DYB-Mike

Ozemu, Sorry to hear of the recess, I hope its brief. Your situation is my biggest fear. Our Pack is going to loose some of its most involved leaders at Cross Over this year (May). One leader who is still active would have liked to have left last year when her son crossed over, but stayed as a temporary measure until folks stepped up. As she is becoming more involved at the troop level her pack involvement is waning. We have many good folks coming into to Pack but it seems nobody wants to take that step and put on the uniform and take responsibility for a den or committee pos

Hi Adam Two I think its safe to say that Pack Meetings should open with a flag ceremony and there should be a retiring of the colors at the end as well. Our Pack generally rotates the flag ceremony amongst the Dens. Our ceremony is usually nothing complicated: The boys bring the U.S. and Pack flags in (U.S. flag ahead, never touching the ground), set them in the stands (the U.S. flag should be placed on what would be the facing audiences left), and form a line behind the flags while our Cubmaster leads in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Cub Scout Promise. The Color Guard does not

A lot of great ideas here! One thing weve done is have a Pack level Belt Loop University. Weve held it outdoors at a local park so we could include some of the sports, including fishing (there was water access). Tables were set up for things like chess. Another good idea is a fishing derby. Weve done them a local spots in the past. This year Ive found a state park a little farther afield that has hiking trails, fishing and picnic areas so Im going to promote this as a full day combo summer event. Weve also done ice cream socials both in doors and out. Chip in for the ice cr

Hi Folks! We had our Star Wars Blue and Gold this past weekend and it was great! The folks form the 501st Legion, N.E. Division, were wonderful with the boys. The costumes were so authentic and very impressive. There were even three Eagle Scouts in the group! We had a basic Pack Meeting with awards and skits, Den displays, and a small Star Wars memorabilia display, next had dinner (pizza and salad served at the Cantina), then distributed Star Wars coloring pages and word searches to keep the boys busy while the 501St got ready. The 501st made their entrance and, after Den pho

We hold ours in our Charter Organizations (Church) Hall. Were fortunate in that the Hall has upper and lower floors with the upper having a stage and open space and the lower having kitchen facilities and a smaller open space. There is also another space on the lower level that we occasionally use. It costs us nothing to use the space. This is the same space that we hold our Pack Meetings and some of our Den Meetings. All of this space is not always available as we share it with several other groups, including the Troop. I assume your Pack Meeting space is either too small or you want to

Ever since I was shown the wonder of dryer lint as a fire starter I use it for camp fires (when I can), our patio fireplace and the fireplaces in our house. I use it with some tinder (twigs and bark) gathered from the back yard and I ignite it with flint and steel. I have never noticed an offensive smell of any kind. Maybe its masked by the burning tinder? Jblake47, I acknowledge your point about the pioneers, but I look at it from the view of recycling. The stuff would just go into the garbage anyway so why not leave no trace of this waste product of modern technology? Its thrifty l

This coming Sunday our Charter Organization, a Congregational church, will be holding its annual special Scout Sunday Service. The Troop takes the lead in this and, in addition to usher duties, several of the boys will do readings and one will deliver a short speech on What Scouting Means to Me. My son, a new crossover to the Troop, will be doing one of the readings. Some of the leaders are called up and recognized and, if this year follows last year, there is a symbolic Presentation of the Charter. I believe last year was the first year the Pack was involved in the Scout Sunday Servic

After our Pack had its planning meeting last August and laid out the Pack Meetings and other events, I put together my Tiger Den Meeting schedule for the entire Cub Scout year. The schedule included the meeting dates, times, activities and also included the Pack Meeting dates for convenience. I meet Sunday afternoons and not only did I still have to compete with kids sports (hockey), but also with the N.E. Patriots. I thought it wise to go to the Patriots website and accommodate my meeting times to the games. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you want to look at it) they didn

Sorry I came to the party late. I agree that the cubs do not have to memorize and be tested on the Bobcat points. It wasnt clear to me though (and if I missed it, sorry) just how far you cubmaster intended to go with his ceremony. I dont think there is anything wrong with the boys being asked, as part of the Bobcat award ceremony, to do a repeat after me recital of the Promise, Law and so forth. If shy Johnny is just standing there while this goes on he should not be singled out just let it go. As for questions, I dont see anything wrong with the cubmaster asking, OK, who can

Im not a copyright lawyer either and I might be using the wrong terminology but I knew enough to realize that I just couldnt go out and have Star Wars patches made. Im sure any reputable vendor wouldnt have made them anyway. I was hoping to hear from Souters that have had Star Wars patches made to see who was responsible for getting permission. I wasnt sure if some patch manufacturers had a standing license to produce such patches due to the popularity of the films and characters. There are plenty of generic Star Wars patches out there. If a custom patch comes to naught Ill guess

Hi Folks! The thread I spun this from inspired our Pack to do a Star Wars Blue & Gold as well. Weve got the 501st and found someone who has a functioning R2D2 replica who will come as well. Were still planning hopefully itll be a blast! One of the things wed like to do is have a special patch made. Obviously Star Wars and the characters are under copyright, but I remember seeing a few Yoda CSPs in the past (I cant recall the Council) so its apparently been done. A cursory look at several patch manufacturers websites didnt turn up anything Star Wars so before I began a mo

