Troop 272 News

Eagle Scouts 2007 Cherokee District

2008-03-18T12:13:00.001-07:00

A View From the Camp 2007

2007-07-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a great summer camp we had this year, we had 12 scouts and 7/8 adults (John Paul turned 18 while we were at camp so he gets partial adult status). There were a total of 42 merit badges completed, 4 scouts completed the mile swim and one completed BSA Kayaking. On Wednesday night 7 scouts and 1 adult were tapped out for induction into the Order of the Arrow, so if you see them with a block of ceder (hopefully it will be turned into an arrow) around their neck, congratulate them for upholding the values of scouting that got them voted into this special organization. Now that we have taken care of the boring stuff let me tell you all about the fun stuff we did all week long.

SUNDAY

Sunday was a day of getting settled in for a busy week of activities, after arriving at camp we hurriedly setup our tents, went through a medical recheck and rushed to the pool to take our swimming test and that was just the first two hours. Oh i forgot to mention that we forgot to get Stephens medical form from his mother before we left, she was going to fax it but we couldn't get that to work so Dr. McPherson (always prepared) got to do a quick physical and saved the day. Rule #1 always take a Doctor to camp with you, he also took care of a fever blister, stomach ache, ear ache, leg cramp and put in a couple of stitches (I'll explain that one later) I guess it was a working vacation for him. After supper Sunday night we had our opening campfire which is conducted by the Camp Staff, it is filled with songs, skits and and introduction of the camp staff. We gave plenty of support to three of our own Brandon Hargrave, Jason Rasberry and Zak Vavak who did an outstanding job all week working with the boys. I hope that we can get more boys involved working on Staff in the future, it is really exciting to see them there.

MONDAY

I arose early Monday morning to get the coffee started only to find someone had beat me to it (thanks Jody) and to my surprise I didn't have to make coffee all week long. Monday was the hottest day of the week and we thought we were going to be in for a scorcher however to our surprise a cool front came through that evening and the rest of the week was the best I have had in the last 6 years (no rain). It was in the 60's at night and upper 80's and low 90's during the day, sleeping in the tents was more than bearable with only the sounds of the woods and a few boys to rock you to sleep. Breakfast starts with a flag ceremony each morning and then merit badge training most of the day, with a free swim after lunch, each evening is a different camp wide program and this years was probably one of the best since nothing was rained out and everyone found something to do. Monday evening had an open climb on the tower for the boys, a scout skills test for first year boys and the adults were treated to shotgun shooting at the range. Several of the boys climbed the tower and I have pictures to prove it, Shelia, Jody, Tim and myself went down to shoot a few skeet they told me I hit 12 out of 12 but I wasn't counting.

TUESDAY

Tuesday morning our boys had volunteered to do the opening flag ceremony (but they didn't know it). Anyway we got them up a little early and headed for the flag pole to practice before the whole camp would be there at 7:50 AM and they did a great job for such short notice. The day was more of the same, kids coming and going through camp, we would chase them off to their next merit badge class and occasionally one of the adults would drop by to make sure everything was going OK and all the work was getting done. Tuesday afternoon we had a chance to go to the range and shoot .22 rifles, it was mostly adults most of the scouts found other things to do, except for Travis he made it over to shoot with Tim, Shelia, Jody, JP and myself. I think Tim probably has the best eye but those might have been binocular glasses he was wearing. He even tried shooting left handed and with a little practice I think he could do it. The evening activity was a water carnival with fun and games around the pool, even with the great swimmers we have in the troop we couldn't seem to master these strange games they wanted us to play, but all had fun trying their best, its not all about winning anyway. I don't remember who participated in each event but everyone got to do something, they had competition for swimmer as well a non-swimmers. Just ask the boys if they did the zig-zag race, cannonball toss or the newspaper relay, I do remember we did quit well in the alligator relay and I refuse to talk about the Scoutmaster Overboard competition, but I'm sure the boys can fill you in.

WEDNESDAY

Everyone is up early on Wednesday, we must be up and dressed in our Class A uniform by 7 AM to conduct the OA elections. Scouts who have completed the requirements of 1st class and have at least 15 nights of camping are eligible to be voted on by the troop to join the Order of the Arrow. Scouts receiving enough votes would be selected (tapped out) at the ceremony that night. This is done by secret ballot and the boys do not know until they are tapped out if they were voted in, we had 7 boys and all were voted into the Order. Wednesday is also parents night where the parents can come and bring their son his favorite meal, get a tour of the camp and attend a family campfire and the OA ceremony. I hope all the parents that were able to come had a great time visiting and enjoyed the campfire, we had the Troop 272 choir sing and if you missed our rendition of BUG JUICE, well it's hard to describe you just had to be there. As I said earlier we had 7 scouts and 1 adult tapped out at the OA Ceremony so as soon as we got back to camp we had to pack them up and send them off to the lake to sleep under the stars, which is the first requirement they must do to join OA. I do believe that the lake is probably the worst place to sleep out under the stars, because even with a tarp to use to keep them dry they still came back with wet sleeping bags, maybe we need a training class on how to wrap a tarp around you and your sleeping bag.

