The merger activity between councils has tapered off recently. There seems to have been certain generational waves, i.e., ever 25 years or so a flurry of mergers. There was a big wave in the early 1970s, then another in the early to mid-1990s. Of late though there has not been much. But I have now heard of two possible mergers here in Michigan.

Since this past winter, Clinton Valley Council (Pontiac, MI) and Detroit Area Council have been having exploratory discussions. There was a merger attempt between these two councils about 8 years ago that was roundly rejected particularly by the Clinton Valley side but talks appear to be more amiable this time. Because of business activity and flows this consolidation makes sense and will probably happen.

The new one I heard about last night was the need to merge off Chief Okemos Council (Lansing, MI). They’ve been an underperforming council for a while most of it due, based upon my observation, from entrenched volunteers and wasteful spending on their camp. Michigan’s economy hasn’t helped but that just exposes structural weaknesses more quickly. There is building some pressure to merge them into Great Sauk Trail (Ann Arbor) but we are resisting. We’ve worked hard to make a high performing council. Fortunately some volunteer leaders from a preceeding council, Land O’Lakes, participated in merger discussions with Lansing fifteen years ago and remember the warning signs that lead them to approach Wolverine Council. Basically an amiable merger between Jackson and Ann Arbor happened but it has still taken nearly two decades to work through certain animosities. I hate to think what would happen in a contested merger. I’m sure some of my readers know.

The current speculation is that they will be folded into Flint. That council is coming back under new professional and volunteer leadership. But putting two weak councils together does not necessarily make for a strong one. The Area Director has to deal with a council that is operating under a conditional charter, Lansing, and so for his promotibility will try to make something happen. Its a shame that merging is the solution rather than doing basic “blocking and tackling” execution in delivering a high-quality, cost-effective Scouting program. My guess is Chief Okemos is gone within a year.

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I’ve been meaning to post this for a while. I’ve confirmed that Gary Gole of the Central Region and Kelly Williams, James Arriola, and Steve Gaines of the Western Region will be awarded the Silver Antelope at the upcoming BSA National Meeting. Congratulations to all! Some times collectors have taken a “bad rap” within Scouting. Some times there have been some bad experiences but the vast majority of collectors are passionate about their collecting but are also passionate and active in Scouting.

Gary goes back to the Dave Leubitz days, see earlier blogs, of Ohio/Region 4 collectors that actively traveled the country in pursuit of their hobby. But, Gary’s being recognized for his service within and outside of the Order of the Arrow on a Section and Area basis. He has served on National Jamboree staffs and other national and regional events.

Kelly came out of California and served as Lodge and Section advisor. He moved his business to Colorado, an early adopter of leaving California taxes and regulations to Californians. He served as Council President for Pike’s Peak Council and still serves on its Board as VP of Endowment. He serves on the Regional Commitee as an Area Vice President.

James was a former Section Chief and has served on the various OA committees. He is currently the Curator at the Las Vegas International Scouting Museum.

I don’t know much of Steve’s background but I worked with him at the 2006 NOAC where he was in charge of the Museum exhibit, one of the most popular programs at NOAC.

Again, congratulations to these men. I’ll have to get pictures up here for all. One nice thing I’m hearing is that the regional luncheons are being split over two days. Historically all four were on the same day. That made it hard to get to see one’s friends from different regions who were receiving awards. This will be a little bit easier but then again, BSA has schedule the meeting going into Memorial Day weekend and I can’t miss the Calumet Council TOR (see our calendar for time and location).

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My sharing of some rememberances, and patches, from Cahokia Mound Council and Cahokia Lodge 126 got Illinois collector and Blue Book Regional Editor Dave Pede in an e-mail discussion concerning the varieties and issues from this lodge.

