Serving the Needs of the Community and Beyond since 1953

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Vol.9-No.03 P.O. Box 833, Loomis, CA 95650 U.S.A. Sept. 2014 Serving the Needs of the Community and Beyond since 1953

Loomis Lions ClubLoomis Lions ClubPresident Bob Christiansen

2 for regular meetings and 2 more for special events and seasonal celebrationsLOOMIS HAS 4 MEET SITES

“Some clubs must work out of restaurant backrooms, school classrooms, andeven in member homes,” said Lions Club President Bob Christiansen,

“while we Loomis Lions have four spacious halls to choose from.”

While Loomis does not have its ownbuilding like Higgins Diggins or WoodlandHost, it does have several large venuesalways available for its business and itscelebrations. Loomis members credit their meetingsites as natural attractions for personsseeking membership in community ser-vice organizations. The four club meeting sites picturedon the right are described below.

Loomis Veterans Memorial Halllocated on Horseshoe Bar Road hosts theclub’s regular meetings at 12:15 PM firstTuesday each month.

Secret Ravine Vineyard and Winerylocated on Brace Road in Loomis hoststhe club’s regular meetings at 12:15 PMthird Tuesday each month.

Blue Goose Event Center located onTaylor Road hosts the club’s installationof officers dinner and other programsduring the year.

The Flower Farm located at theintersections of Horseshoe Bar andAuburn Folsom Roads hosts the club’sannual Christmas dinner. The Loomis Lions club house is anyenclosure in which the club hangs itsbanner and displays its bell and gavel.These artifacts of the organization arealways present when they assembleinside the club’s four gathering sites.

A place to meet for every occasionCONTENTSNEWSLETTER

GOVERNOR ERV GON OFFICIAL LOOMIS VISIT

The role of a Lions District Governor isnot an easy one. The years that lead upto filling the position involve campaigningat some expense and much time for thetwo Vice governorships and then a short12 months actually in office. Thishallmark year as leader of the clubs,zones and regions is followed by yearsof expected involvement in special districtprojects, the annual conventions, andother requests made by future governors. DG Erv is well into his year in officewith personal visits to each and everyLions Club in his district. His task, whileon the road, to deliver a message fromthe International President, check thehealth of the clubs, and to encourage theclubs in their work with their communities. Loomis Club President Bob Christian-sen opened the meeting with song, saluteand prayer and invited the Governor’sparty to join the members at lunch. Wine provided by the Secret RavineVineyard and Winery was served by hosts

Vicky and Ron Morris - both members ofthe Loomis Lions Club. Lions Governor Erv’s official partyincluded Cabinet Secretary Cat Gon; DosRios Region Chair Dale Evans; andEureka Zone Chair Lorene Euerle. Erv and Cat Gon are members of theSacramento Embarcadero Lions Club.Dale Evans is a Lincoln Hills Lion andLorene Euerle is a member of NewcastleGolden Spike. The club expects their four guests willbe returning to Loomis many times duringthe tenure of District Governor Erv Gon.

Erv Bob Cat Dale LorenePhotographs courtesy Lion Henry Schneider

Governor delivered IP’s Message

P.1 Meet Sites

Governor’s Visit

Picnic Art PanelP.2 Guide Dogs

Philippine Mission

The InterviewP.3 UV Rays

The Interview - Cont’P.4 News Award

Wine Tour

Chamber Memorial

Eleven Projects

BirthdaysP.5 Panama Eyeglasses

Lions Ladder

Emergency Run

Questionable GumsP.6 Loomis History

Editor’s Desk

Troop 12 Reporting

Memorial Hall

Secret Ravine

Blue Goose

Flower Farm

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LIONS CLUBS SIGHT DOGS

Guide dogs may be the greatest contri-butions Lions Clubs may make to personswith vision impairment and blindness. Many among thecontributors think of thetrained eye dog as limitedto providing the visionimpaired guidance duringwalks and increasedsafety in their daily lives.While this assumption isindeed the basic role of eye dogs, thereis likely another aspect of their physicalpresence which is not often announced. The Sacramento Bee displayed anarticle on p.B1 dated 25 July in whichdogs with a mellow nature are paired withseveral children with cancer to determineif the dogs reduce the children’s stressduring difficult treatments. This study at U.C. Davis Compre-hensive Cancer Center might do well toexpand its important assessment toinclude several hundred guide dogowners. Their adjustments to sightimpairments may be as stressful anddifficult as those patients with cancer. The impact dogs have may indeed beidentical.

