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I wrote National about the medals, using the address at Mike Walton's website. National replied that the medals have in fact been discontinued.

LONG PATH REACHES 75 YEARS & 347 MILES http://nynjtc.org/trailwalker/2006/ja-6-color.pdf Seventy-five years ago, Vincent J. Schaefer, a 25-year-old cofounder and hike leader of the Mohawk Valley Hiking Club in upstate New York, had a big idea: an unblazed north-south walking route in New York linking downstate urban areas to the Adirondack High Peaks. In 1931, my Dad drew the route on topo maps, recalls his son Jim. His original idea was to start at Bear Mountain and include high lands that more or less paralleled the Hudson River. He included the Shawangunks, the Catskills, the Helderbergs, and the eastern Adirondacks to the top of Whiteface Mountain. Schaefer brought his idea to other hike leaders, including Raymond Torrey, a cofounder of the New York/New Jersey Trail Conference. Torrey wrote a hiking column in the New York Post (The Long Brown Path) and in 1933 he began including descriptions of hikes along Schaefers route, which came to be called the Long Path. An Ever Changing Route The New York Walk Book describes the Long Path (LP) as a living trail system, one whose size and shape are ever changing. Which is probably why its sometimes hard to get a handle on it. To begin with, ever changing was a characteristic that appealed to Schaefer. Unlike the cleared and blazed paths of the Appalachian Trail and Long Trail in Vermont from which he took inspiration, Schaefer envisioned the Long Path as a three- to ten-mile wide corridor defined around a series of landmarks geologic, historic or culturally interesting sites he selected every few miles, says Jim. Hikers would navigate to the landmarks, which might be on private land as well as public, using topographic maps and compass. Schaefer would later write that he wanted hikers to enjoy the sense of uncertainty, exploration, and achievement that reaches its highest level when the individual is dependent on the use of compass, marked map, and woods knowledge to reach an objective. Then, as today, the LP included wilderness wilderness paths, woods roads, and paved walks. It included urban, suburban, rural, and wild areas. It crossed public lands and private property. And it wasnt long before it was vulnerable to the forces that threaten it today: development, traffic, and loss of rights-of-way. The economic boom that followed the end of World War II began to transform the New York landscape. Forests and farms became residential subdivisions; once quiet country lanes whizzed with traffic. Though the uncertainty of an unmarked trail appealed to Schaefers explorer sensibility, the biggest uncertainty in the years since World War II has been the very possibility of walking a long-distance route through New York backcountry or rural areas, blazed or unblazed. Still, the idea has proved inspirational to a few dedicated individuals. In 1960 Robert Jessen of the Ramapo Ramblers and Michael Warren of New York City urged its revival and began to lay out a formal path. The concept of the trail had by this point evolved into a fully cleared and blazed footpath. Two flurries of trail-building occurred in the 1980s and 90s, first in the Catskills, and the second further north, in Schoharie and Albany counties, where the Long Path North Hiking Club was formed. Its members built and maintain more than 75 miles of the trail. In Saratoga County, there is active interest in linking with the trail and carrying it further north. Additionally, a southern extension to the LP on the Shawangunk Ridgethe Shawangunk Ridge Trail (SRT)was built to connect with the AT at High Point State Park in New Jersey. The SRT offers an alternative route for the LP to one through Rockland and Orange Counties that includes extended road walks. Adding Up the Miles Today, the LP is recognized on maps for 347 miles, from Fort Lee in New Jersey to the village of Altamont, 15 miles west of Albany. It crosses the Palisades Interstate Park, Harriman/Bear Mountain and Schunemunk Mountain State Parks, the Shawangunk Ridge, and the Catskillsa complicated and enormous achievement. Jakob Franke, current chair of the Long Path South Committee for the Trail Conference, calculates that 230 miles of the recognized route are currently protected, 90 miles are on roads, and 27 miles run across privately owned land with owners permission. Its presence is sufficiently stable that it inspires end-toenders. Edward Walsh, a member of the LP South Committee who manages the end-toend awards program, notes that recognition of LP end-to-end hikes began in 1991, and that since then, 90 individuals have earned the LP end-to-end patch. Most have walked the trail as section hikes; the first to do it as a continuous hike was Mary Ann Nisely, who accomplished the feat in 1998. And David ONeill has run the length of the LP as a fundraiser for the Trail Conference in two consecutive years (see story above). From Altamont north to Whiteface Mountain, the trail exists, depending on your point of view, either as an ambition a scheme on maps that needs to be transferred to the groundor complete as that unblazed corridor that links a series of landmarks identified by Schaefer. During his final years, says Jim Schaefer, Dad drafted a Guide to the Long Path North, citing 84 landmarks, from Gilboa, in Schoharie County, across the Helderbergs, Rotterdam and Glenville Hills and through the eastern Adirondacks to Whiteface Mountain atop the Adirondacks. These landmarks, he notes, have become goals for 84 different hikes, much like the hikes he took the Mohawk Valley Hiking club on from 1929 to 1955 or later. He took our family to many of them. Jim notes that many of these landmarks are on or near the course of the currently blazed LP trail from Gilboa to Thacher Park, and the LP-blazed road walk from Thacher Park to Edinburg Bridge in Saratoga County. Landmarks 43 to 84 are, he says, somewhat remote locations in the eastern Adirondacks. GPS locators have been recorded and will be included in a new edition of the Trail Conference Long Path Guide scheduled to be published in 2007. To reach them, hikers must rely on their backcountry navigating skills. They are bushwhacks in the old tradition in the Forest Preserve, says Jim Schaefer. No cut trails, but old logging roads, trails, game trails and such to get from one place to anotherclassic hiking in wilderness or almost wilderness conditions. Taken all togetherthe LP south and north, wilderness bushwhack or paved roadJim Schaefer views the LP as one of the most varied and accessible trails in the country. There are blazed trails for hikers who like those. There are paved sections for people who like to rollerblade or who need handicapped accessible trails. The LP is the most ecologically and culturally sensitive hiking experience, he says. None other than the Long Path of New York touches all outdoor enthusiasts.

