Boy Scouts of America - Troop 17

We’ve Moved

Hal Bates, Scoutmaster — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:55:53 +0000

Go to www.ScoutTroop17.org to view our updated website.

3rd Annual Troop 17 sailing trip/Regatta

Hal Bates, Scoutmaster — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:25:30 +0000

Ahoy Troop 17,

The 3rd Annual Troop 17 sailing trip/Regatta is rapidly approaching.

Please respond to me by September, 9^th so I can get a head count for food and boats. All DADS ARE WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We will be leaving the Scout Hut at 4PM Friday Sept. 11^th. We will travel to Oriental NC. We will be stopping at King’s in Kinston at about 6:30 for supper. We’ll travel on to our camp site, set up camp and be ready for Sat AM.

Sat AM we’ll go to Brantley’s for the breakfast buffet (GOOD EATS). We’ll come back to the marina get on our boats and begin the 3rd annual Troop 17 regatta.

We’ll sail/race till lunch. Stop raft up together , swim, play, explore, EAT LUNCH, and in general have lots of fun. We’ll then board our vessels and race the 2^nd leg of our regatta back to the marina.

Sat. evening we’ll have the buffet at Brantley’s and return to our camp for campfire and camping stuff.

Sunday morning, we’ll have breakfast (Continental most likely) pack up, have Devotions and be on our way back to Burlington. We should be back early afternoon but, if we’re having fun and want to explore it may be a little later in the afternoon.

As always SAFETY is our first concern. While on the water ALL scouts will be REQUIRED to wear PFDs (Life Jackets). This is NOT negotiable.

As always our next concern is MANNERS AND GOOD BEHAVIOR. All of the captains have generously donated their time and their boats so that we can have a great day on the water. We actually have all of our captains returning from last year-Captains Alexander, Cary, Gordon and King. Last year, All of our scouts behaved and performed in a manner that made me very proud to be a part of Troop 17. We get many compliments about how mannerly and well behaved Troop 17 is…..In fact we were invited back by Brantley’s and the Marina/ Campground.

We plan on continuing this tradition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am estimating the cost of the trip to be about $50.00 per person. I am going to negotiate group rates for our group when I know how many total people we will have.

WHAT TO BRING

-Swim Suit

-SUNSCREEN

-Sunglasses

-Hat

-Towel

-Flashlight

-Toiletries

-Change of clothes

-Rain gear

-Water Bottle

-Sleep System

-Tent

-Soft soled NON-MARKING shoes ie deck shoes or something similar. Crocs, white soled tennis shoes. Gum soled shoes etc.It is respectful to try to keep any shoe marks off

Of the boats.

DADS will be responsible for BUGSPRAY.

WE WILL HAVE SHOWERS AND BATHROOMS AVAILABLE

I will be at the scout meeting Tuesday September 8^th to answer any questions.

We are going to be there at a great time of the year. With any luck the weather will be perfect the bugs will be non existent.

This trip is very weather dependant. If the weather is going to be nasty WE WILL NOT GO!!!!! ( We’ll be checking Weather Bug)

“Gentlemen don’t sail to weather.”

We look forward to a great trip!

Again Please let me know if you are going by September, 9^th.

Fair winds and tight sails,

Rusty Huffines aka…Sinse’

Canoe Trip this Week

Hal Bates, Scoutmaster — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:45:56 +0000

So far here is the list for our scout trip:

Leaders:

Hal Bates

John Maynard

Richard Schiller

Bob Lewis

Scouts:

Tyler Schomburg

Jack Watt

Zeke Janicello

Clay Sommer

Christian Maynard

It’s going to be a great trip and if your scout is planning to join us, please let us know. Several boys have started football and if they would like to come up after practice, I have directions posted.

WE NEED TO KNOW WHO’S GOING BY THURDAY, SO WE CAN PLAN SUNDAY’S BREAKFAST.

We will be meeting at the Scout hut at 4:00 to load up supplies and head to Moore’s Springs Campground. We will be canoeing on the Dan River Saturday and will return on Sunday by lunch time.

Meals:

Friday Dinner – Sub sandwich

Saturday Breakfast – boys cook

Saturday lunch – river lunch – sandwich, cheese & crackers, etc – no refrigerator foods

Saturday dinner – foil pack

Sunday breakfast – leaders cook

Sunday lunch – we should be back in Burlington

Directions:

Moore’s Springs (Hanging Rock State Park)

87 N to Reidsville

65 W to Wentworth

65 W turns into 704 W to Madison

311 S to Walnut Cove

Dead ends take Right – 89 W to Danbury

Turn Left Hanging Rock State Park Road (Hospital on right)

Right – Moore’s Springs Road

Campground on Right

2568 Moore’s Springs Road

Westfield, NC

ALSO, THIS IS THE LAST WEEK WE ARE ACCEPTING MERITS PRIOR TO THE COURT-OF-HONOR.

