ÔªøNews Briefs

News Briefs

Enter the Boys' Life reading contest

Young readers have two months left to enter the 2004 Boys' Life "Say Yes to Reading!" contest. Entrants write a report of 500 words or less on "The Best Book I Read This Year." Books can be fiction or nonfiction. Enter reports in one of three age categories: 8 years old and younger; 9 and 10 years old; 11 years old and older.

The contest is open to all Boys' Life readers. All entrants receive a free Pedro patch—but only if they include a business letter-size, stamped (37 cents), self-addressed envelope with their report. (Include name, address, age, and school grade with each book report.)

First-place winners in each age category will receive a $100 gift certificate good for any product in the Boy Scouts of America Official Retail Catalog. Second-place winners will receive a $75 gift certificate, and third-place winners, a $50 certificate.

Send reports and stamped return envelopes for the free patch to Boys' Life Reading Contest, S306, P.O. Box 152079, Irving, TX 75015-2079. Entries must be postmarked no later than Dec. 31, 2004.

Read the winning entries from the 2003 contest at www.boyslife.org.


Eagle Scout applicants sought for 2005-2006 Antarctic expedition

Eagle Scouts interested in scientific research at the bottom of the world have until Feb. 1, 2005, to apply to become the 2005-2006 Antarctic Eagle Scout.

Since 1928, when Eagle Scout Paul Siple traveled with Adm. Richard E. Byrd's historic expedition to the South Pole, the BSA has sent 11 Eagle Scouts on scientific missions to Antarctica. The most recent was 19-year-old Brad Range of Marietta, Ga.

The 12th Antarctic Eagle Scout will serve between late October 2005 and mid-January 2006 as a support member of a National Science Foundation (NSF) expedition in Antarctica, helping to conduct research at McMurdo Station, the most remote human outpost on the globe.

Candidates must have been a registered member of the BSA for three years, be at least 17 years old but not yet 21 as of June 1, 2005; and be available for pre-expedition training beginning in late summer 2005.

Applications are available at local Scout council service centers and must be mailed by Feb. 1, 2005. The Antarctic Scout will be selected following interviews with finalists in April.


Service opportunity for buglers

Scouts who have earned the Music and Bugling merit badge have an opportunity for patriotic service, thanks to Bugles Across America (BAA), a national organization of volunteers dedicated to performing taps at military funerals.


Photograph Courtesy of BSA Archives

Congress has mandated military honors—two soldiers to fold and present a flag and a bugler or CD recording to provide taps—at graveside for every veteran whose family so requests. However, while more than 1,400 veterans die every day in the United States, the military has fewer than 500 buglers available for such duty.

BAA, which has more than 2,600 adult and youth volunteers serving in 50 states, has formed a Cadet Corps for the purpose of recruiting younger buglers. "We would like to see BSA buglers getting involved...to make sure there is a bugler at every military funeral," said BAA Cadet Corps director Sean Smith.

Information on BAA membership is available at www.BuglesAcrossAmerica.org; phone (708) 484-9029; TomJDayBugles@aol.com; fax (708) 484-9896; or Bugles Across America, 1824 S. Cuyler Ave., Berwyn, IL 60402-2052. A related Web site is www.baacadetcorps.org.


Unit rechartering system goes online

Some of the BSA units that renew their charter between now and March 2005 will be able to complete the process online, thanks to the new Internet Rechartering System.

Developed after a yearlong feasibility study, the system makes the rechartering process simpler, less stressful, and more accurate and efficient, thus saving units time.

"The national office developed the Internet Rechartering System in response to local council demands for reducing the rechartering hassle and paperwork at the unit level," said Nathan Langston, director of the BSA Information Systems Division. "We're very pleased at the number of councils signing up for the program."

Everything the unit leader requires to recharter the unit, including forms for leaders to sign, is available electronically. Using the Internet-based software, unit leaders input necessary information regarding the unit and its members. The Internet Rechartering System then validates this information, calculates appropriate fees, and prints out the required package of rechartering materials to be submitted to the council service center.

Because all entered information is automatically filed in the council's database, processing time at the council is also vastly reduced. And commissioners can easily monitor if any charter renewal is incomplete.