THURSDAY

This is sleep in morning when we don't have to be up early, we have a quick start breakfast in camp. However I still had to get up early because it was the day the boys taking climbing Merit Badge had to go to S-F Scout Ranch to do their repelling off of the real rock cliffs instead of the little climbing wall, they would also get to swim at Huck's Cove, which has a water slide, zip line and several rope swings. So I was up around 6:30 AM which was about the time the new OA members were returning from their overnight at the lake. I was told the rest of the day went fine without me since we didn't get back from the ranch until 4:30 PM. Thursday night is the overnight trip to the top of Mount Logan and the younger boys go to the lake for a campfire with games and snacks. Since you have to send an adult with the scouts to these events I was thrilled when Paul T, Tim, John Paul and Jody said they would be more than Happy to go. Since Jody's son Allen was a 1st year camper she was more than happy to take him and Joshua on the lake trip. We packed them off with their sleeping bags for a night under the stars, however after a couple hours of fun the overnight portion had to be cut short because most every one's things were already wet from dew. Our boys had covered their sleeping bags with their tarps so they were not wet but it's no fun sleeping at the lake by yourself so they made the trek back to camp. The trip up Mount Logan was also an adventure, especially for Dr. Tim. We were sitting in camp about an hour after they had left to go up the mountain when a Camp Counselor came up and ask us where Dr. McPherson was, I explained that he had made the trip up Logan. He them told us that someone had cut their finger on Mount Logan and they were bringing him back down because they thought he needed stitches. I assured him that Dr. McPherson surely knew about it already and I figured he would come back down if needed. Indeed Tim was on his way back down and the counselor that came to camp was supposed to be getting his medical bag to take back to the first aid station so they would have it when they got down. After all of that another counselor came and got the bag and Tim was able to put the stitches in so a trip to the hospital was avoided. The only other problem was that now Tim was at the bottom of the mountain and Paul T had the scouts at the top of the mountain. Needless to say there is only one way to the top and that is to hike, so Tim had to make another trip to the top all in one evening. He said they made it back up in 20 minutes since there was only 2 of them, still 2 trips to the top and he slept out on the ground 2 nights in a row, my hats off to him. I almost forgot there was also an extra free swim that night for anyone that didn't do one of the other activities.

FRIDAY

Thank goodness for Friday my fingers are getting tired from all this typing, I should have taken better notes. The boys all made it down from the mountain early and I think that JP got some great pictures of the sunrise. Friday was spent making sure that everyone had completed all of the merit badge requirements and getting ready for the closing campfire that night. Paul T had to leave shortly after they came down from the mountain to do some work. I was shocked at how many trips he made back and forth to take care of work. He would get up and leave most mornings before breakfast and be back in the afternoon to do his 5 mile run and participate in the evening activities. I don't think Jerry Paul ever worked that hard when I worked at Baker Implement about 20 years ago. Friday afternoon they have a competition for the best shot on the range shooting 22 rifles (The Silver Bullet) and Bows (The Golden Arrow). You are allowed one adult and one scout to do each, so Tim and Bryce gave it there best shot at the Silver Bullet, there must have been some tough competition and they came up a little bit short of winning. I had signed myself up for the Golden Arrow competition and Bryce came to give it a try since everyone else was busy. Bryce gave it a good try but not ever having shot that type of Bow before he still needs a little practice, maybe I should give him some pointers, not wanting to brag but I did score 50 out of a possible 54 which was high score not only the week but for the whole summer. Well maybe i did brag a little bit but it's my story. Closing campfire was again put on by the camp counselors and was excellent, we closed out with a song and got to shake hands with all the counselors and thank them for a great week. We made our way back to camp and it was even cool enough that we were able to build a campfire and set up till midnight talking and winding down from a week that we all enjoyed immensely.

SATURDAY

Not a lot to say here except getup, pack up, cleanup and get the show on the road. Everyone was ready to get home and back to civilization. I would like to thank the Seats for providing transportation to and from camp and also the Trouts for coming up Saturday morning and pulling the trailer home for us. I hope that everyone enjoyed it as much as I did and if anyone says he didn't just read this and ask him "Where were you at?"

Boston Butt Sales

2007-03-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

We will be selling Boston Butts to earn money for Summer camp, the cost will be $20. We will cook the Butts on Friday night April 13th so they can be picked up on Saturday the 14th. 2o tickets will be given to each scout at Monday nights meeting.

KLONDIKE ENCAMPMENT

2007-02-04T07:07:00.000-08:00

We had 13 scouts and 4 adults that survived the elements and had a great weekend at Benton MO the last weekend in January. The weather was actually pretty good on Saturday but those wind chills of 6 was pretty tough Sunday morning when we had to crawl out of our tents. Saturday's activities were lots of fun, the theme for the weekend was Emergency Planning and we learned a lot, from starting a fire with no matches to rescuing someone that had fallen into a frozen pond. The sherriffs department brought out the German Shepard drug dog and had a demonstration on finding hidden drugs in an automobile and how he attacked criminals. The Emergency Management team team had a class on emergency preparedness covering everything from floods to earthquakes. They also had their search and rescue dog put on a demonstration on how to find lost people. We had plenty of chicken noodle soup and hot chocolate to keep us going prepared by our own Shelia and JP Halford along with others. All in all it was a very good weekend but everyone was glad to be back home to our nice warm homes. Hopefully we all learned something about survival and if we are ever in an emergency situation we will be better prepared to handle it or help others that might be in need.

FYI

2006-10-25T03:52:00.000-07:00

We will not have a meeting this week Thursday October 26th, everyone should receive a call about working the concession stand for the children's home auction Sunday afternoon the 29th. If you do not get a call or we miss you please call or e-mail me back to let me know if you can work and we will assign you to one of the shifts. I am considering Monday night to take a trip to one of the local spook houses if any of the adults are available to drive please let me know and we can let everyone know Sunday about the times to meet. I e-mailed the list of Merit badges available for the two MBU's that are coming up in December, we will need to get signed up early to assure you get to take the MB that you want at Sikeston, remember we are not planning on going as a group to Poplar Bluff so you will need to arrange your own transportation. If any that are planning to go and have extra space please let me know how many you can take so we can make rides available to everyone that would like to participate.

Poole Lodge

2006-09-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

We will go to Poole Lodge this weekend Saturday Sept. 23. If you are planning on going please let me know as soon as possible.

Quick Notes

2006-09-05T03:37:00.000-07:00

PLC meeting tonight at the scout hut 7:30 PM the air should be fixed. Meeting Thursday night at 7:00 PM. OA members going to fall reunion should meet at the scout hut at 4:30 Friday afternoon, Mr. Nadler will be taking you up.

