The Troop 1954
Wednesday Newsletter

Wednesday, November 3, 2004

Announcements

1) Next week's meeting will follow a different schedule.  Our meeting will begin promptly at 6:40.  After the opening ceremony we will go directly to a discussion of backpacking.  It's extremely important that younger scouts who are planning on going on our backpacking trip to Lost Maples attend this meeting.  Anyone planning on going to Philmont will also benefit by attending.  From 7:00 to 9:00 we will be doing the Texas Parks and Wildlife Hunter Education course.  Both youth and adult members are invited to attend this program.  To get your official TPW Hunter Certification you must 1) Pay $10, 2) Attend this entire meeting (or at least the 7-9 part of it), 3) Attend the rest of the course, Saturday, November 13, 8:00 to 4:00 at the Scout Hut.  If you don't want to do the whole course, you're still very welcome at the meeting but you won't get your TPW certification.  You can read more about TPW certifications on their web page at: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/edu/hunted/

2)  Merit Badge University.  Come on folks, get that registration done.  You do it by going to www.utmbu.org and clicking on registration.  You then need to click the not yet registered link to sign up for a user name and password.  Fill in the form and be sure to remember the user name and password you pick (and keep in mind that both are case sensitive).  Then go back to the registration page and sign in.  You can then add classes, drop classes, and do other stuff.  The site asks for the Class ID number for each class, so be sure to look at the schedule first and write down the class ID numbers you want.  Then you should be able to register for your choice of classes.  They were all open when I last checked but they won't be for long!  Let's get it done.

3) There are several upcoming events that we will not be participating in as a troop but that individual scouts may want to take part in.

a) Scout Law Hike: 10 am, November 6 in Schulenburg.  open to all Scouts in the Capitol Area Council, Sam Houston, and South Texas Council.  Schulenburg, Saturday, November 6, starting at 10:00 from the 1st United Methodist Church.  Scouts will do a city hike through historic Schulenburg, visiting 6 houses of Worship including the Jewish Synagogue, Temple Israel.  At each station we will hear messages from 12 different clergy and lay leaders on each of the 12 points of the Scout Law.  Special patch and lunch are included.  Cost is $6 per scout including the patch and lunch.

b) Also November 6, the AISD Pow Wow.  A great chance to see some really good dancing and lots of native crafts and other stuff.  You can find information for that at: http://www.austinpowwow.org/

c) The next weekend, November 13, there is a clean-up at University Camp in Wimberley from 9-5. This is a good opportunity for some service.

d) Also that same weekend is the OA Pow Wow at Lost Pines.

4) We still really need an OA representative.  The qualifications are membership in the OA and a willingness to go to meetings in San Marcos the second Thursday evening of each month.  The position does qualify for leadership credit.  So far I've no takers on this.  It really would be a benefit to our troop and to the OA to have someone.

5)  Please check out our calendar of events for the year.  You'll find it below.

What I usually do in this essay column and what, if anything we learn from it.

Well, what I generally do is look at Lexis-Nexis and see what newspapers are saying about the Boy Scouts.  Lexis-Nexis indexes major (and not so major) papers around the world but it is by no means a complete record of what's printed (for example, much of the American Statesman seems to be missing... but sometimes it's there).

Each week, I search the week's news for the phrase "Boy Scouts."  I generally find that Lexis-Nexis indexes 50-60 articles.  It's interesting to consider what the press has to say.  Some articles just happen to use the phrase "Boy Scout" but most are actually about scouts.  I don't know if this week is typical but here's how the articles break down:

Obituaries of Scouters: 14
Stories about Eagle Scout honors being awarded: 4
Positive stories about Eagle Projects or other nice stories about Scouting: 9
Scout sexual abuse: 3
Scout embezzlement: 1
Nasty politics: 1 (Scouts jeer, throw things at a woman wearing a Kerry button)
Other brief mentions of scouting (some coincidental, most announcements of events): 20

September 9-11 Pedernales Falls Camp Out