Tuesday, August 06, 2002

Commissioner’s Corner
By Jeff Gill, Dist Commish

Round-up – when Fall is just around the corner (and it really is, folks), all Cubmasters and Pack Committee chairs know that it is time to double check arrangements for the membership campaign for the new school year. Or, for short, "Round-up!"

If you have never organized a Round-up before, or want to get a refresher in how to have a successful year-beginning sign-up night, come to Dixon, Francis, and Davis offices (behind the Sunoco at the Granville exit off Rt. 16) on Tuesday night, Aug. 13, at 6:30 pm. The training session will be 59 minutes long, and focus on techniques used and proven to get the forms filled out, the parents involved, and the program year off to a good start.

Come on by and share your ideas, ask for help, and support the spread of Scouting in Licking District. Right now, about 12% of age appropriate youth are involved in Scouting in Licking County, and we want to get that number up to 25% -- Fall Round-up is key to doing that.

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Commissioner’s Corner
By Jeff Gill, Dist Commish

Fall Program Kick-off is Tues., Aug. 20 at the Newark Public Library from 6 to 8:30 pm. Come by, get a drink and a nibble, and check out booths and displays from not only most of the program elements of the District, but also from many other groups around the county who offer programming for Scouts.

The District Committee enjoy offering this "jump start" to pack and troop planning and programming each August, and will have a number of planning guides, popcorn info, and almost every other useful thing a leader can think of available at this event. There is no "set" program, so drop by and work around the room at your own pace and schedule.

This event was moved due to some Newark Bicentennial activities, and we regret any inconvenience the change caused those who planned ahead.

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Commissioner’s Corner
By Jeff Gill, Dist Commish

Training is one of our key strengths as a Scouting program, and the first Roundtable in the new "program year" September 3 will include New Leader Essentials. Cub Leader and Boy Scout Leader Basics will be offered through the fall (see elsewhere in this e-gram), and we’ve tried to counterschedule with neighboring districts so if you can’t make Licking District training, you can try another district’s offered on an open weekend.

Training, is the watchword of any youth serving organization worth its salt, because trained leadership knows how to get off on the right foot, conducts program that the youth and the adults enjoy, and trained leaders are leaders that stay around. Recruiting, training, and retaining are what we need to do with adult volunteers in this busy, distracting age, and good training helps recruit and retain.

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Commissioner’s Corner
By Jeff Gill, Dist Commish

What mos
Hebron Crossroads 8-11
By Jeff Gill

In August the tree limbs sag with the weight of greenery, overgrown and beginning to fade around the edges. Many summer wildflowers have wilted and gone through the late summer heat, and even the evergreens are shedding their underlying needles now dried brown.
A hint of autumn comes with the now largely brown locust leaves; I’m told this is a mite that starts to burrow under the bark and slowly cuts off the fluid transport from roots to shoots, just slowly enough to not kill the trees before they go dormant along with the grass.
The sweet corn is fairly awful looking in many fields, but much of the rest of the crops are swelling and drooping, a hopeful hint of harvest just around the corner. But all of nature looks a bit overripe, a little gone to seed during these dog days.
What I look forward to about this time each year, as the Feast of the Assumption approaches, is the sudden, almost shocking explosion in the ditches and hedgerows along the roads of goldenrod and ironweed. The bright yellow-gold accents and contrasts with the deep, rich purples of the ironweed blossoms, visible almost with an internal light in early mornings and the steadily earlier evenings. Purple and gold are fitting colors for this time of year, as friends of the Lady Mary well know.

Some of the margin between fruitfulness and harvest is filled with the results of the Hartford Fair judging, and we should have some names and congratulations to share with you next week (remember we operate on about a week-plus leadtime!), but the centennial of 4-H gave us some good reading last week, and lots of great eating at the Fair.
We already have some ribbons coming back into Union Township from the Ohio State Fair, and if you know of any, give me a holler at disciple@voyager.net.

A new community institution got started with a bang last weekend, as Don and Laurie Kissack welcomed big crowds to their Hebron McDonalds’ grand opening and first day of business. The Sweet Adelines and the Land of Legend Barbershop Chorus (who’ll sing at Hebron Christian this Sunday, in fact) brought some tailor-made entertainment as many of us had shrimp and deviled eggs for the first and probably last time at a McDonalds.
Monday morning Mayor McCheese . . . I mean Mayor Mason was the first through the drive-up window at 5:30 am as the regular fare began to sell.
The breakfast burritos are still my favorite, and the coffee is good; my only disappointment was touring the back of the not-yet-opened store (with Ronald himself, who actually has shoes bigger than mine) and finding out that none of my 20 year old fast food skills are still valid. If you haven’t worked fast food lately, you don’t know fast food! This, like the soon to open Kroger’s, is a "store of the future," except the future is today.

Over in Luray is M.O.M.S. organic produce, which I’m going to have to stop by and try, but many folks have already said how good it is to see the barn there on the southwest corner of Rt. 37 and US 40 looking painted and productive. They have Amish goods and goodies, too.

New and old continue to jostle for position in the developing Hebron story. We learned a few weeks ago that Ohio Revised Code requires that all property sold by a municipality be done "at bid," which will be the next step for the old library and municipal buildings. Meanwhile, the Hebron Historical Society (first Mondays at 7:30 pm, generally in the Masonic Building) still looks for a reliable, affordable display space for their pictures and artifacts of Hebron’s rich history.
And Councilwoman Annelle Porter convened an informational building to help address concerns over the next few steps of the Dominion Homes development on the southeast side, especially about "the pond" and maintenance issues. Some answers were offered, others were promised, and we’ll hear more at the next council meeting. Drainage and the management of runoff are obviously issues that will continue to be key to everything from blacktopping old parking to permitting new construction. When you’ve got hills to the west and east, a lake uphill to your south, and cities to your north who don’t want your runoff, either, these will be key governmental issues in the future – and the future is now!

Next week, along with the fair results, we’ll have a story to tell about one of our village’s longest lasting institutions, the Order of the Eastern Star, and a quiz about the five ladies who’ve inspired OES members through the ages. And did you know that Eastern Star is open to both women and men? Tune in next week, and salute the goldenrod and ironweed as you drive past the Hebron Crossroads . . .