Tiger Tracks

Our Mission

“To motivate young people to be

better citizens”

In this issue:

History of Halloween

Main Street clean up

Calendar

Vol. 1, Issue #2 October 2009

Recipe for Pumpkin Pie:

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups of pumpkin puree,

canned or fresh.

3/4 cup of sugar

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of all purpose flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup of evaporated milk,

undiluted

2 tablespoons of water

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inch)

Preparation:

Combine pumpkin, sugar, salt,

spices and flour in medium mixing

bowl. Add eggs, mix well. Pour

into pastry-lined pie pan. Bake at

400° for 15 minutes; reduce heat to

350° and bake about 35 minutes

longer, or until center is set.

Columbus Day

Columbus Day is a holiday

celebrating the discovery of

America. It was actually

discovered by the Vikings

about 500 years ago, but we

still call it Columbus Day

because that’s what we have

always called it. The first

celebration took place on

October 12, 1792, in New

York City. In 1937, President

Roosevelt proclaimed October

12 as “Columbus Day,” and

that’s where it remained until

1971, when Congress declared

it a Federal holiday, taking

place on the second Monday

of October. If America was

actually discovered by the

Vikings, then why do we

celebrate Columbus Day? Its

difficult to understand, but 500

years ago when Columbus was

alive, people thought that the

world was flat and that people

could sail right off of the edge

of the world. It took a long

time for Columbus to convince

Queen Isabella of Spain that

the world was indeed round

and that it would be worth her

while for him to find trade

routes to the far East. The

journey took longer than

Columbus thought it would, so

when they found land in

October 1492, they

automatically thought that it

would be the East, specifically

India. He made three more

voyages to the “new land”

ending up rich and famous, but

he never understood the

magnitude of his discovery.

America celebrates Columbus

Day because he brought the

world’s attention to America,

regardless of what they called

it the. That later led to the

colonization of The New

World and later the formation

of the United States of

America.

America was named after the map maker Amerigo Vespucci. Page 2

Oktoberfest isn’t just for Germans anymore. Its

popularity has spread across the globe. Next to

Christmas, Oktoberfest is the most popular

holiday or celebration that Germany has given

to the rest of the world. America celebrates

Oktoberfest at various times in the year. Some

places celebrate during the traditional late

September to early October time, while others

celebrate it any time between June and

November. Oktoberfest

is celebrated all over the

United States, including

in our home town.

Gardnerville celebrated

Oktoberfest on

September 23 in

Heritage Park.

Oktoberfest started with

the celebration of

Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess

Therese of Saxony

Hildburghausen’s

wedding on October

12, 1810. Although

the horse races (the

original attraction

for the party) are

gone, many of the same characteristics have

stayed the same. Munich’s annual celebration

is still held on the original site of the wedding

celebration. The tradition of beer and food

started in 1818 and continues today. Some of

the common events include: a Ferris wheel, a

roller coaster or water slide, a haunted house, a

flea circus, game booths and much more. The

celebration has expanded to 16 days, moving

into September for better weather. Oktoberfest

has become so popular that all attending have

to make reservations well in advance. So make

your reservations now and celebrate one of the

biggest parties in the world!

Each month, the Battalion conducts a Cadet of

the Month Board to determine the top Cadet in

each LET level. Company commanders and

1SG’s decide on the best cadet and give the

names to the Battalion staff. Cadets appear in

uniform and they are asked a series of

questions from the study guide, graded on their

uniform, and are asked to demonstrate their

bearing by completing a series of facing

movements. These cadets are the September

Cadets of the Month. C/PFC Mathew Ruben for

LET I

Halloween is the 3rd biggest party day of the year behind New Year’s and Super Bowl Sunday. Page 3

C/1SG Joe Clark for

LET II.

Cadet of the Month

90% of parents admit to sneaking goodies from their kids’ Halloween trick-or-treat bags! Page 4

This year for PT we have a new exercise that

we are going to add to our PT schedule. It is

the game of Pushball. Pushball is played with

two teams ranging from 10 to 50 cadets.

When the whistle is blown the captains race

to touch the ball. The team members are not

able to touch the ball or move until the

captain touches the ball. Once the ball is

touched all of the team members can rush in

and battle for the ball. The object of the

game is to get the ball into the opponent’s

goal. Cadets do this by pushing it, passing it,

carrying it, or any other method of moving it

without kicking it.

