The Ranch Adventure Grande Experience will be off and running in 2000 with expanded facilities and exciting programs. Thanks to the Order of the Arrow workers and Ordeal Candidates many improvements have been made to the RAGE program Headquarters area.  Improvements include; a new floor and roof for the tack building, complete remodeling of the Headquarters building, repairs to the Bunkhouse roof, and setting up a new staff quarters trailer. Our Ranching high adventure program strives to teach Scouts and Ventures the basics of horsemanship and ranch work in the atmosphere of a real working ranch setting.

Other programs for RAGE attendees include; Mountain Biking, Rappelling, Canoeing, and

Archeology. For More Information on the RAGE contact the Scout Service Center.

To Cub Scouts, the blue and gold banquet is the highlight of a challenging and memorable program year. It is the day they ceremonially receive their rank advancements and rededicate them- selves to the Cub Scout Promise. Your 2000 blue and gold banquet can very easily be made into a celebration—a celebration of accomplishment, a celebration of leaders, a celebration of Scouting!

The week of February 7 is BSA’s Anniversary Week, a national celebration of 90 years of Scouting in America. February Scouting events such as blue and gold banquets are perfect venues to reflect on BSA’s 90 years of service to communities through strong values and leadership.

February also kicks off the second phase of the BSA’s year-long 90th birthday celebration. This phase of the celebration, “Rekindle the Spirit,” provides an overarching theme for a blue and gold banquet by encouraging Scouting alumni to become active in the movement again.

For ideas, artwork, and program helps to aid you in making your blue and gold event a celebration of 90 years of strong values and leadership, contact LaRuth Jenkins at the council service center.

Youngest Readers Get 
Their Own 
Boys’ Life Edition

Did you know that Boys’ Life magazine encourages tenure in Scouting and rank advancement?

Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts who subscribe to Boys’ Life stay in Scouting more than two times as long as non - subscribers. In the same respect, 75 percent of Boys’ Life subscribers advance at least one rank annually, while only 33 percent of non - subscribers advance in rank at this rate.

The publishers of Boys’ Life magazine believe that literacy is crucial to the healthy development of a child. In an effort to improve literacy in our young members, Boys’ Life is expanding to include a third demographic edition for its youngest readers—Tiger Cubs and Cub Scouts through age 9. The new edition will include a poster insert bound into the regular Cub Scout demographic edition of Boys’ Life.

The poster insert is intended to further increase material suitable for the youngest Boys’ Life readers. The regular Cub Scout edition—without the poster insert—will still be sent to all Cub Scout subscribers age 10 and older, as well as all adult subscribers registered in the Cub Scout program.

For more information about Boys’ Life or to obtain a subscription, contact the council service center.

The Annual Council Auction is scheduled for Saturday, March 18th at the Western Iron Works facility located at Volney and East 6th Street in San Angelo. Once again items to be auctioned include; boats, sporting goods, auto accessories, tables, chairs, office furnishings, gift certificates, hardware, computers, televisions, etc… If you have anything of value which you would like to donate to the auction please contact the Scout Service Center at (915)655-7107 or (800)321-7107.

Scouting around for a different kind of summertime fun and challenge? Volunteer to serve on the staff of the 2001 National Scout Jamboree, July 23–August 1, 2001, at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia.

You will be one of more than 5,000 volunteers helping to operate the jamboree city of more than 30,000 Scouting residents. But running a city properly requires city planning, and that's where you come in. All services normally provided in a city must also be available at the jamboree. Electricians, plumbers, communications specialists, sanitation personnel, food service specialists, and engineers are all needed to keep this city humming.

But don't think the jamboree is all work and no play. Recreational opportunities abound for participants. Volunteers can help in action centers which offer nine programs for Scouts including bicycle motocross, rappelling, a challenge course, trap shooting, biathlon, buckskin games, pioneering, air rifle shooting, and archery. Remote centers need volunteers with skills in boating, canoeing, scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking, and fishing.

Help is also needed in jamboree exhibit and display areas including the Merit Badge Midway, Arts and Sciences Fair, Brownsea Island Camp, K2BSA Amateur Radio Station, disability awareness trail, and daily stage shows.

There's still time to submit an application, and there are many positions to choose from. Staff applications are available at the council service center. Register today!

The many projects undertaken at Camp Sol Mayer and Camp Fawcett each year require a lot in the way of materials and certain items. Following is a list of some of the items needed in order to complete current and planned projects;

   · Lumber – 2X4, 2X6, Siding(Wood)
   · Hardware – Nails, Hammers, Tools
   · Electrical – Wiring, Boxes, Switches
   · Metal – Roofing, Pipe
   · Fencing – Posts, Barbed
   · Wire, Fasteners
   · Furnishings – (for bunkhouses)
   · Sofas
   · Chairs
   · Beds
   · Farm Equipment
   · Mowers, plows, discs