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Planning Calendar |
Calistoga Boy Scout Troop 18 |
Newsletter December 2008 | |
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Teddy Roosevelt helped to get the Scouting movement off to a rousing start in
the United States in 1910. Since then and in some 120 countries, nearly 300,000
Scouts have participated In the movement. The Rotary Club of Calistoga voted to
sponsor a local troop in 1933. The charter application was signed for Rotary on
October 23 of that year by R. Roy Liveira. Frank Moran was commissioned
Scoutmaster, with Russell Moran and Frank Zeek as assistants .. and
J.
P. Ratzell as the first Troop Committee Chairman assisted by five members.
The charter application committed Rotary to provide facilities for meetings of
the Troop, commission to a Scoutmaster and formation of a TROOP Committee, “to
endeavor to provide" opportunity for the Troop to attend summer camp, and to
conduct the Troop by BSA rules and regulations. Troop 18, Calistoga, BSA had its
first meeting with 26 Scouts on the original roster – all Scouts between 12 and
16 years of age.
The Early Years
The Troop roster held consistently between 20 and 40 Scouts from the beginning
through 1954. In the late 50’s, registration declined to as few as ten Scouts in
some years. The records are not clear but it is known that the Troop was
inactive and its registration abandoned for at least a year in the late 50’s or
early 60's. But then -
A charter application dated March 1963 reactivated Troop 18 with 30 Scouts, all
between the ages of 11 and 14 years of age.
Russ Archerd was a Troop 18 Leader during these years, and went on to be one of
the best remembered leaders of the Troop.
Russ was a biology teacher at Calistoga High School and had a great
interest in nature, hiking and teaching.
He served for many years as director of the Nature Department at Camp
Silverado, where he developed the Camp Naturalists Award.
He trained many boys and young men to appreciate nature and to teach that
love of nature to others. He
frequently took small groups of boys on back-pack trips, both through Scouting
and through his own interests. In
1977 Russ received the Wood Badge Aware and taught on the Wood Badge staff for
two years. He later became a
Commissioner in Scouting and volunteered in the Silverado Council in many
positions. In 1983 Russ was awarded
the Silver Beaver, the first person in Calistoga to receive that award.
Russ also was given the Napa District Merit Award.
When a Scout Hall was constructed in 1993, it was named after Russ
Archard.
But the Scoutmaster who reinvigorated Troop 18 in the '60's was Delbert "Del"
King, who was also a teacher, then counselor, then vice-principal at Calistoga
High School. Del took over as Scoutmaster at exactly the same time that I
joined Troop 18 - in August of 1964, just in time for the annual week at Camp
Silverado. With the exception of Del's son, Paul King, myself, and one other
younger boy named Randy Hoff, the rest of the Troop 18 campers that week were
older scouts who were heading off into high school and who had made it clear
that they did not plan on continuing with "boy scouting" after that.
So when we returned home, there were only Paul, myself, and maybe one or two
others who attended the first troop meeting of the new school year. Del
challenged us to get out and recruit, and we did, buttonholing everyone who
would listen. We managed to get enough kids interested to form 2-3 solid
patrols, and Paul and I were - by default - the patrol leaders (his was the Crow
Patrol; mine was the Panther Patrol). And the program stayed a going concern
throughout the remainder of the '60's.
Del was succeeded as Scoutmaster by Chuck Meros, an officer in the local branch
of the Bank of America, and then by Arvid Ingraham right as I was graduating
from high school and leaving town.
The program remained strong with
20 to 40 Scouts active every year from then through 1977.
In that year, the roster count dropped to 17, with activity falling
further through 1980.
1980- 1990
In the early 1980’s the Scout roster remained weak:
at some Troop meetings, as few as two or three boys were present.
The need for action to improve the program was clear and present.
Interested local adult leaders began a determined effort to develop a Cup
Scout program – and met with remarkable success.
By 1986, Calistoga’s Cub
Scout Pack 104 was graduating 12 or more boys each year to full Scout status in
Troop 18. By 1988, Troop
registration was back to about 25 boys and Troop activities were varied and
effective. In the Late 1980’s the resurgence of the Scout program in Calistoga
resulted from the considerable foresight of Rotarian Fred Constatine and the
equally considerable leadership and planning skills of Rotarian Jim Flamson.