Greetings! Our Pack increased dues this year from $45 to $55 for all cubs. We also sell the popcorn and do other fundraisers such as selling chocolate bars (made by a local chocolatier, yum!) at various venues and run a concession stand at the District Pinewood Derby. Dues and fundraising primarily cover registrations, rechartering, including the Boys Life subscriptions, awards (belt loops, activity pins, patches), some refreshments and miscellaneous supplies. It also covers some activities, such as Klondike Derby registration for the Webelos, most of the Blue and Gold expense, and

Scouting Now vs. then Then - honest people, no privacy issues NOW YP because some people have sick minds. New safety guidelines. New scouting world. Less on safety of ticks and snakes, more on cyber bullies and internet predators. Sick world sometimes SctDad, maybe Im misunderstanding you but when I read that comment all I could think was (1) apparently scouters today arent honest people, and (2) pedophiles just suddenly appeared at the turn of the new millennium. There were sickos in 1968 as there are in 2008; the difference is no one talked about them back then, either out of fe

Melgamatic, I feel your pain. I went through something similar with a Committee Member of our Pack a short time ago. Some of it was personal (outside of the Pack) but many Pack leaders shared my negative opinion and distaste. Things really became heated between this person and other leaders on several occasions and I almost wrote this Forum with the same question you just asked (I actually did ask it at a Pow Wow session on Pack Administration). Fortunately the situation corrected itself when the son crossed over. We are fairly cordial now and I must say, to their credit, this pe

Hi bkale, Never stop recruiting! Im a new Tiger Den Leader myself this year (also served, and still do, as Assistant Cubmaster for over a year now). Ive had my Tiger son distribute Join My Den cards to his class at school. I got the card template from a software disc distributed by our Council. Presumably it comes from National. I got several recruits that way. I teach my Tiger sons religious education class at church and I shamelessly attached a card advertising the Pack (and my den) to the class schedules distributed to the parents of the boys in my class. I did get o

As I read the other comments I realized I left something important out. If you choose to call her on it, and I think you should, dont do it by yourself! The buddy system protects adults as well. Make sure you have at least one other person with you when you approach her on this issue. The Committee Chair or Treasurer (if not both) makes the most sense since the accusations reflect on their leadership and trustworthiness. YIS Mike

Hi Melgamatic, Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face! I wonder if shes given any thought to that she may have cost her son and his buddies a free fieldtrip or some such benefit by her actions. Just curious, did the Council rep move the sales? I tend to agree with you about misrepresentation to those who bought the popcorn. It doesnt seem right. What was the Council reps reaction to the accusation of poor funds management? Judging from your reply they didnt put much stock in it. Taking your story at face value, in my mind this moved beyond simple sour grapes

And if you loved sprayable dog poop youll go gaga over edible vomit! I discovered a recipe online just in time for last years Pack Halloween Party. The boys were delightfully disgusted as I redigested the regurgitation mission accomplished! YIS Mike (Another 12 year old)

I cant legally wear my Wood Badge patrol patch as a patrol patch!?! I had seen them on other scouters and just assumed it was a Wood Badge perk. I guess its true about dont assume. This news is un-bear-able. Im sorry I checked out this thread, its made me beary, beary unhappy. YIS, Mike

Folks, Im not weighing in on whether this poster is trolling or not, but using archery and camping as evidence that this guy was not a Cub Scout is inconclusive. How many of your Cubs practiced archery at Cub Day Camp (mine did)? Our Pack, from Tigers on up, family camps at least once a year. YIS, Mike

Gee, Rythos, 60 cubs Im jealous! Right now our Pack is hovering at about 37. We have three other competing packs in town. Our District is pushing Roundups. We participated in a District-sponsored Roundup last spring with pretty good results. I got a den of 9 Tigers out of it, as well as 3 boys for other ranks. We had displays of patches, belt loops (shiny things), and the always popular Pinewood cars. We had a slide show on a laptop and an artificial camp fire (nice one lights, fan, and silk flames). Two other packs were present also but Im happy to say we did the best for recrui

Good question, ASM59. I really dont know as we never discussed that. It could be a mix of the reasons you suggest (a mom type looks better arranging kids clothes), or it could have just been her concern with public perception of a guy in a scout uniform fiddling with a boys belt. Ill have to ask. YIS, Mike

Understood, FScouter, getting caught alone with a boy is no crime, but unfortunately theres the concept of perception. Innocent situations can be twisted into something theyre not by equally innocent misunderstandings or by over-zealous or vindictive people. Im trying not to be paranoid, just prudent. YIS, Mike

Whoa, Snoring Bear! I appreciate that you see the incident the way I do, but our Chairperson is a really great scouter and is usually pretty open-minded about things. What bothers me is not so much that she got nervous when I went to fix the boys belt, but the fact that she, and all of us, has to be so paranoid over what are really mundane actions. Heck, there have been times at campgrounds when Ive really had to go, walked into the latrine, saw one lone boy taking care of business, turned on my heel, and left. Despite my mundane intention of simply answering the call of nature, Id rat

Folks, I agree with whats been said about appropriate touching: the pat on the back for a job well done or the hug to the despondent scout. So long as its done in an appropriate setting: in front of others. Others have spoke of the benefits of these actions and I agree. Wouldnt absolutely no touching eliminate the scout handshake? In (Catholic) Church Ive appropriately touched younger people through offering the Sign of Peace with a handshake or touch on the arm, all done in full view of the congregation. Heres a touching anecdote: The Pack, along with several other l