Don't Know Much About St Patrick's Day ... Now You Do!

In the spirit of the holiday, National Geographic News rustled up other facts related to St. Patrick's Day festivities. Take heart—we skipped the blarney.

• St. Patrick's Day marks the Roman Catholic feast day for Ireland's patron saint, who died in the 5th century. St. Patrick (Patricius in Latin) was not born in Ireland, but in Britain.
• Irish brigands kidnapped St. Patrick at 16 and brought him to Ireland. He was sold as a slave in the county of Antrim and served in bondage for six years until he escaped to Gaul, in present-day France. He later returned to his parents' home in Britain, where he had a vision that he would preach to the Irish. After 14 years of study, Patrick returned to Ireland, where he built churches and spread the Christian faith for some 30 years.
• Many myths surround St. Patrick. One of the best known—and most inaccurate—is that Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland into the Irish Sea, where the serpents drowned. (Some still say that is why the sea is so rough.)
But snakes have never been native to the Emerald Isle. The serpents were likely a metaphor for druidic religions, which steadily disappeared from Ireland in the centuries after St. Patrick planted the seeds of Christianity on the island.
• In the United States, it's customary to wear green on St. Patrick's Day. But in Ireland the color was long considered to be unlucky, says Bridget Haggerty, author of The Traditional Irish Wedding and the Irish Culture and Customs Web site.
As Haggerty explains, Irish folklore holds that green is the favorite color of the Good People (the proper name for faeries). They are likely to steal people, especially children, who wear too much of the color.
• Colonial New York City hosted the first official St. Patrick's Day parade in 1762, when Irish immigrants in the British colonial army marched down city streets. In subsequent years Irish fraternal organizations also held processions to St. Patrick's Cathedral. The various groups merged sometime around 1850 to form a single, grand parade.
• Today New York's St. Patrick's Day parade is the longest running civilian parade in the world. This year nearly three million spectators are expected to watch the spectacle and some 150,000 participants plan to march.
• Dublin's St. Patrick's Day parade is little more than 75 years old. This year festival organizers will launch 15,000 pounds (7 metric tons) of fireworks to cap their celebration, which is expected to draw 400,000 spectators.

*By law, pubs in Ireland were closed on St. Patrick's Day, a national religious holiday, as recently as the 1970s.
• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 34 million United States residents claim Irish ancestry, or nearly ten times the entire population of Ireland today, which stands at 3.9 million. Among U.S. ethnic groups, the number of Irish-Americans in the U.S. is second only to the number of German-Americans.
• Since 1820, 4.8 million Irish have legally immigrated to the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The agency reports that only four countries—Germany, Italy, Mexico, and the United Kingdom—have sent more native-born residents to become naturalized U.S. citizens.
• Chicago is famous for dyeing the Chicago River green on St. Patrick's Day. The tradition began in 1962, when a pipe fitters union—with the permission of the mayor—poured a hundred pounds (45 kilograms) of green vegetable dye into the river. (On the job, the workers often use colored dyes to track illegal sewage dumping.) Today only 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of dye are used, enough to turn the river green for several hours.
According to the Friends of the Chicago River, a local environmental group, more people are likely to view the Chicago River on St. Patrick's Day than on any other day.
• Guinness stout, first brewed by Arthur Guinness in Dublin, Ireland, in 1759, has become synonymous with Ireland and Irish bars. According to the company's Web site, 1,883,200,000 (that's 1.9 billion) pints of Guinness are consumed around the world every year.
• Robert Louis Stevenson, the 19th-century Scottish author of Kidnapped, Treasure Island, and other novels, brought a store of Guinness with him during a trip to Samoa in the South Pacific, according to the Guinness Web site.
• Ireland is about 300 miles (480 kilometers) long and 200 miles (320 kilometers) wide. Those facts, along with other features, led Swedish geographer Ulf Erlingsson to recently conclude that the Atlantic Ocean island is the same one identified by ancient Greek philosopher Plato as Atlantis in his famous dialogues Timaeus and Critias.

May the friendships you make,

Be those which endure,

And all of your grey clouds

Be small ones for sure.

And trusting in Him

To Whom we all pray,

May a song fill your heart,

Every step of the way.

Say What????????

Communications Requirements

Do ONE of the following:
a. For one day, keep a log in which you describe your communication activities. Keep track of the time and different ways you spend communicating, such as talking person-to-person, listening to your teachers or the radio, watching television, reading books, and other print media, and communicating online. Discuss with your counselor what your log reveals about the importance of communication in your life. Think of ways to improve your communications skills.
b. For three days, keep a journal of your listening experiences. Identify one example of each of the following, and discuss with your counselor when you have listened to:
1. Obtain information
2. A persuasive argument
3. Appreciate or enjoy something
4. Understand someone's feelings
c. In a small-group setting, meet with other scouts or with friends. Have them share personal stories about significant events in their lives that affected them in some way. Take note of how each scout participates in the group discussion and how effective each one is in telling his story. Report what you have learned to your counselor about the differences you observed in effective communication.
d. List as many ways as you can think of to communicate with others (face-to-face, by telephone, letter, e-mail, fax). For each type of communication discuss with your counselor an instance when that method might not be appropriate or effective.