Ambitious trail hopes to link hikers from Fla. to Maine http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=96695 By GREG BLUESTEIN Associated Press SODDY-DAISY, Tenn. - In the depths of the Little Possum Gorge, a footpath strewn with the tools that built it suddenly emerges through a forest of hemlock and magnolia to a breathtaking waterfall. The treacherous falls, dubbed "Imodium" after the anti-diarrhea drug by those adventurers whom it has scared witless, was once known only to the most daring of kayakers willing to plunge down the 25-foot drop. With every clank, though, a team of volunteers cobbles together the latest piece of a rocky pathway leading to a shallow pool beneath the rapids, part of a 40-mile trail they're building just north of Tennessee's border with Georgia. The stretch is a linchpin in the ambitious Great Eastern Trail, a path of about 1,700 miles envisioned by hiking enthusiasts to someday string together a vast network of existing trails and link the Florida-Alabama border to New York's Finger Lakes. Planners hope eventually it could serve as a foundation of a 10,000-mile network of paths spanning from South Florida to Maine, from Virginia to North Dakota. With increased development and sprawl along the East Coast, they believe the timing is right. "If we don't do it now, it's not going to happen," said Jeffrey Hunter, the American Hiking Society's Southeast trails director. Hunter is working with local trail groups and volunteers across the nation to build roughly 600 miles of new trail to connect a system of trails already in place. The new trail will largely be constructed on public lands, but occasionally trail groups will have to negotiate the purchase or donation of land. When finished, the Great Eastern Trail would stretch just west of the Appalachian Trail, the gold standard of the hiking world. But overuse of that trail has caused litter pileups, trampled plants and crowded campsites, said Alison Bullock, a director with the National Park Service's rivers and trails program who is helping plan the new trail. "We're trying to provide an alternative," Bullock said. "We want to disperse the recreation. And there are so many gorgeous and undiscovered locales." The Great Eastern Trail would start at Alabama's southern border, rolling through gentle forest before climbing up clifftop vistas as the path edges north. A ring of old logging roads would stretch the trail through Georgia to Tennessee, where the trail would pass Chattanooga and border river gorges and rocky outcroppings on its way to the mid-Atlantic states. Through caves and crags, ridges and overlooks, the trail would then scamper through Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia. It crosses the narrow width of Maryland next, piggybacking on a historic towpath. In Pennsylvania, it wanders through thick, dark forests using old logging roads, etching a path through Paddy Mountain on the trail's only tunnel before ending a few miles north just across the New York border. Other ambitious trail projects promise to span equally vast areas. Those trails, however, all enjoy a federal designation, and the government benefits that go along with it. The Great Eastern Trail relies solely on its network of volunteers to craft its pieces together. "The intent is to get it going the same way we got the Appalachian Trail going - through volunteer efforts. Right now, the entire burden rests on the volunteer," said Tom Johnson, president of the Virginia-based Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. The Great Eastern Trail was first dreamed up at a 2001 hiking conference, but the actual construction has been a painstakingly slow process. Johnson's challenge is filling in a 159-mile gap between trails in West Virginia and northern Virginia. Some of the group's 6,500 members will scout possible routes in August and September, when they don't have to slog through thick underbrush or snow to scour the area. In northwest Georgia, Larry Madden is organizing a group of 50 to finish a hole in the path network. "A few volunteers are getting a lot of the work done, but we've got a long way to go," he said. Tom Kelliher, the president of Pennsylvania's Mid State Trail Association, has a 30-mile gap in the state's hilly northern region to fill. Teams are busy searching for aging logging roads or traces of existing paths, but still, he said, construction could take five to six years. Warren Devine, the former nuclear engineer who led the trailblazing effort at Little Possum Gorge, has been working for years to craft his leg of the trail. Scouting out the backwoods, buying the property and negotiating its boundaries alone took years. State archaeologists and biologists have to probe the area, too, to make sure the pathway isn't disrupting artifacts or endangered species. Building the trail itself takes the constant work of a team of volunteers who, each day, tear up the thick underbrush using giant rakes and painstakingly clear out rocks, roots and organic material to forge a gentle path. The squads can take a week to puzzle rocky outcrops together into a flat pathway, even longer if they're fashioning a staircase. Local locomotive engineer Monty Matney, 51, leads four trailblazers, helping them lug rocks to piece together a few steps. On a nearby ledge, Roy Wheeler, a retiree from Cape Coral, Fla., takes a breather as he watches Devine tiptoe out atop the waterfall. "It's nice to be out here in the wilderness area with a group, instead of just hiking," he said. Standing atop the cliff overlooking the rapid, Devine lets loose a relieved sigh as he looks at the latest piece of the trail. "It's going to be there much longer than all the paperwork I grind out," he said. "The staircase down there is going to last a century. "It's one of the most rewarding things I've done." If you go GREAT EASTERN TRAIL: http://www.greateasterntrail.org BUILDING THE TRAIL: To volunteer with the American Hiking Society to help build the Great Eastern Trail, visit http://www.AmericanHiking.org or call Jeffrey Hunter, 423-266-2507. Volunteer opportunities in 2006 are as follows, with more planned for 2007: In Tennessee, Cumberland Trail State Park, Oct. 15-21, and Lula Lake Land Trust, Sept. 24-Sept. 30. In Kentucky, Pine Mountain Trail, Sept. 17-23, and Oct. 8-14. HIKING THE TRAIL: Here are some portions of the trail that are accessible. Alabama Pinhoti Trail: 140 miles open for hiking, including Mountain Longleaf Pine forest, http://www.hmtc.org Tuscarora Trail, 250 miles open in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Maps available from Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, http://www.patc.net Pennsylvania's Mid State Trail includes part of the Great Eastern Trail. Maps available from http://phoenix.goucher.edu/MSTA/index.htm Tennessee's Cumberland Trail, 165 miles open, including waterfalls, overlooks and forests on the Cumberland Plateau. Details at http://www.cumberlandtrail.org Kentucky's Pine Mountain Trail, steep, rugged and beautiful, with elk and other wildlife. Details at http://www.pinemountaintrail.com Maryland's Green Ridge State Forest was recently added to the Great Eastern Trail. Maps available from http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/greenridge.html New York's North Country Trail - http://www.northcountrytrail.org - and the Florida Trail - http://www.florida-trail.org - are not technically part of the Great Eastern Trail but the trail at its northernmost and southernmost points.

New Technology Could Help Keep Track of Scouts http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=346168 July 7th, 2006 @ 3:30pm Sam Penrod Reporting Recent high profile cases of Boy Scouts getting lost in the mountains has prompted Scout executives to find new ways to keep the scouts safe. Some Boy Scouts have been told to go get lost, to help test out a new tracking system in case a scout really gets lost. Keith Reber, Wilderness Tracker: "We're looking for three boyscouts who are out in the hills wearing radio transmitters." The tiny transmitters were designed to track falcons, but they've been modified to keep track of boy scouts. Keith Reber: "If there is a signal, there is a rescue. And our hope is that we'll be able to facilitate the rescues and make them a lot quicker, so that no one will have to stay out overnight and risk dying of hypothermia." An airplane picked up the scout's signal and narrowed it down enough for rescuers to go in on the ground. We followed the beeps for about a half mile, and there, resting comfortably in the shade, were the three scouts and their leader. Jacob Parrott, Boy Scout: "They found us and, if like this was a test, if it was the real thing, they really find you." Brandon Boyer, Boy Scout: "I would tell them to wear it; it would help them out a lot if they got lost." The scouts say that from the time the plane flew over them until we found them was only about 30 minutes. The Boy Scouts see value in these trackers, if other safety guidelines fail. John Gailey, Utah Nat'l Parks Council: "The buddy system, patrol method, leaders, we have a lot of training for leaders. Even with all of that, still someone can get lost." The Search and Rescue says trackers can immediately narrow down where they should search for someone. Lt. Dave Bennett, Utah County Sheriff's Office: "I like the fact it's existing technology. I'd like to see it used more often and I think it could be a great thing. If it saves one scout, it will be worth it." It's technology to give Boy Scouts one more way to 'Be Prepared.' The Boy Scouts in the Utah National Parks Council plan to lease the trackers from the company and hope to have these trackers ready for troops to check out, later this month.

