By John Johnston
Enquirer staff writer

Everybody has a story worth telling. That's the theory, anyway. To test it, Tempo is throwing darts at the phone book. When a dart hits a name, a reporter dials the phone number and asks if someone in the home will be interviewed. Stories appear weekly.

Even though she's the leader of the pack, she's just one of the guys.

At Cub Scout campouts, Mikelette Uahinui's presence causes no inhibitions. When talk inevitably turns to bodily functions and their sound effects, boys boast without hesitation, "I can be louder than you!"

Uahinui (it's her husband's Hawaiian name, and pronounced oo-AH-he-NEW-ee) is glad the boys of Burlington Elementary Pack 122 are comfortable with her as pack leader, a position she's held since shortly after her family moved to Burlington from Toledo in 2000.

And whether the boys know it or not, they're lucky to have her.

For the past two years, Uahinui and other adult volunteers have taken fourth- and fifth-grade Cub Scouts on a four-day, three-night campout at Cub World, along the Little Miami River in Loveland.

According to the Scout Law, a Scout is trustworthy, loyal, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, clean, brave and reverent. He can be all that but still have bladder-control problems at night.

So each morning, after everyone has ventured off to enjoy archery, swimming, nature hikes and the like, 37-year-old Uahinui discreetly does bed checks.

She puts her nose next to each sleeping bag, gathers up the soiled ones, washes and dries them, and returns them to the tents before the Scouts return.

This, after a night of little, if any, sleep. Homesick kids need comforting.

"This year, the first night, I had seven kids with their sleeping bags, underneath the shelter house. If they make it through the night, they're fine," she says.

It started 5 years ago

She's adept at handling such situations. She isn't just a pack leader, after all. She's a teacher by trade. And for the past few years, a stay-at-home mom.

Uahinui first volunteered as a den leader five years ago when her older son, Derek, then in first grade, joined Cub Scouts. Who better to help him work his way up the ranks from Tiger to Bobcat to Wolf to Bear, and finally to Webelo, which, by the way, stands for We Be Loyal. This year, Derek became a Boy Scout.

"I'm really big on doing stuff as a family, and helping my children be all they can be," Uahinui says.

Her husband, Troy, agrees. He's assistant manager of engineering safety for Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Erlanger, and in his third year as a Cub Scout den leader. His den includes the couple's 8-year-old, Zack.

By getting involved, Troy says, "Not only do my children benefit, but hopefully everybody else that participates."

Parents must participate

Too many parents don't take an active role in their children's activities, Mikelette says. That's why, as pack leader, she requires that a parent accompany each child to everything from den meetings to campouts.

"It's Boy Scouts of America, not baby-sitting service of America," she says.

As a pack leader overseeing about 11 dens consisting of more than 70 boys, Mikelette keeps busy. It's fair to wonder if it's worth it - the myriad meetings, training sessions, sleepless nights on campouts, not to mention crawling into tents to perform the sniff test.

At a camp recently, Mikelette was approached by a Boy Scout she's known since his Cub Scout days. "Three years ago, he was a total terror on wheels. He could not follow a simple direction. (He said) Scouts were stupid."

But he stuck with it. And his experiences in Mikelette Uahinui's pack helped transform him.

"Now he wants to hold a leadership position with the troop," she says. "That makes it worthwhile."

E-mail jjohnston@enquirer.com