Beavers' Moore sinks his teeth into completing ticket

Joel assists the Beavers gear up on Day 5
before departing for the outpost overnighter.

The Beavers are in the house with the completion of the patrol's first ticket by Joel Moore. As a troop committee chair for Troop 371, chartered by Lakeview Baptist Church, immediate past chair of the Saugahatchee District Committee, and current council vice president for programs on the Chattahoochee Council Executive Board, Joel's ticket items focused on his vision of leaving his unit, district and council better than he found it. "In this way," he said, "I can help not only current members of Scouting, but also future members." Those ticket items, which benefit his troop's communications and "duty to God" efforts, as well as users of the council's camping facilities, included:

• Goal 1: replace the troop's website, which was old and outdated, with a new, public website built on a modern content management system to enhance prospective-Scout recruitment, keep Scouts and their families updated on troop news and information, and help Scouts maintain their advancement records and troop involvement
• Goal 2: increase the troop's "duty to God" emphasis by supporting the appointment of one of Lakeview Baptist Church's associate pastors as the troop's chaplain through developing a job description and chaplain training specific to the needs and requirements of the troop, and assembling resources for the chaplain to use in meetings and on campouts
• Goal 3: develop a curriculum for the troop to use to teach appropriate religious emblems at the troop level, as well as recruit religious emblems instructors and offer an overview of the religious emblem program to Scouts in the troop
• Goal 4: develop a fire safety plan for users of both Camp Frank G. Lumpkin and Camp Pine Mountain based on the fire danger rating as published daily by the Georgia Forestry Commission, to be enforced by the camp ranger
• Goal 5: create a development and use plan for a primitive, back-country camping area at Camp Frank G. Lumpkin for consideration and approval by the Council Executive Board, and execution by the Council Camping Committee

One of Joel's ticket items, a fire safety plan for the council's
two camping facilities, includes signage on each property
and a website that updates daily with fire danger
ratings. Check out the website at http://fire.campfgl.com.

Out of his five ticket items, Joel noted it is the primitive camping area at Camp Lumpkin that was his most-rewarding project.

"I'm most excited about the creation of the primitive camping area at FGL," he said. "It will serve as an 'outpost' destination once our new waterfront is fully operational this coming spring. Hopefully this area will be used as a back-country site by hundreds of Scouts in the coming years."

"All of my tickets have room for me to continue 'working my ticket,'" Joel noted. On that list is continuing to maintain, and train others on maintaining, the troop's new website; continuing to mentor the troop's new chaplain; assisting in implementing the God & Church and God & Life curricula he created; developing a brochure for the camp fire safety plan; and promoting the camp's new primitive camping area.

Joel will be among the four reported beadings announced to date that will occur at the council's Jan. 3 Wood Badge Reunion. Other beadings include the Bear Patrol's James Ormsby, Eagle Patrol's Jeff Ayers, and the Buffalo Patrol's Terry Booton.