Eamonn

Dale, You are of course right. But... Why do we have to bring a Lad to summer camp for him to sit down and weave a basket? While I'm sure there a good many people who love making baskets -Even though as yet I have to meet one! I wonder if we had an easy knitting MB, if we would be pushing first year campers into knitting baby booties? As you might have guessed I'm not a big fan of basketry. -I'm not a lover of jigsaw puzzles either!! Eamonn

A couple of years back at summer camp OJ and an other scout from the troop set about convincing the Camp Staff that Joe who was born and raised in our small town, with a Dad who comes from Pittsburgh and a Mom from the same area, was a Mexican! Joe found a fairly large sombrero and a blanket over his shoulder. He is a little tanned looking and has deep brown eyes. One problem was that neither Joe or OJ speak any Spanish!! But they weren't going to let that get in their way they managed very well with a kind of Spanish sounding gibberish!! Things were going well, they had about half the camp staff believing that Joe had just transfered in from Mexico and then Pam our DE at the time who knew both of them arrived at camp and ruined it all. Eamonn.

I'm sorry Ed, when I read page one of the Boy Scout Handbook making baskets just doesn't seem to meet with what we promise our Scouts. Lisabob I really don't have any axe to grind with teachers!! In fact having spent a couple of years in a very large (5,000) inner city school in the London area trying to teach and failing, I have great respect for those who stick with it. A lot of the problem as I see it, is that it seems we are in such a rush to get to where we are going that there just isn't time to go back. I watched as OJ worked his way through history. Sadly a lot of what he was working just didn't remain with him. He may have done well on the test, but there just wasn't time to dwell on the subject. Or go over the soft spots. Here in PA there has been a lot of talk about Outcome based education. A lot of the school districts seem very unhappy with the idea, I think they see it as undermining local control? My problem with OBE and Mastery Learning is that it can work, however it assumes that that all students can master tasks and materials if given enough time and there just isn't the time!! It also seems to place an unfair onus on students meeting goals which is judged by how well they do in tests!! Education should be more than just doing well at exams. We should be trying to develop a passion for learning and seeking to develop the whole person, mind,body, heart and soul, for the benefit of ones personal and professional life. I like to think that maybe? We have the opportunity to do this or work toward doing this in Scouting. Of course unlike School our Scouts can and will walk away if what we offer isn't fun! Which brings me back to them darn baskets !! Never ever have I heard a Scout yell yippee to day is basket day! (Sorry Ed!!) Eamonn.

Great News!! Well Done!!! I can't back it up, but I think Sea Scouts is the fastest growing program in the BSA!! Garth Wells is a really nice fellow, if you go to the Sailing Championships your sure to meet him. He donated a couple of small sail boats to our Ship. Maybe we will get to meet each other at a future event? Fair Winds. Eamonn.