Diabetes is rampant and growing inTanzania, according to Lions magazine,July/Aug edition on page 19. Westernfoods are doing the damage there andthe local people are unaware why this isso. Without help, some locals will loseeyesight and maybe lose limbs. Changing minds and habits are hardto do but Tanzanian Lions members aredoing what they can with education,testing and medical assistance. This lack of awareness communitywas brought to the attention of severalDistrict 4-C5 members in 2000. Theyjoined a medical mission to SouthernPhilippines offering their help. The mission, led by former Millen-nium Lion Cora Sy, and joined by HigginsDiggins Lion Lloyd Portis and LoomisLion Jack Morris, provided a variety ofmedical services to below poverty levelvillagers in the jungle near Tacloban onthe Island of Leyte. Lions Lloyd and Jackbrought diabetes supplies and weretasked with glucose testing more than500 persons in the surrounding area. Lloyd Portis, now deceased, set uphis testing table in a long hallway of theopen air community health center. Heand Morris were trained to study the faces,

hands and eyes for undisclosed medicalissues among the patients as they waitedfor their blood sugar to be evaluated. A Spanish-speaking assistant askedthe questions and explained the answersfor the two Lions members. “When we came across someonewith a high meter reading or some otherproblem,” Lion Jack said, “we routed theperson to a side room and to a waitinglocal doctor.”

Morris said that most of their patientswere unaware of diabetes, had nevervisited a doctor, and were at the clinicbecause it was free and available. “We found the daily meals of rice keptthe blood sugar counts high for manyamong the hundreds we tested.”

LIONS MAGAZINE ARTICLE BRINGS MEMORIES OF MISSION

Did you ever hear about the TerracottaArmy in China? Seems as though acouple of farmers in China were diggingsome holes and lo and behold, theyunearthed an entire army of terracottasculptures depicting the army of Qui ShiHuang, the first Emperor of China. Thisamazing tourist attraction contains 8000Soldiers, 130 Chariots with 520 horsesand 150 Calvary horses. It wasdiscovered in 1974 and is the largestcollection of pottery figurines ever foundin China.

So what does this have to do withLoomis Lion Mike Lee? Well, I bet youdidn’t know that at one point in his career,his employer had him checking out thepossibility of constructing a display similarto this somewhere near Lincoln, in PlacerCounty.

Mike was born in Des Moines Iowain 1944. This was home for only 7 yearswhen in 1951 the family packed up andmoved to Duarte, California. It was herethat Mike attended elementary and highschool. He claims that high school wasa ball and he was very active in the bandand with sports. He started playing thetrumpet in the fifth grade and while in highschool played first chair for 4 years. The8-pound shot put was his sport and heheld the school record for distance formany years. He claims the record wouldprobably still stand if it weren’t for thoseillegal performance-enhancing drugs that

became the rage after he left school.Mike was very active in scouting and thisgave him some quality time with his dadwho just happened to be the scoutmaster.He was the troops official bugler and wasinducted into the Order of the Arrow.

Mike went to work in a localsupermarket in 1959 as a box boy.Following graduation from high school in1962, he wanted to be foot loose and freefor a while. He decided that Hawaii wasthe place to be and for the next 3 monthshe lived the life of surf bum. He enjoyedthe beach, the ocean and the good life.

