The Troop 1954
Wednesday Newsletter

 

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Hi Folks,

Wow!  Really nice to see so many scouts at a summer meeting.  After last week I was thinking that maybe meeting every week in June was a mistake...but no mistake, it was great.  On the other hand, one parent suggested to me that maybe we should just have a bowl of Ritalin at the door.  We're a troop dominated by younger scouts and it's harder for these guys to learn leadership.  But don't worry, they'll get it.

We continue to make strides on improving our building and equipment.  This week the funnel cake machine went to Texas Pyrotechnics for numerous mechanical and safety improvements.  We're also looking into the possibility of buying a new, smaller machine so that we can do fund raising at smaller events (and with fewer people), and also, possibly, expand our product line at large events.  There is still some small painting and repair work to be done on the inside of the building and we plan to install several ceiling and exhaust fans.  Come the fall, we'll focus on painting the outside.

The troop committee met last weekend and dealt with a backlog of stuff that had been building for a couple of months.  At this meeting, the committee accepted, with modification, the proposals I made for financial aid policies a couple of months ago.  We will be sending information about these policies to each family in the troop sometime in the next two weeks.

We're looking at a busy summer of fund raising.  We'll be doing both Summerfest and tax free weekend at Wal-Mart.  You'll find more information about these below.  I know this is a lot of funnel cake but we'll use the money for good stuff.  We need the funds to continue the renovation of our facilities, make several significant purchases (probably an additional trailer and a lawn mower), fully equip each patrol, help fund more ambitious troop travel, and, of course, give our members a chance to put additional money in their own scouting accounts.

Congrats to Mz. Patty's group, who took the donuts for the fire building last night.

Congrats to the Vicious Badgers who took the patrol award.

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

Attendance
SPL Zach Painton presiding, assisted by ASPL Corey Collier
   
Vicious Badgers   We need to work on patrol leadership and coaching for this group.  I'm badly in need of an adult member to commit to coaching these scouts.
Mason
Jaimie
Daniel
Tony
John
Thomas
David
 
 
Biohazards   Patrol Leader, Mason R-K.  Coached by Mr. Painton
Nathan
Philip
Ben
Mason
 
   
Crimson Fromage     Patrol Leader, Joshua Rose.  Coached by Dr. J.
Sean
Johnny
Josh
Ben
 
Highly Flammable Piffs     Patrol Leader, Dane Rasmussen.  Coached by Ms. Patty
Lee
Corey
Zach
 

Point System Scoring

Patrol

Attend.

Uniform

Behavior

Spirit

Meeting

6 Mo

V. Badgers 5 5 5 5 20 202
Biohazards 4 5 4 4 17 199
Fromage 4 3 3 3 13 177
Piffs 4 5 2 2 13 201

 

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

Participation: 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

 
1) Important information for Summer Camp:

a) All outstanding money for summer camp is due now due.  For most this will be $130 youth and $20 adults.  Please pay either Cece or Susie.

b) All scouts and adults going to summer camp must complete Physical forms by June 15.  Cece is collecting the forms.

c) Please provide Ms. Patty with all camp merit badge immediately if you have not done so.

d) All gear needs to be at the Scout Hut Tuesday June 29th.  Campers are limited to one duffle.  We are going to try to do this without a trailer so please try to limit what you bring to items on the list only.

e) We are planning to leave the Scout Hut at 4:30 AM on July 3.

f) Adults and campers should bring food for breakfast and snacks for the July 3 drive.

g) Due to rise in gas prices, campers should be sent with $30 additional spending money (as well as money required for merit badges).  Any unused travel funds will be refunded.

2) Information for Summerfest:  Summerfest is the city's fourth of July celebration.  It's been rained out the last two years running...but hope springs eternal (though looking out my window today, I'm not taking any bets).  Anyhow, we have a booth reserved for Summerfest but we need volunteers, both youth and adult, to help operate the booth and funnel cake machine.  We realize that most scouts will be at summer camp, but if you're available to help on July 4, please let me know.  Please email me at r.warms@txstate.edu.

 
Essay

Nothing this week.
 
Upcoming Events

 

Troop 1954 Summer Camp, July 3 - July 11

We will be doing summer camp at Camp Dale Resler in the mountains of New Mexico.  This trip will also include visits to White Sands National Monument and Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  It should be a great chance to get away from the summer heat of San Marcos and into the cool mountains of New Mexico.  It is also a fantastic chance for the scouts to make progress on advancement, have a great time, and bond more tightly as a group.

Summerfest, July 4

Assuming we don't get rained out, we'll be selling funnel cakes with our newly renovated funnel cake machine.  We'll need to firm up the schedule in the next week or two so please, if you're going to be in San Marcos, be prepared to make a time commitment.

Tax Free Weekend at Walmart: Funnel Cakes August 6,7.8

We've been able to get permission (thanks to Jennifer J.) to sell funnel cakes in front of Walmart all through the annual tax free weekend.  Of course, we don't know because we've never done it, but this has the potential to rival Sights and Sounds as a money earner.  We'll be looking for volunteers to take shifts as the dates get closer. 

Back to School Water Event, Friday August 13th

We're headed to Schlitterbahn for one last day of summer fun before the school year begins (kids boo parents cheer!).  We'd really like to encourage the kids to bring friends along on this one.  As always, we can use new members, especially among the older kids.

Galveston Trip, September 10-12

We'll be headed to Galveston to enjoy the beach and the seafood and do work on the oceanography merit badge.  The trip will be led by Dr. J.