A Scoutmaster's Blog

I usually try to keep this blog in an upbeat mood, but I received a letter today from Justin Szalsa, the director of 759: Boy Scouts of Harlem, with some unhappy news this morning. One of the stars of the film, Colin “KC” Byers, has passed away. Here is Justin’s letter, reprinted with his permission:

Dear friends of 759,

I am writing you to report some very sad news. As some of you already know, our friend Colin “KC” Byers, an Eagle Scout and a star of “759,” died suddenly on February 1st . He would have celebrated his 18th birthday on February 9th.

Colin was struck down within a matter of hours by a massive brain trauma related to a blood disorder called ITP that developed very rapidly. Some of you may know that Colin organized a blood drive for his Eagle service project and made it a point to regularly donate blood.

For the Byers family this is a second tragedy in too short a time–Colin’s father, the composer Patrick Byers, died just a few months earlier after a battle with cancer. Colin leaves behind his mother, Jennifer, two younger brothers and a younger sister—along with a very large family and huge group of friends. The Scouts of New York City, The Village of Harlem, Troop 759, Miss Ann, Mr. Sowah, Jake and I are devastated by the loss of our friend. Please remember Colin and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

For those of you in New York City, there will be a memorial service in Colin’s honor at LaGuardia High School at 100 Amsterdam Avenue at 65th Street on Saturday, February 12th from 10AM-noon.

Also, many of you have asked how you can materially support the Byers family. The Boy Scouts of America Greater New York Councils have offered to assist anyone who’d like to make a donation to support the family. The gift will not be tax deductable but your support will go directly to the family. Simply indicate on your check “Byers Family”and mail it to

Byers Family
c/o Greater New York Councils
Boy Scouts of America
350 Fifth Ave, #430
New York, NY 10118

Finally, Albert Maysels, one of the greatest American documentary filmmakers who I admire very much said to make a good documentary you have to love your subjects. Jake and I love KC, Patrick and the rest of the Byers family. We will miss them.

-Justin Szlasa

Update: A video has been posted to YouTube in memory of Colin –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbLWnAtFTMM

A few days ago I wrote about a full page ad in the weekly newspaper celebrating the anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America and the local Scouting program. The spread featured pictures of the local Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. It was pretty impressive.

I received a copy of the Sauk Centre Herald yesterday. (That is the weekly newspaper in our neighboring town that is also owned by the same group as our Melrose Beacon.) I was quite surprised to see a two page ad about Boy Scouting in the center of the first section. The spread features photos of Sauk Centre Troop 25 and Pack 25, Brooten Troop 66, and BBE Pack 667. Sixteen businesses sponsored the ad. Click on the thumbnail to see a larger picture.

Does your local newspaper do something similar? Let us know about it by leaving a comment.

Note: The names of the boys have been deleted from the picture as per the Guide To Safe Scouting guidelines.

Around The Scouting Campfire #22 is finally released. In this episode, Scoutmaster Steve talks about the Scoutmaster Award of Merit and a scout leader’s reality check. Buttons answers questions from a few Cub Scouts from out west. Buttons also reads some feedback left on the PTC Media forums about his awesome pictures from summer camp.

Send us your emails. Steve and Buttons would love to hear from you. What do you think about the show. Do you have any suggestions? 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 .

If you have been following me for awhile you are aware the I have a Flickr account to which I have posted thousands of pictures featuring over thirty years of Scouting in Melrose. I also belong to several Flickr Scouting themed groups, and I am the administrator for the Flickr Wood Badge Photos group.

I wanted to recently find a group to share photos from Eagle Scout ceremonies and celebrations. I did a search and to my surprise I did not find a public group. So I decided to start one. I decided to name it simply “Eagle Scouts”. It can be found HERE.

I invite you to share your photos of your troop’s Eagle Scout courts of honor and celebrations. Be sure to join the group. Let’s make this a great group to showcase those special Boy Scouts who have attained the rank of Eagle.