All good things come to an end andwhen the money ran out he returned toCalifornia and his former job at the super-

market. Mike enrolled in Citrus Jr Collegein Azusa where he majored in UnitedStates History and Political Science. Therestless Mike Lee really was notinterested in obtaining a degree and,when just 12 units shy of graduation, hedropped out to work full time in thegrocery business. He was obviously goodat it because he quickly worked his wayup to a managerial position at thesupermarket.

Mike’s parents moved to Loomis in1965 and soon thereafter, Mike and hiswife decided to make the move also. Hefound work at the Lucky store in Auburnand a year later he was promoted as anassistant manager.

Owning his own business was alwaysa goal and in 1968 Mike bought the VillaMarket in downtown Loomis. He wasopen seven days a week, 365 days a year.He operated this store until 1973, whenhe decided to change it into adelicatessen. The town really didn’t haveany restaurants at the time and the VillaDeli soon became the go to place fortownspeople and students from the highschool. He was a big supporter of schoolactivities and the Villa Deli often filled withloyal Del Oro parents and students.

In 1972, Mike ran and was elected asthe youngest county supervisor inCalifornia. One of his first accomplish-

Community leader Mike Lee makes Lionism a way of life

Continued - LEE, P.3

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Ever wonder why Australian soldierswear those ‘Digger’ hats? Some mightsuggest its because they find them thesexiest hats in the world. The Australianinvolvement in the Gallipoli campaignagainst the Turks in 1915-16 displayedthese umbrella-like hats for the wholeworld to see.

The digger hat has been Austra-lian army headgear since 1885.

If you guessed these craniumcovers, also known as ‘Bush’ and ‘slouch’hats, are worn to protect the head andshoulders from the Australian sun, you’dbe mostly right. Australia has so muchsunshine and ultraviolet rays that theirmilitary found it imperative to createheadgear that protected face and ears atall times.

What’s the lesson to be learnedfrom the digger hat, the sunshine, andthe ultraviolet rays? Large brimmed hatsare better than small ones for warding off

skin cancer. That’s it! Ask most anyonewho has wrestled with skin cancer andexpect to find that victim had been ano-hat wearer or one who relied on smallbrimmed hats when out of doors.

Loomis Lion Russ Kelley, verymuch an outdoors man, agreed to re-spond to the making of this article. Hehas lost a small segment of one ear tocancer and experienced discolorationson his face in recent years. He said thathe caught all of the spots in time, hadthem treated and is cancer-free.

Lion Russ had a collection ofbaseball style hats and was seldom seenwithout them. His face and the hats werewell-known throughout the community.He was not overly concerned that hisface and ears were often exposed to theskin burning ultraviolet rays.

He also applied sun-blockerwhen in the open sunshine for long peri-ods.

During his doctor visits to dealwith the changes in his skin color hisphysician began freezing small areas hefelt could become cancerous. On one ofthese visits the doctor noticed a suspectspot on one of his ears and recommend-ed the spot be removed.

Russ wears wide brim hats now.

SUMMERTIME AND THE UV RAYS ARE OUT IN FULL FORCE - REACH FOR THE DIGGER HAT

ments was getting the County to takeover the ownership and maintenance ofthe Loomis Lion’s Park. The club nolonger needed the liability. The othermajor accomplishment was building anew library for the community. With theold library located next to his deli movedto its new location, he expanded hisbusiness and made pizza part of hismenu. The new space allowed him toexpend his business making pizzas. Aswith his previous ventures, his decisionto expand the business was successful.

In 1982 he sold the Villa Deli andopened a travel agency,“The Mike LeeTravel Agency.” Mike’s wife basically ranthis business while he did his thing on thePlacer County Board of Supervisors. Hispartner in this venture was none otherthan Loomis Lion Ed Horton.

Mike Lee was a popular and effectiveCounty Supervisor. He held this positionfor 16 years during which he helped guidethe county through a period of growth anddevelopment.

