Renegade Rip

Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Kyle Beall Boy scout Clayton Green wears ritualistic attire on the BC practice football field

There are four main principles to uphold when selected for initiation into the Order of the Arrow, and according to scouting.org they are: to recognize those scout campers who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives, to develop and maintain camping traditions and spirit, to promote Scout camping and to crystallize the Scout habit of helpfulness into a life purpose of leadership in cheerful service to others.
The main insignia of an Order member is a white sash with a crimson arrow pointing up from the left hip to the right shoulder. Various bars are added to include and signify the degree of rank.
During a ceremony in which members of a first-degree arrow status are elevated into second-degree rank, these four principles are symbolized by four headdress-clad scouts who stand and operate from the cardinal directions of north, south, east and west.
"It's like any other special event, you want it to be kept special," said Zea Bauer, adviser to the 105 troop out of Los Padres, about the second-degree ceremony.
Ritual, unity and brotherhood were celebrated by the Order of the Arrow as the 2007 W-3B Conclave was hosted on the Bakersfield College campus Sept. 14 through Sept. 16.
There are seven lodges which make up a section, and the W-3B section includes the Orca (Santa Rosa area), the Amangi Nacha (Sacramento area), the Tannu (Reno area), the Toloma (Stockton area), the Tah-Heetch (Fresno area), the Chumash (Santa Barbara area), and the Yowlumne (Bakersfield area). The Yowlumne were the host for this year's conclave, and they chose Bakersfield College for the site of the 2007 meet.
"Bakersfield is where the Council Headquarters is," said Yowlumne lodge advisor Charles Casperson. "We looked at a bunch of schools and this is a really nice facility. Lots of trees and grass, and we didn't have to worry about any of the football games (that weekend)."
Tepees and tents were bunched together inside of the football practice field where they slept. They dined together inside of the gymnasium and made the grassy area, central to the region of Language Arts and the Science and Math buildings, their terrain for games, activities and lounging.

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