Dave said:

I believe these images are adding some fuel to my fire about the existence of a distinct variety within the Gear shaped twill flaps.   I am attaching an image that you can post of 4 of my yellow twill 126 flaps.   Study them for a minute as one is unique (other than shades of yellow). That one being the same flap as Jim’s first flap. From discussions I have had I believe that Gear had two looms one smaller, possibly older or their first, and a second larger loom. The flaps made off of these two machines are identifiable different, even though they were probably run from the same punch patterns.  The differences are that the overall flap length is shorter by several millimeters and the border itself is narrower by a millimeter on the earlier flap.  My guess is that Gear started off with a particular loom and later upgraded to a newer better model. It does not necessarily mean that they did not use both machines together.  This is strictly my opinion but I believe that this helps my identify the smaller version flaps to be the earlier editions.   I have this same anomaly with the 115 Cascasquia flap as well.

I’ll have Destry chime in on this as well.  He’s from southern Illinois and came across a lot of Gear Mfg. patches. Gear was headquartered in St. Louis, MO. Actually we were just talking about this the other day as I was cataloging some of the consignment from the Morley-Topkis collection. There clearly are two length, actually may well be three, differences to Gear Mfg. flaps: 123mm, 126mm and 120mm.

I’ll see what Destry has to say. It may well be that one loom produced one size and another loom produced a different size – AT THE SAME time! If this is the case, there really is no basis for calling one before the other with respect to issuance.

I just got this note in from Jim:

…to my knowledge only a white, round OA patch was available in the beginning. I am not sure when the beginning was but as I remember .. I was tapped out in summer of 1955 .. because I was on the camp staff in 1956 and there on .. and I know whether it be 1955 or 1956 .. and I do not think 1956 because I believe I had the white patch for at least 1 year or more .. and received the white patch and then we got the flap patches just in time for Bloomington .. I still remember my mom fussing at me saying “Mom I have to get those patches switched before going to Bloomington. We all are going to wear the new patches.” Well it may not be an exact quote .. but pretty close.

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Earlier we blogged about the surfacing of some fake felt OA patches on eBay, specifically including the Illinois lodge 227 Wetassa. Their first issue patch, an R1, is one of the classic, toughest issues from Illinois. We know the buyers of the two that came up within two weeks of each other. The first buyer knew it was a fake but he had a real one and wanted the fake for his collection. He’s gotten it in and told us, besides being crude, that it is MUCH larger than the original. Cute. That will make telling the real and fake apart. For the second one, the buyer was not aware that it was a fake. We don’t know if he’s going through with the purchase or not.

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We’ve been helping a Scouter re-create his original merit badge sash. He recently shared some information about his Scouting history including a wonderful camp staff photo from Camp Sunnen of Cahokia Mound Council headquartered in Madison County, IL. Camp staff photos are fun but what really caught my eye was all of the staff being OA members. I’ve had numerous conversations with Paul Myers, Terry Grove and others that finding early, particularly non-NOAC/conclave, photos of OA members is not easy. Now, 1957 is not ‘early’ but its now 52 years ago as well.Here’s what Eagle Scout and Vigil Honor member James Turner Harris provided to us (click on the picture for a larger image):

Boy Scouts of America, Cahokia Mound Council, Madison Co., Ill. – Camp Sunnen, Shirley, Mo. (on Mo. Rte. # 8) between Postosi, Mo. and Steeleville, Mo. located on Sunnen Lake owned by Sunnen Products, St. Louis, Mo.Post By: Larry Ryan 1957 Staff Photo Back To TopIn the picture: Clay Breihan   Ed Rickert   Jim Vierling   Walt Schramm   Ony Pashea   Tim Bennett   Larry Ryan   Les Bickel   Bill Savage   Jim Harris   Frank Long   Dick Cassens   Webb Lewis   Lowell Schaefer   Tom Renz   Rich ColemanTop Row, left to right:Clay Breihan, Ed Rickert, Jim Vierling, Walt Schramm, Ony Pashea, Tom “Frenchie” Dubocheau, Don Davidson, Tim Bennett, Larry Ryan, Les Bickel Front Row, left to right: Bill Savage, Jim Harris, Frank Long, Dick Cassens, Webb Lewis, Lowell Schaefer, Tom Renz, Rich Coleman

Jim, a delegate to the 1956 National Order of the Arrow Conference, shared some pictures on the Cahokia 126 lodge delegation:

This is a photo of the group from the Cahokia Mound Council #126 that went to Bloomington, Ind. in 1956.

Left to right:

Jim Chism – Granite City, Ill.