Boy Scouts of America Recognizes National Recreation and Parks Month http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060707/20060707005448.html Largest Youth Service Organization Joins Salute to Employees, Volunteers Who Maintain and Provide Programming; Offers Tips for Preservation Friday July 7, 5:23 pm ET IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 7, 2006--Since its inception in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America has been among the largest and most consistent user groups of national parks, forests, wetlands, mountains, and other outdoor recreation areas. In honor of this rich heritage, during the month of July, the BSA is proud to recognize National Recreation and Parks Month, encouraging all Americans to use the resources of national parks as well as local parks and recreation departments, while preserving these great natural resources of land, parks, and wildlife. During National Recreation and Parks Month, recreation facilities and parks throughout the United States will begin summer programming, call for volunteers, and emphasize the importance of participating in physical activity and the benefits of the outdoors. "The BSA has always strived to be a good steward of our country's natural resources and ecosystem," said Ed Woodlock, director of camping and conservation, Boy Scout Division, BSA. "We believe national parks and forests as well as local parks and recreation departments are indispensable sources of education and activities. July is an opportunity to appreciate these resources and encourage users to get active and 'Leave No Trace' when using them." During July, the BSA encourages all Americans to adopt the Leave No Trace principles for outdoor activities, particularly those in national parks and recreation areas. Leave No Trace is a national, nonprofit education program that promotes practical skills and an outdoor code of ethics that preserve the integrity of protected lands and high-quality recreational experiences. The principles allow users and managers of public and private lands to work together to enjoy and protect the land, which will help ensure that a healthy environment can be enjoyed for years to come. The BSA's Leave No Trace principles include: Plan Ahead and Prepare -- Know regulations and concerns for the area. Prepare for extreme weather, hazards, and emergencies. Schedule activities to avoid high-use periods. Keep groups small. Use a map and compass to eliminate the need for environmental markers. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces -- Durable sites include established trails, campsites, rock, gravel, dry grasses, or snow. Camp at least 200 feet from lakes or streams. Do not alter sites to fit your needs -- rather, find one that meets your needs. Use existing trails and travel single file in groups on the middle of the trail. In pristine areas, disperse use to prevent creation of new trails or sites. Avoid places where impacts are new. Dispose of Waste Properly -- If you bring it with you, take it with you -- this includes food and trash. Dispose of human waste properly. Do not leave toilet paper or hygiene products behind. Carry water used for cleaning dishes, equipment, or bathing at least 200 feet from its source to reduce contamination. Use small amounts of biodegradable soap. Strain dishwater and scatter it around. Leave What You Find -- Observe but do not touch cultural or historic structures and artifacts. Leave rocks, plants, and other natural objects as you find them. Avoid introducing or transporting nonnative species of animals. Do not build structures or furniture or dig trenches. Minimize Campfire Impacts -- As campfires cause lasting impact, use stoves for cooking and lanterns for light. Where permitted, use a fire ring, fire pan, or a mound fire lay. Keep fires small -- use sticks from the ground that can be broken by hand. Remove partially burned garbage, including that left by others. Burn all wood and coals to ash, extinguish the fire completely, then scatter cool ashes. Respect Wildlife -- Observe wildlife from a distance -- do not follow or approach animals. Never feed animals. Protect wildlife and your food by storing food and trash securely. Leave pets at home. Avoid wildlife during sensitive times such as mating and nesting season, wintertime, or when they are with their young. Be Considerate of Other Visitors -- Respect other visitors and protect the quality of their experience. Be courteous -- yield to others on trails. Take breaks and set up camp away from trails and other visitors. Let nature's sounds prevail -- avoid loud voices and noises. Respect others who might be seeking solitude. In addition to adopting these principles during National Recreation and Parks Month, the BSA also encourages Americans to contact their local parks and recreation department for a list of available programs, outdoor activities, and available parks and areas for recreation. For more information on your local parks and recreation department activities, please contact your local government information offices or visit http://www.nrpa.org For more information on Leave No Trace and the Outdoor Code of the BSA, please visit http://www.scouting.org'>http://www.scouting.org Serving nearly 4.5 million young people between 7 and 20 years of age with more than 300 councils throughout the United States and its territories, the Boy Scouts of America is the nation's foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. For more information on the Boy Scouts of America, please visit http://www.scouting.org Contact: Edelman Public Relations Kevin Burns, 214-443-7574 kevin.burns@edelman.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Boy Scouts of America

I was born in 1954; sadly, I don't recall any of the Mercury launches. But I was in the 4th grade by the time of the Gemini launches and I never missed a blast-off. My 4th grade teacher would wheel-in a portable TV and we would watch the launches in class! And whatever happened to Jules Bergman, science reporter for ABC? I had models of the X-15, Gemini, Apollo, and the Saturn V. I had a moon map, posters of the planets, star charts, and rocket posters on my walls. Did any of you guys ever collect "NASA Facts"? These were freebie publications about the space program. NASA sent them out by the ton, with color pictures of the earth and the astronauts, and slick, color booklets of the various satellites and space probes. I also had stuff from the Army's Redstone Arsenal, and the Air Force's X-15 program (and "Project Blue Book" about flying saucers!). We even had a club at my grade school we called "NASA Jr." We launched model rockets in the summertime and I had my own 3" refractor telesciope. Man, those were the days . . .