In 1987, he decided he had enoughof the political world and decided it wastime to change careers. With his know-ledge of what it took to get landdeveloped in Placer County; he took a jobconsulting for a major engineering firm. Itwas about this time that he acquired aclient based in Hong Kong. This firm wasinterested in developing land in theLincoln area and it was to become amajor commitment for him for more than2 decades.

With his partner, Don Riolo, Mike wasinstrumental in developing the TwelveBridges Golf Course. The golf coursewas the site of the LPGA Longs DrugChallenge for 8 years and it became themarketing tool for a development thateventually included a 5,000 acre MasterPlanned Community. This included thesale of a large portion of land to Del Webb

which, when developed, resulted in about10,000 new dwelling units and 150 acresof commercial property. The portion ofthe development that Mike was directlyresponsible for involved over 4,000dwelling units. To date, all of thecommercial acreage has been sold andabout 72 acres are still undeveloped. Heclaims the project they started 23 yearsago has been 85% completed.

Working for a client from Chinarequired a number of trips to Hong Kongand it was on one of these that Mike hadsome serious problems. On the longflight to China, Mike had the beginning ofMultiple Pulmonary Emboli or blood clotsin his legs. He was in misery when hearrived in China and was experiencing agreat deal of pain when walking. AChinese Physician, who felt he had apulled muscle, treated him. Mike saysthe physician “stuck him with a lot ofneedles,” using acupuncture treatmentsthat resulted in little relief. The paincontinued for the two weeks he was inChina.

It was on the flight home that “all hellbroke loose”. The condition worsenedand it soon became a life threateningissue. Fortunately there was a physicianon the plane who diagnosed the problemand was able to give him a sedative. Hehad to be taken off the plane on a gurneyand spent a week in a San Franciscohospital. So much for the pulled musclediagnosis and those long plane rides.

Mike married Pat in 1987 and theypurchased a home on 2 ½ acres of landin Loomis. When they are not riding theirbikes or hiking in the mountains, theirhorses and property maintenance keepsthem busy. Pat is in the fitness businessand is the one who interested Mike inhiking and cycling.

Their interest in fitness and healthactivities has led them to travel to

numerous exotic places around the worldincluding France, Hungary, Croatia, ItalyNova Scotia, Vietnam, Switzerland andCzechoslovakia . . . and Ophir.

Mike’s resume includes a great dealof community involvement and publicservice. In 2000 he was elected to thePlacer County Water Agency Board inwhich he continues to serve as a Director.He serves on the board for theSacramento Valley Teen Challenge andthe South Placer Heritage Foundation. An active member of the LoomisLions since 1969, he has served as ClubPresident and was a member of theBoard of Directors for a number of years.Even though the demands of hisbusinesses and county position restrictedhis attendance at many meetings, he hasnever missed taking part in fundraisingactivities and club events. For the club’sannual crab feeds, he has the distinctionof being the club’s head salad dressing,tartar sauce and cocktail sauce chef andserves on the backroom kitchen brew.This is a prestigious position that he hasheld for over 20 years. And, all jokingaside, his tasks are important to thesuccess of the club’s community events,which raise considerable amounts ofmoney for charitable purposes.

While the terracotta army neverbecame a reality for Placer County all hisother ventures have had positive results.And, whether it is selling groceries,cooking pizzas, planning travel, servingas a Placer County Supervisor orconsulting on development of land, heconsiders the needs of the community asa first priority.

Mike Lee has proven for more than45 years as a Lions member to be thekind of person service club’s seek in theirrecruiting.

LEE from P.2

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Loomis Lions Vicky and Ron Morrisopened their spacious winery off BraceRoad to a large number of wine enthus-iasts in early August. They were part ofthe ‘Grape Days of Summer’ programinvolving nearly 20 Placer County wineries. The Morris’ have their own wine clubin which they provide members withspecial notices, events and sales. Visitors to Secret Ravine Vineyardand Winery enjoyed a variety of winesalong with an appetizer from nearby LaFormaretta in Newcastle. The winery islocated near the intersection of Gold TrailWay and Brace Road in Loomis. The Secret Ravine facility doubles asa club house for the Loomis Lions Club.

