eagle90

I agree with Bob - Even if you have only a few campers - GO!!! I've been to camp with over 30 scouts and with 6 scouts, and we all had a good time regardless of the numbers. Of course if you are at a patrol method camp, you may have to fiddle with duty rosters with a smaller group, but things can get done and a great experience will be had.

May I add High School sports to the list of girls and cars? In my SM conferences, I always emphasize that scouts should get as much acomplished as they can before High School to minimize the conflicts of time and interests. We will never keep them all, but a good solid program with a High Adventure emphasis for High Schoolers will help retain them for a long time.

Weather? A lot of the finest memories we have about summer camp is dealing with the weather. "Remember the thunderstorm? Remember the Tornado warnings?" Remember the heat?" Most people tend to remember the challenging campouts more than the ones where everything went smoothly. Two years ago we were camping in July and woke up one morning to 30 degrees and frost! As far as the $125, where is this camp? Ours is $150 plus transportation That seems like a reasonable price for a week's worth of fun, food, and lodging!

NJ - In our troop we use the position of Assistant PL as a leadership position under the "or carry out a Scoutmaster assigned leadership project to help the troop" part of the requirement for Star and Life. For Eagle we naturally use only the listed positions. With a lot of older scouts in the troop we run out of approved leadersdhip positions if we don't use the APL position.

WOW! This topic has gone all over the map! My two cents worth - It is NOT getting to first class in a year that keeps scouts active in your troop. It is an outstanding program that is FUN for the boys. We have a troop of 30 scouts, half of which are in high school. This ratio has been in effect for a good many years. It is our active program and High Adventure opportunities that retain scouts, not advancement. While we do not discourage the scouts from advancing it is not the cornerstone of our program. We do work on advancement at troop meetings and outings, but the scouts are left p

The non denominational service at our summer camp are very simple and yet inspiring. A few simple hymns, a prayer or two, and a short sermon, usually on the beauties of nature, working together, serenity, etc. Don;t see how anyone can object to that. I really think you did the right thing in your situation, and sounds like you have a sound plan for this year.

I agree - I think it's time to find a more Scout-like Troop. In my 20+ years, I have only asked two scouts to leave the troop. They were at Summer Camp and caught off the property walking into town for candy (read: Cigarettes); upon a search of their gear we found cigarettes stolen from an ASM, a wallet of another scout, fireworks, and ammo from the camp's range! Bye Bye!! Their parents agreed with the actions taken.

Long Haul - Long Haul In our council "It's National Policy" is just like the old saw "The check is in the mail". Whenever there is a controversy in which the the volunteers and professional staff disagree, out comes the National Policy excuse. And as you say, they can never show us the policy or pin down who is responsible for that policy. How convenient!

What's with all the all of a sudden in the posts? It makes reading very difficult and distracting. Can you get rid of them?

NJ - We basically veto any items that are financially or logistically impractical. The Filet Mignon on a campout (or to the other extreme, three meals of PB&J!) A campout that is a 5 hour drive during a questionable weather month. Camping over Memorial Day weekend would be too crowded. No, you can't camp on Easter weekend! Etc. After a few of these vetoes, they catch on pretty quick and know what to suggest and what no to suggest.

Well said, Mike!

In the Scout Ceremonies book put out by the BSA there are ceremonies for Installation of both Patrol and Troop Leaders. It also has rededication ceremonies for all leadership positions. I used theses ceremonies for the Jamboree troop I led.

The only restrictions our troop ever imposes, with the exception of age restrictions for High Adventure activities, Is that to attend either summer camp or a High Adventure activity, the scout must attend at least 2/3 of our troop meetings for the year and at least 4 of our 8 weekend campouts. For crossover Webeloes we say they must attend 2 out of our 4 spring weekend campouts. We were running into a problem years ago to where we were acting like a travel agency for kids who were "inactive" during the year but were always there to sign up for the big summer trips. This policy was set

Thanks everyone for your help here. It is invaluable. Just a few comments: Long Haul - You see the problem very clearly - trying to integrate the new parents wothout making the veterans feel they are being thrown out as over the hill. They are somewhat resistant to change, and that is why I want to embrace these new people. Eisley - Bingo! I have a meeting set up with some of the new parents after our spring break to come to a meeting of the minds. I'll advise how that goes. Sager - We do have a boy-run troop - WITHIN BOUNDARIES. Whatever they do must be approved by either

