Troop 281 Cincinnati, OH

On Tuesday, the troop was joined by a large group of cub scouts from several different packs. The main presentation was given by Greg B. and Brett C. Greg’s presentation was about his community: Anderson Township. An interesting fact he shared was that Anderson is named after Richard Clough Anderson who was one of the first settlers in the area (this is also where we get the name of Clough Pike). He also told the troop about how the trustees are working to improve Beechmont Avenue’s image. Greg also wanted to remind everyone that Turpin is a BLUE RIBBON SCHOOL. The other part of the presentation was by Brett and it was about his community: the City of Cincinnati. Some facts he wanted to share with the group included: Music Hall was built in 1878, lots of buildings and some schools in Cincinnati are being renovated because they don’t have any air conditioning, and the fountain in Fountain Square was built by Tyler Davison. The game during the meeting last night was Knock Out and eve

The lock-in was held at Beechmont Racquet Club. It began at 9:00 pm Friday and ended at 6:00 am Saturday. During the entire event, the scouts had free reign of the entire complex. The first event was rock climbing, followed by swimming. Later at 2:00 am, there was a huge Dodge Ball tournament. A few scouts attempted to go to sleep and were later ambushed by the other scouts and pelted with dodge balls. Everyone loved the unlimited soda. Finally everyone had to leave around 6:00 am because The Racquet Club was opening again, but everyone had a good time anyway. (Special thanks to Ben H. for taking notes for me.) Jack Van Keuren, Historian

What does one get when combining two-to-four boxes full of fried chicken, a spread of all sorts of side dishes and deserts, lots of hungry scouts, and a bunch of awards and patches that need to go out and won’t transmit through the Internet no matter how hard people try? The answer: a Court of Honor. Three times each year (Winter, Spring, and Fall), the troop holds a large picnic-like meeting at the church or, in the Spring only, at Moundview Park, and if one wants to see a buffet table of food disappear in less than 30 minutes, the start of any Court of Honor is the place to be. At the latest Court of Honor, most of the usual was in place: large color guard with following grace to open the “Court;” rank advancement presented through the Trail to Eagle around the hall; and the Special Presentations - all usual traits of any Court of Honor. For this CoH, however, there had to be made a specific speech for Steven LaCount, who was awarded his Eagle Scout patch at the end of the Trail to E

With the holiday break over, a new year rung in, and the kids forced out of warm beds at a seemingly unnatural hour to go back to school, it was time for Troop 281 to resume the Tuesday meetings. It was an important meeting, as new Patrol Leaders had to be elected to replace the old ones at the upcoming Court of Honor. While the elections didn’t take that long, the soon-to-be Patrol Leaders were not announced until the end of the meeting. After the elections was the Skill session for that night. Led by John R., it was another 101 course in the basics of some field of knowledge needed by all Boy Scouts. This night it was Tree and Plant Identification. Quickly reviewing all the need-to-know aspects on identifying plant life in the wilderness, the review of natural skills was a good refresher course for older scouts and for younger scouts still working on the identification requirements for higher ranks. It served as a good explanation for just how to do it. Towards the end of the ski