| |
From: Alpvalsys@AOL.COM
Date: Wed Jan 19 2000 - 20:05:37 CST
In a message dated 00-01-19 11:02:48 EST, Peter Murphy wrote:
<< TroopMaster software counts only 5 nights of a long term camp towards the
15
night requirement in determining eligibility for Order of the Arrow
elections. >>
Peter,
I don't know where TroopMaster got its requirements from, but the OA
membership rquirements, as spelled out in the OA Guide for Officers and
Advisors, BSA publication No. 34997, reads, "The fifteen days and nights must
include six consecutive days and nights of resident camping, approved and
under the auspices of the Boy Scouts of America."
Two things should be noted. First, it's NOT "long-term" camping; it
specifically reads "resident" camping. E.g., you take up residence in Paul
Bunyan site at Twenty Feathers Scout Camp; your unit can be found at that
site for the entire week that you're in camp. Second, it must be "under the
auspices of the (BSA)," i.e., operated by, or on behalf of, your council.
Nothing personal, but if you can't support your council's camp(s), then
you probably should not be a member of the OA. I know some of you don't like
your council's camp(s); I have varying opinions of my council's camps and the
programs that are run at each of them. But I encourage every unit to attend
summer camp; if the boys (or the adults) have a reason to not go to their own
council's camp, then look around because there's the next council over that
has a different program (and the food is better, the lake is warmer, the
hills are smaller, etc., etc.). If a boy's unit doesn't go to council summer
camp, a boy can usually go "provisional" in a camp- organized troop. There's
still no reason that a boy can't meet eligibility requirments of the OA if he
really wants to. I just don't want to see a boy denied membership because an
adult can't be found to spend a week at council-run summer camp.
One final note. I do know at least one boy who asked to have his name
removed from the ballot; it meant there was no election in that unit that
year. He's still active in the troop; I saw him at the PLC last night.
Ralph V. Balfoort, Unit Commissioner
Albany, NY
I used to be a Beaver.... (NE III-135)
In the Beaver Patrol as a Scout, too,
and now Ktemaque (Beaver) Chapter,
Haudenosaunee Lodge #19, OA
|
|
 |
|
|