Our troop has a problem which I'm sure many troops would love to have. We just inducted ten new Webeloes last month. Many of the Webelos parents were the driving force in the Cub Pack since its inception. (The Pack is only 4 years old). Our troop is almost 50 years old and has 30 scouts now, and a Committee of 24 people, many of whom exceed 20 years in the program. Some of these new parents have taken the Boy scout Training already. They are eager and anxious to get going. However, our positions and responsibilities for this year have pretty much been set, and I am starting to hea

Just a follow up: Our troop had its Annual Rummage Sale this weekend and made over $2600. we set up Friday night for about 3 hours and run the sale from 7:00 AM till 1:00 PM on Saturday. It's amazing how much Rummage 25 families can generate! And also amazing what people are willing to buy. Just $60 in classified ads and some local flyers is all the advertising we do. The leftovers are donated to the Cancer Federation, so someone benefits all the way around.

I agree with Long Haul. In our troop, where we have a good number of oler scouts all working on higher ranks, we use the job of Assistant Patrol Leader for Star and Life awards per the Scoutmaster Leadership project. Then for Eagle we make sure they have a "legitimate" position.

My information comes from a friend who owns one of the largest canoe outfitting concerns in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota, who owns hundreds of tents. He always instructs his customers to STUFF. It always baffles the newcomers who methodically start to fold the tents until we teach them. I would imagine the same applies to high or lowe end equipment.

This weekend is our troops annual Rummage sale. We will spend about 3 hours Friday night setting up and about 8 hours on Saturday running the sale. As always, we anticipate betwen $2000 and $3000 profit. And guess what? WE WILL HAVE FUN DOING IT! We have prizes for the families bringing the goofiest items, the strangest article of clothing, etc. You have to make it fun as well as a job. Remember the song from Mary Poppins - A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. No one like fundraising, but if you make it a little enjoyable you can turn it into a positive thing for the

OGE - Sounds like a great fundraiser. A lot less work thatn selling things door to door for weeks on end. In one day you have your cash! And Bob, look beyond the dollar per hour for a minute - I bet there is some great Scout fellowship involved here. You may even get some parents who don't do a lot during the year come out and do this.

We always travel in uniform to and from outings, not for insurance reasons but just because we are scouts. It also has some other advantages. last summer we were en route home from a whitewater rafting trip and stopped at a Days Inn in Dayton Ohio after touring the US Air Force Museum (a great trip, if you are in the area). Upon our checkin, the Hindu gentleman behind the desk made a comment that we are scouts and in uniform, and gave us a 15% discount on our rooms. That was quite a savings on 5 rooms! We thanked him profusely and also sent a letter of thanks to his home office.

This has always been one of my favorites - and I re-read it often: We in Scouting have a special advantage. We are privileged to observe the exuberance of youth which almost by osmosis, has a revitalizing effect. Once a SM was asked, "Why do you do it? Why do you spend so much time and effort doing what you do for Scouting? What's in it for you?" This is his reply: You crawl out of your sleeping bag in the cold gray dawn. Maybe it's the first night out and you didn't sleep so well. You're hungry and a fire needs to be built before you can cook breakfast. "WHY?" You say to

AMEN to Featherswilly! This entire topic seems to be always devoted to the gay issues. While it is important, there MUST be other issues pertinent to Scouting we can discuss.

I have always wondered about this scenario - returning from a campout with 4 scouts in my car. We normally drop off the scouts at home since we do not normally know the exact time of our arrival due to weather, traffic, late sleepers, etc. After I drop off three scouts, I am going to be alone in the car with the last scout to be dropped off. A violation of Youth Protection? According to some this is sacreligious. What do I do?

I also recommend Campmor. We have also dealth with them for a number of years and have been impressed with their selection and timely delivery. We use Timberline Outfitters from Eureka. They cost a little more, but some of our tents are approaching 20 years old, and are still in excellent condition. Of course we run classes with our scouts on proper use and care of the tents.