| Notice: The Troop 139 home page and its associated web pages are no longer being maintained. This site was built privately by a former Scoutmaster, and only lasted until he moved. It is now archival, but is being left up because some people found some of the troop’s general interest web pages helpful. Do not assume the information is up to date! |
| TROOP 139 | |
| SPRING CREEK FIFTH WARD |
This is the home page for Troop 139, the finest bunch of Scouts you’re likely to find! You will discover below a section telling about us, with several internal links to our other Web pages; a calendar of upcoming events; a list of our Eagles; descriptions of epic adventures of yore; a thank you to Scoutmasters past; some useful external links; and information on how you can reach us.
 | ABOUT US |
Troop 139 focuses on having fun and on making ourselves better people. In a nutshell, this is what we’re all about.
We meet Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m. at the church, on time and in uniform. The Varsity and Venture groups and the Young Women meet then also. After joint opening exercises, we separate and our Senior Patrol Leader—Casey—conducts Antelope Patrol business, plans upcoming activities with the boys, reviews skills, and directs work on the activity of the day. We conclude with a Scoutmaster’s Minute and a prayer. Third Wednesdays are combined Young Men/Young Women activity nights, so there aren’t Scout-specific activities on those nights. The eleven year old Scouts—the Raccoon Patrol, led by their Patrol Leader (we hesitate to share their patrol yell here)—meet at their own times with their adult Scout leaders (Brother Roberts, assisted by Brother Christiansen). Among other things, the eleven year old Scouts work on the essential task of earning First Class Scout rank before they turn twelve, so they have an adequate foundation for Aaronic Priesthood Scouting.
In addition to meetings we try to have a monthly service project, a monthly outdoor activity, and at least four Courts of Honor a year.
The troop has some useful resources: good leaders and even better boys, who make it a point of honor to do their duty. We also have some physical resources, and information on resources boys should own. The one indispensable resource we depend on are active, aware parents who encourage their boys to come to meetings, service projects, campouts, and other activities, who monitor and support their sons in achieving rank advancement and in earning their Duty to God Award, and who pitch in directly with the troop when needed. We invite any interested adult to sign up as a registered merit badge counselor, which involves occasionally helping boys learn about an area in which you have expertise.
We provide a flag service within ward boundaries on seven holidays: President’s Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Pioneer Day, Labor Day, and Veteran’s Day. On these days, those who have paid $25.00 for the calendar year (or as much of it as is left) have a flag posted in their front lawn by the troop. This is a work project for the boys, and those Scouts who consistently participate can be credited with enough money to pay for most or all of Scout camp fees. Any leftover funds go directly to the troop to purchase equipment that the troop shares with other groups in the ward. Please support this effort.
Scouts, note that the First Class rank requirements have changed: the inflate-your-clothes-while-swimming requirement has been moved to the swimming merit badge, and so is no longer required for First Class rank. Also, the patrol menu planning requirement now reads “foods from the food pyramid” instead of “four basic food groups.” Note as well that there’s a new merit badge: fly fishing. The following existing merit badges had requirement revisions in 2002 or 2003: American business, backpacking, art, cinematography, coin collecting, cooking, dentistry, first aid, fishing, gardening, golf, home repairs, insect study, landscape architecture, law, leatherwork, medicine, metalwork, painting, pottery, public speaking, radio, rifle shooting, sculpture, swimming, traffic safety, wilderness survival, and wood carving; see Boy Scout Requirements 2003 for details.
Scouters from other troops sometimes find this site on the Web and use parts of it as a resource. Because in the spring of 2003 there was concern in some quarters that the new HIPAA medical records privacy rule might apply to the personal health and medical records forms that Scoutmasters keep on each Scout, I am including a link to my conclusion that HIPAA does not regulate troop records. LDS Scouters in particular might also be interested in some of the forms we use, links to which are located on our physical resources and on our rank advancement pages.
| CALENDAR |
| OUR EAGLES |
1997: Chris Nielson
1998: David White, Kevin White
1999: Brady Curtis
2000: Scott Hall
2001: Daniel Jenson, Tyler Nelson, Eric Hoffman, Travis White, Levi Page
| EPIC ADVENTURES OF YORE |
Matt is working on a troop history project, collecting stories from past years. Please share your tales!
The stories summarized here are told in greater detail on our troop stories page.
Trial By Ice. A nailbiter of a story, describing the exploits of valiant Scouts as they battle the blast of winter, and the cunning strategems of rival sled teams.
Is Veal On the Menu? A spellbinding account of cowboying at its finest, set at the Elberta Dairy welfare farm, where Scouts minding their own business pitching hay find themselves matching wits with a wily calf.
Does “Sink or Swim” Work On Solid Water? Like bold adventurers of old, Troop 139’s Scouts set themselves against the elements, try to master cross country skis in the dark, and somehow survive a desperate dash through snowy wilds to dinner.
Wizards of Technology. A straighforward summary of Scouts making the most of curious minds.
Be Prepared? In Hindsight, That Is A Good Idea. Better gear would have survived the hurricane, and bringing our winter coats would have kept us cozier, but a near constant infusion of Scout water almost kept the fire going enough to make up for it during our Scout Expo Dutch oven cooking competition.
Finger Carving, Wilderness Survival, and Other Fun. In other words, Scout camp.
There’s A Ferocious Super Chicken In the Trees! Timberline junior leader training.
Honoring the Honorable. Summer’s Court of Honor showcased our finest work, and thanked our behind the scenes heroines.
| THANK YOU TO SCOUTMASTERS PAST |
1996-2002: Rex Hale
| USEFUL EXTERNAL LINKS |
The Utah National Parks Council is our local BSA council, and its web site provides information on nearby Scout camps, descriptions of what various districts within the council are doing (we’re in the Hobble Creek District), and more.
The Boy Scouts of America National Council site provides information on Scouting from a national perspective.
The U.S. Scouting Service Project is a nonprofit, private effort to provide online resources to the Scouting community.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Spring Creek Fifth Ward, is our chartering organization.
The Tu-Cubin-Noonie Lodge is the local Order of the Arrow lodge.
I’ve hesitated to include this link here because of the political overtones, but the fact is that Scouts are under attack and the Scouting Legal Defense Fund provides a lot of useful information for people interesting in defending Scouting.
| HOW YOU CAN REACH US |
Call the Scoutmaster, Brother Wake, or the Assistant Scoutmaster, Brother Conover (phone numbers are in the ward directory).
You can use your own e-mail software to e-mail us at troop139@xmission.com.
If you cannot use e-mail software from your location, you could try this form.
Created by Paul Wake.
This is not an official site of the Church or the ward; it is maintained privately by the Scoutmaster.
Last updated August 10, 2003. This page and its associated pages will not be updated again, and are now archival.