A Scoutmaster's Blog

Hundreds of thousands of Boy Scouts attend summer camp every year. The Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 are no exception. Five Scouts and two adult leaders attended Many Point Scout Camp, located north of Park Rapids, during the week of July 11-17.

A typical day at camp began with breakfast in the Buckskin dining hall. Then the boys would spread out throughout the camp as they worked on their merit badge advancements. After lunch, there would be troop activities. The Scouts were free to participate in any of the open program areas in the evenings.

The Melrose Boy Scouts kept quite busy at camp. Monday afternoon began with an Ethics In Action team building program. Then they spent an hour at the beach enjoying the camp’s aquatramp (sceen above). A service project of installing a new bench around the campfire ring finished up the afternoon.

The troop helped row a 30 foot long voyager canoe across the lake Tuesday afternoon to visit the new Frontier Camp. The camp was set up to be similar to an 1800’s logging camp. The Scouts cut logs using a two person saw, split lumber with an ax, debarked logs, branded beaver cookies, and played horseshoes.

Wednesday activities began with a round of disc golf. The Scouts climbed the climbing tower before heading to the archery range for the troop’s annual “Robin Hood” competition. The troop visited the Many Point History Center after supper and climbed to the top of the 100 foot high fire tower.

Thursday afternoon found the boys at Scoutcraft to learn some new cooking skills, including how to bake lembas bread, the bread of the elves in the Lord Of The Ring series. Then they went to the rifle range for the troop shoot. The afternoon ended with a relaxing hour at the beach front sauna house.

The troop began Friday afternoon like every troop in camp, with a camp reflection period. Then it was back to the waterfront for two hours of sailing on the Many Point Sunfish sailboats. The closing campfire program was held Friday evening with every troop in camp performing a song or skit. The Scouts of Troop 68 did a great job with their skit and got several laughs during their performance. (Watch for a future MSPP episode for the video of the skit.)

The five Scouts of Troop 68 did well during their merit badges programs. Each Scout completed two merit badges. The badges earned this year were Weather, Archery, and Lifesaving. One Scout was able to finish his Camping merit badge while at camp.

The Boy Scouts and adult leaders had a great time at camp this year and already have made their reservation to attend many Point Scout Camp during the 2011 season.

As a followup to the previous blog article I thought it would be nice to know which presidents have attended BSA National Jamborees.

Following are presidents that have attended National Jamborees:
1937 – Franklin D. Roosevelt
1950 – Harry Truman
1960 – Dwight D. Eisenhower
1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson
1989 – George Bush
1997 – Bill Clinton
2005 – George Bush

In 2001, George Bush was unable to attend due to inclement weather on the night originally scheduled, and had a schedule conflict on the rescheduled night. Ronald Regan’s 2nd polyp surgery was July 13, 1985 – before the Jamboree (July 24 – 30). He hosted a State Dinner July 23, followed by a trip to Camp David, so would have been well enough to travel.

I would like to thank “Be_Prepared” from the Scouter.com forums for this information.

I am not afraid to say it. President Obama  has lost a few points of respect with me this week when he decided to join the five hosts of The View television show instead of talking to the 40,000 Boy Scout and leaders at the BSA National Jamboree.

I know, I know. Speaking at the National Jamboree is not in the President’s job description. He only does it if he wants to do it, and if his schedule allows it. But you know, he accepted the position of the honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America. Why wouldn’t he want to address the young men who are the future of our country. And do it live at the event?

I understand the Jamboree participants will watch a prerecorded message from President Obama. That is better than nothing. At least the Boy Scouts were worth his time to record a video.

I attended the 2001 National Jamboree. President Bush was scheduled to appear at a arena show to speak to us. Unfortunately, a storm went through the area and the show was postponed until the next evening. President Bush was not able to make it the following night so he recorded his message for us to watch on the big screens at the arena. (I personally did not mind watching the video. It saved us the time and trouble of going through presidential security.)

The difference between these two events was that President Bush made the effort to attend the Jamboree, where President Obama did not. It gives me the impression that he decided to sort of brush off the Boy Scouts.

Come on Mr. President! This is the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. You had a captive audience of nearly 40,000 young men of every race and background, the future of this great country. This event was not something that just came up suddenly. The planning for this Jamboree was going on for years. You could not find the time in your schedule to address the Scouts?

