So, when you think you’ve seen it all, you probably haven’t. Any out there want a bunch of Scout neckerchiefs to start the newest collecting craze - Boy Scout oven pads? Its going to be hot! (Ouch.)

Then Destry and I went to the Indy TOR this past weekend. Their hospitality was great as always (except for the 9″ of snow.) Several councils now have out 2010 patches. That got me asking around how many items do you think we’ll have for the 100th anniversary? By “items” I mean regular issue pieces - CSPs, JSPs, OA items. I’m figuring it will be up to 5,000. Could be more. And this is not counting camp and camporee items or Jamboree staff items. One could spend a lifetime just to collect this year. Also, I was hearing quotes for “rare, limited edition” varieties at huge prices. Councils and lodges could kill a good thing. If you know of some egregious abuses, please pass on the comment. Thanks.

Fake El Vol Can patch

Boy Scout camp El Volcan fake patch

The real El-Vol-Can 1950 patch - white flock printing on blue felt. (This is from my collection. The piece that’s really interesting, IMHO, is the envelope corner from Canal Zone Council from 1950.)

Real Boy Scout Camp El Volcan patch from 1950

Fake Lodge 391 Chiriqui flap

Fake OA Lodge 391 flap

The eulogy I gave on Friday is below. This covers more than Scouting but it helps, I believe, to give a flavor to his background. He’ll certainly be missed.

Dad came to Michigan to work on his PhD. His research involved proving what at the time was a recent theory by Watson and Crick that DNA was a double-helix. While sorting fruit-flies by the color of their eyes during the day he seemed to have developed a certain social reputation on campus at night. He set that aside as life intervened, my mom’s and then me, that lead to his being one of the first dozen or so members of the new Bendix Aerospace Systems Division here in Ann Arbor. He seemed to really enjoy nuclear physics and was attracted to it. The Division eventually grew to employing over 1,000 people.

It was a little different growing up in a home where your dad couldn’t talk about his work because it was classified. During most of his career he carried “top secret” clearance or higher. When he could talk about his work it was about mass spectrometers, forward looking infrared radar or the use of inverse Fourier transforms in interferometry. Not light stuff.

His work did provide us with some interesting experiences such as directly witnessing the Apollo 11 launch. Somewhere in dad’s stuff he was presented with one of the Pioneer Plaques designed by Carl Sagan for dad’s work on the Pioneer 10 spacecraft the first man-made item designed to leave our solar system. My brothers and I are proud to have a dad who designed an experiment placed on the moon.

Dad was a do-er. My brothers and I learned construction at dad’s side as he built our house. Whether it was facing the sandstone that reminded him of his Kansas home, pouring concrete, laying brick or planting hundreds of seedling pines obtained from the DNR. Often to the classical music of WJR’s Karl Haas Adventures in Good Music. As a side note, the first and only time dad spanked me was when I was 5. He came home and found me pushing his classical records across our cement floor. I don’t remember the spanking but I never pushed another record across the floor and I still enjoy classical music.

As he was building our home US-23 was being developed. The construction crew cleared a stand of walnut trees. Dad wanted to use some for stairs in the house. The crew would only sell him all of the trees. Since it was only $100 he took them all. Even though we had solid walnut stairs and landings, solid walnut book shelves, and did the library in solid walnut planks there was still walnut lumber left over when he sold the house 22 years later.

Tod remembers the story of the electrical inspector telling dad that dad’s grounding of every outlet was a waste of wire. It wasn’t. Dad was just 20 years ahead of the inspector and what is standard today. My dad did not back off of tasks even if they were big or hard so long as they were right.

Dad had a passion for sailing. We’re not sure how he got the passion in Kansas but he did. While in high school he built his first boat with a friend in the family’s stone barn. It went well until they realized it wouldn’t fit through the door. Somehow they did get it out and took it to Wichita to sail. When he came to Michigan he got a sailboat. He had to turn over his boat after I came along but he did design our in-ground garage to be large enough to be able to build a 44-foot boat and get it out.

My brothers and I remember his involvement in Scouting. Actually I got involved in Scouting through my friend Bruce. It wasn’t something my dad pushed on us. I found out he was an Eagle Scout long after I had joined. Jeff pointed out one of the special things about our dad was the time he would give to take us on camp-outs and trips. Scouts require at least two-deep adult leadership on outings but often it was hard to find enough dads to be able to take us on campouts. I remember my dad in his early 40’s ‘recruited’ my Uncle Tom and the two of them took the older Scouts of the troop on an 80 mile, week-long backpacking trip along the Appalachian Trail in the Smoky Mountains.

The next year the Scouts decided we wanted to do a week-long canoe trek along the Au Sable river. Rather than rent or buy canoes, dad researched how to make our own canoes. He located canoe plans from the Michigan Canoe Racing Association. He cut the templates of the optimized, hydrodynamic design. To make these canoes meant ripping hundreds of 20 foot strips of ¼” inch redwood that we then glued together. Somewhere in the Ann Arbor News archives is a picture of Bruce and me in our uniforms explaining to visitors at a Scout-o-rama how we made these canoes. People were fascinated and didn’t know that you could make your own canoes.

Dad instilled in us a sense of exploration. We traveled to most of the fifty states whether for work or pleasure. He developed in us an appreciation of wine with most dinners. I remember going with him to Dr. Meadow’s garage and the Vins de France group that would direct import wine for the club in order to save some money on great wine.