WINE MASTER RON MORRISPROVIDES BARREL SAMPLES

Ron Morris

LIONS LISA AND VIC MARKEY WINCOVETED ‘BEST OF THE BEST’LOOMIS NEWSPAPER CITATION

Lions Lisa and Vic Markey, their realestate office open only a few months atits Taylor Road address, were surprisedand pleased with the recognition theyreceived in July.

“Vic has been involved in real estatefor about 40 years,” said wife and fellowrealtor Lisa. She received her real estatelicense in September 2013 and wasgreatly involved in the marketingdepartment of a major real estateassociation since 2003.

“We opened Realty World for theLoomis Basin on May 1, 2014,” Lisa toldthe Lions Club newsletter.

While their real estate business keepsthem busy showing properties andclosing sales, their limited free time is

devoted to community service work withthe Loomis Lions Club.

Lion Vic has been a club member for10 years and Lion Lisa joined in 2012.

The annual contest conducted by theLoomis News identifies businesses bytheir popularity. Readers of the localnewspaper cast their votes for theirfavorite business within a category andthe business with greatest number isnamed the year’s ‘Best of the Best’.

Lions applaud Realty World Win

September

During each meeting the club presidentreviews the birthday column on themember mail list to see if free luncheshave been won. Months have passedsince a winner was named.

Lion Dentist David Mercer born 14September and Lion Educator PaulJohnson on 27 September missed freelunches by several days.

No Free Birthday Lunches

For years the Loomis Basin Chamber ofCommerce operated without a permanenthome for its business. All that changedin 20- - when the Doupnik family, led byLion member Gary Doupnik, presentedthe Chamber with its new headquartersbuilding in the center of town. Lion Gary, one of the town’s mostprominent businessmen and a memberof the chamber of commerce, died in April2014. In his memory, and with theirthanks to the entire Doupnik family, thechamber’s membership erected amemorial at the corner of Doc BarnesDrive and Horseshoe Bar Road.

High Hand Nursery was alsorecognized on the stone marker for itslandscaping of the chamber’s grounds.

CHAMBER REMEMBERS LION GARY DOUPNIK

Lions have a wide choice of specialprojects to choose from when they decideto extend ourselves beyond theirimmediate communities. A few of themare described on pages 121 thru 142 ofthe 2014-15 directory. They are brieflynoted here: 1. City of Hope - Home of com-passionate patient care, innovativescience and deep research regardingcancer. 2. El Dorado Center for the VisuallyImpaired - Designed mainly for adultsadjusting to vision loss by providinginstruction, resources and lifestyle. 3. Folsom Project for the VisuallyImpaired - Organized to provide qualityservices for the blind, visually impaired,as well as hearing and learning disabled. 4. Wilderness Camp - Designed fordeaf children, this Lions camp offers greatprograms for church, Scouts, and othergroups. 5. Student Speaker Foundation -Program helps students develop con-

fidence in their speaking and com-munication skills. 6. Lions Education Foundation - Hasthe mission to encourage positive youthdevelopment in a changing world. 7. International Youth Exchange -Helps students travel abroad and hostsstudents visiting District 4-c5. 8. Canine Companions for Inde-pendence - Provides financial and servicesupport for persons with vision, hearingand other disabilities. 9. Society for the Blind - Among itsservices, it provides life and job skillstraining, and access to tools to maintainindependence. 10. Volunteers of Vacaville - Teamedwith correctional personnel, it transcribesaudio and printed material to braille, doesbrailler equipment repair and providesfree eyeglasses. 11. White Cane Day - Everyday canbe a Lions White Cane Day. The monthof October is when most Lions Clubspromote car and pedestrian safety.

