Our Poster Child: Joel SalehTo the ultra sensitive, the Bone Head award sound a little harsh and judgemental; to the uncamped person, you might not understand the rational; to the camp staff, everyone knows and appreciates the bone head award; it is to be received as a badge of honor; as the camp director it is seen as a young person checking his or her common sense out at the door.
For over 20 years we have been announcing a bone head award at the end of each week; 20 years ago, I passed out chicken bone on a rope for the staff person to wear as a necklace. We don't serve chicken on Friday nights anymore, so there are few bones around for the necklace.
Let me share a few episodes I have witnessed:
1. Randy Baber taking my favorite 1983, red Suburban and wrapping it around a tree near the boys cabin. He said, "The road was too slick from all the rain we had." Randy lives in Des Moines after graduating from Emmaus Bible College.
2. P.J. Holmertz and other staff took 5 horses to the river in 1993 on a weekend horse ride... without permission. While at the river, the horses ate grass along the river bank that had been flooded during the 1993 floods. They returned to camp with the horses. On Monday, the first horse dropped over dead with botulism poison from the grass... by the end of the week, 5 horses were dead. P.J. is now the counselling pastor at Valley EFC.
3. Brent Bartels picks up one of the dead horses on Wednesday, and drives through the middle of camp with the horse hanging from the front end of the tractor loader.... right by the little kids standing by the flag pole.... children were crying over the dead horse!! Brent and his family lives in South Dakota.
4. In the 80's we didn't have a full time summer camp nurse; we also had very little medication to dispense. We had a small room where the medications were kept, and it was the responsibility of the counselor to dispense any pills that campers needed to take before a meal. Chris McGovern, ask his boys, "Who takes medications?" Caleb Merriman said he did... and so Chris gave Caleb the only medication from his zip lock bag to Caleb... Redlin... and Caleb didn't take Redlin... needless to say... Caleb was a little subdued for the afternoon... I called his mother Marty.... "Oh no problem..." she said, "He will be fine." And he was... Caleb ended up being a counselor at camp when he was out of high school. (Note: We now have RN's dispensing meds!!) Chris is now an banker.
5. Joel Saleh... do I need to say more? Joel received more bone head awards than any other staff: truck or tractor accidents, spilled paint, you name it... he attracted mishaps or accidents.... he is now a railroad engineer....
6. Ryan Sheldon from Oregon, had never driven a truck with a stick shift, or a tractor, but was put on the maintenance crew. His first day, he drove a truck through the large overhead door at the shop. Greg Johnson was the maintenance director in 2003. Greg stormed into my office..."I can't take them boys anymore!", he snorted... Greg moved to Wichita a few days later. Ryan is now a school teacher in Japan.
7. Jonathan Stamberg was on staff in the early 90's. A great kid, but absent minded. He was buzzing around in my personal truck, a Ford Ranger pickup, when he lost track of the road in the girl's cabin area and found a 8 inch hickory tree. The ranger had a nice creased look after that. Jonathan is a worship pastor in Atlanta Georgia.
The best thing about this is that we laugh about it heartily now! Though they destroyed property or possessions, these young people learned from their mistakes and misdeeds. Usually we were able to display large amounts of grace; none of these kids were ever fired from camp; they were reprimanded is some way, and life went on.
As adults, we all should be given a bone head award at least monthly; we all have fallen short of the mark; we all have goofed either at home or at work; a chicken bone around the neck might help us to remember longer and act slower.
Note: The list above is not exhaustive; these are only a few that come to mind this morning... more will be added as my memory kicks in.
earldtaylor@yahoo.com
For over 20 years we have been announcing a bone head award at the end of each week; 20 years ago, I passed out chicken bone on a rope for the staff person to wear as a necklace. We don't serve chicken on Friday nights anymore, so there are few bones around for the necklace.
Let me share a few episodes I have witnessed:
1. Randy Baber taking my favorite 1983, red Suburban and wrapping it around a tree near the boys cabin. He said, "The road was too slick from all the rain we had." Randy lives in Des Moines after graduating from Emmaus Bible College.
2. P.J. Holmertz and other staff took 5 horses to the river in 1993 on a weekend horse ride... without permission. While at the river, the horses ate grass along the river bank that had been flooded during the 1993 floods. They returned to camp with the horses. On Monday, the first horse dropped over dead with botulism poison from the grass... by the end of the week, 5 horses were dead. P.J. is now the counselling pastor at Valley EFC.
3. Brent Bartels picks up one of the dead horses on Wednesday, and drives through the middle of camp with the horse hanging from the front end of the tractor loader.... right by the little kids standing by the flag pole.... children were crying over the dead horse!! Brent and his family lives in South Dakota.
4. In the 80's we didn't have a full time summer camp nurse; we also had very little medication to dispense. We had a small room where the medications were kept, and it was the responsibility of the counselor to dispense any pills that campers needed to take before a meal. Chris McGovern, ask his boys, "Who takes medications?" Caleb Merriman said he did... and so Chris gave Caleb the only medication from his zip lock bag to Caleb... Redlin... and Caleb didn't take Redlin... needless to say... Caleb was a little subdued for the afternoon... I called his mother Marty.... "Oh no problem..." she said, "He will be fine." And he was... Caleb ended up being a counselor at camp when he was out of high school. (Note: We now have RN's dispensing meds!!) Chris is now an banker.
5. Joel Saleh... do I need to say more? Joel received more bone head awards than any other staff: truck or tractor accidents, spilled paint, you name it... he attracted mishaps or accidents.... he is now a railroad engineer....
6. Ryan Sheldon from Oregon, had never driven a truck with a stick shift, or a tractor, but was put on the maintenance crew. His first day, he drove a truck through the large overhead door at the shop. Greg Johnson was the maintenance director in 2003. Greg stormed into my office..."I can't take them boys anymore!", he snorted... Greg moved to Wichita a few days later. Ryan is now a school teacher in Japan.
7. Jonathan Stamberg was on staff in the early 90's. A great kid, but absent minded. He was buzzing around in my personal truck, a Ford Ranger pickup, when he lost track of the road in the girl's cabin area and found a 8 inch hickory tree. The ranger had a nice creased look after that. Jonathan is a worship pastor in Atlanta Georgia.
The best thing about this is that we laugh about it heartily now! Though they destroyed property or possessions, these young people learned from their mistakes and misdeeds. Usually we were able to display large amounts of grace; none of these kids were ever fired from camp; they were reprimanded is some way, and life went on.
As adults, we all should be given a bone head award at least monthly; we all have fallen short of the mark; we all have goofed either at home or at work; a chicken bone around the neck might help us to remember longer and act slower.
Note: The list above is not exhaustive; these are only a few that come to mind this morning... more will be added as my memory kicks in.
earldtaylor@yahoo.com
2 comments:
Hey Earl, don't forget about the guy that was using a back hoe in the front yard of his daughter's rental house, hit a water main and shut off the water for the town of Dayton for a couple of days. :) I don't remember but I think his name rhymed with Pearl.
First of all, Sarah & I had a wonderful week at camp (July 6-11). What a blessing!
After reading the "bone-head award" post, I remember one morning as flagpole was in full session, a potentially-rabid raccoon staggered from the woods and climbed the huge oak tree adjacent to the flagpole area. Program director, Steve Wilson, somehow thought it would be a good idea to extinguish the raccoon with a bow and arrow as kids were in the middle of having flagpole and beginning to walk to breakfast. He pegged the raccoon a number of times, yet the raccoon still lived and continued to stay in the tree, looking rather disheveled. Campers were asking, "What is he doing to that raccoon?" Sounds rather bone-headed to me!
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