franks-Gray said the organization plans to have a scavenger hunt again next year. The theme, she said, will be planes, trains and automobiles.

Money raised from the scavenger hunt, pumpkin carving, food and crafts benefited Green Haven, an organization that helps people who have been abused.

Since the organization was founded in 1982, it has provided safe places for people to go, as well as counseling services.

More information about Green Haven is available at greenhaven4help.com.