"The online process gives leaders control of the entire process," Langston said. "While you don't need any other software to participate, if you have unit management software, you can easily upload those files into this program." For availability of the Internet Rechartering System in your area, contact your local Scout council service center.

— Bill Sloan


Scouts can camp overnight on a variety of historic ships

In 1972, Scout leader Paul Vaitses, executive director of Battleship Cove in Fall River, Mass., decided Scouts would enjoy the experience of spending a night aboard the site's main attraction, the battleship Massachusetts.

The result was Nautical Nights, with 80 Scouts sleeping in bedrolls on the battleship's main deck.

For about 30 years, Scout campers and other youth groups have spent a night on the battleship, sleeping as the original crew did, in authentic sailors' racks—cotton canvas stretched across aluminum frames. Campers explore the ship, investigating guns, ducking into turrets, climbing on mounts and up ladders.

Over the years the program has expanded and now includes a 23-minute orientation film on the history of the U.S.S. Massachusetts and Battleship Cove, Morse code classes, storytellers, World War II re-enactments, major motion pictures, and knot-tying presentations.

Scouts eat breakfast and dinner in the officers' wardroom and a box lunch before exploring the rest of Battleship Cove's exhibits or visiting the neighboring Marine Museum of Fall River. For more information, go to www.battleshipcove.org.

According to the Historic Naval Ships Association (HNSA), at least 23 other ships in the United States offer similar overnight programs, including the following two major attractions:

  • Aircraft carrier U.S.S. Yorktown, www.patriotspoint.org; 40 Patriots Point Boulevard, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464; (800) 248-3508; ppcamping@infoave.net.
  • Aircraft carrier U.S.S. Lexington, www.usslexington.com; 2914 N. Shoreline Blvd. (P.O. Box 23076), Corpus Christi, TX 78403; phone (800) LADY-LEX (523-9539).

For a listing of other overnight programs, see the HNSA Web site, www.hnsa.org/index.htm.


American Legion Eagle Scout of the Year



Garrett F. Martin
Photograph Courtesy of Martin Family
Garrett F. Martin, 18, of Troop 631, McMinnville, Tenn., is the American Legion Eagle Scout of the Year for 2004.

The award, announced during the American Legion Board of Directors' meeting in May, includes a $10,000 college scholarship and is recognition of Garrett's citizenship in school, the community, Scouting, and his church, First Baptist Church, McMinnville.

For his Eagle Scout project, Garrett organized a Patriot Day flag retirement ceremony, directing a team of Scouts who handled three flag collection centers and orchestrating the ceremony conducted by his troop.

Garrett plans to study music at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tenn.

The American Legion also awarded $2,500 scholarships to Christopher W. Jackson, of Troop 70, Lincoln Park, N.J.; William (Ben) Towne, Troop 11, Litchfield, N.H.; and Benjamin Banwart, Troop 218, Shakopee, Minn.

The American Legion has supported Scouting since the veterans' group's first national convention in 1919. Legion posts are chartered organizations for more than 2,500 Scouting units, serving more than 72,000 youth.


Council Honors Lewis and Clark, Sacajawea With Special Medals and Patches Scouts Can Earn

The Grand Teton Council, which serves eastern Idaho and western Wyoming, is celebrating the 200th anniversary of Lewis and Clark's historic expedition to the Pacific Northwest in grand style—and Scouts everywhere are invited to join in.

Cubs Scouts, Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts, Venturers, and leaders can qualify for a Lewis and Clark Commemorative Peace Medal, another medal for hiking a portion of the Lewis and Clark Trail, and a set of four activity patches created for the occasion.

The council headquarters in Idaho Falls lies to the southeast of the birthplace, near Salmon, of Sacajawea, the American Indian who helped guide the expedition to its destination.

"We kicked off the initial phase of our bicentennial observance in January 2004, after about a year of planning," said Scout Executive Kim Hansen. "But it doesn't hit its peak until 2005, which is the actual 200th anniversary of when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark arrived in Idaho and raised the U.S. flag here for the first time."

The front of the peace medal bears a replica of the medal struck in 1805 on orders of President Thomas Jefferson to honor the expedition. It features two clasped hands, a crossed hatchet and peace pipe, and the slogan "Peace and Friendship."