New Patrol Leaders Elected 8/24/06

2006-08-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

Flaming Arrows
Patrol Leader
Michael Nadler
Asst. Patrol Leader
Jason Rasberry

Flaming Eagles
Patrol Leader
Stephen Craig
Asst. Patrol Leader
Ethan Seats

Bobcats
Patrol Leader
Bryce McPherson
Asst. Patrol Leader
Gage Olson

There will be a Patrol Leaders Council meeting at the scout hut Tuesday night Sept. 5th at 7:30 PM to plan Septembers meetings. This is for Patrol Leaders only along with the SPL and ASPL. If a Patrol Leader can't make it please have your Asst. Patrol leader attend we must have at least one scout from each patrol attend. I am e-mailing out a list of patrols with phone numbers for each patrol leader. Patrol leaders should make contact with their patrol each week to remind them about meetings and upcoming events.

Troop Committee Meeting

2006-08-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

There will be a Troop Committee meeting at 6 PM Thursday night at the scout hut before we have our School Night for Scouting, if you showed interest in helping or would like to help out in some way please be there. If you can't be there please give me a call. Also if any adults are interested in helping me post to the blog, e-mail me and I can send you a invite and tell you what to do. I encourage everyone to post their comments by clicking on the comment link at the bottom of each posting.

School Night for Scouting

2006-08-26T07:23:00.000-07:00

Thursday night August 31st will be our annual School Night for Scouting Campaign at the Scout Hut at 7 PM. Invite your friends 11 and older to come out and see what scouting is all about, we will have a short meeting and then some activities and snacks to follow. Josh Chumbley our new District Executive will be going to the middle school and handing out fliers on Thursday. I would like to encourage all the scouts to wear your Class A or at least Class B to school on Thursday to help promote our Troop.

Thanks to all who came out Thursday night

2006-08-19T08:45:00.000-07:00

I really appreciate the turnout we had at our Court of Honor this week. It's always fun to show the parents what the scouts have accomplished and as you saw they really have done a lot over the last few months. We are now ready to kick off the School year and there will be many things coming up this fall for everyone to do. Don't forget Thursday August 31st is school night for scouting, invite your friends to come by and see what's going on at scouts, lets keep our troop growing!!!!!! I want to thank the parents that have volunteered to help out with the Troop Committee, you will be getting a call from the Committee Chairman about when would be the best time for a meeting. I hope to see every scout at the meeting Thursday night so we can get things going and growing for the fall.

Court of Honor

2006-08-15T03:49:00.000-07:00

Troop 272 will hold their Court of Honor on Thursday August 17th at the Church of Christ Activity Center located behind the Church on Slicer St. We will start at 7PM and all scouts with their parents are invited to attend.

Merit Badge Workshop December 10th at Sikeston

2005-11-09T03:50:00.000-08:00

The MBW will be Saturday, December 10th at Sikeston, listed below are the merit badges being offered with the prerequisites, the cost will be $7.

Computers - first 12 scouts to sign up

Crime Prevention & Finger Printing - none

Emergency Preparedness - Must have First Aid merit badge and be 1st class scout

First Aid - Requirements 1. must be first class, 2b must bring first aid kit and have red card

Citizenship in the Community - Requirements 2,3 and 4 completed

I need to send in our registration ASAP the fees will be paid the day of the workshop.

Plenty of Activities for All

2005-10-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

Thursday Oct. 27th we will go the the Haunted House in Jonesboro, meet at the scout hut at 6 PM and the cost is $5.
Saturday Oct. 29th Highway cleanup we will meet at the scout hut that morning the time will be posted later.
Sunday Oct. 30th Delta children's Home Auction, we will help with the concession stand, we will start around noon, I will have an exact time to be there by next meeting.

Please let me know if you are planning on helping with any of these events.

2005-09-05T15:30:00.001-07:00

Enough work for all.

2005-09-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

Hey Mike send that hat.

2005-09-05T15:29:00.000-07:00

Lending a helping hand.

2005-09-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

Working together the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and members of the Venture crew in Kennett help with the collection of food, water and money for Katrina victims.

2005-09-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

Scouts offer assistance for Katrina victims.

2005-08-24T14:33:00.000-07:00

Troop 272 invites everyone to the scouthut August 25th from 7-8 PM for School Night for Scouting. Invite your friends to come out and see what scouting is all about.

FYI A BUSY WEEK AHEAD

2005-08-18T03:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning at 8 AM we will need all the scouts and adults we can get to help Jason with the trash pickup along Highway 25. This will take 2 to 3 hours and after that we will be working at the scout hut cleaning up and taking inventory on the troop room. I plan on having somthing for lunch probably hamburgers and hotdogs we will decide when we see how big a turnout we have.Monday night will be a short meeting to finish setting up for Thursdays School Night.Thursday Night the 25th from 7-8 is School Night for Scouting, Marc Tenholder will be going around to the schools handing out fliers and surveys to promote this, please invite any of your friends out also. We will be wearing Class A uniforms that night and have some type of refreshments for about an hour.Also if anyone would like to help out Charlie Brown with the Cub Pack School night it will be the same Thursday night from 6-7 he has asked for our help and I will have more info later.OA members should have recieved their turtle tales with the registration for Fall Reunion and new members should have gotton a letter explaining their ordeal please send in your money for this ASAP. It is very important for new members to complete their ordeal the next chance to do this will be in the spring so please make every effort to attend this, you must attend for the entire weekend to complete your ordeal!!!!!

2005-08-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

Almost over.

2005-08-02T11:07:00.001-07:00

Almost to the top.

2005-08-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

Made it to our seats.

2005-08-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

Waiting in line with a view of the new ballpark behind us.

2005-07-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

This is how we really make them sleep at camp.

2005-07-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

The gangs all here for parents night.

2005-07-29T07:28:00.000-07:00

Keep Ethan distracted I think I can get his sausage.

2005-07-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

Disco lessons with Ms. Jamie.

2005-07-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

Me and my shadow.

2005-07-29T07:24:00.000-07:00

One day at camp and you can sleep anywhere.

2005-07-29T07:23:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom I told you it rained.

2005-07-29T07:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday at the pool waiting to do our swimming test.

2005-07-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

How many scouts does it take to build one little fire?

2005-07-29T07:04:00.000-07:00

Our last day at camp with our Troop Counselor Andrew Jackson

Summer Camp 05 cont.