I'm a little unsure if because I'm growing old I now see things differently? Talking with some of the 16 and 17 year old Sea Scouts, both male and female, I said how much I didn't like tests. The conversation started when they found out that at one time I had worked as a teacher but didn't last very long. I said how much I loved English history and liked kids, but my failure was that I thought everyone loved English history as much as I did and sadly that wasn't so. The Scouts said that they felt like they were being rushed through everything, then tested and moved on to the next topic and next test. They didn't feel like they were learning very much. However their parents judged them by their report cards which were the results of the tests they had taken. When OJ was a little fellow in grade school, every Friday they had a spelling test. He never was very good at spelling, but worked hard at memorizing the words (Given earlier in the week) and most of the time he did OK, but by Monday he wasn't able to spell at least half the words from Fridays test and by Tuesday was busy working on the words for the next test. He does OK at School, due to the fact that he does well at tests. I'm disappointed that his teachers have been so busy preparing him for tests that they have never had the time to pass on what at one time they must have had. -A love of the subject that they teach. Looking back to my own school days the teachers and masters I had were very passionate about the subject they were charged with passing on. When I read the postings about Scouts receiving belt loops and Eagle Scout rank, without really meeting the requirements, it makes me sad. Sad because the people who are handing this stuff out and signing this stuff off lack the passion needed to really light the fire and give the Scout an opportunity that might spark a new interest. Some years back I thought I was going to be hung drawn and quartered by our Council Camping Committee. My big sin? I'd suggested that we not offer Basketry Merit Badge at Summer Camp!! I'm fine with the fact that the camp makes money selling the kits, but I have not ever in all the time I've been in Scouting met a Scout who shows any excitement about making a basket. We offer it because it's easy and will fit in well with the First Year Camper Plan. Sure the Lad will be recognized at the Troop COH, when he goes up to collect his patch. But what a waste of time. More and more it seems that we the adults are more concerned about the Merit Badge count than what the Lad takes away from being involved with the Merit Badge. Merit Badges really can go a long way in helping a Scout find something that he really can be interested in. When we allow ourselves to sign off on a requirement that really hasn't been met, we are doing a great disservice to the Scout, we are cheating him out of the opportunity to get it right and maybe, just maybe find out that he could be good at it!! Sure some Scouts can fly through requirements, while others really struggle, but the struggle is a challenge, which once mastered becomes an achievement. A Scout can take pride in achieving something, this is personal development. One of the Sea Scouts failed to pass the BSA Swim test which I gave in the spring. He had all sorts of reasons why!! Mostly to do with when he was young he'd had tubes in his ears. He did manage to meet the swimming requirements, but wasn't able to float. I wasn't able in good conscience to sign off on it. I told him that he'd have to work on it and sadly if he didn't manage to meet the requirement that he wouldn't be able to go to summer camp with us. Along with another Sea Scout who works as a Lifeguard at our local community pool they went swimming at least once a week. At the start of the Summer he went to work as a staffer at our Council Summer Camp. He phoned me one night, so very happy and informed me that he'd made Red White and Blue at Summer camp and is going to try and do the mile swim before the end of camp. Sure he passed the test, but he also lit the fire. Eamonn.

SR540Beaver You mean you missed Wimbledon!! You must have been watching a Law and Order marathon!! Eamonn

Just Asking Thanks. At the risk of sounding like an old book thumper!! I can't help but think this was a Tweak that someone added. It might have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it now seems that even the Tweak has been Tweaked!! I'm 110% for the Patrol Method. It isn't rocket science. Maybe it's misunderstood but it's not rocket science. Once or twice a year the Troop holds an election. They elect an SPL and their Patrol Leaders. Then it's up to the Scoutmaster to train these Scouts. All this other stuff is just add ons that to my mind don't add anything. I can see and agree that there are times when there is a need for activities more age appropriate for older Scouts. Some Troops do have a Venture Patrol, but I've always seen this as a way of holding the interest of the older Scouts more than anything to do with leadership. I know at times I must sound like a record that's stuck. But the real way to ensure that Scouts are understanding leadership is in: "Train Them, Trust Them, Let Them Lead" The training has to come from the SM. Sadly so many of our Scoutmasters are so busy doing other stuff, they forget or just don't have the time to do what after all is their main job. Training the youth leaders. What you quoted from the Troop Handbook is a very nice sounding set of words. I just fail to see what good they do? I'm not sure what your Lad wants to do? This Senior Patrol thing sounds very much like a "Good old Boys" group made up for a few friends of the SPL. Maybe he might want to look at taking a leadership course NYLT seems to be a very good course. (I have yet to have any dealings with it!!) Maybe he might want to think about looking at a Venture Crew and running for office there. (Better yet a Sea Scout Ship -Quarterdeck Training is a Sea Scout Advancement requirement -But I'm biased !!) While at times we can be fooled into thinking that the Scouts who make the most noise, make the best leaders, this isn't always the case!! I've seen the shy Lad's who tend to think things through do a much better job. You might want to have a chat with him, let him know how very proud you are of him, give him a gentle nudge and kindly kick in the pants. Eamonn.