Reaching out: In search of the father-son connection http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/columnists/dtarrant/stories/DN-NSL_fatherhood_0122liv.ART.State.Edition1.3efeeae.html http://tinyurl.com/occur 04:12 PM CST on Sunday, January 22, 2006 By DAVID TARRANT / The Dallas Morning News I'm always drawn to stories about dads and sons who share a hobby or passionate pursuit. A few months ago, I read a story about a couple of father-son pairs in the Dallas area who have climbed three of the seven summits the highest peaks on each continent. Jackson, my 10-year-old son, and I have done some indoor rock climbing at our community recreation center. But like a lot of boys these days, his passion is video games. He's always asking me to play bad as I am at it. I usually choose NBA Live 2005 because I played basketball when I was growing up. Most of the time, the conversation follows a familiar pattern. I tell him that I'm not in the mood to play. I suggest something more active, like a bike ride. He counters with another video game. I suggest taking Sandy, the dog, for a walk. That gets Sandy excited, but not Jack. Sometimes we compromise and play cards. Other times, he plays a video game alone. I feel a bit guilty about this, and I'll bet a lot of Dads feel the same way. We live in a world where kids can plug in and tune out the world around them, including their parents. Kids do that a lot anyway, and all the electronic games and gadgets just make tuning out a lot easier. Many dads wonder if the only way to connect with their kids is by playing a video game or watching an hour of SpongeBob SquarePants. In moderation, there's nothing wrong with that. But if you're like me, you want to do something more. You see your role as introducing your child to the world outside home. If you're lucky, maybe you'll develop a shared hobby, whether it be fishing, baseball or mountain climbing. When I was a kid, I loved playing baseball, and not just Little League. In my hilly neighborhood in western Pennsylvania, we bounced rubber balls against the concrete stairs in front of my house. We played homerun derby and kickball in the street. So you can imagine my excitement when I signed Jackson up for baseball. He played T-ball one season and then machine-pitch baseball. He was a good player but was bored stiff with the game. We tried soccer next and then karate, but he never developed much passion for either. Finally, in fourth grade, he discovered basketball and loved it. This year, he played football with his classmates and loved that too. Could this be something we might end up sharing? Maybe...but I've learned not to look too far down the road. There's another reason I'm hoping to find something to share with my son. I love my dad, but we never really had an activity that we shared. He died at the age of 80 from a stroke five years ago. Afterward, my mother came across an old newspaper clipping he'd kept from his hometown of Haverhill, Mass. The short, yellowed article said that Joe Tarrant, then 17, had won a citywide tournament that earned him the title of "master caddy," and was considered a "comer" in local golf circles. I felt a twinge when I read that. I wish we could have played golf together. But dad's golf game gave way to World War II and the responsibilities of helping to raise a family of six kids and holding down a full-time job. We probably didn't have the money to spare on golf fees, and maybe I wouldn't have been interested anyway. Still, who's to know? Like many of his generation, my father was a bit distant and scripted with his emotions, but there was a sense of humor and a capacity for spontaneity that I only saw years later after I left home. I can't help but wonder if I would have seen this side of him sooner if we had shared some hobby or interest. Fathers and sons, like guys in general, often have their best, most intimate talks when they're side by side, doing something else, whether it's shooting baskets or hammering nails. A few weeks ago, the morning that an ice storm closed school, Jackson wanted to walk to the park. He was on a mission to find the biggest icicles. While we walked, he started telling me about a video game called Medal of Honor. Because of the game, he was learning about World War II, and he started asking me why we had gone to war against Germany. So, there we were, looking for big icicles and talking about world history. And as we talked, I told him about my dad, his grandfather, who had been in the Navy during World War II. Looking for icicles is not quite the lifelong shared activity I had in mind. But you climb mountains one step at a time. David Tarrant writes an occasional column on fatherhood called The Grateful Dad in the Family section, which appears Thursdays. E-mail dtarrant@dallasnews.com GET BACK TO NATURE You name it, and there seems to be a disorder for it. If you're a dad who wants to connect with your son beyond video games, you've now got to contend with a bugaboo called "Nature Deficit Disorder." In Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder (Algonquin, $24.95), author Richard Louv looks at how a generation of children is becoming disconnected from nature. Electronic media are a major reason kids are spending more time indoors, but they also do so because of parental fears of strangers, traffic and crime; the encroachment of organized activities and homework on free time; and urban sprawl. What happens when kids lose contact with the outside world? Well ... a lot: weakened use of the senses, attention deficit problems and emotional problems to name a few, he says. Exposing kids to healthy doses of outdoor adventures contributes to their well-rounded development, he says. Dads can influence their kids by modeling the right behavior, says Vincent DiCaro, spokesman for the National Fatherhood Initiative, a nonprofit group based in Maryland. Active fathers are more likely to have active children. Another dad-centered nonprofit, the National Center for Fathering, in Kansas City, Mo., suggests these "action tips" for dads: Count how many hours your family watches television, plays video or computer games and compare it with the time you spend together in family activities or conversation. Plan a camping trip. Campfires can be great places to connect with kids, by telling stories and just enjoying each other's company without the distractions of a modern household. With younger children, start out by camping out in the back yard. Explore biking and hiking trails near home. Get out a city map and promise to visit at least three parks with your kids. Excitement over the new King Kong video game may last a few months. But the joys of hiking in the woods, exploring caverns and camping in the wilderness last a lifetime. David Tarrant

Its not all the parents' fault -- although parents shoulder much of the blame. As an example, Louv makes much of the fact that kids a generation or two ago routinely built tree houses and spent much unsupervised time in them. Last summer, my son and I started a tree house in our back yard. We were having great fun working on it together (he even had some neighbrhood friends join in to help us), when I was told by the neighborhood association I had to take it down due to a complaint by a neighbor. My point is that local ordinances, covenants, neighborhood design and other factors (Lyme disease, anyone?) have contributed to limiting kids' access to nature. Its not just the parents' fault.

Please forgive the OT post, but this link was posted on a Scouting List and since we just celebrated Independence Day, I just had to share it. Check this out: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2487638612433437293&q=Veterans http://tinyurl.com/zbmm8 To all veterans and active military, reservists, and guardsmen on Scouter.com: I appreciate your sacrifice and your service to our country.

GETTING YOUTH ACTIVE: Suggested Reading List FOR INSPIRATION Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv Noah's Children: Restoring the Ecology of Childhood by Sara Bonnett Stein Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education (Nature Literacy Series, Vol. 1) and Children's Special Places: Exploring the Role of Forts, Dens, and Bush Houses in Middle Childhood (The Child in the City Series) by David Sobel Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary Investigations by Peter H., Jr. Kahn (Editor), Stephen R. Kellert (Editor) The Geography of Childhood by Gary Paul Nabhan Chicken Soup for the Nature Lover's Soul : Inspiring Stories of Joy, Insight and Adventure in the Great Outdoors by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Steve Zikman JUST FOR KIDS Follow the Trail: A Young Person's Guide to the Great Outdoors by Jessica Loy The Kids Campfire Book and The Kids' Summer Handbook by Jane Drake, Ann Love Kids Camp!: Activities for the Backyard or Wilderness by Laurie Carlson, Judith Dammel Buck Wilder's Small Twig Hiking & Camping Guide by Timothy R. Smith Trekking on a Trail: Hiking Adventures for Kids by Linda White, Fran Lee (Illustrator) JUST FOR PARENTS Introducing Your Kids To The Outdoors by Dr. Christopher Van Tilburg Kids in the Wild: A Family Guide to Outdoor Recreation by Cindy Ross, Todd Gladfelter Parents' Guide to Hiking & Camping: A Trailside Guide by Alice Cary Camping and Backpacking With Children by Steven Boga Hiking with Kids: Taking Those First Steps with Young Hikers by Robin Tawney 365 Outdoor Activities You Can do With Your Child by Steven and Ruth Bennett Sharing Nature with Children and Sharing Nature with Children II by Joseph Cornell http://www.outdoorindustryfoundation.org/pdf/Reading_List.pdf

