The Troop and Crew 1954
Wednesday Newsletter

 

 

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Hi Folks,

Thanks to all who helped with last night's meeting. 

We've got a variety of important announcements and changes this week.

First, due to insufficient adult support we won't be able to hold our John Knox camp-out this weekend (it's not a total disaster...we are sending a group to participate in the "O" meet at Bastrop and it's difficult to field two teams to two different places).

HOWEVER, we will be going out to John Knox on Saturday morning to do the ropes course.  Please meet at the Scout Hut at 8:00.  We will leave by 8:15, do ropes between 9 and 12, and return in the early afternoon.

We truly need better coordination on the next campout.

The other big news is the Crew 1954 has decided to move its meeting night to Thursday.  This is to allow some of their members who are unable to make Tuesday nights to make the meeting.  The Crew is absolutely within its rights to move its meeting date but the move does have a variety of interesting implications.  First, it makes it difficult for families who have members in both Crew and Troop.  That may include several families as time goes on.  Second, it puts me in the anomalous position of being Scoutmaster of a troop that a) no longer includes my son, and b) no longer meets on a day when the group that does include my son meets.  I have not yet entirely decided what to do about this situation.  I do pledge that, baring unforeseen circumstances, I will continue to serve as Scoutmaster until the end of the school year.  After that, it may be time for both me and the troop to move on.  There are a variety of other possibilities out there too.

One possibility is that though Scouts have been meeting on Tuesday nights for a great many years but if we believe the Crew will be stable, we might consider a change to Thursday.  If you have strong feelings either for or against such a change, please email me.

More Crew 1954 News from Thomas Huston, Crew President: We have decided to build a bouldering wall for the Camporee. We will work on this for the next few months and hopefully get it done by the Camporee. Also, we are gonna have a "T-shirt design contest" for crew t-shirts, so anyone who wants to make a design for that should bring it next Thursday. We will NOT meet this Thursday, since we already have met this week.

As always, the Troop 1954 events calendar, this and all back newsletters,  and all sorts of other useful information is available on our website at www.sanmarcos1954.org  The Wednesday Newsletter is the official record of Troop 1954 and serves as minutes for all troop and committee meetings.

Attendance (data for this week not available yet)

SPL  Tony Frediani presiding assisted by ASPL Justin Williams

 

 

Vicious Badgers  Patrol Leader, James Wheatly

 

 



 

 

Ferocious Ferrets  Patrol Leader, Perry Henson

 

 

 

 

Mullets   Patrol Leader, Mason R-K

 

 

 

 

Whitey Tighties   Patrol Leader, Ace Govea

 

 

 

 

Crew 1954    

 

 

Non-Patrol Scouts    

 

 

Point System Scoring

 

Patrol

Attend.

Uniform

Behavior

Game

Spirit

Meeting

6 Mo

V. Badgers

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

F. Ferrets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mullets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biohazards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fromage

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

Piffs

-

-

-

 

 

-

 
notes: 1) you get half a point for wearing a "class B" on a "class A" night
2) We're adding a category for the evening's contest (whatever it may be).  We'll see how it works.
3) We'll try another new rule...especially because we have reduced summer attendance.  In case of tie, the patrol with the largest number of people attending gets the award.

Note: Scouts with more than three consecutive misses will not be counted against patrol attendance scores.  Such scouts are not removed from their patrols.  They are simply not counted for attendance points until they return.  Also note that when all patrols score the same on a category, it doesn't matter what they score.
Behavior, subtract for each incident.

Fails to come to order when scout sign given -1
Fighting with each other -1 per incident
Bad language -1 per incident
Failure to treat others with respect -1
Asked repeatedly to do any task -1
Fails to clean up -1
Shows poor sportsmanship -1

 Spirit: Add for each, highest score is a five.

All members cooperate with game +1
Members make progress on meeting’s task +1
Members show enthusiasm for tasks +1
Members show good organization (listen to PL and Coach) +1
Members exemplify Scout Law +1

 


 

 

Announcements

 
 

None additional this week.

 
 

News of the Scouting World

Scouts satisfy United Way;  Agency OKs plans for outreach reform
From The Atlanta Constitution.

 S.A. REID

The Boy Scouts of America-Atlanta Area Council is due to get a long-delayed $250,000 check soon from the United Way.

Council officials couldn't be happier with the decision by United Way Board of Directors to forward the remainder of the $945,107 grant it approved for the Scouts last May. The United Way withheld the money pending a plan for the Scouts to address problems in Operation First Class, an outreach program targeting inner-city and disadvantaged boys.

Instead, an independent audit found the program, started in 1991, listed phantom troops in poor neighborhoods and included Scouts on membership rolls who had never belonged to the organization.

United Way's decision this week to release the funds came after organization officials reviewed an executive summary of the Scouts' plan for improving Operation First Class. The agency expects to deliver the money within the next few weeks, said Mark Dvorak, a United Way spokesman.

"The board felt the Scouts have done due diligence in addressing the situation, so they decided to release the funds," Dvorak said.

The $250,000 brings to $1,036,689 the Scouts have received from United Way for Council programs for this fiscal year.

In a written statement released Thursday, the Atlanta Scouting organization said, "The Council Board and its volunteers are committed to serving all youth in its 13-county area, adopting the Boy Scouts National Scoutreach program to ensure that all barriers are removed to reach the culturally and economically diverse youth in Atlanta with the Scouting program."

The United Way's board also wants to work with the Scouts to develop ways to measure Operation First Class' success in serving disadvantaged and inner-city youth.

Rainbow/PUSH Coalition's Joe Beasley, who helped bring the problem of phantom troops and Scouts to light and has been one of the Council's harshest critics, said he doesn't have problems with the United Way's decision.

"There is a genuine attempt to get things right in Atlanta. I think Atlanta can become the model," Beasley said. "I think we've got an opportunity to really deliver Scouting to the poor boys that need it. I feel quite comfortable with the direction we are headed in."
 

Upcoming Events

January 20-22, John Knox Camp Camp-Out (ropes course)

February TBA, Lost Pines (climbing tower and canoeing)

February 18, Merit Badge University

March 13-17, Enchanted Rock Camp-Out

March 30-April 2, Camporee

April 4, Troop Elections

April 11, Spring Court of Honor

May 5-7, Inks Lake

June 2-4 Big Bend

July TBA Summer Camp