Each goal counts as five points. Once the team

has scored it they may try for an extra point,

which is where the ball is set on the five yard

line and at the referee’s signal the team has one

minute to try to get the ball into the goal. The

team with the most points at the end of the game

wins. In the picture below, Alpha company is

battling for control of the pushball and the lead

in points.

The number one candy of choice for Halloween is Snickers Page 5

On September 19 cadets aided the Gardnerville Main Street Committee in cleaning up Main

Street. The cadets were broken up into four groups: one group helped to take hanging flower

pots down from the street lamps, one group emptied the pots, one group collected the pots that

were already on the ground and then the last group weeded and picked up trash. The groups

worked until their assigned tasks were completed and then all of the groups came together and

finished up the weeding. When all of the weeding was done cadets picked up trash on the way

back to the office building, where they were given lunch. It was an event filled day and the

cadets got a lot accomplished.

Douglas High

School JROTC

Cadets helped

raise the flag at

the University

of Nevada

Cooperative

Extension

Office by

Lampe Park.

for the

beginning of

National

4-H Week. This is the second year that JROTC

has supported the 4-H club in the opening

ceremony of their National 4-H week

activities. The cadets met

at the office a

little before

8:00

a.m. and the

ceremony went

from 8:00 to

8:30. We hope

to continue this

tradition for

years to come.

Cadets support Douglas County

4-H Club at Annual Event

Participants: Joe Clark,

Melissa Holcomb, and Ben

Hyde.

Cadets Elizabeth Sims, Theresa

Owens, and Billy Burgard. Chris Ranalla, Joshua Jenkins, Dennis

Darter

Halloween was

started by the

Celtic culture in

Ireland. It began

on October 31st

because

November 1st

was the start of the

new year. It was

said that all the

spirits of the

people who died

the year prior, would rise up and roam

the earth on Day Halloween. The spirits

were dangerous to the humans and they

caused a lot of problems. Lord Samhain

(the Lord of Darkness) would rise up

and search for the roaming spirits to

take them back to the under world. The

Irish would wear costumes and masks

on that day to avoid being recognized as

human by the spirits. The Irish would

put out Jack O’ Lanterns to keep spirits

away. The original Jack O’ Lanterns

were not carved pumpkins with fun

faces on them, they were hollowed out

turnips with candles in them. The Irish

also started the tradition of Trick or

Treating on Halloween. They would go

door to door asking for food to

contribute to the feast in the town.

Now Halloween has become an

American tradition. It is celebrated on

October 31st every year regardless of

the day of the week. It is the 2nd most

expensive holiday for Americans

(Christmas is 1st). $2.5 billion is spent

by the consumers for Halloween every

year.

Nevada became the 36th state

in the Union in 1864 on

October 31st. It is the only

state that still celebrates

coming into the Union. It is

celebrated on the last Friday of

October by most workplaces

and all schools taking the day

off. The Nevada Day activities

start on that Friday and

continue until the end of that

Sunday. Activities include the

Nevada Day Parade, numerous

contests, art, music, and

numerous family-oriented

activities. The parade takes

place on Saturday. It goes all

the way through the capital

(Carson City). Every year

there is a theme picked for the

parade. They pick the theme

by having people submit their

ideas to the capital. Then a

theme is randomly drawn 18

months before the parade. This

year’s theme is “Nevada Day

Salutes President Lincoln.”

Last year, the Tiger Battalion

had over 50 cadets that

marched in the parade. We

hope to see all of you there.

Nevada Day

Over 10% of pet owners dress their pets in Halloween costumes. Page 6

Cadets march down Carson Street in

Carson city during the 2008 Nevada

Day Parade

bat

black cat

broom

candy

clown

cobweb

coffin

costume

creepy

Dracula

Frankenstein

ghost

graveyard

Halloween

happy

haunted house

jack-o'-

lantern

mask

monster

mummy

October

party

pillowcase

pirate

pumpkin

scary

skeleton

spooky

trick-or-

treat

vampire

werewolf

witch

Tootsie rolls were the first wrapped penny candy in America. Page 7

October 2009 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3

4 5 Collaboration

Day

No school

6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 Parent

Teacher

Conference

22 23 24

Cougar drill

Meet

25 26 27 28 29 30

Nevada Day

31

Nevada Day

Parade