Fred (while Troop Committee Chairman) saw the need for the Cup Scout
program to provide skilled new Scouts for Troop 18 – and acted on the need with
great success. Jim Flamson took
over a lackluster Troop, and as Scoutmaster led it through three of its best
years. Both Rotarians continued to
serve with Troop 18 for 20 years.
In 1989, Troop 18 took its first annual “Big Trip” to Medicine Lake and the Lava
Beds National Monument, in far Northern California.
Under the leadership and planning of Scoutmaster Jim Flamson, the trip
was a great success. As in decades
past, Troop 18 spent an outdoor week each year in the Sierra’s at Camp
Silverado, the local Council Boy Scout camp.
In the late 1980’s, the Rotary Club of Calistoga expanded its sponsorship to
include that of Cub Scout Pack 104, assuring a continued resource of trained Cup
Scouts for participation as Scouts in Troop 18.
1990’s
The annual Big Trips continued; which included:
1990 – Crater Lake National Park and St. Helens National Monument.
1991 – Mammoth Lakes and Devils’ Postpile National Monument.
1992 – Mt Lassen Volcanic National Park, and repeat of 1989 visits to Medicine
Lake and Lava Beds National
Monument.
1993 – Desolation Wilderness, Hawley Lake
50 miler, and Camp Nejedly Big Trip
1994 – Camp Noyo
1995 – Crooked Lakes, 50 miler
1997 – Southwest Tour
1998 – Lava Beds National Monument
1999 – Mono Creek – backpacking & fishing
2000 – Sierra’s, backpacking 50 miler
2001 – Lower Klamath River – Whitewater rafting
2004 – Burney Falls
2005 – Lava Beds, Crater Lake
2007 – Lower Klamath River – Whitewater rafting
In the 1980’s and 1990’s the Troop met at the Calistoga Volunteer Fire
Department. In 1993, Rotarian Mike
Kenny (the Napa Fairgrounds Manager) and past Rotarian along with contractor
Paul Coates, joined forces and during the construction of the Cropp Building at
the Napa Fairgrounds, in Calistoga, a Scout Hall was added to the back of the
building. The Troop was given a 15
year lease on the hall and had room to store equipment.
Cup Scout Pack 104 and Troop 18 received significant financial support for the
Rotary Club of Calistoga and the major share of their operating funds are earned
by internal fund raising efforts.
The program in Calistoga had served between 500 and 1000 boys to 1993.
In 1993, most Scouts (20 out of 30) were active building kayaks at the Calistoga
High School woodwork shop, under the leadership of Dave Alt. (Assistant
Scoutmaster) and Ivan Miller (Troop Committee)- both local high school teachers.
This was a major learning activity for the boys.
In 1996 the Troop went Snow Camping at Silver Lake, using snow shoes made in
Dave Alt’s woodshop. Since then this has
been a favorite activity of the Scouts.
They have traditionally camped on Presidents Day weekend each February,
in Tahoe, Loon Lake, and Lassen National Park.
In January 2006, Scoutmaster Doug Sterk, as part of a Woodbadge Project,
assembled a “Eagle Wall” to honor those Scouts from Troop 18 who achieved the
Highest Rank in Scouting; among those honored are;
Brian Alt
Doug Archerd
Mike Benson
Francis Brunetti
Chris Clair
Adam Coates
Bob Coates
Kevin Coates
JT Dunseth
David Enderlin
Tom Flamson
Ron Gill
Sheldon Heitz
Brent Inghram
Bob Johnson
Casey Johnson
Paul King
Jared Lang
Jeff Loomis
Pete Marciano
David Meros
Darren O’Brien
Sean O’Brien
Nicholas O’Neill
Brian Pope
Jack Rannells
Kevin Reynolds
David Segal
John Segal
Lee Spitler
Ian Sterk
David Tahja
Ken Thrift
Tim Thrift
John Volkman
Mark Wolleson
Robert Wurz