Basically as soon as Jeff and I could handle cards we were ‘recruited’ to be a foursome for bridge with my mom and dad. Often at family gatherings it was ‘Hi. How are you? Where are the cards?”

While talking with my aunts and uncles in the past few days I found out things about my dad I never knew. My aunt told me that after dad took the Naval Reserve exam my grandmother got a call from Washington. They told her that Dad had gotten the highest score ever and they were interested in what he was going to study in college.

He loved two women in his life. My mom who died at what I now realize is the incredibly young age of 52 and Flora. He told me that after having a great relationship with my mom he sought another and found it with Flora. Blending families sometimes isn’t easy but we did. I am thankful for the love and happiness that Flora brought to him these past twenty years.

Dad was a simple man and a complex man.

He was a child of the depression who taught his sons the value of thrift.

He was a modest man of the mind who loved life and a good apple pie. Actually any apple pie. And I recently found out his brother George’s humus and sister Mary’s pita chips.

He infected my brothers and me with optimism.

Today there is another angel in heaven. Hoist the sail. Open the wine and get out the cards.

New Scouting stamp

Frankly, now that the design is out my first reaction is - this is pathetic. Have we become so “politically correct” in this country that we can not salute the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America? The above stamp design does not give me the sense of recognition of this achievement. Here’s the link to the formal press release from the USPS.

There is nothing on the stamp that says we’re celebrating Scouting. There is nothing on the stamp that says we’re celebrating the 100th anniversary of the BSA. There’s nothing on the stamp that talks about the contributions of Scouting to this country. The BSA professional leadership is doing a ‘make nice’, IMHO, but if they’re satisfied with this, then I hope the Executive Board pulls them aside and replaces them. I can’t quite get to the point that this is a slap in the face but that’s the first thought that comes to mind. I’ll see if I can post what has been done in the past when we got some respect.

The first day of issue will be at the 2010 Jamboree. Forget about it.

Here’s what the Chief had to say:

BSA Must Read: National Executive Board News

I am writing to share some exciting news. Today, our National Executive Board took another significant step toward establishing a permanent home for future national jamborees and creating another premier outdoor adventure Scouting site. The board approved the purchase of more than 10,000 acres of some of the most spectacular land you’ve ever seen. It’s located in the New River Gorge area of West Virginia-an area that offers some of the best rock climbing, whitewater rafting, and mountain biking anywhere in the country. It is a perfect site for the full complement of activities we intend to offer at our new facility: extreme sports, leadership training, camping, high adventure-anything you can imagine doing in the great outdoors, and, of course, the national jamboree.

We still have a lot of work to do, but under Jack Furst’s tremendous leadership, we are well on our way toward going from vision to reality. As Jack said to board members, “We are only limited by our own creativity and ingenuity.” And as we know, with Jack at the helm, that means there are no limits to what we can accomplish through this effort.

Stay tuned for further details and a formal unveiling of our plans in November. Until then, my sincerest thanks to the team for its tireless efforts in bringing this exceptional opportunity to our Scouting family. It is, truly, one of the best investments we will make in serving Scouts for the next 100 years.

Dear Friends,

It is with great sadness that I write to let you know that our friend Tony
Lazewski has passed away. Tony was diagnosed with brain cancer last year and
underwent treatment. Unfortunately, it recurred this summer. He died
peacefully at Hospice with his family at his bedside.

Tony’s contribution to Scouting (despite having two daughters) was great. He
worked with a local troop for many years. He served as the Lodge Advisor for
Tichora Lodge for 8 years and was a key advisor when Chemokomen and Tichora
Lodges merged to form Takoda. He was, of course, a Silver Beaver recipient.

Tony was born in Antigo, Wisconsin, and grew up in Samoset Council and Tom
Kita Chara Lodge. He was an Eagle Scout and camp staffer at Camp Tesomas in
his youth. He attended 48 consecutive Fall Conferences for Tom Kita Chara
Lodge only missing his first one this year when he was too ill to travel. He
also loved the OA Section conclaves and attended enumerable of those
conferences.

Tony was an avid Scout historian and patch collector. He started collecting
patches in 1960. His knowledge of Scouting and Scout camps in Wisconsin was
unsurpassed. He was always willing to share his knowledge and was the OA
editor for the Scouting Collectors Quarterly. He researched and co-authored
“The First 90 Years”, the history of Four Lakes Council with myself and
others.

Although we all remember Tony as a Scouter and patch collector, his family
always came first. He was a terrific husband, father, and son. He leaves
behind his wife Barbara, daughters Lisa and Laura, and father Barnie.

His daughter sent out the information below about his funeral. If you can’t
attend I know that his family would enjoy hearing from you, and I have
included their address as well. I find myself in Europe at this sad time and
do not anticipate making it back in time for the funeral. Tony and I spent
countless hours together talking patches during the past decade and
especially during the last year. The personal loss that I feel is more than
I can express here. He was a close friend and I already miss him.

Kurt

The recent issue of Scouting reported that in 2008 Scouts earned 2.3 million merit badges. The top 10 were all Eagle required, no surprise there. The top one was First Aid (103,503) then Swimming (89,580) and Environmental Science (83,845). Think about how much better a country we are for having this many youth learning these valuable skills! Think how much better we would be if more were learning these skills. Where do the youth of our country get such opportunities? How many men got exposed to their eventual avocation through work on a merit badge? When do we open this up to females too? One of the strengths of this country is that we try to empower everyone. Scouting is part of the solution.