A Scoutmaster's Blog

Here is a little puzzle for you and your Cub Scout. This Christmas tree contains the four latest Hallmark Beagle Scout Snoopy ornaments. Enlarge the picture by clicking on it, and then try to find them. One features Snoopy and his troop canoeing. Another shows them camping. One is the troop hiking. And the last has them roasting marshmallows over a campfire. Can your Cub Scout find all four of them in under thirty seconds?

Here is a little Christmas Poem I wrote a few years ago.

Twas the day of the party
for the Scouts of the troop.
Time for films, pop, and goodies,
and pizza (but not soup.)

One by one they arrived at
the scoutmaster’s door.
They took off both their shoes
then sat on the floor.

The decision of which movie
to watch must be made.
It’s a film about pirates for
which the scoutmaster paid.

The lights where turned off and
the Scouts settled down,
and the movie began in
full digital sound.

Ninety minutes later
the movie was paused
for the pizza had arrived
to the shouts of “huzzah!”
(The Scouts did not really shout that
but I needed something that rhymed.)

Then the Scouts formed a circle
on the living room floor.
Time for the gift exchange!
This was not time to snore.

The die were passed and rolled for
fifteen long minutes.
Each Scout wanted that one gift,
but could he roll right to win it?

There was candies and cookies,
a skateboard, and games.
There was not a bad gift so
there was no one to blame.

Soon the gifts were exchanged,
all the presents unwrapped,
and the movie was finished.
It was time for a nap.

The Scouts picked up their gifts and
zipped their jackets up tight
wishing “Merry Christmas to all,
and to all a good night.”

Buttons is a little upset that the troop’s camping trip may be cancelled because there is not a second adult to chaperone, so Steve has to explain one point of the Boy Scouts of America’s Youth Protection policy. The show includes the Jedi Patrol singing their rendition of the Yoda song. Buttons tells more jokes to his buddy Randall. The hosts also read some feedback from previous shows.

Send us your emails. You can contact Buttons at buttonst68@yahoo.com. You may contact Scoutmaster Steve at stevejb68@yahoo.com. Please rate the show and/or leave a comment at the iTunes store.

You can also follow the hosts on Twitter at twitter.com/stevejb68 or twitter.com/buttonst68 .

I recently wrote a blog post about the historical discovery that a Boy Scout program was started in Melrose way back in 1911. I also submitted the post to the Melrose Beacon, our local weekly newspaper. This week’s issue arrived today and the (slightly altered) article found on page 5. And very large, I might add, taking nearly half a page with the photos. (Click on the photo to get a larger version.) Kudos to the Melrose Beacon for supporting the Scouting program in Melrose for the past 31 years.

The article has also been posted to the newspaper’s website. It can be found at
http://www.albanyenterprise.com/articles/2010/12/04/melrose_beacon/community/boyscouts.txt

In 1989, five women who were involved with the Scouting program in Melrose, met at the local community access television studio to do a talk show about Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting in Melrose. The show was titled The Women Of Scouting. It was broadcast several times over the years, usually during Boy Scout anniversary week in the first part of February. This program has been broken down into five parts for use on this podcast.

Part four of this five part series features Betty S. who is the mother of three boys who went through the Cub Scout program and graduated into the Boy Scout program. Betty was a pack committee member and very active in the Cub Scout Pack. She graduated with her older son when he became a Boy Scout and joined the troop committee as the treasurer. Betty was on the committee for about ten years. She and her family were very supportive of the Scouting program.

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August 1, 1907 – Lord Robert Baden-Powell, author of the book Scouting For Boys, took a group of boys to Brownsea Island for a camping event. Thus, the Scouting program was born.

February 8, 1910 – William Boyce incorporated the BSA, and was later granted a charter by the United States Congress. Thus, the Boy Scouts of America was born.

March 9, 1911 – Mr. Dale of St. Paul, the northwest organizer of the Boy Scouts, arrived in town to talk to community leaders. Thus, Scouting began in Melrose, Minnesota.

The Boy Scout program has come and gone many times over the decades in Melrose. I was a Boy Scout during the early to mid 1970’s, but after three and one half years the troop folded due to lack of adult leadership. People have told me there were also Melrose Boy Scout troops in the 1960’s, the 1950’s, and the 1940’s. Each troop lasted for a few, or several, years and then died out.

Recently, Herman Lensing, a reporter for our local newspaper, the Melrose Beacon, was looking through some early editions of the newspaper as he did research for a sports article. He came across two articles from March 1911 editions which describe the formation of two Boy Scouts troops in Melrose. He took a couple pictures of one of the articles and emailed them to me.

I was shocked and surprised when I read the article. I had thought the 1940’s was the earliest that Scouting had begun in Melrose. Here was proof that the program came to town in 1911, only thirteen months after the formation of the Boy Scouts of America.

The articles also included the names of the adult leadership and the boys who would form the two new troops. One troop was sponsored by the high school. The other was sponsored by St. Boniface Church. The two troops had a combined total of ten patrols. Each patrol had five to eight members. The patrols of the St. Boniface troop were named Blazing Arrow, Lion, Pathfinder, Stag, Red Raiders, and Wolf. The patrols of the high school troop were named Stag, Pathfinder, Young Mohawk, and Blazing Arrow. One difference between today’s Scouting program and Scouting of 1911 is that instead of the current Patrol Leader and Assistant Patrol Leader offices, the boy leaders were called Leaders and Corporals, according to the article.

I called my district executive to ask him how far back the council kept records. He asked me why I wanted to know and I told him about the two articles. He surprised me when he told me the council was created in 1918 or 1919. The Melrose troops were formed before there was a Central Minnesota Council!

The timing of this historical find could not have been timed much better. The year of celebrating the BSA’s 100th anniversary comes to an end this month. December is also the 31st anniversary of the formation of the current troop in Melrose. (It hardly seems like 31 years have already gone by.) To tell the truth, I think it would be fun to do a little more digging and put together a better history of the Boy Scout program in Melrose, Minnesota.