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So I got a phone call from a scouter who is now involved with trail life last night. It was a recruiting call....

 

Very enlightening.

 

I heard he left and was disappointed in him and I believed he left because of the homosexual youth issue. Well in an hour conversation last night his issue is with the BSA and how top heavy and unresponsive it has become. He cited our scout execs $300K a year salary and the cost of maintaining summer camps. then our dysfunctional district and how we have become the dumping ground for DE's they want to force to quit.

 

He has lost faith in the BSA paid leadership's ability to look out for the boys best interest. He left very specifically over the Summit Cost and the membership fee increase.

 

While I still view the Trail Life crew just as I view the American Heritage group, as a bunch of bible thumping hypocrites, speaking with him was good.

 

I now understand why he left and agree with most of his points.

 

 

I disagree with the initial reason the organization was created and may never be able to get passed it.

 

It was good speaking with him again.

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As a Jew married to a Christian, I am sure I have a different perspective than most Christians here. Living in the south I am reminded daily that I live in the bible belt. Groups like Trail Life and

Heh, heh, I had a Baptist minister once inform me that there are so many Baptist churches and flavors of Baptist because they can't agree on much - every little spat caused another split and a new fla

I agree on some of those issues. Not sure about the complaint about summer camps--they are an important part of the program, and aren't cheap. Fee increases happen. Can't avoid it. I just wish that the paid professionals were more responsive to the volunteers.

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Yep. It's always better to disagree amicably and pray that something good comes of it.

 

So did you ask him ... How much are TL's execs paid? Is there a salary cap? What is the per-person cost of membership? Is there a long term cap on that? Do they have a plan for endowments? If someone donates land, who decides what will be done with it?

 

Just saying my suspicion is that the financial stuff is just a smoke-screen. Centuries ago, the Sultan of Egypt applied a differential tax on Christians vs. Muslims. Christians claim difference enticed some folks who were "on the fence" to convert to Islam. But if you asked the converts, I'd bet they'd say something like "Muslims practice what they preached" - the Church was not winning friends in the 6th-9th centuries. But Copts persisted and learned to live leaner as second class citizens, and soon the Sultanate became so bloated that it had to exact taxes from everyone.

 

I sincerely hope the TL-ers do well. But, I have no reason to believe that their financial burden will be any different than the BSA's.

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My councils scout camps are expensive... I know some councils let troops camp for free. Not mine a night in the camp with the troop will cost $80 for a tent site.

 

I am one that thinks maybe it is time for the scout owned camps should go away. It would end the merit badge frenzy and poor quality that folks complain about.

 

 

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A few questions, maybe this isn't the right place. How does a camp drive MB frenzies? I mean summer camp maybe, but a camp site? What are bible thumpers and why are they hypocrites? Just trying to understand, your world seems very different from ours. Barry

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A few questions, maybe this isn't the right place. How does a camp drive MB frenzies? I mean summer camp maybe, but a camp site? What are bible thumpers and why are they hypocrites? Just trying to understand, your world seems very different from ours. Barry
Well Barry we never go to a council owned camp because they are too expensive for us to use as a unit on the weekend. So for two nights in one of their campsite is $160.

 

Summer camps.......come on you have read the complaints about the boys not actually having fun and the merit badges have a price tag associated with each one. The parental expectation for the boys to come home with a bunch completed.

 

 

So TL splits with the BSA over the admission of openly gay youth as members....Then recants on that after they split, guess they don't have the BSA's deep pockets to fight the inevitable law suits.

 

 

the grass is greener or is it.

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One of the reasons the scout camps are so expensive is because they keep increasing infrastructure which is expensive to begin with and then the maintenance costs. Too many are trying to be mini-resorts which happen to do some scout stuff. Focus should be on the woods and camping.

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A few questions, maybe this isn't the right place. How does a camp drive MB frenzies? I mean summer camp maybe, but a camp site? What are bible thumpers and why are they hypocrites? Just trying to understand, your world seems very different from ours. Barry
Because I don't believe the split was ever really about gays. It was about religious pluralism.
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One of the reasons the scout camps are so expensive is because they keep increasing infrastructure which is expensive to begin with and then the maintenance costs. Too many are trying to be mini-resorts which happen to do some scout stuff. Focus should be on the woods and camping.
To be fair, states our requiring the camps to make the infrastructure up grades to meet state code.
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One of the reasons the scout camps are so expensive is because they keep increasing infrastructure which is expensive to begin with and then the maintenance costs. Too many are trying to be mini-resorts which happen to do some scout stuff. Focus should be on the woods and camping.
Not only states, but national BSA is requiring infrastructure improvements. check out this link and read some of the files :

http://www.scouting.org/ncap.aspx

 

Camps are being judged on infrastructure. I got some issues with that.

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One of the reasons the scout camps are so expensive is because they keep increasing infrastructure which is expensive to begin with and then the maintenance costs. Too many are trying to be mini-resorts which happen to do some scout stuff. Focus should be on the woods and camping.
I have issues, too.

 

Isn't the main definition of 'camping' to get away from 'infrastructure'?

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I understand regulatory requirements.

 

 

But for a Troop camping weekend.....A outhouse is nice and about 50 acres of woods with a pond on it.

 

That is it. Don't need a swimming pool, dining hall.....fancy water treatment or waste disposal facility.

 

 

The BSA has lost its way in this regard. More sometimes is just more and not better.

 

 

Just like that White Elephant in West Virginia that cost us how much and isn't even finished yet???????

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