2005-07-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

Day 4 Wednesday

With the rain gone we finally get some sunshine this morning and of course with the humidity rising we can now complain about the heat. We had to get up before 7 AM this morning in order to conduct the Order of the Arrow Elections. We had 5 second year scouts that were eligible to be voted on by the troop for induction into OA. The outcome of the vote would not be known until the evening ceremonies so after the election it was off to breakfast and a long day of waiting for the evenings activities. The evening activities would start with a water carnival and the arrival of parents for family night. The water carnival was fairly uneventful, I believe we took 5th in the relay race and second in the buoy race, which would have been good but there was only 2 teams. You can always tell the 1st and 2nd year scouts on family night they start looking for their parents around 2 o’clock in the afternoon and they begin to get nervous when their parent isn’t one of the first ones to arrive. By their 3rd and 4th years all they want is their favorite food from home and usually some extra cash for the trading post. Finally everyone’s parents arrived and had plenty of time to visit with there scout. Mike Scallorns brought us a couple of surprises enough watermelon for everyone and our Troop T-shirts and hats. We would also gain 3 extra parents for the rest of the week, Richard Hargrave, Dennis Rainey and Rick Samples missed us so much they decided to stay. Do you remember that Matt had set up a tent for him and his dad earlier in the week? Well it seems that Matt’s tent guest must not have been taking their showers because when Dennis opened the tent to put in his gear he quickly decided to set up his own tent. By the way Dennis and Rick we will loan out our troop tents to adults, because I know you guys couldn’t stretch out or stand up in the little baby tents you guys had. Around 7:45 we said goodbye to all the parents who left to go to the campfire and OA callout ceremony and we all changed into our Class A uniforms for the evening. Wednesday night campfire was great the Camp Staff is introduced and skits or songs are performed by the scouts. After the fun we move around the lake for the OA callout, a huge bond fire with 20 ft flames lights up the area and we are entertained by the OA dancers from various districts. Several from our troop helped with the dancing and the callout, we had 5 scouts and 1 adult called out to join the Order. They names were announced to the crowd and they were taken into the woods to begin their preordeal activities which included sleeping under the stars for the night and making an arrow out of a piece of cedar to wear until they complete their ordeal and receive their sash. The Scouts that were called out are Travis Gentry, Alex Bonhert, Ethan Seats, Tyler Samples, Ross Joslin and Letraonna Gentry. Congratulations on a job well done and I hope you can all complete your ordeal at the Fall Reunion.

Day 5 Thursday

Thursday morning is sleep-in day which means an extra hour or so of sleep and breakfast is served at your campsite instead of the dining hall. All of the scouts that had slept out for OA return to camp around 7 AM with a good start on carving their arrows, and we find them some twine to make a strap so they can wear them around their neck the rest of the week. Thursday is a good day to take a look at how everyone is coming with their merit badges and see if anyone needs help completing their requirements. It seems that Matt and Jason are having a little trouble catching fish for their fishing merit badge, they have to have at least 2 and they must be different kinds. In steps the great fisherman Dennis Rainey, he decides to go to class with them and see what the problem is and help them catch those fish. They did a little better that morning each catching 1 fish each, but Dennis not being one to give up easily has a plan, he will go and get some bait and after dinner they will try again. I’m not quit sure what kind of bait he brought back but I do know that before they were threw both boys had 14 fish apiece and were talking about having a fish off to break the tie. We also had scouts building shelters for wilderness survival, finishing wood working and leather working projects for merit badges along with various other projects. Thursday evening after supper is always time for the Mount Logan trip or a trip to the lake for smores and games. Richard Hargraves took 3 scouts up the mountain to spend the night and Craig Nadler took 3 more to the lake. About 9 PM it begin to thunder and both activities had to be cut short, which meant a walk back down the mountain about an hour after the got to the top. Activities at the lake were also stopped but not before a couple of kids got stung by hornets or yellow jackets, nothing serious. With everyone back in camp for the night the threat of rain had missed us, but the cooler air made for a good nights sleep.

Day 6 Friday

Things are winding down today we checked again to make sure everyone had completed their merit badges and tried to help out with any incomplete projects. A couple of merit badges will have to be completed at home but for the most part we finished them. I am looking for a good archer to teach 5 scouts how to shoot a bow it seems this merit badge was extremely hard to master, in fact I heard rumor that only 1 out of 17 scouts completed this badge at camp. Friday afternoon we had 5 scouts complete the mile swim and had the competition for Golden Arrow and Silver Bullet. You may recall that I won the Golden Arrow for the adults last year, well that was my 15 minutes of fame because this year was not a pretty site. However if you want to learn to shoot a rifle I have a scout you might want to talk to. It wasn’t his best shooting for the week but it was good enough to win the Silver Bullet for the youth. I’m sure Lance will try to take the credit for his skill but I don’t think he can out shoot his son. Josh Lemonds can put 5 shots in a target with a .22 rifle that you can cover up with a quarter, he tells me on a good day you can cover them with a dime but he didn’t want to show off, I wonder if he still has that target? Friday night brings the closing campfire, one last chance to get together with the entire camp for some fun and recognition. Halfway through the campfire we start to here thunder and then we see the lightning, things had to be cut short again. It was a good thing we did because just minutes after getting back to camp the sky opened up let us have it again, so we finished the week the way we started it WET. We all gathered in the pavilion to wait out the rain, Rick Samples had decided to sleep in there for the night and even with 20 or so scouts in his bedroom he still snores. The rain passed and we were able to make it to our tents for our last night before heading for home.