LOOKING FOR A GOOD PROJECT? PICK ONE OF THESE ELEVENLoomis works with Folsom Project, Wilderness Camp and does White Cane Day

Birthdays

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LOOMIS LIONS SEND EYEGLASSES TO PANAMAThe Loomis Lions Club has contributed to vision clinics inCentral America before. The first was to Lions Clubs servingcommunities near an entrance to the Panama Canal. Thesecond was to a Lions Club in Guatemala’s interior. The eyeglass supplies for these humanitarian efforts camefrom the Folsom Project for the Visually Impaired. The earliertwo deliveries were carried in the cruise luggage of Lions Fredaand Jack Morris. The third request for eyeglass assistance came from formerLion member Antonio Singh; Antonio had worked with theLoomis Club on the first request to Panama and had been amember of Panama’s Lions greeting party at Colón in 20 - -. This month’s delivery was carried in the aircraft luggage ofMs Laura Sisk on her August return to Panama during heruniversity Spring break. Folsom Project CEO Don Ring located a small number ofchildren’s eyeglasses to include with his box of more than 200for the UPS delivery to Sisk’s residence.

Two villages near the Panama Canal were targetedfor vision clinics - - their below poverty level status

and vision needs dictated foreign help required

Readers of this newslettermay be unaware of the basicLions Club’s Internationalchain of communication. Theflow chart below is intended toshow where the club fitsbetween the club and itsInternational headquarters.

Lions Clubs InternationalPresident

IMD-4 Council of Governors

Council ChairI

District 4-C5Governor

IDos Rios Region

ChairpersonI

Washoe ZoneChairperson

ILoomis Club

President

Largest Service Club hasvery few Rungs in itsCommunication Ladder

Many communicationsemanating at the club level arebrought directly to the districtgovernor and do not involvethe zone and region chairs. On rare occasion a clubpresident or member mayhave a suggestion for thebetterment of Lions effortsaround the world and can sendan email bearing the Lion’ssuggestion directly to theInternational president. Composed of generousvolunteers serving only for thecommon good, the protocol ofchain of communication hasnever been a rigid process.

Many health specialists are saying that two minutes of teethbrushing in the morning and two minutes in the evening couldimpact lung health. Healthy teeth and gums could mean thedifference between happy lungs and lungs that don’t lookgood on the x-ray machine.

The word is out thatgood dental hygiene reduc-es the possibility of gumdisease. Bloody, dark gumsaren’t pretty and should notreach this dangerous state.Brushing regularly and floss-ing at every opportunitykeeps the gum pinkish,saves the teeth and mayeven keep serious lung dis-eases from happening.

“What?” Asked Lion Marvin Applebong at last Tues-day’s meeting. He never heard that his lingering periodontaldisease might be connected to his coughing?

Smoking remains the leading cause of serious respira-tory diseases, such as lung cancer and chronic obstructivepulmonary disease (COPD). A recent study speculates thatgum disease is another direct cause of COPD. Researcherscompared two hospitalized groups, one of the groups withCOPD, and found the COPD patients had significantly higherrates of gingivitis and periodontal disease. The researcherscould not determine exactly why this was so. They postulatedit was the bacteria from dental plaque inhaled into the lungsthat triggered respiratory infections in the patients with COPD.

Lion Marvin coughed a couple times during the meet-ing and the members seated near him slid their chairs to givehim distance. It wasn’t the coughing that moved them awayas much as it was the sight of his dark gums and the missingfront tooth.

The basic rule promoted by RealAge.com is brushthe teeth for two minutes twice a day (flossing daily) for goodgum and lung health.

DARK GUMS AND DIFFICULT BREATHING

The editor has once again indulged in satire with this article

FALLING TREE LIMBENDS LOOMIS LION’S

EMERGENCY RUNLoomis Lions, Vicky and RonMorris, owners of SecretRavine Vineyard and Winery,ended their July vacation inOregon when Ron was injuredduring a rain storm betweenhis campsite and a store. “I was returning with abottle of Scotch in hand anddidn’t see the limb fall fromabove.” Lion Ron said he losthis glasses and was bleedingheavily and phoned his wifeLion Vicky for help. Vicky found his locationand drove Ron to a nearbyhospital where he receivednumerous stitches. Ron spoke of his mis-fortune during the club’smeeting on 5 August. Heasked if members wanted toknow more about his injury. “What happened to thebottle of Scotch?” A whineyvoice in back asked.