This Senior Patrol thing is new to me could you explain it? I have never heard or used such a thing. Eamonn.

"Ignoring dishonest work can be done with great mental effort but then we can't ignore the results, nor can anyone else" Surely the result has to be what a Scout gets out of the program? If we are trying to help young people make ethical choices, don't we have to be prepared and ready for when the wrong choice is made? But on a technical note I didn't think that who ever was chairing the BOR could act the way this person did? Once the vote wasn't unanimous and the vote had been taken, the work of the board was done and the Scout had not passed. I have sat on Eagle Scout BOR's where we felt that something wasn't right and as a board we decided that we would give the Scout more time to correct the problem, but we all as a board agreed to this. I can't help but think that this chairman was way out of line. Eamonn.

I know that Hops will be sad that France lost!! Seems strange that while at one time 79% of the population of the UK were watching Soccer, I had a hard time finding it on my TV. Well done Italy!! Of course there were a couple of teams I'd prefer to have won, but it wasn't to be -Maybe in 4 years time? Eamonn.

I'm not sure if this is going to come out as I want it to? I feel that as we wonder along life's highways, the things that may be important to you may have little or no meaning to me. I'm all for the Eagle Scout Rank, being viewed as something very special. But the real meaning lies with the person who receives it. The Lad in question here will receive a ribbon, a chunk of metal and an embroidered scrap of material. Sure he can brag that he is an Eagle Scout, but sadly deep down he has to know that it's all very hollow. Still at the end of the day it is his Eagle!! Maybe if we could find a way of taking away the glory that others attach to being an Eagle Scout and work on making sure that Scouts understand that anything that they receive without effort might as well come in a Crackerjack Box. If a Scout advances to any rank without meeting the requirements, he hasn't done his best. However the real judge should be the Scout. This is why the Scoutmaster conference is so very important. With the right questions a Scout should know if he is really ready to move on to the next level. If he hasn't done his best, he isn't keeping the Scout Oath. If he isn't keeping the Scout Oath - Is he really a Scout? Eamonn.

One of the nice things about being a little?? Older is that I wear what I like. No peer pressure, no worries about looking cool. One of the bad things about it is that we tend to forget that we at one time did bow down to trying to look cool and peer pressure. I remember thinking I was the cat's whiskers in my super wide flares and platform shoes Eamonn.

But Hops I thought you might have a change of heart and join us!! Attend Penn State and hang out with Jerry and the guys. Eamonn

The key to any successful Scouting event is remembering why you are there. "If it's not for the Scouts, it's for the birds" It's worth while remembering that the Scouts paid to attend. Remember this is the BSA not the SAS. Fun is the fuel that makes this entire organization work. Be prepared to laugh long and hard, be ready to let your hair down and try to see the world as if you were a kid again. If something doesn't fall under the heading of being kind it has no place at Scout Camp. Treat each Scout as an individual. Each has different needs, wants and expectations. Even though you are there for the Scouts try and make time to do the things that you like doing. - Read a book, take a nap, go for a walk. If you don't look after you no one else will, but everyone will suffer!! Eamonn

Lexington76 What you describe is almost the set up that I had and is still in use in the UK. The person in charge is the Group Scout Leader. When I was a new SM (Scout Leader) back home, my mentor and hero (please don't let him ever know I said that!!) Was Martin Gerrard. Rather than trying to bore you with all the details you might want to visit the web page of the group. http://www.2ndcuddingtonscouts.org.uk/index2frameset.htm They really have a great set up and offer a wonderful program to the Scouts they serve. Eamonn.

