Category Archives: Scoutmaster’s Page

More on water bottles plus a note about e-mail changes

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Awhile back, before the big push really started, I wrote some notes about possible contamination when using those very popular hard plastic bottles that Scouts love.  Rather than repeat everything I said, those notes are available on our Web site in the archives although other material may be contained in the notes as well.  One of those other notes concerns summer camp which might be of interest to the parents of New Scouts.

Some of the links embedded in the notes may be stale at this point.  But the one thing which has definitely changed is that Harvard has just completed a study which indicates that a considerable amount of the main culprit, bisphenol-A or BPA, passes into the human body even when only water is in the bottle and even when that water has been in the bottle for only a very short time.

http://www.troop160lexington.com/home/2007/10/31/a-scoutmaster-minute-on-plastic-water-bottles/

http://www.troop160lexington.com/home/2008/04/26/a-scoutmaster-minute-april-22-2008/

http://www.troop160lexington.com/home/2008/07/10/scoutmaster-minute-extra-july-2-2008/

So do two things.  If you buy a water bottle of any type, make sure it is BPA-free and then encourage your son to carry water in it instead of exotic beverages.  There are other things in plastic besides BPA which are probably not good for people and carrying around acidic beverages in plastic containers can’t be good in the long run.

Here are the links to the news story and to the press release from Harvard.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/health/19536287/detail.html

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2009-releases/bpa-chemical-plastics-leach-polycarbonate-drinking-bottles-humans.html

There is one note–while a #7 is an indication of polycarbonate material, it is not an indication that the bottle contains BPA.  Most BPA-free bottles contain a note of some sort to that effect, however.

E-mail Changes
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If you wish to make any e-mail changes, send a note to charles -at- hatvany -dot- com. Note that I have written the address so as to confuse those who would send us SPAM.  If you send a note, use the standard form of xxxx@yyy.com.

-Hank Manz

A Scoutmaster Minute 5/13/09

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A SCOUTMASTER MINUTE

OA Elections This Week
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As most Scouts know, there is an organization within Boy Scouts called the Order of the Arrow.  Elections will be conducted at the meeting this week by a team from the local OA lodge.  For those new to Scouting they will go over the history and aims of the organization before conducting the election.  To be eligible you must be First Class and you must have had during the past two years 15 nights of camping with five of those nights coming from Scout camp.  The five-night summer camp requirement says that you must have at least five such nights, but no more than five of those nights at summer camp will be counted in the 15-night total.  So you need to have gone on at least 10 other trips where you stayed at least one night.

We have a short list of those eligible generated from Troopmaster–Sam W., Ian D., and Matthew Sh.  But there is always the chance that the records are incomplete so if you think you are eligible, please e-mail me so I can re-check the records and verify your eligibility.  And be sure to come to the meeting!

Service Opportunities
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Both of these opportunities are open to both 119 and 160 Scouts.

1. The Great Spring Book Migration.  The announced time is 5-7 PM this Thursday.  Meet in the lower level near the Children’s Dept.  Pizza and soft drinks will be served.  I need at least one adult, by the way, because I will be missing for half an hour or so.  We usually do get several adults, but just in case, let me know.

2. Run-of-the-Mill 5K Race help

I have pasted in a note from the race co-director who sent it to me a few minutes ago as I was sitting down to write this e-mail.  The one catch is that I cannot be there since I will be in Western Mass with family.

This is a fundraiser for Estabrook School, by the way.

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Hi Hank,

My name is Gretchen Reisig and I am the Co-Director of this Sunday’s 2nd Annual Run of the Mill, the Estabrook 5K.  We are looking forward to a great day again this year, but find ourselves in a bit of a bind as we are short on volunteers.  Any chance you could round up a few of the boy scouts to help us out?

We need people to staff the race course and to work the finish line, helping the timers.  We ask that the volunteers be at Estabrook no later than 10:20 and they will be finished by noon.  There is a post party with lots of free food and all volunteers get a free t-shirt (as well as community service points).

I realize this is very short notice, but anyone you could send our way would be most appreciated.  If you are able to find some help, please have them contact us at estabrook5K@gmail.com or they can call me directly at 617-407-9317.

Thanks in advance for your help.

- Gretchen Reisig
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Last weekend’s campout and this week’s program

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Last weekend, a group of hardy Scouts and adults went camping.  The temperature was never higher than 12 degrees above zero and it dipped to 5 degrees above zero during the night.  They cemented some things they already knew and they learned some other things.

I wish all of you have been able to go on this trip, but since you didn’t, we are going to devote the program time this week to a moderated discussion of what was learned on this campout.  The lessons learned will be applied when we go on the Deep Freeze.

Come prepared to offer your own two cents.  And if you went on the trip, then be prepared to be on the panel.  If those who went on the trip could be at the meeting a few minutes early, it would give us a chance to go over what will be going on during the discussion.

We will also be folding tents and doing a few other housekeeping chores.

-Hank Manz

National Jamboree 2010

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I know–it is more than a year away, but planning for these events is a very lengthy affair which starts more than a year in advance.

If you are even thinking about attending the 100 Anniversary of Scouting Jamboree in 2010, then you don’t have a lot of time to make your intentions known.  Herewith word from Dave Osborn:

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Hello Hank,

Next week, the Jamboree committee will decide whether or not BMC will be sending 2 or 3 troops.  If it is two, they are basically full.  If there are additional Lexington Scouts (160 or 119) who might want to attend, they must sign up (on the Council web site) ASAP, but no later than 31 Jan.

Please pass the word as would hate for one of our scouts to be closed out because of inaction.

YIS

Dave Osborn

Scoutmaster Minute

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Citizenship In The Community

Yes, there is room in the class.  First meeting at 3:45 PM in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room on the second floor of the Town Office Building on Monday, January 12th.  That is the building to the left of Cary Memorial Hall as you look at it.  It is just past the Post Office.

Meeting Planning

Joey and Jeff led an impromptu brainstorming session at the last meeting.  I was impressed by the input.  Stay tuned for something different for the next meeting.

A Scout Is Helpful

I hyperextended my knee recently so it is a bit unstable and I can’t bend it fully.  It doesn’t stop me from walking, I can shovel snow, and I don’t limp, but it makes me just a little fearful of a fall which would certainly tear something and little slips can be painful.  That, plus the recently icy sidewalks, have reminded me of what it is like to have less than full mobility–how winter affects many of our neighbors and limits what they can do.

Today a bunch of us got together to shovel out the driveway of a person who couldn’t reasonably do the job all by themselves.  The way I felt last week when I was trying to dig out my driveway and just couldn’t move the heavy snow.  My neighbor came by and helped me with the heavy stuff so I then helped him with the lighter stuff.  We can all do something, but nobody can do everything.
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