A Scoutmaster's Blog

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.

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.

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

The Melrose Beacon is our local weekly newspaper. For the last thirty years they have been very supportive of the local Boy Scout troop. They have printed almost every article I have given them on troop events. They have also interviewed many of the Boy Scouts who have earned the rank of Eagle Scout. I have four 3 ring binders filled with newspaper clipping of the articles printed over the decades.

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by the editor of the paper. She wanted to do an article about the Boy Scouts of America’s 100th anniversary, and also include information about the troop’s thirty year history. She needed my help to gather information for the article. I jokingly asked her how many pages of the newspaper she would like to devote to the article. I put together a few pages of information for her, and also spent about 45 minutes talking to her about the local Scouting program. I invited her to use any of the pictures found on the troop’s website.

The article was printed in today’s newspaper. It began on the front page and continued on page three. If you add the two parts together in almost filled an entire page of the paper. I was surprised, and quite pleased. The article did a nice job of covering highlights of the thirty years of the troop. It listed many of the assistant scoutmasters and committee chairmen of the last three decades. There was also a listing of the eighteen Boy Scout who earned the Eagle Scout Rank while a member of Troop 68.

I would like to take a moment to thank Roberta, Herman, and the Melrose Beacon for supporting the Scouting program in Melrose over the years.

The link to the Melrose Beacon article is found HERE.
Pictures of the paper can bee seen HERE (front page) and HERE (page 3).