4-2-2008 Pack 172 Planning Meeting
7:30-8:30pm St. Mark School Library

In Attendance: Rich Kovach, Bill Lobdell, Michele Appleby, Evelyn Lesko, Julie Kovach, Michael Matis, Alan Derosa, Brian Duca, Brian Kelly, Cameron LiDestri, Kathy Rainey

**March Pack Meeting: -hosted by Den 7. This was a very well organized meeting by the Poissons and Kevin Newcomb. Their guest speaker, Mr. Heiden, really captured our scouts attention with his presentation of the night skies. The pinewood derby pre weigh in went well, the registration card were partially filled out that Keith Ferrara had made which helped the day of the Derby. We only had one car that was over weight that had to be adjusted before Derby day. We also officially inducted the rest of our Den Chiefs into the Pack. These were Tommy Valus working with Den 8. Freddie Kaesman working with Den 9. Robbie Kimball working with Den 2.

**Pinewood Derby: -This event was chaired by Bill Lobdell. The registration table went well. Michele and Evelyn said that there was no back up at the table, after the scout filled out his form, he had his picture taken with the Polaroid camera. The film for this is rare and therefore cost the pack $143.50. We discussed the possibility of using a digital camera next year and having the printer on site, to give the scouts their picture the day of the Derby. The scouts moved into the racing area and went down the line at the table that Keith Ferrara had set up and therefore Brian Duca says it went very smoothly. Keith did help one scout trim down a car that was too wide to fit in the box and therefore would get hung up on the track. Keith also handled our Lucky Scout gifts and Pizza order from Vazzy’s. We ordered 25 pizzas and collected $188 for pizza sales, the pizza cost us just over $200, therefore we may have to adjust this next year to cover cost. The pizza arrived earlier than expected but we excepted delivery due to the large order. Vazzy’s threw in the paper products for the pizza at no cost. The scout items sold collected $125 and we have 4 sweatshirts left. Items were sold at a discount so that they would not have to be stored any longer. The snack table was a hit with our scouts. Next year we will consider a peanut free table or possibly having all snacks provided by the pack to ensure no peanut products. Our concern for the health and welfare of our scouts with peanut allergies came up. We did have a leader who noticed a scout with allergies coming up to the table and advised him to get his parent to make sure that he could have the snacks that he wanted. We want to be sure that our scouts are always safe.

After a couple of computer gliches at the beginning, causing our first race to be re run, the system went well. Bill says that next year he will adjust the reset option from 45 seconds between races to 30 seconds to help move the races along. We will continue to run 8 heats allowing each car to race each of the four tracks twice. Some lanes are faster than others and this will ensure that each racers is given a fair shot. Keith tried to figure a way to slow the cars down after they cross the finish line, we will look into doing this again next year. One race was re run when a car showed a time of 1 second, which was virtually impossible. There was a discrepancy in another race but the time was allowed because no one actually saw the finish line to verify whether or not the car finished that far ahead. Next year we will have a race official posted at the end of the track to monitor the finish line on each race. In the event of a discrepancy the Race Official will have a committee of three that will make the judgement call on how to handle it. We have to be sure that our scouting families realize that after their car has been entered the only people allowed to touch it will be the racing officials. If a car is damaged in the race it must race as is, if possible. A scout is not allowed to make repairs and then re enter it. We did have one car that on it’s first race lost a wheel, and the committee decided to let the wheel be put back on, only because it was the very first race of the day and was backed into by the wheels of another car at the end of the track and the race had to be re run anyway. The printouts of the “standing” were being printed as scouts left. Bill will bring them to the next Pack Meeting. Our top finishers were 1^st place Christian Loucks, 2^nd place Jacob Rainey and 3^rd place Daniel Witkowski. Bill Lobdell will forward all of the information to Julie and she will post it on the Pinewood Derby link on our web page.

**Roundtable: -March Roundtable was attended by Brian Duca. He said there was not much in the way of Cubscouting other than teaching them a few magic tricks, Most of the focus was on Wood Badge at this meeting. He forwarded the packet to Rich Kovach.

Brian Duca stated that he will attend the April Roundtable on April 8th and forward all pertinent information to Cubmaster Rich.

Brian Kelly stated that he will attend the May 13^th Roundtable and forward all pertinent information to Cubmaster Rich.

**Fishing Derby: - April 4/5^th. Kevin Newcomb was not in attendance tonight but had reserved space for overnight camping but we have not scouts camping over that we are aware of, which may be a good thing with them predicting a lot of rain this weekend. Kathy Rainey stated that she will be going for the day and will update us on how it goes.

**Archery Weekend: - April 11 - 13. Troop 72 Scoutmaster Randy DeBiase invited all of our Webelos 1 & 2 scouts to Archery Weekend. He does need a count by April 7^th. Bill Lobdell suggested that you let Randy know by Friday April 4^th so that he has time to shop. Their will be camping, archery, cooking, canoeing, knife safety and games. If a scout needs Outdoorsman he said he will work on that with them if you let him know in advance. All scouts need this toward their Arrow of Light. You will need to bring all of your own camping gear including tents, and you will need to bring food as well. Troop 72 will be providing lunch on Saturday. Every scout MUST have a parent/chaperone. To contact Randy phone 377-1519 or e-mail Jrdragster@yahoo.com or Jrdragster@sbcglobal.net

**April 23rd Pack Meeting (Dens 1 & 10 will host): -Friends of Scouting will be coming. The Pack will be donating $100 to Friends of Scouting as decided at our March PPM. Brian Duca has contacted TeddiJo Reynolds and their dens will be doing opening ceremony and a skit together. He has lined up a magician/clown, Mr. Bungles, to come for about 20 minutes to entertain our scouts. He stated that their two dens will be paying a small cost for this. There will be a coin relay game toward the end of our meeting, Michele Appleby said she will bring some of the BIC coins that she has extra of. Brian will need one leader from each den to help run the game.