Do ONE of the following:
a. Think of a creative way to describe yourself, using, for example, a collage, short story or autobiography, drawing or series of photographs, or a song or skit. Using the aid you created, make a presentation to your counselor about yourself.
b. Choose a concept, product, or service in which you have great confidence. Build a sales plan based on its good points. Try to persuade the counselor to agree with, use, or buy your concept, product or service. After your sales talk, discuss with your counselor how persuasive you were.
Write a five-minute speech. Give it at a meeting of a group.
Interview someone you know fairly well, like, or respect because of his or her position, talent, career or life experiences. Listen actively to learn as much as you can about the person. Then prepare and deliver to your counselor an introduction of the person as though this person were to be a guest speaker, and include reasons why the audience would want to hear this person speak. Show how you would call to invite this person to speak.
Attend a public meeting (city council, school board, debate) approved by your counselor where several points of view are given on a single issue. Practice active listening skills and take careful notes of each point of view. Present an objective report that includes all points of view that were expressed, and share this with your counselor.
With your counselor's approval, develop a plan to teach a skill or inform someone about something. Prepare teaching aids for your plan. Carry out your plan. With your counselor, determine whether the person has learned what you intended.

Do ONE of the following:
a. Write to the editor of a magazine or your local newspaper to express your opinion or share information on any subject you choose. Send your message by fax, email or regular mail.
b. Create a Web page for your scout troop, school, or other organization. Include at least one article and one photograph or illustration, and one link to some other web page that would be helpful to someone who visits the web page you have created. It is not necessary to post your web page to the internet, but if you decide to do so, you must first share it with your parents and counselor and get their permission.
c. Use desktop publishing to produce a newsletter, brochure, flier or other printed material for your scout troop, class at school, or other group. Include at least one article and one photograph or illustration.
Plan a troop court of honor or campfire program. Have the patrol leaders' council approve it, then write the script and prepare the program. Serve as master of ceremonies.
Learn about opportunities in the field of communication. Choose one career in which you are interested and discuss with your counselor the major responsibilities of that position and the qualifications, education, and preparation it requires.

For Travis! From Mrs Tracye

To everyone who's lost someone they love

Long before it was their time

You feel like the days you had were not enough

When you said goodbye

And to all of the people with burdens and pains

Keeping you back from your life

You believe that there's nothing and there is no one

Who can make it right

There is hope for the helpless

Rest for the weary

Love for the broken heart

There is grace and forgiveness

Mercy and healing

He'll meet you wherever you are

Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus

With Sympathies

We extend our sympathies to Travis Sigh in the death of his father Robert

Visitation is Monday 5-8pm and Tuesday 9 am until hour of service at Riles Funeral Home

Services are at 10 am Tuesday at Cedar Hill Cemetery

Yeah We Had Some Troop Members At The......

Run Through History today!

Burhman Gates
Nancy Gates
Cameron Gates
Nathan Prewitt
Tracye Prewitt

if you were there and we didn't see you let me know so we can add you to the list!

Why You Go To School!

Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do! And whatever else you do, develop good judgment.

Proverbs 4:7 NLT

2009 Run Thru History ----- Lets Go Walkin Troop 638!

Saturday March 7, 2009
Vicksburg National Military Park
Vicksburg, Mississippi
10-K race starts at 8:30 a.m. at the park memorial arch
5-K race walk starts at 8:35 a.m. in front of the park visitor's center
Blue/Gray 1 Miler starts at 10:00 a.m. in front of the Battlefield Inn

Cost is:

Runners must register in person at race headquarters/Battlefield Inn/ beginning Friday March 6th from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. and again on Saturday March 7th from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 a.m. $27.00 each. The entry fee for the Blue/Gray 1 Miler is $14.00. T-shirt availability nor size is guaranteed to late entrants.

Age Groups & Awards:

Separate categories for men and women in both the 10-K run and 5-K race walk will include the following age groups: 14-under; 15-19; 20-24; 25-29; 30-34; 35-39; 40-44; 45-49; 50-54; 55-59; 60-64; 65-69; 70-74; 75-79; 80-84; 85-89; 90-94; 95-99; 100 & over. Awards will be given three deep in each age group. Overall awards will be given to the top three male and top three female finishers, as well as to the winners of the Masters (40-49), Grand Masters (50-59), and Senior Masters (60 & above) in both the 10-K run and 5-K race walk.
Separate categories for boys and girls in the Blue/Gray 1 Miler will include the following age groups: 0-5; 6-7; 8-9; 10-11; 12-13; 14-15. Awards will be given three deep in each age group. Overall awards will be given to the first male and first female finisher of the Blue/Gray 1 Miler.