October Activities

• The Troop has a Hamburger Booth at the Home Town Fair. We are looking for a lot of support from the Parents and Scouts to make this major fundraiser for the Troop a success. Sign-ups to work have been at the Scout meetings and the Court of Honor.
• We are scheduled for climbing at the LA Rock Gym on October 11 from 7 to 9 PM. The sign-up sheets are at the scout house. Rock Gym release forms are required to participate.
• The Fall Rock Climbing Hike will be October 20 to 22 at Joshua Tree. Hike prep will be on Tuesday October 16th. The sign-up sheets are at the scout house. Release forms signed by both parents are required to participate in this activity.
• The Greenbar has been moved to Tuesday October 30 and Tuesday November 27 at 6:45 PM prior to the hike preparation meetings. This was done to reduce the number of nights that the scout has to commit to Scouting, and to reduce scheduling conflicts for adults.
• The procedures for elections for Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) were finalized and SPL elections will be coming soon.

November Activities

• The Fall Bike Hike is scheduled for November 3 and 4 with the overnight at Coulter Group Camp at Chilao. In preparation, a special time for bike inspection and instruction is scheduled from 9 am to 12 noon at Hermosa Valley Park on Saturday, October 27.
• An Eagle Service Project is scheduled for November 17-18 at Camp Joan Mier near Malibu. Camp Joan Mier is a camp that serves the physically disabled.
• We are kicking off our re-registration process in October to be prepared for our Troop registration. Letters will be going out to the parents of the scouts. The Committee considered various ideas to encourage/discourage the scouts that "barely participate" in the Troop. The re-registration letter will attempt to deal with this issue.

Eagle Candidates

• The committee approved the Eagle Service project for November 17-18.
• An Eagle Board of Review was held. The committee passed the candidate. However, final sign-off by the Committee Chairman will be done when the candidate's Eagle Notebook is complete.

Discussions of Past Events

• Ten people completed the rock climbing instruction class. These people will help at the Rock Hike.
• The September 25 Fall Court of Honor to recognize scouts who have advanced since the last Court was deemed a success. The Court began promptly at 7:30 PM at the O'Donnell center at American Martyrs and lasted 70 minutes. The committee felt that the timing and content was very good.
• We had two Eagle Projects at the Sulphur Springs Campground in the Angeles National Forest on September 29th and 30th. The projects had strong support from the scouts and parents to staff both projects with about 40 people working each day.
• A mystery hike was held on September 22. It was a day hike format where small groups of scouts were blindfolded and driven to spots near Chilao with their ten essentials and a map (also adult supervision). The scouts had to use their orienteering and teamworking skills to find their way back to the lunch spot. The hike was a success, but did highlight that we need to give our scouts more opportunities to use their orienteering skills.

Long Term 2001/Backpacking Subcommittee

• A subcommittee has been formed to review the guidelines, requirements, qualifications and makeup of the Long Term Groups. This revives the review program that the Troop used in the past with a great deal of success. If you are interested in serving on this subcommittee please contact Mike Vahey.

Other Discussion Items

• Change of Scout Meeting. The meeting on Tuesday, October 9 will be a Green group meeting instead of hike prep as noted on the Troop calender. Patrol leaders are to call their patrols about this change.
• We discussed the commitments for Philmont in 2002. It appears that we will have a group of eight to twelve from our Troop. In addition, we were able to reciprocate for past favors to our friends in El Segundo who will use the other reservations we made for a second group of twelve.
• The new scout transition sub-committee is formulating plans to visit with the pack committees and second year webelo parents during the next three months.
• The committee discussed advancement guidelines and adopted the following: a board of review will not be held for a scout the same night as his scoutmaster conference, and sign-off of a requirement will not be done the same day that the requirement was taught.
• A Scoutmaster Conference Request form has been adopted for use by scouts seeking First Class and higher ranks. These will be made available at the scout house.
• Suggestions/ideas for improving the Troop are always welcomed and should be directed to the Committee Chairman or Asst. Committee Chairman.

The next Troop Committee Meeting will be Thursday, November 1, 2001, at the School Hall, American Martyrs School at 7:30 PM.

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