TROOP TRIBUNE
TROOP 464
JULY 2000

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SCOUTMASTER’S CORNER

  Happy Scouting to all. The big event to report is our most successful return from Camp Chawanakee. The camp was great and it appears that all had a good time. The weather couldn't have been better, the water in the lake was surprisingly warm, our camp site had an unbelievable view of the lake and surrounding mountains and our Scouts saw stars at night (along with the explanation of Brian Crane) that the boys never knew existed.

Of course nothing in life is perfect and in keeping in line with that, the food at camp was in great need of improvement. We had to run our new leader, Chris Balian, to town for an emergency feeding at the local restaurant. However, the trip ended well with a stopover at Home Town Buffet in Bakersfield to make up for the week.

I want to personally thank all the adult leaders who assisted me on this outing. Brian Crane, our official medic and problem solver was invaluable. Karen Osterheldt kept us in line administratively by keeping tabs on all the merit badges and rank advancements. Corky Straus not only made sure the boys kept our campsite in perfect condition, but kept the whole camp staff nice and confused. You see, they took him very, very seriously. Ada Aviles was the "Mom" of the camp which made some of our new boys more comfortable. Then there was our new adult leader, Chris Balian, who was dealing with the change of being an adult leader as opposed to being a Scout. He was both, which was good for the other Scouts. Thank you all for your help, you all made this camp a success.

As usual, our Troop came home with top Troop awards and spirit awards. What can I say, WE ARE TROOP 464.

Yours in Scouting: 
Alex Balian Scoutmaster

LIBRARY
If you no longer need any merit badge books, we could use them in the library. So, if you have any you would like to donate, please bring them to a meeting and give them to Marc Crane, our librarian.

CONSTANT: 369
This is a magic square. You are to get it so that each vertical, horizontal and the two main diagonal groups of numbers adds up to 369. You are to use the numbers 1-81.

Submitted by
Brian Ballew

UPCOMING MEETINGS
Regular Wednesday 7:30 meetings, now Class B uniforms (any Scout tee shirt).

InBox
Well, we made it back from summer camp! Hopefully everyone has adjusted back to real food without incident. The boys did a great job with their merit badges and advancement work; I have lots to do to prepare for our next Court of Honor. For the boys who did not complete the swimming merit badge at camp, please see me. We will try to set up a meeting with a merit badge counselor to finish it. Anyone who was working on Trail for First Class, please turn in your paperwork and books to Dave Ballew or me so we can update our records. Lastly, a special thank you to my "bee" group; I appreciate all your help.

Karen Osterheldt,
ASM/Advancement

INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIFE
 - by Dali Lama
1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R's: Respect for self, Respect for others and Responsibility for all of your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It's a great way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

Submitted by
John Luker, ASM

It started with a great bus ride (set up by Paul Marks) to the High Sierras where we found Camp Chawanakee, a camp full of tradition, loaded with regulars who have attended year after year, after year, after year and longer. Scoutmasters who attended as Scouts were in awe of our Troop…maybe I should say, they were reluctant (to say the least) to accept our Troop. We were called "The City Boys." We were brash, irreverent to the traditions of Chawanakee and intent on doing it "our way." After all, wasn't it Troop 464 who won TOP TROOP of Emerald Bay in 1999? Well, why not again?

The tradition of Chawanakee calls for a Thumb Stick Award to be presented each day to the campsite that is the cleanest, most squared away, and improved (by adding different things, i.e. raking around tents, decorating the area with twigs or rocks to form a greeting to the campsite, improving the camp fire area with rocks or whatever, etc.) during the daily inspections. The Thumb stick is to be "improved" daily by the winning Troop who are to carve (or write) their Troop number (or whatever they wish) or by adding some design to it. There are no set boundaries written as to what a Troop could do to the stick. The Thumb Stick is then returned to the Commissioner the next evening during the flag lowering ceremony so he can award it to another of the Troops. The inspections take place between breakfast and noon and they are conducted by a Camp Commissioner who is assigned four or five campsites. Troop 464 was represented by two Commissioners, Karen Osterheldt and Brian Crane. Our assigned Commissioner was an ex-Naval Aviator, a Chawanakee veteran named Troy, who still has an "air" (excuse the pun) about him of the military. Troy allowed no deviation from what was expected of the Troop or campsite.

On the second day Troop 464 was awarded the stick and from there the story unfolds: However, let's go back a step. On the first day, two of the younger boys, Vince and Monty, had found an old log (with a circumference the size of a telephone pole and a height of approximately three feet) floating in the lake. The rolled it into the campsite. It was very, very heavy and it had the remnants of a Tiki face. Chris B. and Brian B. enhanced the face with their knives and the Tiki Man was born. He was placed at the entrance of the campsite. Justin carved a sign that said "TIKI MAN" on a piece of wood from his crafts area. A walkie talkie was placed around the Tiki Man and when Troy entered the campsite that morning, Tiki Man (using the voice of Chris B.) said something like, "Tiki Man welcome Mighty Troy to Troop 464." Troy was surprised, amused, confused, and impressed enough to award us a 97 (an improvement over the first day's score of 94).

When we received the stick, it had been decorated by Troop 305 who only had eight boys to "dirty up" their campsite and who have attended Chawanakee for the past three years. They had received 100% on Monday and figured they were in line to win it all week.

