The Troop 1954
Wednesday Newsletter

 

Wednesday, September 1, 2004

Hi Folks,

Great attendance last night guys.  We were only down 3 or 4 from all our regularly attending members.

Thanks much to Dr J. for his slide presentation.  We'll see the exciting conclusion (apparently including Dr. J. getting rescued) next week.

We're still waiting for final information on the Galveston trip.  At this time, it's not clear if we'll be collecting funds next week or not.  As soon as I know more, I'll put out a bulletin.

I'd like to see everyone who wants the Oceanography merit badge get it.  To that end, I'm running a merit badge workshop on Monday morning, September 6 from 10 to 11:30 at the Scout Hut.  We're simply going to be working our way through the Oceanography workbook (I'll have additional copies of the workbook for anyone who wants them) to make sure we have all the requirements covered.  This will be pretty much all work and no play, but we should be able to accomplish a lot.

We are making progress on merit badge selection.  Here is a list of scouts who have currently selected merit badges and counselors assigned to them:

Scout

Merit Badge Counselor
Kirkland Baen Family Life  
Mason Bandy Personal Fitness  
Lee Clendennen Personal Fitness  
Corey Collier Athletics Mr. Dillon
Jaimie Collier Computers  
Alexey Dillon Pets Dr. J.
Daniel Frediani Woodwork  
Philip Lewis Fishing  
John Myers Coin Collecting Mr. Frediani
Dane Rasmussen Personal Management Mz. Cece
Mason Reichenau-Kuhlmann Art  
Justin Williams Family Life  

As you can see, we've not got about half of our scouts assigned to a merit badge.  You'll also see we really need counselors.   So, please, now is the time to step up and volunteer.  Like I said on Monday, some knowledge of the subject is nice, but the real qualification is just willingness to mentor a scout.

Yesterday evening, the Biohazards and Fromage received awards they had been promised back in December (sorry for the delay).  I also announced that the patrol winning our patrol points contest would receive $100 cash to be divided among its members.  Last night I said that in order to be eligible to receive any of this award money, a scout had to be present for at least 2/3 of the possible meetings.  I'm considering that perhaps I mis-spoke.  It may be better for a member of the winning patrol to receive reward money in direct proportion to the number of meetings they attended.  Thus, a scout who attended 20 meetings would receive twice as much as a scout who attended 10 meetings, but both would get something.  If you have an opinion about which of these systems you prefer, please email me.  I do have complete attendance records and I'll put out a bulletin with everyone's attendance either Thursday or Friday of this week.

This week's patrol contest winner: The Vicious Badgers.

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
Mason
Daniel
Tony
John
David
 
 
Biohazards   Patrol Leader, Mason R-K.  Coached by Mr. Painton
Alexey
Nathan
Philip
Ben
Mason
Justin
 
   
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
Daniel
Zach
Dane
 

Point System Scoring

Patrol

Attend.

Uniform

Behavior

Spirit

Meeting

6 Mo

V. Badgers 4 5 3 3 15 251
Biohazards 4 5 0 2 11 245
Fromage 4 5 2 2 13 215
Piffs 5 5 0 3 13 250
 

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) There will be a merit badge workshop for Oceanography only Monday from 10:00 to 11:30 at the Scout Hut

2) Detailed information for the Galveston trip is still pending.  Look for an announcement later this week explaining costs and providing the details.

3) We will have a brief PLC at 6:30 next Tuesday (the 7th) at the Scout Hut.  Look for a more extensive PLC, probably the weekend following our Galveston trip.

 
Essay


More Scouts In The News

Eighth-grader douses fire

IM BRYANT Of the Post-Dispatch

Copyright 2004 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
August 30, 2004 Monday

Matt Fountain was riding his bike when he saw the flames, asked a neighbor to call 911 and grabbed a hose.

Eighth-grader Matt Fountain was riding his bike and looking for a friend when he spotted smoke coming from the eaves of a house on Stone Mill Lane in St. Peters.

Employing common sense and his Boy Scout training, Matt, 13, checked to see if anyone was home, asked a neighbor to call 911, and then grabbed a handy garden hose and put out the flames.

"The fire wasn't very big but it was going pretty good," he said.

Moments later, police and a crew from Central County Fire and Rescue arrived. A police officer roused the resident, Don Shipman, who had been asleep. No one was hurt and the fire, which began over the garage, did minor damage.

Matt said he did nothing special.

"I did what I thought I had to do," he said in a matter-of-fact way. Shipman later thanked Matt for his efforts.

Matt's cool-headed action in what could have been a life-threatening fire impressed Central County officials. They plan to present him a certificate of appreciation, Assistant Chief Steve Brown said.

"Due to the quick actions of Matt, the fire was contained to a very small area," Brown said.

Matt, a student at Hollenbeck Middle School, gave this account:

After a half-day of school Wednesday, he rode his bike in the area of Stone Mill Lane to find a friend. He was unable to locate his buddy but, just after noon, he noticed smoke above a security light on a home's garage.

Matt banged on the front door, but the only response was the barking of a dog inside. He asked a neighbor working in his yard to call 911. He raced back to the burning house, grabbed a green garden hose attached to another neighbor's home and directed a stream of water on the blaze.

Within a minute, the fire was out, Matt said.

"I just ended up using (the hose)," he said. "I didn't think (the owners would mind) because their neighbor's house was on fire."

Investigators determined later that the security light, which had been on, ignited a bird's nest on top of the light.

Matt said safety training he got in Boy Scouts helped him know what to do when he spotted the fire. Still, he had to answer to his parents, Donald and Vicky Fountain, who had been unaware Matt had ventured off on his bike without telling them.

All apparently was forgiven when they learned of their son's good deed.

"They don't seem to care about that much anymore," Matt said.

 

Upcoming Events


District Round Table, September 9

The usual at First United Methodist, 7:00

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.

Popcorn Sales, Starting September

Great way to help the Scouts and earn money for your scouting adventures.

Texas Wildlife Expo, October 2-3

Troop Elections, October 5.

Troop Court of Honor, October 12.

Camping trip with Webelos Scouts, October 29-31 (tentative)

Cub Scout Halloween Carnival, October 28

Sights and Sounds of Christmas, December 2-4.