Troop News

There was a great deal of information passed down from both the District Round Table and the District Committee Meeting which will be affecting us in the next few months:

The District is taking recommendations for the District Award, the Silver Beaver, and Marketing Excellence.

At the time, the District Awards Banquet is scheduled for January 26 at Dawson Memorial. The Troop can get a fee of $100.00 for a table of 8 or if less, a fee of $15.00 per person.. The Order of the Arrow members will assist with meals as they did last year.

If you are a trained leader and would like to earn the green "Trained" knot to wear on the uniform, go to Woodbadgeman.com for details and pass in the required paperwork in the next few weeks. They will award these at the District Banquet....same for other earned knots which leaders may earn by serving in active positions in the Troop/Committee/District/Council.

The District will be pushing and planning for another District Service Project as they did last year by cleaning out the Oxmoor cemetary. It will be a direct conflict with the Troop as the day of the service project will be the same day as our annual planning conference (January 7) at the BPUMC.

March 10 has been designated as the District Merit Badge workshop day, where the Scout can earn two merit badges...more information is coming. We will likely attend other district merit badge days also as we have in the past, as they are announced.

Mr. Allison (woodbadgeman.com) is looking for Catholic Scouts to work on the Catholic Religious medal again this year. Mrs. Linda Griggs is starting to coordinate the religious medal for Methodists who will be assisted by Rev Reid Crotty of the BPUMC....these medals are for the Scout's lifetime and are worn as a rope on the uniform as a youth and a leader.

There is new Eagle Project workbook now in print that the District will use as a guideline for future Eagles. It will be passed out and talked to at the next District Round Table..Very important as it is the guidlines the candidate must work with in order to be approved by the Board.

Want to add some excitement and knowledge as well as help out the boys and the Troop? sign up with the Vulcan District Eagle Boards and sit as a member..it will broaden our base and experience for our Scouts as they approach their projects by giving you a broad band knowledge or the various projects and how to successfully complete them....several members of the Troop are member now and will talk you through it: Mr. Branin..Mrs Kidd...Mr. Smith..Dr. Smith...Mr. Jones..Doug Hardy...

The University of Scouting will be held on March 3, 2012 in Cullman High School again. There are a great deal of leader courses available that we all need to be certified with if not through the internet.

The Spring SMLT will be held on February 25th , 2012 at announce location and the OLS will be held on April 30th at Camp Sequoyah. If you are an active leader with us, and have not completed these two courses, you need to plan on it...the Troop will provide all your camping gear as usual.

A Council Wood Badge Course will be offered this Spring and Fall also: April 13-15 and September 27-29...Woodbadge is more in depth continuation of the SMLT and OLS and highly recommended for active leaders for work at the Troop level and with the Committee.

Interested in doing a 20 miler one cay back packing hike at Oak Mountain State Park? Bill Comer will be doing it with members of Troop 28 in fullfilling parts of the Hiking merit badge..He welcomes guests to hike along. They will start at 6:45 AM.....can hook you up with a number if interested.

Mr. Stacy Cole will be re-chartering the Troop very quickly beginning in December....the annual fee for a Scout is $30.00 and a leader $15.00...Each leader must have a certificate of Youth Protection, and signed off by Mrs Kidd, and be a documented /registered leader with the BSA. Please mail or give the fees to Mr. Cole before his deadline (TBA) in order be registered with the Troop this year (2012).

Because of our growing numbers, transportation for out trips is becoming more complex, rather than just hopping on the bus and going with the Frank Tank, Trailer, and a follow on car....in the future, when our trip numbers are high, we will probably have to rely on cars and SUVs to help out with the leaders and Venture Scouts (who normally ride the bus). In the future, as in Shiloh, the drivers will have the cost of fuel (normally part of the overall fee) subtracted from the overall fee and we will reimburse the driver carrying Troop passengers for the remainder of the cost of his /her fuel required for his vehicle for the trip.

The fees for the trips will probably be raised somewhat for non-drivers to compensate for fuel costs for all the vehicles we will have to consider taking. We will discuss this more in the next Committee meeting.

Hope to see your sons marching on Friday in the parade with us, and leaders as well if you have time off from work. Thanks for all your support and for encouraging attendance at all our activities.

YiS Dan s "Delivering the Promise"