A Scoutmaster's Blog

The Central Minnesota Council, BSA, held an open house on Wednesday, September 2, 2009, to kick off a year of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. Hundreds of people attended. There were plenty of games for the kids, a dinner provided by the Jamboree troops, and several displays showcasing the history of Scouting. There was a lot to do and see. I was there with my cameras, of course.

The Central Minnesota Council, BSA had some very special guests pay a visit on Wednesday, September 2, 2009. Ed Basar, Gordon Draper, David Berger, Don Cimo, William D’Hondt, Kenneth Mills, Ken Norin, members of Team 9 of the “A Century Of Values” RV Road Tour, had arrived in town for the council’s 100 Years Of Scouting open house. Team 9 arrived not only to display the specially designed motor home but also to present the council with a print of a very special mural. (More about this on the next podcast.)

It is time to get back to fun with the Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast. After all, the last two postings were a bit more on the serious side. This episode features the Boy Scouts of Troop 68 during their 2002 Laughs For Lunch Show. Two skits are included, both which involve doctors and hospitals. The first skit takes place in the doctor’s office as the patients come to him with their problems. The second skit finds us in the maternity ward’s waiting room as the expectant fathers await word about their new born children. (You may have to turn up your volume a little during the second skit. The boys did not talk as loud as they should have.)

Has your troop, patrol, or den ever had to develop a new skit or patrol for a campfire program? The Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 created several new ones over the decades, mainly in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The Scouts would take a song, chance the words a bit (or a lot), add some actions, and suddenly had a popular campfire skit.

In the previous post to A Scoutmaster’s Blog, I wrote about the local American Legion’s Ceremony for Disposal of Unserviceable Flags, and the Boy Scouts’ participation in the ceremony. Mel-TV, our local community television access station, was on hand to film the event. The station’s co-ordinator was kind enough to let me borrow the video tape so that I could make a podcast video from it. I edited the footage down and added photographs that I took during the event.

Twenty years ago the volunteers at Mel-TV, our local cable access television station, filmed a program in which five men who were Boy Scout leaders were interviewed about their Scouting experiences. I took that old vhs tape and transferred it to a dvd. I thought to myself as I was transferring the program that many of the things being said by those gentlemen still apply to Boy Scouting today. I thought I would break this show down into parts for the Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast, each part featuring one of the interviews.

This podcast video features the fourth interview from The Leaders of Scouting. Gerry W. began his adult Scouting career as a Cub Scout Pack committee member when his son became a Cub Scout. He moved to the Boy Scout committee when his son graduated into the troop. He soon became the outdoors chairman, making the arrangements for the troop activities. During this interview Gerry talked about being on the troop committee, going along on various troop outings, the values found in the Scouting program, the stunts he and the scoutmaster pulled, and his pride in seeing his son work through the ranks of Scouting.

The Boy Scouts of Melrose would like to provide this (comical) public service announcement video to help you prepare yourself and your family when you are out having fun this summer. The Scouts demonstrate the three levels of pickpockets that you may find when walking the streets or mingling in large crowds: the beginner, the amateur, and the professional. Be sure to watch the professionals closer as the Scouts perform it in slow motion.

Have you ever been traveling in your car listening to the radio when you suddenly reach an area in which stations begin overlapping each other’s signals? The is the premiss of this skit performed by the Boy Scouts of Troop 68 during their 2006 Laughs For Lunch Show. Each of the five Scouts represent a radio station that keeps getting interrupted by another station’s programming. The five radio stations include Fantasy Land, a Twins baseball game, a cooking show, a gangster show, and an advertisement for the Boy Scouts of America.