Day 7 Saturday

Lots of work to do this morning everything has to be packed up and cleaned up before 10:30 AM. and with the rain the night before lots of things were wet again. However we did finally manage to pass inspection and they let us leave, I still had to go and check out at the office and collect our paperwork for the week. All in all we between 16 scouts we earned 50 merit badges, 2 BSA Life guard certifications, 5 mile swims, and 2 completed Voyager training for first year scouts. The adults attended various training during the week including Child Protection, Safe Swim and Safety Afloat training, Liquid fuel usage and Safe Trek Training. We are gearing up for a great fall program which will begin with a trip to a Cardinal baseball game Monday August 1st. Thanks to everyone for the help at Summer Camp and to the Kiwanis Club for their support, keep up the hard work everyone

Freddy Gentry
Scoutmaster Troop 272

Summer Camp 05 (part 1)

2005-07-25T04:56:00.000-07:00

A View from the Camp (Year 2)

As I prepared for my second year of camp as Scoutmaster, things were beginning to fall into place and I was looking forward to a relaxing week away from all the hectic activity at home and work. It started out very different from what I had planned, first off I had to put my truck in the shop on Friday and now I had no way to pull the trailer. It just so happened that Mr. Nadler had recently purchased a Suburban to replace his van and with a little persuading he agreed to pull the trailer for us. Since I was down to one vehicle and I had to take my youngest son to stay with Grandma for the week I was unable to meet with the rest of the troop on Sunday morning at the scout hut. Mr. Nadler graciously offered to step in and do the job of getting everyone packed up and on the road, however he did later explain to me that he was an assistant scoutmaster and not to ever let that happen again. After making my 210 mile journey to cover the 90 miles to camp we all arrived safely around 2:30 and the fun began. 16 scouts, 5 adults, 11 tents, medical check in and swimming test were all completed with time to spare before dinner at 6 PM that evening. We did have a few extra adults helping with the setup and I want to thank them for driving up and helping, however they must have been staying in another camp because I didn’t see them again until Wednesday, (I wonder if there tents leaked too). Before dinner we all met at the flag pole to retire the flags for the day and get more instructions on what to do if the sirens were sounded to alert us of fire or bad weather, they also informed us that with well over 200 campers we were the largest group of the summer. After filling up on spaghetti we had an hour or so to relax before attending the opening campfire, or so I thought, of course there was an adult leader meeting to attend and a Senior Patrol Leader meeting for our SPL, but at least most of us got to settle in to our new home for the week. Opening campfire was AWESOME as usual we were introduced to the camp staff and they showed us their enthusiasm with skits and songs. A couple of staff members got extra loud cheers this week, we are proud of both Brandon Hargrave and Zach Vavak for doing a great job and I hope to see more of our scouts on staff next year, keep up the hard work everyone. It took a while for everyone to wind down Sunday night, but we had them in their tents by 11 although a few flashlights were seen spotlighting raccoons (and waking up assistant scoutmasters) well into the night. You guys know that there were no raccoons in Shelia and Jamie’s tents at 2 in the morning but I’m sure they appreciated you checking just to keep them safe.

Day 2 Monday

Monday morning at 5 am I here the pitter patter of, not little feet, but raindrops falling on my tent. I decided to go ahead and get up to check out the camp and see what might need to be moved out of the rain. It was a good thing I did because the first thing I saw when I came out of my tent was Ethan Seats, or at least part of him. Half of his cot was sticking out the end of his tent with him on it, and half of his stuff was scattered about the tent. It’s a good thing Edra took our advice and packed his clothes in zip lock bags at least they will stay dry when he forgets to put them back in his footlocker. After picking up a few other things, I joined Mr.Nelson of troop 25 for our morning coffee. We have been sharing a campsite with his troop for several years now and who ever gets up first has to fix the coffee. Excluding the wet weather the rest of Monday went by fairly uneventful. Everyone made it to their merit badge classes with out too much trouble and the rain was fun for the first 8 hours or so. Tents were beginning to leak so we pulled out every tarp and ground cloth we had to try and stop the rain inside our tents. Did I say things were uneventful, I do recall one of my assistant scoutmasters slipping in the mud and taking a hard fall, Shelia we really didn’t laugh. The rain let up just long enough to have the OA BBQ Monday night, which is actually steak but they do grill it so I guess you can still call it a BBQ. The rain was here to stay and evenings planned activities had to be cancelled. The Staff of Camp Lewallen was not about to let a little rain dampen our spirits, and the alternate plan was a movie night complete with popcorn and candy in the dining hall. The double feature was Shrek II followed by Star Wars Episode IV (the one that started it all). I set in on the ending of Star Wars because I hadn’t seen it since I saw it several times in the theater many moons ago. Lights out, most scouts were dry for the night however Ross’s sleeping bag was damp on the inside so I loaned him one of my dry blankets to get through the night.

Day 3 Tuesday

Tuesday morning brought more of the same RAIN and by this time is was no longer any fun. As I made my way from tent to tent wishing everyone a good morning I found something odd, Ross Joslin and Stephen Craig’s tent was empty. But my years of scout training kept me calm and I yelled “has anyone seen Ross and Stephen” this got an immediate response from Matt Rainey letting me know they were safe and sound in his tent. Matt had a tent by himself for a couple of nights, since his dad was coming up later in the week, so Ross and Stephen thought he was lonely and gave him some company. I’m not sure who invited who but the story was their tent was leaking and Matt’s was dry, since it had been raining, I couldn’t dispute that story. The rain was keeping the temperature down and also dropping the temperature in the swimming pool. It was discussed at the leaders meeting that if the water temperature continued to drop the pool would have to be shut down. Luckily the rain would stop by late afternoon and as soon as that humidity came back the pool was saved. However things at the campsite were still pretty wet, so I put in a call to Mike Scallorns to relay a message to all the parents coming up on Wednesday to expect mud and bring some dry clothes for their scout. It seems that most of my scouts were way ahead of me and had already called home requesting dry things. As we were having dinner Tuesday night Gerald Collins showed up, he had brought a few dry things for Ben and Patrick and decided to spend the night. he set up a cot in our pavilion where he could stay nice and dry. Tuesday’s evening activities, Camp Wide Game Night, was slowed a bit by all the mud but since the rain had quit we still had an extra free swim and disco night at the trading post.

Look for Part 2 later this week.

Change in Meetings

2005-04-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

The next two meeting will be on Tuesday Nights, April 6th and May 3rd. I have commentments the next two Monday nights. Everyone needs to be there Tuesday night to finalize plans for this weekends campout. Also anyone interested in running for SPL will be given an opportunity to give a talk, the elections will be one of the following 2 meetings. Don't forget we will have a special Court of Honor on May 6th which is on Friday Night at 7:30 PM, this will be held at the First Presbyterian Church at 222 North Main across from the Library.