Rather than decorate the Thumb Stick, we went out and bought a new stick, and colored it exactly the same as the original stick (thanks to Brian B. and Bryan M.). Bryan then shattered the duplicate stick into many pieces. The five largest pieces were placed into the ground to represent two arms for the Tiki Man and a Thumb Stick necklace. "THE THUMB STICK AWARD" was written, in twigs, in front of the Tiki Man and we all awaited Troy's arrival. When he walked into Mono (our campsite), Troy was greeted by the Tiki Man who said something like, "The Tiki Man thanks you for his Thumb Stick Award, it makes great decoration."

Since I (Corky) was assigned to oversee the cleaning of the campsite, I greeted Troy as he was welcomed by Tiki. "Oh Baby," as Brian Crane would say, Troy was dumbfounded. He turned pale as he realized that Troop 464 had smashed the Thumb Stick. He could not speak for a few seconds and when he did, he only muttered, "What did you do my Thumb Stick?" He looked as if he was going to pass out. He walked into camp but he kept looking over his shoulder at the remnants of the stick. I didn't see tears, but he looked as if he had lost his best friend. As he walked through the campsite I reminded him of the rules, that a Troop could do anything they wanted to the stick. I asked him many times, "You can't mark us down for this, can you?" He kept shaking his head and his voice became a whisper as he said, "No, I can't." At one point of the inspection, Troy asked me, "How can I award the stick to the next Troop?" I informed him that he should be happy because he had five campsites, and in case of tie, he could give a piece to each Troop. The boys had gone all out to clean and that day our Troop improved to 98%. As Troy departed, Tiki Man wished him a good day and he left, shoulders drooping, pale, unsure of his footing, and muttering to himself. He looked back and again counted the many pieces that his Thumb Stick was in as he disappeared down the road. That was 11:30 AM. By 1:30 PM, the entire camp was talking about the broken stick and we were visited by Rob, the head of the camp counselors, and second in command of the camp (not to mention other leaders from other Troops who, by mistake-on purpose, would enter and leave our campsite to see Tiki Man).

Alex and the other leaders spoke to Rob. Without giving anything away, Alex assured Rob to "Trust me" and asked him to walk out of our camp, "upset and perturbed" about the state of the Thumb Stick Award. Rob did not know what was going to happen but he did convey to Troy that all was lost and the stick was shattered into so many pieces he did not know how Troy would award it to another Troop that evening.

That evening, one by one, the commissioners received their sticks from the previous day's winners and awarded them to another Troop for decoration. When Troy was to announce his choice, in a meek, shaky voice, he called for the SPL from Troop 464 to come forward with the Thumb Stick. Kyle came forward, but without a stick. I should mention that, while 464 marched to evening flag services that day, the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Man Song (from Disneyland) was being sung and five Scouts were holding the remnants of the stick over their heads, taunting all of the other Troops with what they had done. (unbeknownst to the others, Brian B., Jared, Chris O. and Chris B. had gone ahead of the other Troops. They had stationed themselves, out of sight behind a large rock in the back of the assembly area and they had smuggled in the real stick in the container that normally housed our Troop flag.) Kyle, in a loud, defiant voice, asked for five leaders of the Troop to come forward with their sticks. The boys did so and Kyle handed Troy the remnants of "The Thumb Stick Award." Troy was devastated. He looked at the sticks and then back to Rob and, as he was about to say something, Kyle said something like, "Oh Mighty Tiki Man, with your great powers, speak."" By that time the five boys had spread out in front of the other Troops and each pulled out a walkie talkie. Chris B. spoke from behind the rock saying, "Tiki Man is happy to have won the Thumb Stick." Then Kyle pointed to the top of the rock and, as all of the Troops turned their heads to watch, Jared played, "Charge" on the bugle as Chris O. ran down the rock with the real stick over his head and handed it to Troy.

The audience went wild, Troy didn't know whether to laugh or cry, Rob broke into laughter as did everyone else, a little color came into Troy's cheeks and Troop 464 broke into the song, "We love you Troy…" (taken from "We love you Birdie" of Bye Bye Birdie).

After that, we were a hit. Each and every boy and leader from our Troop went out of their way to volunteer for cleaning chores and kitchen duty. During the last two inspections, Troy found, "WE LOVE YOU TROY" written in twigs at the entrance of the campsite. He was given a doughnut by Karen and Ada offered him milk. Some of the boys stood by their tents and saluted Troy, as they had completed their merit badge classes and they were able to be in camp during inspection. This brought 464 a 100% score for the last two inspections. Each time a Scout Leader saw the 464 patch on the arm of anyone, they commented on what a great coup it was.

Because each boy completed at least an hour of voluntary service, we became an Honor Troop. Troy awarded us a special Thumb Stick Award (never before awarded at Chawanakee). He called it the "Brown Nose Thumb Stick Award." But, that is not all. Troop 464 received the actual Thumb Stick Award to take home. This meant that we had the top campsite for the entire week. And, at the final camp fire, Troop 464 received from Camp Chawanakee the GOLDEN SPIRIT AWARD which is in the form of a golden arrow, making Troop 464 the TOP TROOP at summer camp for the second year in a row.

Corky Straus, ASM