Columnist Susan Snyder: It’s time for Scouts to set sale

Tuesday, March 5, 2002 | 8:15 a.m.

Anne Aoki, Rachel Clough and Donyetta Slover had been in the sales business together for only three hours Sunday, and already they were running out of inventory.

A man and his wife looked at the boxes of Girl Scout cookies stacked on a card table outside Smith's grocery store on West Charleston Boulevard near Peccole Ranch.

"I want those ones with the squiggly lines on them," he said.

A box of Caramel deLites? Fat chance. Not from Brownie Troop 224. Sales have been booming.

"We're out of those," one of the girls said politely.

Perhaps a box of Peanut Butter Patties instead?

"Oh, man! I can't get a break!" he said.

"He's worse than a kid," his wife said. She bought the peanut butter ones.

Good thing Thin Mints weren't Choice No 2.

"We ordered 15 cases of Thin Mints. They were gone in two days," said Sharleen Aoki, Anne's mom and co-leader of Troop 224, which brings in girls from Ober, Christensen and Derfelt elementary schools.

It's "cookie time" -- that first weekend in March when even the best-kept weight-loss resolutions go down the tubes and boxes of Thin Mints and Lemon Pastry Cremes mysteriously appear in the freezer.

I'm not going to delve into the whole nutrition information thing. We all know a serving of two or three cookies is only a "serving" for government work and people who can't swallow. In reality, a serving follows the "whole row" concept.

"Would you like to buy some cookies?" Anne, Rachel and Donyetta said in unison.

They were like mini Pointer Sisters wearing vests covered with patches showing their achievements.

"No thank you. I've got six boxes at home," the woman said.

"Is that all?" Troop 224 Co-Leader Veronica Sequeira murmured with a grin.

Give her some space. She's "Cookie Mom." On Friday there were 174 cases -- that's 2,088 boxes -- of Scouts' confections in her home.

For a $3 box of cookies -- or rather, the more than 66,000 that are sold across the valley each year -- supports a program that helps little girls grow into women. In addition to enjoying the camping, sports, crafts and field trips, they learn about leadership, self-reliance, community service and themselves.

The Girl Scouts Frontier Council, which serves Clark, Nye, Lincoln, Esmeralda and White Pine counties, started in 1932 with 22 girls in Boulder City. It has grown to encompass about 9,600 girls and 3,400 adult leaders annually.

Donyetta, age 7, was selling cookies for the first time this past weekend. With Sequeira's help, she figured out how much was owed by a customer who wanted three boxes.

"Three plus three plus three is ..." Sequeira started.

Donyetta blurted out a triumphant, "Nine!"

It was a cold couple of days to be out there, but Scouts set up across the county beginning Friday night. Linsey Cook, a 9-year-old Junior Scout whose little sister is in Troop 224, did double duty at Smith's. She sold for her troop Friday and Saturday and her sister's on Sunday. Selling cookies is one of the things she likes best. But the weather has been better.

"It just gets really cold," she said.

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