Yet, you could find time in your schedule to appear on a national daily talk show, and do some fundraising. This gave me the impression that being a celebrity is more important to you then being a leader of this country. And I know I am not the only person to feel this way.

Mr. President, you could have taped your talk show interview at any time. You only have one week to speak to the young men at the 100th anniversary BSA National Jamboree. In my humble opinion, you blew it.

Of course, this is my opinion and not the opinion of the Boy Scouts of America. I realize that not everyone shares my point of view. I also realize that the President will probably never read this blog post. But this is something that has been weighing on my mind this week so I wanted to write about it.

How to you feel about the President skipping a live appearance at the National Jamboree? Please keep your comments civil or I will delete them.

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).

Let us go back in time. A simpler time of when there were kings, queens, and a peasant who wished to marry the beautiful princess. That is the plot of this hilarious campfire skit performed by two Boy Scouts of Troop 68 during their 2001 Laughs For Lunch Show. It is one of my favorie skits, and I bet you will enjoy it also.

With just a few props and a bit of practice your Scouts can use this skit to entertain troops and families during courts of honor or campfire programs.

Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast
Subscribe to Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast through iTunes.
or at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
Check out other Scouting podcasts at PTC Media.

Can you name the three current high adventure bases of the Boy Scouts of America? Everyone can name Philmont Scout Ranch. Most people know about the Florida Sea Base. But did you know there is also a high adventure base in Minnesota? Yes there is! It is the Northern Tier High Adventure base, and it is the subject of this episode of Around The Scouting Campfire.

Scoutmaster Steve begins the show with information about the Northern Tier program. He tells us a little about a 2002 trip his troop took through the Charles Sommers Canoe base. Mike Linnemann, one of the Boy Scouts who attended the trip, shares a poem written by the crew members. Buttons has some canoe jokes for us before he shares some quotes by Lord Baden-Powell. The show ends with a scoutmaster minute about being thrifty.

Steve and Buttons thank PTC Media (http://www.ptcmedia.net) for allowing this program to be a part of the family of Scouting related podcasts. We also thank the Boy Scout Store (http://boyscoutstore.com) for sponsoring this show. Be sure to take a moment to check out their website. Finally, we would like to thank you, our listeners, for downloading Around The Scouting Campfire.

The Boy Scouts of Troop 68 used to like to song songs, mix them up a bit, and write new lyrics to them. They would then perform these “new” versions at campfire programs or during their annual Laughs For Lunch Show. This episode of Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast features one of those songs.

The troop has been spending one spring weekend a year at Camp Watchamagumee (private land north of Melrose). It is one of the Scout’s favorite places to camp. We usually have a great time there, but one year things did not go very well. A local farmer had cattle grazing on the forty acre site. Usually, the cattle are not a problem. We leave them alone and they leave us alone. Not that year. The troop was away from camp for awhile to play some softball. When we arrived back at the site the cows had invaded the camp and had damaged equipment along with a few other problems. It was the one time we left camp due to cattle issues.

A couple years later we decided to take the song “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” and rewrite the lyrics to describe what happened during the weekend in which the cows drove us away from our campsite. Everything in the song did actually take place. This video was taken from the 2001 Laughs For Lunch Show performance. I forgot where the cow costumes came from, but they did add a little something to the song.

Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast
Subscribe to Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast through iTunes.
or at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions

If you are involved with Boy Scouting in the United States you know that this is the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America and the year of the 2010 National Jamboree. Council troops are currently putting the final touches on their plans to attend the event, and Boy Scouts and leaders are already planning what they will pack for the trip.

All this brings back memories of when I attended the 2001 National Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia as the scoutmaster of Troop 1417 of the Central Minnesota Council. It also brought to mind that I have written about being a jamboree scoutmaster in previous posts to this blog. Check them out. They can be found at:

Jamboree Scoutmaster, Part 1 – https://www.melrosetroop68.org/blog/?p=47

Jamboree Scoutmaster, Part 2 – https://www.melrosetroop68.org/blog/?p=48

Jamboree Scoutmaster, Part 3 – https://www.melrosetroop68.org/blog/?p=49