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As promised. Just as a refresher: the US Trustee is a Department of Justice appointee in each Bankruptcy Court Region (Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in this case) who "monitors the conduct of bankruptcy parties and private estate trustees, oversees related administrative functions, and acts to ensure compliance with applicable laws and procedures." It was the Trustee who appointed the members of the TCC. Before people worry is a Trump thing or a Biden thing, I'll repeat what I said in May First, Biden did not appoint this person. Vara's been in office since the Obama admini

Pretty much all the churches are doing this. For units that had a very close relationship with a sponsoring chartered org, it will be more difficult, but the reality for many is that this facilities use agreement will simply formalize the already existing status quo. Many COs, if not most, merely provide space and benign support. If you've had more, you've been very lucky and I'm sad for you. For most of us, it's a yawn.

Subtitle: And it Never Left.

Just FYI it appears that the latest bone the insurance companies plan to pick, among others, with the RSA is the same one that the US Trustee and others have voiced: Why on earth is the Coalition getting paid out for its legal fees now, ahead of everyone else including the victims? How does it rate such special treatment and, as the US Trustee pointed out, what statute authorizes this? It is very, very much looking like the lawyers for the Coalition are getting a guaranteed payout now ahead of everyone else. The question is why and for what? The Insurance Companies seem to have a the

It is also, I truly believe, true that BSA will eventually exsanguinate and bleed out all its cash, resulting in a Chapter 7 by default if this doesn't end some point soon. BSA wants out, ASAP. If later down the road the insurance companies, the COs, the US Trustee, and others are right and this gets overturned on appeal, BSA still has its bankruptcy discharge and will be out from under whatever happens at that point.

So Thursday July 22nd was the deadline to object to the Restructuring Support Agreement as such (rather than to the Plan and Disclosure more generally). Several parties did so, including the estate of a deceased Non-Abuse Litigation claimant [D.I.5711], the Catholic and Methodist Ad-Hoc Committees jointly [D.I.5676], the LDS Church [D.I.5674] joined by the Episcopal Church [D.I.5677], and about 250 abuse claimants represented by about a half-dozen firms [D.I.5682, plus a few joinders]. However, the biggest objections are from Century. Redacted versions appeared on the docket on Friday.

It's hard, but if the older Scouts buy into it, and the parents buy into it, such a camp is well worth while. A google search will yield many examples of Scout Troops "doing" the Appalachian trail, for instance. Way back in my paleo Scout days, our Troop was blessed with dads (and moms!) that totally supported our adventures. Somebody's cousin's uncle knew somebody who owned property up by Germantown MD. The first year, (on "ordinary" weekend campouts), our Troop built a three sided log cabin, cleaned out and capped a spring with good water, dug a privy, dammed the creek for "s

I liked what you wrote ... That sounds exactly like our summer experiences. Way more relaxed. Way more freedom to create their own experiences. Each year was a slightly different flavor, but each was for all troop aged scouts. Each year brought something special ... the year the scouts discovered a short (????) cut from the group site to a gas station / ice cream shop. ... An unused / unlocked / enclosed 1910's era shelter that became the 10pm shelter for a magic the card game ... etc. When you have 30/40 scouts, you still need other activities even if you have 10 sco

Things are frustrating and difficult. It takes much longer for awards to be processed and returned, other national services are delayed, and property is disappearing. So what do we do? Whatever it takes to deliver the program; if our local camp goes away we camp in a friendly farmers field, swim in his lake and catch his fish. That may not be easy but it can be done! Scout On my friends 😉

I think it can be very hard depending on what kind of unit or council you are in. This forum and other places on social media are full of posts from scouters who simply don't know what to do. National is telling you to keep your head down and focus on your unit, yet your unit can't operate in a vacuum. What do you do when you see malfeasance or unscoutlike behavior and even when you go up the food chain nothing is done to correct it. What do you do? Quit? Go public? Post something here or on facebook looking for advice?

While I will agree that keeping up with the GTSS may not be the easiest thing to do, but no Scout or Scouter should ever find it "hard to tell right from wrong."

There are the generic contest/award medals; leaders are free to use them to honor whatever meritorious or noteworthy action they like. Sure, they are usually used for contests, but I believe acting especially Scout-like can certainly be included under that umbrella of honors. I used them for long-term uniform competitions and they were worn with pride by Scouts even at their Eagle Courts of honor. They have Cub Scout-colored versions as well, which I would often use for special Webelos events. One of the things I appreciate about them is that they come in gold, silver and bronze, so you c

A phone is a tool, like any other, and likewise should be taught to be used appropriately. It could have a lot of uses in a scouting setting, but unfortunately many units ban them. And in some cases, as evidenced by this thread, they even cite non-existent policies to enforce a ban. I think we're doing a disservice to scouts to just say "no phones" instead of recognizing that technology is here to stay and guiding them on how and when to use it in a scouting setting appropriately.

To keep this short...every previous post is spot on. Some of us older folks are cyber-immigrants that had to learn that language and use. Scouts today are cyber-natives that had cyber-use before they could make a sentence. One great example is an app that once you take a photo of a leaf, it tells the name of the plant. The other example is quick ID of anything live or dangerous.

Funny you mention this. Each year, about 10 or so, 22’ish young adults from my work go on a ad box backpacking trip in northern Wisconsin. Different people, more or less, each year, but it is totally like a high adventure trip.

The program doesn't. People build character in themselves and in other people. We adults are supposed to be setting the example (Association with Adults, anyone?) Unfortunately, a great many Scouters I have come across are not "people of good character". Blame the Co's on this one...most often, the adult leaders are just the ones who volunteer to do it, without regard as to whether that person is a "positive role model" "Scouts learn a great deal by watching how adults conduct themselves." "I think yesterdays overburdened Cub program steels the illusion of fun from the adult perspect

I can see that Matt. But, I believe the how of the vision has always been a challenge for scouting. How can a program build character. Luckily, the fun part (outdoors and camping) are the over riding attraction. I learned over the years, that the vast majority of scouts join the program because their' parents motivated them to join. And, 99 percent of them started in cubs. My issue with the BSA is that they are driving youth away because the cub program burns out the adults. Last I checked, around 50 percent of Webelos don't crossover into a troop after graduating from the pack. That doe