Order of the Arrow Induction

Hal Bates, Scoutmaster — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:01:44 +0000

I have scheduled for the Order of the Arrow Induction Weekend of October 2-4 at the Cherokee Scout Camp. I will be happy to help organize travel to the camp on Friday night (from the Scout Hut) and will take as many as possible with me (may drive Beuford). For those that were tapped out this summer, please go ahead and register (if you haven’t as of yet) at: http://www.lodge70.org.

John Maynard

October Camping Trip Date Change

Hal Bates, Scoutmaster — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:59:06 +0000

The Alamance district of the Old North State Council is planning a Camp-O-Ree the weekend of October 9th and our own Richard Schiller is on the committee to make it a great weekend. The last time the Alamance district put together a Camp-O-Ree was close to three years ago and several of our boys have never participated in that type of event. To show support to the district, we have moved our JOTA (Jamboree on the Air) camping trip on 10/16 to the weekend of 10/09, the Camp-O-Ree weekend and will set up a radio for those boys completing radio merit badge.

Please mark your calendars accordingly and I have attached an updated camp calendar. (also posted on http://www.ScoutTroop17.org)

John has updated the Scribe Blog and uploaded a video from our Haw River Canoe Trip.

Hal Bates, Scoutmaster — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:17:54 +0000

To view the video and blog click on the following link and scroll down: http://scouttroop17.spaces.live.com/

Also, please share with your boys, our scribes always have a unique perspective of our trips.

On May 22 through May 24 Troop 17 went on a canoe trip down the Haw River. We arrived on Friday and set up our campsite. We were lucky to be able to use Troop 65’s scout hut right on the river. On Saturday, we canoed for about 5 hours and traveled about 6 miles down the Haw River. The weather was great for this trip but there were a ton of spiders, tics, and poison ivy. An exciting thing that happened on the trip was that a black king snake jumped into Mr. Moser’s boat. He just picked it up and threw it back in the water. On this trip we were fortunate to have 4 new troop members. All 4 of the new scouts got their scout badge. Before we left on Sunday, we cleaned up the camp site and had a church service by the water. This was a fun trip. I think that we should canoe more than once a year.

Chase Briggs

Troop 17 went on an awesome canoeing trip on May 22, 2009. We arrived there late afternoon and hung out. We were either fishing, or by the fire, or playing 4-square in troop’s 65 awesome scout hut.

Saturday morning everybody was up cooking breakfast. We were all ready to go canoeing. We all piled in the cars and headed upstream to where we were going to put the canoes in the water. After Mr. Bates told us how to use proper canoeing strokes, we were off. We paddled about a mile then we came upon a dam. We had to get out and walk around it. Then Matthew found a pet turtle the size of a quarter. A couple of hours later we arrived at an island and had lunch. We all took a swim too. A few miles down the river I saw something huge fly from my dad’s canoe ahead so I paddled up to see and it was a 6-foot-long black snake in his canoe that he had thrown out. Then we had a swim break for a while. While we were swimming Mr. Bates fell a sleep, so we untied his canoe and he drifted away. We arrived back at the campsite and loaded the canoes up. Then we hung out again. A lot of us went fishing and I pulled in a 7 or 8 pound bowflyin fish. As it got dark we all played 4-square!

Sunday morning we had an awesome breakfast and finished the morning with a good church service. I hope we can go camp there again!