2005-04-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

The Dare Officer talked to our Scouts about Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs at our meeting on April 4th.

2005-04-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

We disposed of 18 flags during our ceremony after the Fund Raiser on Saturday.

2005-04-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

These guys really know what their doing.

2005-04-04T16:09:00.000-07:00

Sitting Down on the Job

Saturday's Fund Raiser

2005-03-31T03:03:00.000-08:00

I think most everyone has been contacted and assigned a 2 hour slot to sale flags in front of Wal-Mart. If you don't have a slot please contact me or just show up between 9 AM and 3 PM and help out. We WILL NOT be wearing our Class A uniform on Saturday, we will be in Class B's, if you do not have a class B we have some extra's that you may wear until we can order some new ones. Saturday night we will meet at the Scout Hut to dispose of the Flags we've collected, we will wear our Class A Saturday night. The Ceremony will start at 7 PM, if you want to participate in the ceremony you will need to be at the scout hut by 6 PM to help set up. The Public is invited to attend so we need to put on a good program, we may have a few or we may have a lot, I'm not sure what type of turnout to expect. After the ceremony all scouts are welcome to stay and we will have some type of refreshments or maybe a pizza party!!!!

2005-03-28T18:59:00.000-08:00

Flags for $8 a piece shown here by Tyler and Michael.

2005-03-28T18:57:00.000-08:00

We support our troops.

2005-03-28T18:56:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of the Flag and T-shirt we will be selling at Wal-Mart this Saturday.

2005-03-22T16:03:00.000-08:00

We took an underground boat ride.

2005-03-22T15:59:00.000-08:00

Castle Rock

2005-03-22T15:58:00.000-08:00

Undergound Snow????

2005-03-22T15:56:00.000-08:00

We camped at S-F

2005-03-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

We went to an underground mine last weekend.

2 campouts and a Service Project

2005-03-09T03:10:00.000-08:00

We have an OA campout this weekend, I will know later this week when we are meeting to leave Friday. The following weekend we have the Troop Campout at S-F Scout Ranch I will need to know by Monday's meeting who is planning to attend. If you are available this weekend we have a service project to help the Cub Scout Pack with their activity day. Scouts are needed at 9 AM Saturday morning to help move equipment and set things up, and sunday to help with the activities. Everyone should be contacted later this week with more information on this.

Whats Going on with 272

2005-03-01T17:57:00.000-08:00

Well if you missed it and not many did we had a great weekend at Baker Lodge, 16 scouts and 5 adults made the trip. It sure is nice to have a place to go camping in the winter and not freeze, even though the weather was exceptionally warm for February. Most of the weekend was spent having fun but we did take the afternoon to go on a hike and stop off at the Wapappello Dam spillway. Coming up we have OA Fun Weekend, it's the same weekend of the Kennett High School Play and a couple of our scouts (Brandon Hargrave and Tyler Gentry) will have to miss it while they practice their acting skills. I hope the rest of you OA scouts will take advantage of a great weekend getting together with the scouts from all over the district for fun and games. The weekend after that is our troop campout, we will be camping at S-F Ranch and if things go as planned will will go to the caves at Bonne Terre I will send out more information on this next week. Finally we will finish up February with a fund raiser we will be selling American Flags starting March 26th details will follow as this gets closer.

MBU Report

2005-02-23T03:11:00.000-08:00

Merit Badge University at Cape went very well, I thought it was organized better than in the past couple of years. There were close to 500 scouts in attendence from the Greater Saint Louis Area Council which was a fantastic turnout. We had 18 scouts attend and we earned merit badges from Citizenship in the World and Nation to cinematography, electronics and even textiles. All in all it was a very benificial day for the scouts and a chance for the adults to do some site seeing (shopping) around Cape.

FYI

2005-02-09T02:55:00.000-08:00

1. Saturday February 12th at 2 PM at the Academic Auditorium on the SEMO Campus in Cape Girardeau is the Eagle Court of Honor.
2. MBU is Saturday February 19th, we will leave at 7 AM from the scout hut. I am trying to arrange for an Exchange Student to talk to the ones taking Citz in the World merit badge to complete the prerequiste. If anyone can help out with this give me a call.
3. Continue to work on Family Life Merit Badge tracking your duties, we will start on requirement #2 at the next meeting and you will have 2 weeks to complete it.
4. If anyone is interested in attending the SEMO VS Murry State Basketball game on March 24th, we can still get tickets for $2 a piece, if enough are interested we will take a group.

Order of the Arrow News

2005-02-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

OA will dance at the Blue and Gold banquet on Saturday Night, please meet at the Methodist Church by 6:00 PM. The Chili supper is also Saturday night at the Scout Hut, the Hut will be open at 5:30 and chili will be served from 7-9 PM. The cost is $5 and there will be a chapter meeting to follow.

What's Next

2005-02-02T15:08:00.000-08:00

Klondike was a blast we had a little snow and a little rain but we stuck it out. Now what do we have coming up next, Monday's meeting was a little short on attendance but they sometimes are after a campout. If you were there then you know whats coming up, if not then here is a few important things to know.
1. We started working on Family Life Merit Badge, the first thing everyone needs to do is track 5 duties or chores for 90 days. I will e-mail the form to everyone and you will need to fill it out and bring it to every meeting so we can track your progress.
2. I need everyone to bring your handbook and wear you scout shirt to all the meetings. You wouldn't go to a ball game without your uniform and a ball would you, please treat our meetings the same way.
3. MBU is the 19th of February, I have recieved confirmation on which merit badge everyone is taking and will send information in an e-mail. It was to late to change and go to Poplar Bluff since I had already sent everything into Cape.
4. February Campout will be the weekend of the 26th at Baker Lodge.
5.There is also an opportunity to attend a SEMO vs Murry State Basketball game on February 24th. There is a section reserved for Scouts and the cost is $2 per ticket, if we have enough interest we will try and take a group.

