Greetings once again...

Newsletter # 2 finds us in not-so-hot shape. As of today's mailing, only two of the ten commitment forms had been returned, plus a handwritten equivalent from a third Unit. Thus, I was unable to organize the first organizational meeting. Folks, this is hardly an auspicious start, and makes an already enormous undertaking all the more difficult! I have postponed the first meeting `til Sunday, December 14th, starting at 7pm, at the St. Agnes Parish Center. Please return the commitment forms to me this week, so that I can get a proper mailing list together and get all future mailings to your designees. As with Newsletter # 1, this mailing was sent only to the Scoutmasters. If you have already told several people in your Troop to attend the now-canceled November 2nd meeting, please call them and let them know it's been postponed. Additional comments:

1) In order to at least get a preliminary feel for the interest in this upcoming year's Projectoree, I called each of the Units who did not return their commitment form; the correlated results of all invited Troops are as follows:

104 - Yes; 106 - Yes, but want to attend Saturday only; 111 - Yes; 143 - Yes; 149 - Yes; 162 - No; 167 - Yes; 624 - Maybe, unsure of level of interest; 638 - Yes; 647 - Yes; and 648 - Maybe, depends on whether accepted to the 1998 West Point Camporee.

Thus, we have 8 Yes's, 2 Maybe's, and 1 No. If this holds, this will be the largest Projectoree to date. By the way, Troop 162 will be participating in another "Disaster Drill" the weekend of the Projectoree, at Dulles airport (I think.) If you find this alternative more intriguing than the Projectoree, please call Troop 162's Scoutmaster Mike Ingles, at 527-8175. I believe the drill will help qualify the attending Scouts for the Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge. Another option for your Spring program....

2) District Issues - The District has thus far remained (apparently) uninterested in the 1998 Projectoree. No effort has been made to try and enforce (or even discuss) the "Patawomeck District Event Planning Guidelines" treatise that was included in the last Annual Planning Packet. No complaints here! You may rest assured that I have no intention of poking this particular sleeping dog, either.

Of additional interest, the carving of Patawomeck into four new Districts will be the primary topic at the upcoming November Round Table (11/13). I strongly encourage you to attend. A tentative map was unveiled at the last Round Table, showing our new District to be a curved sausage-shaped stretch of land from South Arlington heading northwest along the Potomac through McLean. Hmmmm - not exactly what was expected - but then again, I for one would have been shocked if it was.... The new Districts formally incorporate in June, 1998.

3) Back to the Projectoree - now that the attendees have been mostly established, the next most important issue is the theme. Although the Patrol Competition/Games format has been very popular (and, I thought, already well supported for 1998), a number of Units have suggested that we try something different. The most common idea is a "Frontier Days/Rendezvous"-type round-robin of events, possibly including (but not limited to) the following activities:

Rifle Shooting, Archery Shooting, Shotgun Shooting (limited to Senior Scouts only), Tomahawk Throwing, Bowie Knife Throwing, Cross-Cut Saw Race, Caber Toss, Log Carry Relay, Fiebuilding Race, etc.

Although an exciting series of activities, there are several difficulties with this new program. First, we will need a new locale, as the use of Camp Wilson for shooting sports is strictly forbidden. Ditto for any other Regional or State Park. The best alternative site would be another Boy Scout camp (Rock Enon or Potomac, etc.), with the next best being a piece of private land adjoining a nearby Regional or State Park. Most Boy Scout camps are a pretty good drive versus Camp Wilson, too. Second, there will (again) be a fairly sharp learning curve associated with this new program - most of the events would be new. Third, many events would have to be created essentially from scratch - Troop 111 has adequate rifles, archery and shotgun gear, but you also need target ranges. (This is why a Scout camp would be the best place.) Most of the other events would require purchase or creation of equipment - nothing overly difficult, but a lot of stuff, and some of it not so cheap, either (although much of it would be reusable, as with some of the present Projectoree equipment.) Fourth, I suspect that the price of the Projectoree would have to be increased in order to cover all the expenses associated with these events. How much, I don't know, but I think the currently projected $6 is out of the question. Fifth and last, it is possible that attendance would suffer dramatically, with a large number of parents being overly wary of sending little Johnny off to an event featuring dozens of "implements of destruction."

Given all this, however, the flip side is that this could be a spectacular weekend! ...plus there's a lot to be said for a little variety, too. Thus, I am completely open minded with respect to either choice - as always, it's up to you and your Scouts. I ask that each Scoutmaster discuss this with his Scouts, come to a preference, and let me know. Majority rules. For those Troops who have not yet turned in their commitment forms, you can indicate your preference (Games versus Frontier Days) right on the form; if you've already turned in your form, please call me up with your choice. I'll correlate everyones' responses, and give you the results in the next newsletter. In addition, if you have other activities that would fit into the Frontier Days theme, I'd also appreciate hearing about them in your responses.

4) BSA Insurance - As we head into 1998, please remember to get the Mutual of Omaha BSA Insurance for your Troop when you recharter. Again, this is very inexpensive (about $1.70 per Scout and Leader for an entire year), and covers many expenses not covered by a Scout's family policy. Remember, we do NOT pay for extra "Council Insurance" (which, by the way, would be $3 per participant for the Projectoree, even though it would provide NO ADDITIONAL COVERAGE), so you really have to have this (and just to be paranoid, if we do go with the Frontier Days theme, I will probably make it mandatory.) This reminder is made now, so that you can discuss and budget for this expense if your Troop normally does not get insurance. I think we all already get it, but it doesn't hurt to check....

5) Patch and T-Shirt Designs - As always, we welcome any submissions for patch and T-Shirt designs. It's not too early to start, either, although it's a bit of a crap shoot since we haven't established a theme yet! Nonetheless, you are encouraged to encourage any budding artists in your Troop to go ahead and start developing some designs.

That's it for now. Expect the next newsletter in early December. Don't forget to return those commitment forms as soon as possible, or to call me with your theme selections. Questions, please email me.

Yours in Scouting....

Dr. Bob
Scoutmaster, Troop 111

Home.
12 January 1998