[Troop139] (no subject)

Sun Aug 7 21:06:34 EDT 2011

St. John the Evangelist Boy Scout Troop 139 had a GREAT week of summer camp
at Camp Turrell at Cuddebackville, NY last week.  The boys cooked most meals
in their campsite, worked on Merit Badges and had lots of fun in the open
activity areas.  The boys took many Merit Badges including Geocaching,
Swimming, Camping, Wilderness Survival, Weather, Mammal Study, Environmental
Science, Computers, Canoeing, Emergency Preparedness and many others.
Several young Scouts including the son of Troop 139 Eagle Scout Ken Vogel
and grandson of former Troop 139 Scoutmaster Rich Vogel, were in the Camp
Turrell Pathfinder program, which teaches young Scouts many of their basic
skills and includes a five mile hike!  This will come in handy as prior
experience before the Troop's twenty mile Good Friday Hike!

The Troop awards its neckerchief only once a Scout completes a week of
summer camp, which makes this classic oversized square neckerchief highly
prized.  Here is a great photo of the Troop just after it awarded the
neckerchiefs on Friday evening just before dinner.  The boys look really
happy and sharp when standing together despite being tired from an active
week!  

While the boys were busy taking Merit Badges during the day, the adults had
several projects of their own!  Some of the adults took some of the adult
leader training presented by Biff Van Cleef in the dining hall.  This moves
us closer to being able to meet the expanding training requirements for
Scouting units over the next few years.  For more information about
training, please contact Diana Valencia, Phil Sciame or Gordon Beattie.  

Also, many thanks to Jo Jo Carlos, Bernie McEachren, Dennis Aujero, Eddie
Slaughter, Ken Vogel and Gordon Beattie who worked on getting the platform
structure back together after its unfortunate reconfiguration twenty-two
months ago.  While we were not able to recover the six missing cut-off
pieces of 4x4 pressure treated lumber, we had enough wood to rebuild the
platform thanks to Camp Director Anthony Chirdo who came up with some
decking and some 2x4s.  These were used to provide safety rails for each
side and a sturdy upper cross-piece to hold up the tarp.

This shelter was used by the Troop as a leader area and Radio Merit Badge
activity center, and with a few tweaks, it should be a good design for Camp
Turrell and other camps to create inexpensive campsite and activity area
shelters that only require a tarp and some rope to set up.  It features a
twelve foot wide by two foot deep table along the back of the platform, a
large landing type of step that will allow even a wheelchair to be brought
up, and a high pitch framework so that water will not pool on the tarp.  

More will follow soon!

Yours in Scouting!

Thanks & 73,

Gordon Beattie, W2TTT

201.314.6964

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