Childhood pastimes are increasingly moving indoors http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-11-pastimes-childhood_x.htm http://tinyurl.com/a935h By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY Posted 7/12/2005 12:01 AM Updated 7/12/2005 3:12 AM BELLBROOK, Ohio Being a kid isn't what it used to be. Dakota Howell, 9, went fishing in this town of 7,000 the other day with his mom, dad and little brother. "It's fun," he says, happily reeling in sunfish from Spring Lake during a fishing derby sponsored by Wal-Mart. But, to be honest, he'd rather be doing something else: playing video games. "That was my first choice," he confides. "But mom says they rot your brain." Misty Pollock, his mother, smiles. "When I was a kid, we wanted to be outdoors," she says. "Today, you have to push kids outside." The fundamental nature of American childhood has changed in a single generation. The unstructured outdoor childhood days of pick-up baseball games, treehouses and "be home for dinner" has all but vanished. Today, childhood is spent mostly indoors, watching television, playing video games and working the Internet. When children do go outside, it tends to be for scheduled events soccer camp or a fishing derby held under the watch of adults. In a typical week, 27% of kids ages 9 to 13 play organized baseball, but only 6% play on their own, a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. The shift to an indoor childhood has accelerated in the past decade, with huge declines in spontaneous outdoor activities such as bike riding, swimming and touch football, according to separate studies by the National Sporting Goods Association, a trade group, and American Sports Data, a research firm. Bike riding alone is down 31% since 1995. A child is six times more likely to play a video game on a typical day than to ride a bike, according to surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the CDC. Dakota Howell says his favorite video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater is more fun than actual skateboarding. The change can be seen in children's bodies. In the 1960s, 4% of kids were obese. Today, 16% are overweight, according to the CDC. It can be seen in their brains. Studies indicate that children who spend lots of time outdoors have longer attention spans than kids who watch lots of television and play video games, says Frances Kuo, director of the Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "New research indicates that our intuition is right: Kids are spending way too much time with media and not enough time outside," Kuo says. The lure of television and video games isn't the only thing keeping kids indoors. Parents are more afraid of letting kids roam in a world of heavy traffic and reports of pedophiles and missing children. A 41% decline in the birth rate since 1960 means smaller packs of kids roam neighborhoods. Air-conditioning means kids don't need the local pool or swimming hole to cool off. "Boundaries for kids used to be measured by blocks or miles. Now, the boundary for most kids is the front yard. A lot of kids are under house arrest," says Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, a book about how children have lost touch with nature. He says many parents fear the outdoors, whether it's letting a kid climb a tree or hike alone in the woods. "Parents think their kids are safer in front of the Xbox in the next room." Home alone Consider Jared Timmons and Cole Hillsamer, a pair of athletic 11-year-old friends from Beaver Creek, Ohio. The boys live in neighborhoods separated by a busy street neither is allowed to cross in their 38,000-resident town outside of Dayton. During the school year, both boys got home about 2 p.m. and spent a couple hours alone. Cole flopped on his bed, watched MTV or the Dukes ofHazzard. Jared sat 2 miles away instant messaging friends and sometimes stepping outside to shoot baskets by himself. The buddies were outdoors together at this month's fishing derby. Cole's mother, Janet Begley, drove them to the event and sat in a beach chair behind the boys reading Hidden Prey, a murder mystery. She says she would never let her son play in the woods without an adult. She won't even let him go alone to the park down the street. "Parks are where pedophiles go," she says. The mother pauses for a moment to recall her tomboy childhood. She rode her bike all over town. She played outdoors freely climbing trees, playing tag and kick the can. "Life for kids isn't what it used to be," she says. Annabel North, 9, a bubbly Catholic school student, is fishing a few feet away. Last night, she had a sleepover at a friend's house and had a grand time trying to make grape jelly from juice and milk. She stayed up whispering until midnight discussing whether the Loch Ness monster is real. But much of her time, she says, is spent by herself. "When I'm happy, I go outdoors. When I'm sad, I watch TV," she says. Some days, Annabel says, she watches television from the moment she wakes up until the moment she goes to bed. Is that boring? "No, it's not boring at all!" she exclaims, surprised by the silly question. "It's great. I don't miss anything." Multimedia lives of children In the 1960s, television broadcast 27 hours of children's programming a week, much of it shown simultaneously on Saturday morning. Today, there are 14 television networks aimed at children, and the most popular show with children, American Idol, isn't on any of them. Children ages 8 to 10 spend an average of 6 hours a day watching television, playing video games and using computers, according to the Kaiser study. And that's during the school year. No study has been done on vacation habits, but TV ratings show kids watch more during the summer. Childhood's outdoor pastimes are declining fast and the rate has accelerated in the past decade, especially the past five years, according to the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) annual survey of physical activity. Since 1995, the portion of children ages 7 to 11 who swim, fish or play touch football has declined by about a third. Canoeing and water skiing are down by similar amounts. The relationship between kids and their bikes is especially telling. In 1995, 68% of children ages 7 to 11 rode a bike at least six times a year. Last year, only 47% did. The sales of children's bikes fell from 12.4 million in 2000 to 9.8 million in 2004, a 21% decline, according to Bicycle Industry and Retailer News,an industry magazine. "Bikes used to be empowering for children," says Marc Sani, publisher of the magazine. "My parents didn't care where I went as long as I was home for supper. Now, parents are afraid to let kids out of their sight." Many kids have substituted skateboards and scooters to get around. But skateboards and scooters travel short distances and their use peaked in 2001 and 2002 respectively, according to the NSGA survey. Children today tend to get outdoor exercise by appointment. Soccer participation has been unchanged in the past decade about 28% of kids age 7 to 11 play the sport. Soccer leagues and soccer camps are in full bloom this summer, although non-organized soccer games are uncommon. Organized outdoor activities have kept kids moving. They are declining but much more slowly that unstructured outdoor play. Little League participation has fallen to 2.1 million children, down 14% from its peak in 1997. But overall baseball playing pick-up games, catch, pickle has declined nearly twice as fast, the NSGA surveys show. "As a kid, I'd throw my glove on a bike and pedal 2 or 3 miles to the ball field for a pick-up game," says Little League spokesman Chris Downs, 33, in Williamsport, Pa. "That doesn't appeal to kids as much today. They have many other choices and not just video games." In generations past, children's play tended to be open-ended, following whatever game or adventure a child's imagination could generate. Children and parents now prefer structured entertainment, whether it's a video game or a day at the pool. Spring Valley Pool in Granville, Ohio, closed this year after 70 years. "Kids expect entertainment at a pool, not just pleasure or friendship," says Chip Gordon, whose family owned the pool. "Our 12-foot high dive couldn't compete with the jazzy stuff kids expect." Kids specialize Mike Morris, 20, a pole-vaulter at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., says the introduction of Nintendo 64 in 1996 was a seminal event in his generation's childhood. It introduced 3-D graphics, the joystick and the ability to play "shoot 'em up" games that allowed competing against friends. Almost overnight, play in his neighborhood shifted from outdoors to indoors. Some kids never really came back out, he says. Even those who did had their habits changed. Morris often works out three hours a day at the gym, then returns to his dorm to play the Halo combat game against 20 fellow students sitting in their own dorm rooms nearby. "My college memories are more likely to be a great move I put on to kill someone in Halo than a great move in pick-up basketball," he says. "It's kind of sad in a way." Tracey Martin, 40, head of parks and recreation in Greenville, Ohio, says his athletic 14-year-old son spends a typical summer week playing basketball all day at basketball camp and playing soccer at night. But when his son is home, the boy spends his free time using computer chat rooms and playing cards over the Internet. "The funny thing is, I never see him play cards with his friends," his father says. Many parents express dismay over the lives their children lead, but they aren't sure what to do. Darrell Mueller, 54, runs the parks and recreation programs in North Platte, Neb. His childhood was spent outdoors playing ball, riding his bike and building forts. Even today, he hates being inside. His children are the opposite. They prefer being driven to school, which is just two houses away. His 11-year-old daughter, Ivy, spends hours instant messaging her friend across the street. He asks why she doesn't just go over and play with her friend. "This is more fun," his daughter explains. Mueller's 16-year-old son, Taylor, spends nearly every waking hour in his room, playing the Warcraft fantasy game on the Internet with people from around the world. "I call him the caveman because he never leaves his room," Mueller says. "He comes out now and then for dinner, but he can't eat with us. He has to get back to his game." His son recently burst out of his room excited. His guild, or team, had earned a top ranking in Warcraft. The father didn't know what to say: Should he congratulate his son on his success or worry about what it meant? Mueller pulls his son out of his room three times a week twice for a summer basketball league and on Sunday to mow the grass at the boy's grandfather's house. "In my day, we tried to get out of the house any way we could," Mueller says. "Now, you can't get kids outdoors." In Bellbrook, the fishing derby ends at noon. Dakota Howell and his brother John, 7, are ready to head home from Spring Lake. Dakota declares he wants to be an archaeologist because he loves getting his fingers dirty. John, carrying fishing rods, looks like a child in a Norman Rockwell painting. He has a big smile on his face. "Now," he says, "we're going home to play video games."(This message has been edited by fgoodwin)

