Boy Scout troops from around the region gathered at Camp Sidney Dew this weekend to learn a few things about search and rescue from the professionals and participate in an exercise themselves.

Chuck Waters, the chair for this weekend’s Coosa/Seqoyah District Camporee 2009, said that the 85 scouts in attendance from Chattooga, Bartow, Floyd, Gordon and Polk Counties were spending the weekend learning how to use the skills they’ve learned in a practical way.

“We also wanted to familiarize scouts with local resources that deal with emergency situations,” Waters said.

Besides a round robin tour of agencies on hand like Floyd Emergency Medical Service, the Rome Fire Department, Floyd County Emergency Management Association and officials from Gordon County and Calhoun Police, Scouts also learned much from the Department of Natural Resources Search and Rescue team, where Waters spends his days.

Waters’ 9-year-old son Seth, a Webelo, volunteered for the Scouts’ afternoon search and rescue scenario as one of the lost victims the boys had to find in the woods at Camp Sidney Dew, located off Everett Springs Road in northern Floyd County.

Seth said Saturday he learned a lot from the exercises, including what people should carry with them in the woods when hiking.

“I’ve learned that you should always carry a garbage bag with you,” he said. “A garbage bag will repel water and keep you warm.”

The Boy Scouts will pack up from the weekend today to return home, and Waters said he hopes the Scouts will take the knowledge they learned during the weekend and apply it to practical, real life situations.