Klondike Information

2005-01-26T15:17:00.000-08:00

We will meet at the scout hut Friday afternoon at 5 PM, and will leave as soon as everyone arrives. The cost for Klondike is $5 and two cans of chicken noodle soup, you will also need to pay your patrol cook for the rest of your food. We will return Sunday morning sometime before noon. Someone will be calling Thursday Night to set up transportation, we may need a couple extra to drive up since around 19 scouts are attending.

1. Bring a sack meal for Friday night
2. Bring extra clothing and rain gear
3. Class A uniform for Friday, Class B for Saturday

Things Needed for Monday 1-24-05

2005-01-23T09:55:00.000-08:00

We will finalize plans for Klondike Monday night which means I need to know exactly how many are going. We will have a session on winter camping, how to pack and what to bring. We will also be checking our patrol boxes to see what needs to be restocked. I appreciate all the help I have recieved with the Klondike materials, it should make for a great campout, if anyone has a couple of extra clipboards laying around I could use some.

Monday's Meeting Notes

2005-01-19T03:02:00.000-08:00

Here is what we covered Monday Night, for those that weren't there I need information from you.
1. MBU - February 18th, cost is $12 a few still need to sign up
2. Klonkike - January 28-30 cost is $5 for campout food will be extra, we picked cooks for each patrol and they will let you know the cost of your food.
3. Worked on some physical fitness skills as an activity.

What a Great Monday Night

2005-01-11T16:49:00.000-08:00

I have to thank everyone for making Monday nights ceremonies a success. We were able to recognize 11 scouts for Merit Badge's earned, 2 scouts advanced to First Class and 3 scouts advanced to Star. We also showed our appreciation to Cameron Dye who recently earned his EAGLE. Friends of scouting was presented by Marc Tenholder and Tommy Vavak and the contributions were far above what we had expected. Thanks to all the parents for supporting our program with their money and time. We capped off the evening with a bridging ceremony for 5 new scouts advancing from Cub Pack 89. We hope that a few more will decide to join us in the next couple of weeks. Again thanks to all that attended.

YIS
Freddy Gentry
Scoutmaster Troop 272

Monday Nights Meeting Very Important for Scouts and Parents

2005-01-09T05:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but my computer was down for a few days, anyway heres what you missed and whats coming up. Last Mondays meeting was spent covering advancement, I sent home a copy of what everyones standing is in the troop. If you didn't see it, ask your scout and if you need another I will have some copies at the Court of Honor on Monday night. We will also be conducting a bridging ceremony monday night to welcome the weeblos to our troop. There's a lot coming up in the new year so lets all kick it off with a bang Monday night, All scouts and Parents are invited to attend.

Calendar for January and February 2005

2005-01-04T03:10:00.000-08:00

Troop 272 Calendar 01/01/05 - 02/28/05

January
01/03/05 7:00 PM Meeting Scout Hut Covered advancement
01/10/05 7:00 PM Meeting Scout Hut Court of Honor & Bridging Ceremony
01/17/05 7:00 PM Meeting Scout Hut orientation for New Scouts
01/24/05 7:00 PM Meeting Scout Hut Finalize plans for Klondike
01/28/05 Camping Benton Klondike
01/31/05 7:00 PM Meeting Scout Hut

February
02/07/05 7:00 PM Meeting Scout Hut
02/14/05 7:00 PM Meeting Scout Hut
02/19/05 MBU Cape Girardeau MBU
02/21/05 7:00 PM Meeting Scout Hut
02/25/05 Camping Baker Lodge Lake Wapappello
02/28/05 7:00 PM Meeting Scout Hut

Blue Mountain Campout

2004-12-20T14:37:00.000-08:00

We had a fun and busy weekend at Blue Mountain Church Camp. Saturday we made a short drive to Elephant Rock State Park where we explored the very large rock formations and grilled hotdogs for lunch. Saturday afternoon we stopped by Fort Davidson Historic Site where we watched an animated light show and movie about the civil war battle there. When we finally got back to Blue mountain we still had time to do a service project for the camp by stacking about 4 ranks of wood. I want to thank everyone that went especially the parents. We will not have another scheduled meeting until January 3rd so watch for e-mails and postings of what coming up in the New Year.

Campout this Weekend

2004-12-16T07:39:00.000-08:00

We will meet at the scout hut Friday afternoon at 4 to leave for the campout at Blue Mountian. The cost is $15 and make sure you bring a sack lunch for supper.

Weekend Update

2004-12-12T15:44:00.000-08:00

We all had a great day at MBU Saturday we had 11 scouts attend and 3 earned Emergency preparedness, 1 earned First Aid and 7 earned Citizenship in the Nation. We will be working on Orienteering at the meeting Monday night so if you have a compass bring it with you. This weekend is our trip to Blue Mountian if you are planning to attend please let me know tomorrow night the cost is $15. We will discuss transportation tomorrow night and decide what time we need to leave.

Tuesday Morning Update

2004-12-07T03:01:00.000-08:00

Monday Nights meeting went great we worked on requirement 6 and requirement 3 for the weather merit badge. Remember you have two weeks to complete your package which will be turned it to Mr. Ault on the 20th. Please try to make these as neat as possible because we have to send them to a merit badge conselor for review. Don't forget Requirement #9 is a 5 minute speech, have these ready for one of the next two meetings. Other note worthy things are listed below.
1. Friday at 3:30 PM meet at the Post Office for a Tour
2. Saturday at 7:15 AM meet at the scout hut we will leave for MBU at 7:30 AM
3. Have your prerequisites for MBU completed before Saturday, if you can provide transportation let me know.
4. If you are going on the Blue Mountian campout please Bring $15 to the next meeting.
5. Please return your information sheet as soon as possible so I can update everyone's file.

MBU Prerequisites

2004-11-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

Following is a list of the merit badges we will be offering and pre-requisite information on each. The pre-requisite items
will not be covered during the class and will need to be completed in advance to complete the badge on December 11 instead of receiving a partial.

