October 1996

Upcoming Events for October & November

5-6 Oct
Wildwood, NJ Beach Jam
7 Oct
Meeting, Collect Dues
8 Oct
PLC Meeting
14 Oct
Meeting
15 Oct
Committee Meeting
21 Oct
Meeting
28 Oct
Meeting - Halloween
2 Nov
Elm Ave. Cleanup
4 Nov
Meeting
Boards of Review
11 Nov
NO MEETING
18 Nov
Court of Honor
22-24 Nov
Hawk Mountain
Father/Son and WEBELOS invite
25 Nov
Meeting

Hickory Run Fun

Approximately 20 Scouts joined in the orienteering camping trip to Hickory Run in the Lehigh Valley last month. The scouts took part in Saturday classes and then took test runs. reportedly checkpoint #4 was a tough one. nearly everyone got lost except for the always able team of Andy, John, and Jim. By now i'm sure you have alertly concluded that one of these scouts is feeding me this information

The highlight of the day had to have been saturday night's huge game of Capture the Flag. A close runner up for highligh of the day may have been "Sceagle Spaghetti" sceagle, as in Scorpion and Eagles. Mr. B has nothing to fear from these gourmet competitiors. This culinary delight included spaghetti boiled in fruit punch, lending the pasta a delicate pink color, and spaghetti sauce thinned with water.

On Sunday, the camp-wide Orienteering Competition had to be canceled because of rain. For the first time in history, Chad got back on time from a trip!


Transportation Czar Speaks

This season the troop is making an all out effort to leave on time for camping trips. Transportation Coordinator Steve explained ti tge sciyts that it is their responsibility to arrive at the church parking lot at least one half hour before the scheduled departure time.

The new system steve is implementing for checking off riders and drivers is more time consuming than in the past, but is a much more accurate system. As he so eloquently put it: DON'T COME LATE!!

Additionally, please return the BSA car insurance forms that should have come home with your scout if you intend to help out in anyway with driving.


Troop Christmas Wish List

Troop leadership keeps a runnin "Wish List" of items that would sure be nice for us to acquire somehow.

In his stocking hung by the fireplace, Scoutmaster Gift sure would like to fid a Six Man Tent, Todd is pining for some Stove Tables under his tree this year, and B would just be thirilled to find a Used Canoe in his extra long stocking!

But seriously folks, these are just a few of the items that would indeed make camping even more enjoyable for our scouts. Any donation of the above items or of a monetary nature would be greatly appreciated. The Troop can provide you with a letter detailing your tax deductible contribution for IRS purposes.

See Scoutmaster Gift if you can help out or know someone who can.


At All Moments, I am the Best I can Be

Survival Skills Essay

O.K. so you've been a scout for umpteen years now and you think you know just about everything about campoing and surviving and all that. You know, ho many batteries your Walkman needs for an overnight weekend, which candy bars don't attract bugs, or leaders. You even know how much money you should have along for McDonald's stops on the way home from a trip. But could you REALLY survive using your scouting experience in an emergency situation?

Two scouts, who shall remain nameless, have devised a challenge. In essay form, they are asking you to respond to the following scenario.

You are taking a camping trip to Canada. Besides yourself, thre friends are also coming along. While you are driving, you hit a patch of ice and skid off the road and down a hill. Falling down the hill, some of your equipment falls out. Your car then hits a tree and you fall unconscious.

Minutes later you regain consciousness. Smelling gas fumes, you drag yourself and two of your companions out of the car. Before getting the last friend out, the car explodes. You go to see what happened to your friend and find out he was able to drag himself out a couple of feet from the car.. he has a broken laeg, a compound arm fracture, severe burns on his chest and stomach and lots of blood on his forehead. Your other two friends haven't sustained any serious injuries.

It is fall in Canada. Among the pine trees there is isx inches of snow on the ground. There are red berry bushes scattered in the nearby bushes and a shallow stream to your right. The equipment you've managed to salvage is:
a hatchet
12 matches
3 person tent
10' of rope
4 sleeping bags
2 Kinves
2 Bars of flint
Some heavy duty canvas
3 pots<>BR> 3 change of clothes
4 days worth of dehydrated food for 4 people

What would you do? Use your kowledge of first aid, orienteering, survival skills (and if you've read the book Hatchet, you're in luck) to tell how you would survive for one week before help arrives.


Troops have 'Wild' Time at Wildwood

By Asst. Scoutmaster Warner

On saturday, October 5, nearly 40 boy scouts and 10 fathers/adults arrived at the church parking lot at an unreasonable hour in the morning - 7:30 am!

The leadership, under the watchful eye of SPL Mike, attempted to implement Steve's new transportation policy. Needless to say, we did not leave on time

We arrived at Wildwood a little after 10:00 am. To Scoutmaster Gift's astonishment, parking near the pier was going to cost him $15 for the weekend. NO one said this was going to be a cheap trip.

Scoutmaster Gift and ASPL Paul and Alex went to the camping area to survey the beach and stake out our claim. The rest of us unloaded the gear from Brian's truck.

AFter the truck was empty, we were ready to haul the gear to the site. It was only about a quarter-mile from the parking lot to our designated site. We managed to get all the gear in two trips.

The real challenge was erecting the tents with the strong and steady breeze from the ocean. Some of our smaller scouts, who were holding the rain flies, nearly set sail.

We managed to get the site established and all the gear stowed by 11:00 am, which worked well since the piers opened for business at 12. Naturally all scouts cooperated site setup since they knew who had the tickets.

A little after 12:00, the scouts lined up in front of the ticket counter anxiously awaiting their wristband that would entitle them to ride the attractions on two piers till 11:00 pm.

After turning the scouts oose, and a quick lunch, Scoutmasters Gift and Warner took a nap until dinner. Even though diner was very hot (double meaning applies) that evening's entertainment couldn't be beat.

Sunday morning we returned to the piers - well most of us. A few scouts had a special scoutmaster's conference with Mr. Gift on various points of the Scout Law before being released.

We departed Wildwood at 2:30 and I, for one, was in bed by 8:00.