If you hadn't noticed, Louv's book is mentioned in the last issue of Scouting: http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/issues/current/a-wndr.html

Scout's project: A Purple Heart memorial http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060630/COMMUNITIES30/606300323 http://tinyurl.com/nd4p8 06/30/06 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom Student, 16, gets the OK to build monument at Montville High School BY TEHANI SCHNEIDER DAILY RECORD MONTVILLE -- At a time when young Americans are going off to fight in a war, Boy Scout Justin Pagano wanted to create a monument that would remind people his age about the high price of freedom. "To place this monument where every Montville High School student can see it is appropriate, because we are at an age when we can begin to comprehend freedom and the cost of war," Justin wrote in a letter to the school board before his project was approved. Sixteen-year-old Justin will create a Purple Heart memorial that will be placed on the grounds of Montville High School. The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the armed forces who are wounded by an instrument of war in the hands of the enemy and posthumously to the next of kin in the name of those who are killed in action or die of wounds received in action. Justin, of Troop 74, said he hopes the monument will honor and recognize military sacrifices while demonstrating an appreciation and respect for its surroundings in the community. "I want people to see it and want to park, and read everything the monument says, so they can fully understand what it represents," Justin said Tuesday. "I want them to realize the cost of our freedom." Justin recently received approval for his project from the school board. He worked with Joseph Hems, vice president of the Purple Heart Service Foundation and past national commander for the Military Order of the Purple Heart, to pinpoint the perfect spot for the monument. Hems said his organization usually is involved with the location of monuments of this type. Approximately 25 are in place in New Jersey, and the organization hopes to have 30 by the end of the year, Hems said. "We're always looking for a location with good visibility, particularly for the younger generation," Hems said. Together the two agreed on the small hill that separates the high school from the library on Horseneck Road. The memorial will be on an angle facing the corner where drivers turn into the school, Justin said. Justin is working to raise funds for the memorial, which is estimated to cost $7,000 for the monument, base and inscription, Hems said. Justin's goal is to raise enough money to add other inscriptions and symbols. "I hope to put on the back of the monument something that represents the Boy Scouts,"Justin said. His fundraising efforts will begin on Saturday afternoon at a carnival at the high school. John Coppola, scoutmaster of Troop 74, said Justin's project mirrors his patriotic nature and his sense of values. "I think this project reflects Justin and his family -- what they feel about people who have sacrificed for this country," said Coppola. Justin's father, Dan, said his son picked a very difficult project because of the amount of money that must be raised. But the experience will be invaluable, he said. "It gives him a better understanding of how fortunate he is -- that someone had to put themselves in harm's way and make the sacrifice so we can live here," Dan Pagano said. "He's getting a very good understanding of what that means."

Boy Scouts Hoped Shuttle Discovery Would Have Launched http://www.team4news.com/Global/story.asp?S=5105676 July 2, 2006, 05:49 PM Reported by Anabel Marquez McAllen Space shuttle Discovery is on the launch pad in Florida. But it isn't going anywhere. As people waited to see the discovery's lift-off Saturday, NASA officials called off the expedition due to bad weather. In the Valley, members of McAllen Boy Scout Troop 7 gathered at one of the boy scouts' houses to watch the launch. They were excited about Astronaut Michael Fossum, a former Eagle Scout from their troop - leap into space. "It's just such a small world that he gets to go to space for a certain amount of days," said Star Scout Jerrod Prater. Jonathan Weisfield-Hinojosa added: "I feel excited cause I've never really seen a space shuttle go up." And fellow Boy Scout Raghuveer Puttagunta said, "It's someone that came from my background, that's from the Valley, from my experiences, he's from a local council- Troop seven." But about ten minutes before the scheduled launch, the announcement was made to cancel the lift-off. And that was something that made Scout Hayden Prater feel especially disappointed. "I feel depressed," he stated. "I was hoping to see it for my birthday 'cause it's my birthday today. I'm really bummed out." Hayden Prater said Fossum is his role model. "Seeing him where he is and how high he is, in his job right now, I could see myself there one day." Scoutmaster Marty Martin said even with the postponement, the boy scouts won't miss the event. He said they would gather again. "We're going to try to do it again tomorrow," Martin said. "I know it's 4th of July weekend and everybody has plans but we're going to try one more time."

Google petition re: Baden-Powell / Feb 22To: Google, Inc As members of Scouting & Guiding worldwide, we wish to petition Google to incorporate Scouting and Guiding graphics into their Google Search Page Holiday Logo for February 22nd of each year. This date is the birthdate of Lord and Lady Baden Powell, and was chosen as an International Scouting/Guiding day of celebration. Lord Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell of Gilwell (Chief Scout of the World) founded Scouting in 1907, a worldwide movement affecting nearly every country, with millions of members worldwide, while Lady Olave Baden-Powell was named Chief Guide of the World for Guiding, the worldwide sister organization to Scouting, founded in 1910. Sincerely, The Undersigned http://www.petitiononline.com/glogobp/petition.html

Scouting at the Episcopal ConventionAt the recently concluded General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Columbus, OH, the National Episcopal Scouters Association staffed an exhibit booth sponsored by BSA. We were very warmly welcomed by almost all of our visitors, many of whom shared stories about their own Scouting experience as a youth, or that they were the proud parent(s) of one or more Eagle Scouts. We sold many patches as a fundraiser for the Association, and we gave out a couple dozen membership applications. This experience convinces me that Scouting is still very much supported by a great many Episcopalians. All in all, it was a very positive experience for Episcopal Scouting! BSA will likely sponsor another exhibit booth at the next Episcopal General Convention in Anaheim (currently scheduled for July 8-17, 2009), and hopefully the National Episcopal Scouters Association will be there to help staff it. If you have any questions about the Association or about Scouting in the Episcopal Church, please contact me off-list. Fred Goodwin Diocese of West Texas, ECUSA Alamo Area Council, BSA National Episcopal Scouters Association http://www.episcopal-scouting.org/