Youth and volunteer leaders at all levels of Scouting may earn the right to purchase the peace medal by fulfilling a list of requirements. These include attending a community-sponsored Lewis and Clark event, visiting one of the many local museum exhibits along the explorers' route, and collecting the Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea coins and stamps issued in connection with the anniversary.

"There are many interpretive centers, monuments, and displays along the Lewis and Clark route," Hansen noted. "They stretch from...Kansas City to the Pacific. Our local museum in Idaho Falls has had one of the largest and most elaborate exhibits."

The first of four commemorative patches, honoring President Jefferson (shown above), was issued in February 2004 and will remain available through December 31. The second patch, honoring Lewis, will be available between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2005; the third, honoring Clark, will be available between April 1 and May 31, 2005; and the fourth, in honor of Sacajawea, will be available from July 1 through Sept. 30, 2005.

"The main purpose of this program was to see if we could increase unit activity and pep up our camporee in our own council," Hansen explained. "But it's attracted a lot of outside interest as well."

For more information, contact the Scout council office at (208) 522-5155 or check the council Web site, www.grandtetoncouncil.org (Lewis and Clark link).

—B.S.


Fifty-one innovative BSA service projects win awards in the annual Colgate Youth for America competition

A variety of Scout groups were honored for innovative and successful service projects in the 2003-2004 Colgate Youth for America campaign. Winners received grants from $100 to $1,000. They included 19 Cub Scout packs, 28 Boy Scout troops, two Venturing crews, and two districts in local Scout councils.

The top three BSA winners were:

  • Boy Scout Troop 71, Brookfield, Wis. ($1,000), for collecting 4,000 pounds of used clothing to stock a thrift store in a remote Alaskan village, where one-third of the population lives below the poverty level.
  • Boy Scout Troop 8, Kingston, N.Y. ($500), for working with the local county sheriff's department to fingerprint, photograph, and create personal profiles of elementary school children, for use in a database of information in the case of child abduction.
  • Cub Scout Pack 733, Westminster, Md. ($300), for creating shoebox-size care packages of snacks, personal care, and leisure items to be sent to military personnel overseas via the U.S. Central Command post in Florida.

In addition to the three top winners, 48 other BSA entities were selected for $100 fourth prizes.

The program also honors projects of the Girl Scouts of the USA, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Girls Incorporated, Camp Fire USA, and the National 4-H Council.

A list of all 2003-2004 top winners is available (along with information on entering this year's event) at www.colgate.com/app/Colgate/US/Corp/CommunityPrograms/YouthForAmerica.cvsp.


Four service projects honored

A Boy Scout troop, two Cub Scout packs, and a local Scout council were among the local honorees chosen for special recognition for their efforts last October during USA Weekend Magazine's 13th annual Make a Difference Day.

The four were among 545 groups chosen by local newspapers for outstanding participation in the annual day of service, which is held in partnership with the Points of Light Foundation on the fourth Saturday in October.

  • Pack 643, then chartered to the Rotary Club of Aurora/Naperville, Ill., collected three truckloads of warm clothing, including more than 500 coats, for the Clothes Closet, a local church center providing clothing for the needy.
  • Pack 323, First United Methodist Church, Rock Falls, Ill., cleaned and beautified three sites: the grounds of two local churches and the yard of a disabled person.
  • Troop 379, St. Kilian's Catholic Church, Blenker, Wis., cleaned up 53 parking areas in the George W. Mead Wildlife Area.
  • Lake Huron Area Council, Auburn, Mich., had Scout troops take part in the three-year effort to restore the Midland to Mackinac Trail, a 210-mile wilderness footpath used for centuries by American Indians.

For details on all 2003 honorees, project ideas, information on participating, and submitting a project for recognition, go to www.makeadifferenceday.com.

Top of Page


November - December 2004 Table of Contents


Copyright © 2004 by the Boy Scouts of America. All rights thereunder reserved; anything appearing in Scouting magazine or on its Web site may not be reprinted either wholly or in part without written permission. Because of freedom given authors, opinions may not reflect official concurrence.