Jim Harris – Granite City, Ill.

Mickey Strange – Madison, Ill.

Carl Temple – Granite City, Ill.

Ed Rickert – Granite City, Ill.

Dick Dawkins – Collinsville, Ill.

Rollin Henn – Granite City, Ill. (to my knowledge 1st Vigil in our conf.)

Tom Temple – Granite City, Ill.

Missing:

Ronney Loos – Marine, Ill.

Walt Schramm – Edwardsville, Ill. (OA Lodge Chief)

Notice that we are all wearing the flap OA patches. As I remember, we got them not too long before we went to Bloomington. We were probably the first scouts in #126 to wear the flap patches. Also notice, that on my uniform you see the Camp Sunnen patch. The scan of my OA flap patch is the same uniform as in this photo and still has the original flap patch and also the Camp Sunnen patch on it but with a few more years added to the count.

I did not notice originally when I sent the photo but the neckerchief I am wearing .. white .. is the one that I had E. Urner Goodman sign with an ink pen while I was at the conclave. On that neckerchief was my original Cahokia #126 round, white OA patch with the chief head on it. I wish I had the neckerchief of course but I wish I had at least a photo of it. Anyway it sort of dates the switch over from the round to the flap .. circa just before the 41st OA conclave as I remember.

I remember that Dr. E. Urner Goodman was there and I was lucky enough to see him. I remember that I had a white neckerchief with the “old” round, white Cahokia OA patch on it and I got him to sign it in ink .. no sharpies (lol) back in 1956. It ran a bit and I put it away for safe keeping but it must have disappeared when I was still living at home back in the early 60s. I just remember that he seemed old and was sort of small and thin .. I think.

I know we stayed on campus at Ind. U. The only other thing that I can remember is walking to the “downtown area” by the campus and of course we had out uniforms on .. and some locals wanted to start a fight until they realized they were vastly outnumbered. I was sort of in the background and after that I headed back to the campus area .. .Ha Ha. Not a great warrior.

Unfortunately that is about it. I do have a plastic note book or pad or some thing from there that I kept and a patch and maybe some thing else but I would have to look.

I have told Roger Schestereit, Floyd Jordan in Granite City .. that we were give 5 of the “flap patches” to trade at Bloomington. I know that the flap patch that I have is from Bloomington and 1956 because I made sure my mother sewed on “the new flap patch” and took off the “old round white patch.” I wanted to be “cool and hip” I guess.

The reason I bring that up is that I have never seen the “golden” flap patch that is supposed to be the first and so rare. I do not ever remember seeing anything but the “yellow” one that I have and seemed to be the more common one. I do know that I got flap patches as soon as they were available so I am not sure how or when or why the golden one came into being.

Addendum:

James sent us pictures of the flaps he received just prior to the the NOAC in 1956. Here are the images and his comments. Click on the images to get a larger size.

Roy,

This is the very first Cahokia #126 OA flap patch that I ever got. I wore this to the 41st Natl. OA Conclave in Bloomington, Ind. some time after 8/27/1956.

That date is the date of the photo showing me wearing the patch. At the time of the photo, I had attended Camp Sunnen as a camper in 1955 and I had just finished my first year as Asst. Sports Director for the camp in summer 1956.

jim

Roy,

I got this patch at the same time as the one that was in the photo that I just sent you on my summer uniform. With the summer uniform, it went to camp with me in 1957, 1958 and 1959 after that photo was taken and it got WASHED and not dry cleaned. I have no idea if mom ever dry cleaned this winter uniform but if she did clean it .. it would have been DRY CLEANED and not washed. I think you can tell by the condition of the patch. It is mint except it was sewed on to the uniform.

Like I said before, I was issued these two plus 5 to trade at Bloomington (after 8/27/1956) so I still have my TWO ORIGINAL FLAP PATCHES. I also have the original round white one but it is in my collection.

I hope I have helped out a bit in dating the patches. All I can say is that I know that the ones that I have sent in the photos were issued after summer camp in 1956 and before we went to the OA conclave and as I remember they are the original color patches and all of us who went to Bloomington got them and we should have been the first to receive them.

Hard to remember back 53 years ago though.

jim

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