1. Citizenship in the Nation – Requirement 4 – Visit the state or national Capitol or tour a federal installation.
2. Communications – Requirement 5 – attend a public meeting and make a report on what you heard.
3. Crime Prevention & Finger Printing – None (Both badges will be completed by the same group).
4. Emergency Preparedness – Requirement 1 – Earn the First Aid Merit Badge. Note: The scout must hold at least 1st class rank to have the skills needed to take this badge.
5. First Aid – Requirement 1 – The scout must hold at least 1st class rank to have the skills needed to take this badge. Requirement 2b – The scout must bring his First Aid Kit to class or bring a note that he has reviewed his first aid kit with his Scoutmaster. Complete the “Red Card” requirements in advance and bring it with you.
6. In addition to these merit badges, we will hold a Life to Eagle Seminar during lunch.

Cost for this event will be $7.00 per scout. This will include a patch and lunch. There is no cost for leaders’ lunch. Leaders may purchase additional patches at the event for $2.00.

Scouting for Food Pickup

2004-11-17T02:59:00.000-08:00

We will meet at the Kennett Community Center at 8:30 AM Saturday Morning to pick up the food bags. The Cub Scouts are picking up between 10 and Noon and the drop off for food is at The Helping Hand. I appreciate all the help Monday night, it went better than I expected having to work in the dark. We finished our area in about an hour and everyone did a fantastic job.

Scouting for Food

2004-11-14T17:09:00.000-08:00

We will put out the bags for Scouting for Food Monday night. We will need to meet at the Kennett community Center on Kennett Street by 6 PM. This will take place of or regular meeting for Monday.

Scouting for Food Change

2004-11-12T18:00:00.000-08:00

It seems like everyone is out of pocket this weekend so we will not put out our food bags until Monday. I will let everyone know what time and we will do this instead of a meeting.

Scouting for Food Saturday November 13th.

2004-11-12T11:36:00.000-08:00

We will need to meet at the Community Center on Kennett street, across from Jones Park, around 8:45 and be ready to start at 9:00 AM. We will cover the area from the South By-pass up to 5th street between Kennett St. over to Butler Drive. I will be making some calls tonight to see who all can be there in the morning.

Notes from Monday Nights Meeting

2004-11-10T03:07:00.000-08:00

First off I would like to thank Doug Vogalsang from the National Weather Service in Memphis for taking the time to come and speak to us. He gave a very informative talk on what causes storms how they are tracked and how the warnings are issued during severe weather. I also want to thank Mike Ault for setting this up and working with the Troop on getting our weather merit badge. It was great to see the weeblo's come out and join us for a meeting, they are finishing up their arrow of light requirements and will soon be ready to bridge over, we hope that they all will continue there scouting activities and become part of our troop in December. Other things discussed at the meeting are listed below.
1. Scouting for Food is the next two weekends I will post the time and place to meet Saturday morning tomorrow.
2. MBU is coming up in December and your $7 should be paid by November 22nd for preregistration.
3. Saturday November 27th we are planning a day activity and a campfire that night with a flag disposal ceremony.
4. December 17th - 19th we will be making what has become our annual trip Blue mountain Church Camp. This is a really good opportunity for our adults that don't like to sleep in tents to go on an outing with us. There will also be a service project attached to help defer some of the cost of renting the cabin.

Special Guest for Monday's Meeting

2004-11-07T04:58:00.000-08:00

We will have a special speaker for Monday nights meeting, Weatherman Douglas Voglesang has accepted our invitation to help out with our weather merit badge requirements. Also we will have some weeblo's in attendace that are working on their arrow of light. Lets have a good turnout for our guest and pass the word around in case someone hasn't checked the website for information.

Weather Merit Badge Opportunity

2004-11-02T14:43:00.000-08:00

Mr. Ault started working with the Troop to get the requirements for the Weather Merit Badge. He is trying to get a guest speaker for Monday night the 8th of November. If you missed the first meeting we can make up what you missed but in order to get the merit badge you need to attend the next few meetings. I will check with Mr. Ault to see what you need to do on your own and what you might need to bring to the meetings. Click here to go the Meritbadge.com and print off the worksheet and bring it with you to the meetings.

Scouting for Food

2004-11-02T14:37:00.000-08:00

Anyone that intends on doing Scouting for Food on Nov 13th or Nov 20th please e-mail or call me. I will need adults to drive the scouts the first weedend and help collect the food on the second weekend. I will be getting maps from Charlie Brown on which areas we need to cover depending on how many we have working. This is another opportunity to get some service project hours.

Delta Children's Home Auction

2004-11-01T05:58:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who came out and helped in the concession stand on Sunday afternoon. We had a really good turnout and everything worked out great.

Troop Elections

2004-10-27T03:27:00.000-07:00

Troop Elections were held Monday night October 25th.

Senior Patrol Leader - Brandon Hargrave
Asst Senior Patrol Leader - Tyler Gentry
Scribe - Jason Raspberry
Quartermaster - Travis Gentry
Historian - Michael Nadler
Chaplain Aide - Matt Ault
Troop Guide - Matt Rainey
OA Representative - Cameron Dye

Delta Children's Home Auction

2004-10-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

We have a chance to pick up some service project hours this coming weekend Sunday Oct. 31st. We have been asked to run the concession stand at the Delta Children's Home Auction. We will have two shifts set up, the first group will be from 12:30 until 3:00 and the second group will be from 2:30 until 5:00, or if you like you can work both shifts. Please let Letraonna know Monday night if you can work and when.

MBU

2004-10-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

Merit Badge University is Saturday December 11th, preregistration is required so I need to know which merit badge you want to take. You will need to pick a first, second and third choice in case they fill up older scouts will be placed first. There will also be a Life to Eagle siminar during lunch all of our Life scouts need to attend this if you haven't been through one yet. The link at the beginning of this message will give you more information on MBU.

Airport Dedication Cancelled

2004-10-23T05:10:00.000-07:00

The dedication of the new airport was cancelled due to bad weather. We will be contacted when they reschedule so we can help out.

Troop Elections

2004-10-22T20:01:00.000-07:00

We will have troop elections on Monday the 24th. If you are interested in holding a position with the troop or in your patrol please be at the meeting Monday night.