Ellis Moser

On May 22nd, Troop 17 went to Saxapahaw to go on a canoeing trip. When we got there, there was a basketball goal, a firepit, and a four square court inside the scout hut. We also realized that the site was infested with ticks, grand daddy long legs, and poison ivy. Me, Zeke, and Stewart Powell helped teach the new Scouts beginner’s things so they could earn their scout badge. Next morning, we all ate breakfast by the fire and at about 11:00 we drove with our canoes tied to Beauford and drove to a little take off kind of thing for our canoes. We set off and canoed downstream until we came upon a dam. So we had to bring our canoes around an extrmeley narrow and shallow section of the river where we had to drag our canoes down ladders and back into the river. Soon the river got more rapidy and it became easier to paddle. We found that there were turtles all along the edges of the river. Matthew even found a very small yellow belly slider and kept it until lunch. When we got to a small little section we put up our canoes for a while and ate lunch. Some people went swimming, and alot found toads and frogs, because there was alot of them in the weeds. We finished and put up and had about half way to go until we got back to our camp. Up a little ways there was a black (which means harmless) snake that swam along the surface of the water and hopped into Mr. Moser’s canoe! He threw out it and everyone just had a laugh about it. At one point when we were very close to our campsite from the river, some people got out and swam in the very shallow water. Then when we got back to the site, everyone helped load up the canoes back onto Beauford. We walked to out camp (Beauford drove) and we cooked our delicous foil packs over the fire. We continued to play basketball, 4 square, and some people fished. Ellis even caught a fish that was about 5 pounds! The next morning we were cooked a delicous breakfast (sausage egg and cheeese casserole) by our scoutmasters. We attended a church service next to the river. Everyone packed up their tents and we soon left. When we got back to our scout hut, everyone helped pack up the things into the scout hut and we left to go home. Overall it was a really great trip and I hope to go on another canoeing trip!
Sam Collins

The canoeing trip at the Haw River was another fun, exciting, and successful scouting trip. It also helped us see how our new scouts would fare in the troop, which they all seemed to take a fair liking to it. We had a small problem with hammockers not having enough spots to swing on, due to the overpopulation of poison ivy. We had a fun time canoeing, and thankfully this time we were not in a drought, so this was much more relaxed. No one fell too far behind; no one went too far ahead. Best of all, there was minimal complaining. We had quite a few fishermen as well, around six. Only Ellis and I caught anything. I caught a 2-pound bass and a 1-pound crappie, and Ellis caught a monster prehistoric fish with nasty sharp teeth, at around 5 pounds. Also, I bet if you leaders had let me and Charlie take a canoe out to fish, we could have had a fish biscuit for everyone that Sunday morning. Though the breakfast was good anyway, mostly people ate only biscuits. So again, overall, this was a great and successful scouting trip, no doubt.

Mitchell Stadler

Eagle Scout Project. Jeremy Atkinson. May 30th.

Hal Bates, Scoutmaster — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:30:22 +0000

**Need Help to finish Eagle Scout Project**

Hello fellow Scout and parents,

I am planning to finish up my Eagle Scout Project at the parking lot of Meals & Wheels Center of FPC this /Saturday, May 30th/. Please meet by the Scout Hut to find us. If you could arrive by 9:30 A.M., I would greatly appreciate it. *FOOD WILL BE PROVIDED- GOOD FOOD!!!!* Also, remember to bring a shovel and gloves. I am finishing up the retaining wall by the parking spaces. My number is 336-222-0071; and my cell is 336-639-1822. Thank you so much for your help and if you have any questions do not hesitate to give me a call.

With great sincerity,

Jeremy Atkinson

Just a reminder: we will have breakfast and lunch there.

Haw River Canoe Trip Photos

Hal Bates, Scoutmaster — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:54:00 +0000

Hello folks! We had a great time! Wish you could have been there! Please click on the link http://scouttroop17.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0&sa=120985368 to see some of the fun we had.

I’m working on the video and will let you know when complete.

John Maynard

Eagle Project Service Hour Opportunities

Hal Bates, Scoutmaster — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:10:24 +0000

Both Jeremy Atkinson and Patrick Hogan will be working on their Eagle Projects this Saturday and need help from Troop 17.

________________________________________

Who: Jeremy Atkinson (Nathaniel’s older brother)

Where: Parking lot of Meals and Wheels center at 1st Presbyterian Church – meet at scout hut

When: Saturday, May 16th ( and following Saturday to block – actual tapering)

Time: 9:00 – 12:00

What to bring: Shovels and Gloves

Project work: Preparation for tapering way by parking spaces, Easy, fun work for ALL scouts.

________________________________________

Who: Patrick Hogan

Where: Walter Williams High School Senior High Parking lot

When: Saturday, May 16th Time: 9:00 – 12:00

What to bring: Shovels and Gloves

Project work: Landscaping area beside parking lot

Scout Hut is under construction!

Hal Bates, Scoutmaster — Mon, 04 May 2009 21:06:24 +0000

PLEASE PLAN TO ENTER THE SCOUT HUT THROUGH OUR BACK DOOR (under the basketball goal) for the next several weeks. The 1^st Presbyterian Church has approved an addition to the front of the building that will be used for meetings and additional storage for our canoes that are now stored in the hut.