Ditch That Cell Phone in a Thunderstormhttp://www.healthday.com/view.cfm?id=533442 The devices may prove deadly in a lightning strike, some doctors suggest By Amanda Gardner HealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, June 23 (HealthDay News) -- Citing the case of a 15-year-old girl struck by lightning while using her cell phone in a London park last year, some doctors are warning against the outdoor use of the devices during stormy weather. The girl survived, but is confined to a wheelchair, has lost some hearing in the ear she was holding the phone to, and suffers a variety of physical, cognitive and emotional problems. She has no memory of the incident because she also suffered cardiac arrest at the time. "This rare phenomenon is a public health issue, and education is necessary to highlight the risk of using mobile phones outdoors during stormy weather to prevent future fatal consequences from lightning-strike injuries related to mobile phones," three British doctors write in the June 24 issue of the British Medical Journal. But other experts point to a number of variables that could have played a role in the accident. "I am not aware of any research on a cell phone being a particular attractor of lightning," said John Drengenberg, manager of consumer affairs at Underwriters Laboratories Inc., in Northbrook, Ill. "There's nothing that would indicate they would attract lightning other than the fact that this girl with her cell phone and antenna would be something that would be the only thing that lightning would go to in that area." Lightning is the second-leading weather-related source of fatalities in the United States, according to the National Lightning Safety Institute. National Weather Service data notes that 400 people are struck and approximately 67 are killed each year by lightning -- more deaths than caused by hurricanes or tornadoes. Only floods are more deadly. Almost three-quarters of people who survive a lightning strike suffer lifelong, severe complications and disabilities. Lightning also causes about $5 billion of economic loss each year in the United States. According to the authors of the letter, the high resistance of human skin means that if lightning strikes, it is conducted over the skin without entering the body, resulting in a low death-rate phenomenon known as "flashover." But conductive materials such as liquids or metallic objects -- i.e. cell phones -- disrupt the flashover and result in internal injury with greater death rates, according to the three authors from Northwick Park Hospital in Middlesex, England. The letter's authors could not find any similar cases reported in the medical literature, although they did find three cases reported in newspapers in China, Korea and Malaysia. In all these cases, the person died after being struck by lightning while using a mobile phone outside during a storm, the authors said. The Australian Lightning Protection Standard recommends that metallic objects, including cordless or mobile phones, not be used or even carried outdoors during a thunderstorm. People can take other common-sense precautions during a lightning storm, Drengenberg said: Get inside during a thunderstorm, and don't use a landline telephone. "If lightning strikes in the area, it will come through the telephone lines and could go through you," he warned. Also, avoid electrical appliances such as washing machines or dishwashers. Don't take a shower or wash dishes because lightning can travel through water pipes. Don't stand near an open window on a hot day when there's a lightning storm. As the heat leaves the house through the window, it becomes a conduit for lightning. If you find yourself stuck outside, avoid wide-open spaces and don't stand under a tree. Thanks to the saline composition of your blood, you are a better conductor of electricity than the tree. More information The National Lightning Safety Institute has more on lightning safety: http://www.lightningsafety.com/ SOURCES: John Drengenberg, manager, consumer affairs, Underwriters Laboratories Inc., Northbrook, Ill.; June 24, 2006, British Medical Journal Last Updated: June 23, 2006

I'm glad, too. But once again, an LDS unit is involved. Not to bash the LDS Church, but one has to wonder what in the world is going on . . .

Missing Boy Scouts foundhttp://www.newsregister.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=207868 Published: June 22, 2006 The News-Register staff McMinnville Boy Scouts Zachery Britt, Max Meehan and Ryan Short, missing overnight in the Mount Hood area, have been found. The Hood River County Sheriff's Office, which had mounted a search for the trio, confirmed they were located late this morning. The teens had still been considered missing at the News-Register's deadline for today's print edition. The boys are members of the Varsity Boy Scout Team sponsored by the McMinnville Second Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Eleven boys and four adults with the group were on a camping trip near Lost Lake, northeast of Sandy and southwest of Hood River. They left the group Wednesday to go fishing and hiking, but didn't return by nightfall. The Hood River County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue Team began looking for the teenage boys early this morning. Temperatures were reported to have been in the 40s during the night. Earlier Thursday, before the boys were found, ward spokesman Dan Hinmon said he was confident the Scouts would be found. For a full account of the search effort, read Saturday's News-Register.

Three local Boy Scouts go missinghttp://www.newsregister.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=209644 Published: June 22, 2006 By PAUL DAQUILANTE Of the News-Register Three Boy Scouts from McMinnville were reported missing Wednesday night after they failed to return from a day of fishing and hiking in Hood River County's Mount Hood National Forest. The teenagers are members of the Varsity Boy Scout Team sponsored by the McMinnville Second Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Hood River County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue Team began looking for the teenage boys early this morning. "There were 11 boys and four adults, all members of the team, that were camping at Lost Lake," said Dan Hinmon, a spokesperson for the ward. "The boys went off in groups to fish and hike. When these three did not return to camp, the leaders became concerned, and reported them as missing to the sheriff's office." Lost Lake is located northeast of Sandy and southwest of Hood River. Hinmon identified the boys as Zackery Britt, Max Meehan and Ryan Short. Meehan and Short are McMinnville High School students, he said. Britt's father lives in McMinnville, but he resides with his mother elsewhere, according to Hinmon. He was uncertain of their ages, but said they are all teenagers. "We're confident the boys will be found," Hinmon said. "According to the sheriff's office, it's a common occurrence for members of groups to wander away from camp." He said overnight temperatures in the area were in the 40s, but he did not know if the boys were equipped to spend a night outdoors.

To all the dads on the Forums . . .

