lots of things
Mark Arend (mwarend@INTERNETWIS.COM)
Wed, 11 Aug 1999 19:12:13 -0500
Because of Scouting/family/work commitments I've been nomail for a couple
of weeks and will stay that way for another week or so but by backlog of
"gotta says" has built up to critical mass. So here it goes...
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SUMMER CAMP: We had a great week at Camp Tesomas near Rhinelander, Wisc.
(Samoset Council) last week. It's a nice camp, very well run, with a great
staff. Anyone within driving distance looking for a new camp may want to
check it out. There was a Troop from Indiana which drove about 8 hours to
get there.
One thing I liked was that the MB counselors sent a daily report back to
the leaders on their Scouts. I wouldn't think too difficult for the
staff--they used a special form printed on 5-part forms so they only had to
fill out the name/Troop/etc. once and just tore off the bottom sheet each
day. The Health Lodge used the same forms so we knew that the boys were
taking their meds.
I wore the tie-dyed t-shirt I got from Scouter.com and had a lot of
comments. When they asked I told them where I got it. Hey Ed -- if you
suddenly get a lot of orders from Wisconsin do I get a commission? ;-)
Ran a little competition with the kids. I told them that I had placed
something in the site that at first glance appeared normal but that there
was something different about it. First kid who figured it out--and its
significance--would win a pizza from the trading post. What was it?
Instead of the standard 50-star flag we were flying a 15-star/15-stripe
flag in our site. Took until Wednesday for someone to notice but no one
figured out the significance. (answer at the end of this post)
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BEARS: You've probably been discussing the incident up north. Tesomas is
probably about 100 miles from that camp and yes, bears have been seen there
too. We warned the kids but there was no special warning or instructions
from the staff. Bears are spreading, at least here in Wisconsin,-- they've
been seen in the southern part of the state. Perhaps we need to place more
emphasis on wildlife safety. Even if there's no bear danger it's no fun to
wake up sharing a sleeping bag with a raccoon or skunk (both incidents I've
heard of).
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BACKPACKER MAGAZINE: The "letters" section of the September Backpacker
magazine has comments on their article on the Scouts. One struck in my
mind:
"You made it sound like the Scoutmaster and parents are what keeps a Troop
going, but the adults are there to make sure nothing goes wrong. I know
because I'm a 16-year-old SPL. If this isn't how your Troop is run, you
need to reorganize it" (Chad Barker, Adams Center, NY)
Can we clone this kid? I'd like 3 or 4.
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CAL THOMAS'S COLUMN: In tonight's paper Cal Thomas has a column on the New
Jersey court's ruling. I don't always agree with Mr. Thomas but he makes
some good points.
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AND NOW THE ANSWER: The 15-star/15 stripe flag was the one flown over Ft.
McHenry in 1814.
Heading back to camp in the morning. See you all next week.
Mark W. Arend, Scoutmaster
Troop 736
Beaver Dam, Wisc.