Non-perishable food will be donated this month to Sterling House.

**Mystic Overnight April 25/26th: - Bill Lobdell chaired the Pack portion of this event for those who registered with him to reserve the 50 slots we had available. We actually have 47 attending. Bill Lobedell confirmed the roster he has with council. Due to the commute being on a Friday night, and taking into account people having to get out of work, it was decided not to caravan up. Each scouting family that reserved space should plan on arriving at Mystic by 6:45pm for the beginning of the program at 7pm. Both Cubmaster Rich and Assistant Cubmaster Bill will meet you there. If you have any questions or concerns please contact Bill Lobdell. Council sent each registered scout an itinerary for the weekend. If you did not receive this and are registered to go, please contact Bill Lobdell or Rich Kovach for this information.

**Family Campout – May 17/18^th Roosevelt Forest: - This event will be chaired by Kevin Newcomb. Kevin was not in attendance to update information on this event. We did discuss the need to make sure that we have all necessary equipment for this event. John Valus had borrowed the Pack canopy from us, Rich will get in touch with him to make sure that it has been returned for the campout. The camp “kitchen” is at Rich Kovach’s house, as are the two 5 gallon water jugs for washing up. We would like to run “stations” as in the past such as First Aid, Astronomy, Whittling Chip etc. where the scouts can work on activity badges etc. We will ask our Den Chiefs if they would be available to come and help out with the campout and stations. Tigers may attend for the day, but may not sleep over according to BSA rules. All other scouts may attend for the day and/ or sleep over. Kevin will have to send out a pack wide e-mail with additional details.

**Memorial Day Parade – May 26, 2008: - This event will be chaired by Julie Kovach. We will meet at Academy Hill at the old oak tree at 1:30pm. At 1:45pm we will walk down to Main St to get our position in the parade. The parade kicks off at 2:15pm. The ceremony at Academy Hill begins at 1pm for anyone wishing to attend. All scouts should be in Proper Class A Uniform. However if it is really hot please consider shorts rather than pants. All scouts should plan on bringing a water bottle that they can carry, we do not want our scouts to get dehydrated if it is hot and have a problem. However please keep in mind, we do not have access to bathrooms that day. Julie will look into the possibility of lanyard for standard size water bottles. Webelos 2 scouts will carry our flags and banner this year, rather than “switching out” throughout the parade, this leads to confusion and a messy looking line up. Julie has purchased flags that may be carried by our scouts in the parade. No candy can be given out, according to BSA rules. At the end of the parade we will meet at the gazebo for our annual Pack photo. Drinks and a small snack will be provided to all of our marching scouts and parents. Parents if they choose to, may march behind our group of scouts. If parents are not marching with us, they need to meet us immediately following our march at the gazebo at Paradise Green. Every den must have at least 1 leader OR parent familiar with their scouts in that den march, so that there will be no scout wandering off either during or after the parade. Any questions or concerns should be directed to Julie.

***June Cross-Over Pack Meeting: - June 18^th – Roosevelt Forest – Den 3 (Ferrara) and Den 9 (Lobdell) will be crossing over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. Rich Kovach has gotten numbers from both dens on how many Arrow of Light Awards are needed. Scoutmaster Connor of Troop 71 is making these for us. Rich will be in touch with Bill and Keith to discuss the actual ceremony that will be used as well as getting the bridge there for the cross over. Tiger dens will also cross over and be officially welcomed as Cub Scouts to the Pack. Scouting for food will be collected tonight as well.

**Cubmaster Minute: - Rich Kovach was approached by the manager of the McDonald’s at Stratford Square for the possibility of working with our Pack on a Cruise Night. This would benefit the Pack financially as a small fundraiser of sorts. McDonald’s would pick up a larger portion of business and make a financial donation to our Pack, whether a percentage of the sales or a flat number, this is still being worked out as well as getting permission from the owners of the Square. This would be advertised to different Car Cruise Clubs and would be called “Cruising with the Cubs”. This would be on a Friday or Saturday night the last weekend in May. Their would be no entry fee, trophies have been donated by Rich’s car club, and our DJ would probably be our Den Chief Richie, we would just have to line up speakers for outdoors. The location would be directly in front of the McDonald’s. We would simply ask that our scouting families bring their Cub Scout in Class A uniform and look at the antique cars and possibly patronize McDonald’s that evening. This is one of our Cubmaster’s hobbies, he owns the 1964 Stratford Police Car, and he would like to share this hobby with the scouts of our Pack. We can also teach them “Car Show Etiquette”: We look with our eyes not our hands, We do not lean over a car with food or drink, and We do not have any sharp objects near the car that could scratch the paint (such as zippers, strollers, toys etc). We also encourage them to talk to the owners of these cars and learn about the history of the car, and why the owner selected that particular car to restore.

Next parent planning meeting will be May 7th at 7:30. All Cub Scout Pack 172 parents are invited!

Meeting adjourned at 9:10pm

Respectfully submitted by Julie Kovach filling in for Pack Secretary Michele Shedlock.