Scout leader: be(ing) prepared for a new centuryhttp://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060613/13scouts.htm By Alex Kingsbury Posted 6/13/06 Rick Cronk is new to the post of president of the Boy Scouts of America, but he's not new to Scouting. The former head of Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream is also the father of three Eagle Scouts. He spoke with U.S. News from his Washington hotel, where he was preparing for the annual Boy Scout national meeting on May 25. How does a former dessert magnate motivate kids to get off the couch and into the great outdoors as Boy Scouts? You need a vision in any organization, be it for profit or not for profit, and you have to be able to inspire people. I can only go on so many camping trips myself every year. What's unique about scouting is that you have about 5 million kids and only 3,500 officials and 1.2 million volunteers. If I were to do only one thing well, it would be to inspire and motivate those volunteers. Are skills like learning to build a fire or wilderness survival still relevant to kids? Scouting is focused on developing character and a good moral compass. Some people think scouting is all about merit badges and camping, but that's just the programming used to deliver a values-based experience that hopefully kids will keep with them for the rest of their lives. If you can offer kids the chance to go on a 50-mile backpacking trip, in my case in the high Sierras, you'll get a lot of hands up in the air. As for trying to be relevant, there are merit badges now that didn't exist 20 years ago. For example? There are 120 merit badges available today, and 67 of them involve math and science: archaeology, veterinary medicine, environment, and entrepreneurship. So, it's not just tying knots and wielding an ax. Scouting is going to die if it's not relevant to the kids. It was true 20 years ago, and it will be true in the future. How has the mission of the Scouts changed in the past 96 years? The mission has not changed at all. At the beginning of every meeting, the Scouts repeat the Scout's Oath. When you give that oath with 40 or 50 of your best friends 30 or 40 times a year for five or six years, it starts to sink in. It becomes real stuff. ... The most important part of a scout meeting is the end, when the scoutmasters conclude the meeting with the master's minute. The scoutmaster will talk about the Scout law, the oath, caring for other people, honesty, respecting people whose opinions are different from your own, or drugs or alcohol. There is a minute of talk from a man that you have considerable respect for.Kids are staying because they enjoy it, and in the process they are getting these little moral messages, and it starts to stay with them. The kids vote with their feet, and if they are not having fun, they will leave. And yet membership in Scouts has declined in the past few years. Are kids voting with their feet? It's declined a little bitmaybe 3 or 4 percent in the past few years. But if you look at the program, it has never been healthier. We have more kids going to camp every summer than ever before. We have roughly 50,000 new Eagle Scouts every year, etc. We could give you all sorts of statistics. To be honest, school access in some school districts has been a challenge. Until the Supreme Court case, in every elementary school across America the local Scout leaders would hand out fliers inviting students and parents to Scout recruiting meetings in the auditorium. That still happens in schools across the country but not as uniformly as it once did. What has it meant for your organization to go through a major court battle? It's never been a child that has sued the Scouts; it's been the parent of a child that has sued. We had a father of a child in Sacramento who wanted his daughter to be a Boy Scout. Trust me, the 11-year-old daughter was not suing the Scouts. But this man wouldn't let it go. He was relentless. If you look at Boy Scouts of America in the courtroom, it is almost always driven by very ambitious and motivated parents. But parents are also the people who motivate their kids to get involved with scouting in the first place. They are integral to your organization. The broader answer to your question is that we are a private organization that's volunteer based and volunteer driven. This is America, where any private group can do whatever it wants to do in this case, picking the standards by which we select leaders. It's always gays, God, and girls. We have a group protesting outside right now. Outside your hotel at this moment? Yes, they are here every year. We might as well buy them lunch because we know they are going to be here. We respect their rights and their point of view, and we ask that they respect our rights as a private organization. What does that mean for the future? Scouting has got to do a better job reaching out to the inner city and the Hispanic community. The challenge there is that you have parents who don't have time to be volunteers. In California, for example, 47 percent of children in grades K-12 are Hispanic. If the Boy Scouts of America can't offer a program that is exciting and stimulating for those kids, then we should find something else to do. The numbers are a bit soft, and if we were in a membership contest, we'd be a bit concerned. But we are more concerned with reaching out to kids that are not as easily served. The classic view of the Scouts is as a suburban organization rather than an urban one. It's true in the fact that it's a lot easier in suburbia. You have families with a mom and dad. In inner cities like Chicago or Los Angeles, there is mom or dad or grandma, in many cases. So it's easier in suburbia. But today there are Scouts from cities all across America. Turing to God in the scout oath, does one have to believe in a Christian God to be a Boy Scout? There must be hundreds of Gods out there. God in the oath referrs to a supreme being of some sort it's a moral or ethical or spiritual orientation. We don't care if it's Mohammad or Buddha or a rock in Japan. We ask the kids to take the Scout oath and what they do on their own time is up to them. What are the challenges facing Scoutsand potential Scoutstoday? It's tough to be a kid today. It was easy to be a kid 20 years ago. Today, the obvious thing is the availability of drugs. To walk in the hallways of an inner-city middle school or high school is demoralizing. The world is moving way too fast. These kids all have cellphones and the Internet. The challenge to being a kid, to survive, physically, morally, ethically, is pretty difficult. So, God bless good parents, good teachers, good coaches, the Boy Scouts, the Girls Club anybody that's providing meaningful and stimulating activities for kids that, by the way, might lead to a good moral education. Scouting is providing a male-mentoring opportunity for some kids that don't have that. I don't want to get overly moralistic about all this, but it's tough to be a kid today. I wish we were serving 10 million kids instead of 5 million kids.

If anyone doubts that these are for real, just send me a note. I'll be glad to send you a screenshot. fgoodwin@sbcglobal.net

Omelets In A Baghttp://camping.about.com/od/recipes/r/ucrec031.htm From David Sweet, Your Guide to Camping. FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now! A camping recipe from Kim. This recipe is especially fun for kids. I learned it from a cub scout camping trip with my son. INGREDIENTS: 2 eggs diced ham (lunchmeat kind) diced onion diced sweet pepper PREPARATION: Take a large Ziplock freezer bag and put in all the ingredients they want in their omelet. Each person will "scramble" their omelet by squishing the bag with their hands until it is all nicely mixed. Next, in a large pot of boiling water, place the bags (one or two at a time) and move them around with a large spoon for 4-5 minutes, until you think the eggs are done. Pour the omelet onto a paper plate, and you have breakfast! No mess, no fuss, and lot's of fun for kids. Servings: as needed Preparation time: 5 minutes

GOP defense of Boy Scouts draws hypocrisy chargehttp://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=36&url_article_id=16022&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2 http://tinyurl.com/s74sr By Dave Williams 06/11/2006 Several years ago, Republicans in the General Assembly pushed a bill to prohibit local governments and schools from banning the Boy Scouts from their buildings because of the organizations stand against gay scoutmasters. Democrats running the Legislature at the time managed to bottle it up in committees. Now, with the GOP in control, the Scouts may be back on the agenda at the Gold Dome. The backdrop is a recent decision by Bank of America to withhold its usual charitable donation to a regional Boy Scouts council based in Valdosta because of the national organizations prohibition of gays serving as troop leaders. That news has fired up two Republicans from Cobb County: Rep. Earl Ehrhart of Powder Springs the chief sponsor of the earlier Defense of Scouting Act and Sen. John Wiles of Marietta. The two have vowed to introduce bills in their respective chambers next winter that would forbid the state from doing business with any company that discriminates against youth groups. I cant understand why a business would want to discriminate against an organization that takes young men and turns them into good citizens, Wiles said. Its just wrong. Given the political climate in Georgia, where a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage passed two years ago with 76 percent of the vote, any measure that directly or indirectly supports the Boy Scouts ban on gay scoutmasters wouldnt be hard pressed to find a lot of support in the General Assembly. But thats not stopping critics from charging hypocrisy on the part of legislative Republicans. Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown, D-Macon, said any move by lawmakers to dictate how a private business should spend its money flies in the face of what Republicans always have claimed to stand for. This Georgia Republican Party has been topsy-turvy in its rhetoric and reality, Brown said. Wiles turns that argument around. If businesses have a right to decide what to do with their money, he said, Georgia lawmakers have just as much right to determine where to invest the taxpayers money. I dont think the citizens of Georgia want us to put their money in a place that openly discriminates against a group of Georgians, he said. There are a lot of banks in Georgia that would probably choose not to discriminate against Georgians. But Brown said hes not so sure. I dont know where were going to put their money, he said. You can probably find somebody somewhere that all banks are discriminating against. Wed have to end up establishing a state bank, and I know they dont want to do that. Brown said the debate reminds him of the multiyear effort that longtime Rep. Tyrone Brooks, D-Atlanta, waged during the 1980s to convince the General Assembly to divest the state of investments in companies doing business with the then-apartheid government of South Africa. The conservative position was that we shouldnt inject politics into the market system, Brown said. But Wiles said interfering with the private sector is not what his bill would be about. This is not us saying they cant do business in Georgia, he said. Were saying we wont do business with them. This being an election year, its possible that neither Wiles nor Ehrhart will be around next year to introduce their bill. However, thats unlikely. While both face Republican primary opposition, no Democrat signed up to run in either of their heavily Republican districts. If the GOP retains control of the General Assembly, Ehrhart would be in a particularly strong position to ease the skids for the bill. As chairman of the House Rules Committee, he controls what reaches the floor for a vote. Thats one less bill likely to get bottled up. Dave Williams is a staff writer for the Gwinnett Daily Post. E-mail him at dave.williams@gwinnettdailypost.com