Cubmaster Chris and I are co-hosts of a little audio podcast called The Leaders Campfire. We love having guests on our show to talk about Scouting. Last month, we were able to interview Larry McLaughlin, the producer and director of the recently released The Philmont Documentary Collection, which is available on both DVD and BluRay. I asked a lot of questions during the 45 minute interview, including why he took on this very ambitious project, what kind of challenges he faced following a crew at Philmont, and the kind of pressures he felt while creating this collection.

If you have not seen or bought this dvd yet so really should check it out. The movie can be purchased at the Philmont trading post website. http://www.toothoftimetraders.com/The-Philmont-Documentary-DVD/-7910423645241798416/product

Be sure to listen to The Leaders Campfire interview (episode #83) which can be found at http://www.ptcmedia.net/the-leaders-campfire/ or through iTunes in the Kids and Family listing ( http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-leaders-campfire-podcast/id204547473 ).

100 Days of Scouting: Day 3

The Melrose Beacon, our local weekly newspaper, arrived in the mail today. I was pleasantly surprised to see a full page “ad” celebrating the anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America, along with pictures of the Melrose troop and pack. The spread included The Boy Scout Oath, the Cub Scout Promise, and the Law of The Pack. Information about our council and hot to join a pack or troop was also covered.

The Melrose Beacon was recently purchased by the same group that owns a local weekly newspaper in Sauk Centre, our neighboring city to the west. The Sauk Centre Herald has included a two page ad featuring the local troops and packs (including Melrose) for the last few years. This year our troop and pack were featured in our own community newspaper.

Boy Scout Troop 68 and Cub Scout Pack 68 would like to thank the Melrose Beacon and the local businesses who supported this week’s full page feature. The businesses were CAP Enterprises, Kraemer Lumber, Melrose VFW Club, Freeport State Bank, Stearns Electric Association, Loren Pundsack Collision Center, Spaeth Sodding and Nursery, Rahn’s Oil and Propane, Catholic Aid Association, Melrose Pharmacy, Diversicom, and Hennen Lumber Company.

Isn’t this a great story for 100 Days Of Scouting, Day 2?

Click on the picture to see a larger picture of the ad. The boys names have been removed in keeping with the B.S.A.’s Youth Protection policy.

Happy Birthday to the Boy Scouts of America! Today, the organization is 101 years old. That is quite an accomplishment for any organization, but it is really something for a youth group to accomplish. It is awe inspiring when you sit and think for a moment about all the boys that have been a part of the program during those years; about all the adults who have given their time in packs, troops, and crews; about all the service hours given to local communities and the country. Then think about what those boys have gone on to accomplish when they became adults. As Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, would say, “Totally awesome!”

To kick off this new year of the Boy Scouts of America, I invite you to watch this video I found on Youtube. It sums up what this Scouting program is all about, and does it very nicely.

Starting today, this blog proclaims Tuesdays as “YouTube Tuesday”. I plan to suggest a Scouting video every Tuesday, so if you have one you would like to see posted here drop me an email.

Most Scouters enjoy their cup of coffee in the morning. I never started drinking coffee. Hot chocolate was more my thing. I do, like many Scout Leaders, have a collection of Scouting themed coffee mugs. It seems that every Scout Leader I know has a collection of Scouting mugs. I think there may be an unwritten rule about that.

For Memorabilia Monday, I thought I would share a portion of my mug collection with you. For many years, the Central Minnesota Council and the Camp Ripley National Guard Base have worked together to create a fun filled weekend for the Boy Scout troops of our council. Most years it is just our council, but every fourth year it becomes a state-wide event in which five (I think) councils participate. It seems that at every Ripley Rendezvous there is a new souvenir coffee mug to buy. I alway get one, of course. There are now thirteen Ripley themed coffee mugs in my collection. There would be a few more but our troop did not attend a few years.

Do you have any themed coffee mugs as part of your Scouting memorabilia collection?