Ron Morris

Marvin Applebong

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Loomis HistoryBetween 1869 and Today in 2014

I found the following items important todiscuss here. The first one has to do withdiabetes and the recent arguments oversodas, nutrients and sugar spikes.

Regarding Apples and SodasAppearing in the Sacramento Bee on

23 July, p.A13, was this piece comparingapples with sodas. It was found thatsodas have roughly three times moresugar than apples, and since sodas haveno nutrients to be digested, they areabsorbed quickly. This spikes insulin andfattens the liver. Apples contain fiber andare absorbed more slowly allowing liversopportunity to work. The article warned that the accel-erated processing of sodas means fattyliver increases insulin resistance andinflammation. This in turn forces thepancreas to produce even more insulin.Over time, they wrote, the pancreasbecomes exhausted, wears out, anddiabetes is often the result. I quote the article’s final words: “Andit is time we all learn the truth about theharmful effects of sugary drinks.”

Plan your next FlightFor any of you who wish you had

been Air Controllers in life here’s somegreat software allowing you to followflights from origin to destination. Its on a‘live’ map of the world. Had you been watching Flight MH17over the Ukraine you would have notedthe moment it fell from the sky and otherdetails of that last flight such as speed,altitude, and GPS location. Browse here:Flightradar24.

Local youth earns Eagle ScoutScouting’s highest earned rank was

achieved last month by Troop 12 Scoutand former correspondent with this Lionsnewsletter, Ben Delfavero. The LoomisLions members salute Ben for his mostrecent accomplishment.

EDITOR’S DESKEDITOR’S DESKJack Morris

The month of July is always a great month for Troop 12. Because of the4th of July there was no PLC meeting but we all enjoyed the Holiday.

We wait all year to spend six days at the beautiful Camp Winton in theSierra Nevada Mountain Range. Lots of the troops favorite councilors returnedagain this year and even a previous member of Troop 12 was part of the Wintonstaff. The main reason, each and every year we return to Winton is because oftheir wide variations of merit badges. It's always a great place to earn merit badgesoutside of the troop.

This year our scouts worked very hard and completed 72 merit badgeswhich is an outstanding achievement for only 22 scouts. We had lots of fun on theovernight trek across the lake, and had a game ofcapture the flag with another troop before it wasinterrupted by an unwelcome rattle snake. Becauseof all the merit badges earned at camp we areexpecting lots of rank advancements at the upcomingCourt of Honor.

After returning from camp on the 12th, we hadone day to rest before the first Troop meeting of July.The second annual Patrol Games continued and westarted with a tent relay where each patrol had tounpack a tent, set it up, take it down, and put it awaybefore the other patrols. The last game we playedwas a leadership game that was played byblindfolding a member of each patrol and having himwalk across an area filled with obstacles. If the playerstepped on an obstacle they were sent back to thestart. We finished off the night by reviewing ouraccomplishments at Winton such as earning TheOutstanding Troop Award.

On July 28th, with summer coming to an endand people squeezing one more trip in before theyhave to go back to school, only 8 scouts showed upfor the meeting. There weren't enough scouts fromeach patrol to carry on the patrol games so webundled up our socks and played sock soccer.

A small piece of the Bradley house still stands on Barton Road. It was a rock structurebuilt in the 1850s and served as a combination home and Wells Fargo stage stop.The walls were made of small stones each brought to the site in saddle bags. It’sowner and builder was S.R. Bradley who came West from New England.

SCOUT TROOP 12Official Troop 12 Liaison to Loomis Lions Club

Scout Caden Gallagher, Reporter

Loomis Basin Historical Society booklet, 2009, p. 91

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Serving the Needs of the Community and Beyond since 1953