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NewsFebruary 7, 1994

As many of the other boys rough-housed on the nearby playground equipment, Dusty McDowell practiced his knot-tying skills beneath a pavilion. At the edge of the playground, another young boy was whittling away at a tree limb with a Swiss Army pocket knife. Just a few yards away, a third boy was practicing knot-tying with his shoe laces...

As many of the other boys rough-housed on the nearby playground equipment, Dusty McDowell practiced his knot-tying skills beneath a pavilion.

At the edge of the playground, another young boy was whittling away at a tree limb with a Swiss Army pocket knife. Just a few yards away, a third boy was practicing knot-tying with his shoe laces.

"I'm going to be a Boy Scout on Feb. 13," McDowell boasted. "I'm crossing over to join Troop 5."

It was Boy Scout Troop 5, sponsored by the VFW Post 3838, which held the annual Webelos Weekend at the Elk's Lake on Saturday. About 65 Cub Scouts from dens in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Chaffee and Perryville attended the mini-camp to get a glimpse at the skills they would learn as Boy Scouts.

"Webelos are boys in their last two years of Cub Scouts," said Ron Wilson, one of the adults overseeing the camp. "This is the fourth year Troop 5 has hosted this camp, but Boy Scouts have been doing this kind of thing locally for 20-some years."

Since the Webelos are on the brink of either leaving scouting or crossing over into Boy Scouts, the boys are exposed to some of the skills they will learn as Boy Scouts.

"We encourage the young people to stay in scouting," said Wilson. "We show them the life skills they can learn if they continue their commitment to scouting."

Throughout the day, Boy Scouts gave the young Scouts demonstrations in skills such as knots and lashings, camp-site preparation and fire-building.

Matt Stewart, who has been a member of Troop 5 for a little over two years, gave a seminar on knife and ax safety.

"We teach the young kids the Scout way of using a knife or ax and the safety precautions they must take," said Stewart. "I learned a lot from it myself. I had to go through the Scout manual and tell the Cub Scouts about what I had learned and include all the safety provisions, which was a lot harder than it sounded."

Marcus Dushell, a junior assistant scoutmaster, oversaw Stewart's demonstration. As the day wore on, the two older boys lit beds of charcoal in shallow holes they had dug to prepare for the evening cooking exercise.

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"I've been a Boy Scout for five and a half years," said Dushell. "I really like the Webelos Weekend because you get to work with the kids and teach them things that will be useful to them, even if they don't choose to become a Boy Scout.

"But we do encourage them to join a Boy Scout troop -- even if it isn't Troop 5," he said. "It's a good organization."

The 20 Boy Scouts from Troop 5 who worked at the Webelos Weekend camped Friday and Saturday nights at Elk's Lake.

"It wasn't too cold," said Stewart. "But I had two sleeping bags and a wool blanket."

The East County Volunteer Fire Department brought two trucks to Elk's Lake and let the boys spray fire hoses toward the lake. A water cannon on top of one of the trucks shot water 50 feet over the lake's surface.

The Air Evac Lifeteam landed their helicopter near the lake and gave the boys a quick seminar on the basics of air ambulance services.

After the fire department left, the Webelos broke into groups and cooked their dinners over a charcoal fire.

McDowell and John Taylor had vegetables and hamburger meat wrapped in aluminum foil.

"If you cook it for 12 minutes on each side, it gets done just right," said Taylor. "Unless you have a tear in the foil -- then it gets really, really dry."

Both McDowell and Taylor were attending the Webelos Weekend for the second time.

"I learned a lot today," said McDowell. "I can't wait to be a Boy Scout."

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