I of course have no idea of how things work elsewhere. When I was District Chairman (Was that really only seven months back?) Every year the DE would receive a stack of budgets from the Council Service Center. A budget for each and every District Activity. These showed last years numbers and any money that had either come in or gone out to date. The DE and the District Chair had to sign off on each and every budget. Districts do not have any money. Or maybe I should say that Districts are not supposed to have any money. Some events didn't change that much from year to year, so we didn't bother bringing them to committee for approval. We never really spent very much time on them, but did quickly go over them at the District Meeting. This was more as a reminder to the Committee Chairs that no event was ever allowed to run at a loss. Which when you don't have any money to start with only makes sense!! To date our Council does not ask or demand that events make a set percent for each event. Some Councils have what I see as a Council Tax on events. I ran into this when I was covering Day Camp Budgets at NCS. The Council adds as much as 20% to the cost of the camp to help cover some thing? We never had a problem with budgets. At District Camporees, we would order the patches through the Council. But the organizer of the event normally had a fair amount of out of pocket expenses. He had to turn these in if he wanted to get paid. Making sense of the budgets that Scoutnet has in its system is really hard. I found all sorts of things wrong. I tried talking to the Council Bookkeeper, who blamed everything on Scoutnet. So I brought it up at a Executive Board meeting. The Council Treasurer thought I was joking, when I said I had budgets that were so flawed it just wasn't funny. I faxed him 68 pages. We had budgets that showed we had made $1,600 on the District Dinner -Not bad considering we hadn't had one for two years!! Day Camp had lost $2,600 when we had added a water line!! -We used the property owned by a local community fair at no cost and the $500.00 Donation that the Lion's Club made to help pay for Camperships wasn't listed. The SE of course blamed the book keeper. Each and every District does need to have someone who is willing to keep an active eye on the District Budgets. I sometimes wonder if the budgets are hard to understand by design? Last year when we were singing the finical blues as a Council, I tried to make sense of somethings. It isn't easy. Everyone was blaming Summer Camp for losing $60,000. I couldn't break down the camp staff pay, this goes in with all the other salaries for the entire paid staff. I did notice that we had spent $30,000 on awards. No one else caught this. (One bad thing about having non-program people on the Board) and were willing to let this go through. It turned out that someone had placed all the T-shirts that had been bought to sell at camp in the camp budget and the shirts had been placed in as awards. Because of finding this we went over the camp budget very carefully and found that the camp did lose money, but the $60,000 was brought down to $9,000 ($6.00 Per Camper) The camp fee was raised by $25.00. When we are dealing with other peoples money I think we need to be extra careful and very open. We need to do this at every level. When there seems to be any sort of secrecy or hint of a cover up, people lose trust. Even in the Ship we have books that anyone is welcome to come and look at and ask questions about, in fact I welcome it. When they see how poor we are I can hit them up for a donation!! Eamonn.

My take on the Ranger Award and other Venturing Awards is: You can't count past activities toward Venturing Advancements. If you did the hiking MB as a Boy Scout, you would have to redo it as a Venturer or Sea Scout. But work you do as a Venturer or Sea Scout can count toward any needed MB's. Eamonn.

A couple of years back a ASM in OJ's Troop yelled at him in the dinning hall for something. It turned out that this was the very rare occasions when OJ wasn't guilty. Yes strange things do happen!! OJ, tried to be calm and inform this misguided person that he was wrong (OJ was SPL at the time.) The ASM was sure he was right and gave OJ an ear full of how he should know better, and he should be setting a better example and went on and on. I happen to know the ASM,, he isn't a bad fellow. He is from someplace in West Virginia where kids are seen and not heard. He seems to view any sort of reply from a Scout as the Scout sassing him. I think it's a cultural thing? They never did resolve the problem whatever it was? Sadly OJ has absolutely no respect for this man. I have at times tried to point out some of the things that he is good at and good that he has done, but I get no place. I'm OK with people not liking me. However I would hope that even those that like me might have a little respect for me. If this other adult leader is a friend of your's? I kind of feel that you owe it to him to let him know that he is making a big mistake. You might want to be very careful and pick the right time and place. Dealing with the 17 year old can be very hard. OJ came home from camp very upset and the words he used to describe this fellow can't be posted in this forum!! I really don't like him showing that sort of attitude and disrespect to any adult. But the guy was wrong. What we do in "Boy Scout Land" is at times the real world scaled down to "Boy Size". I tried to explain to OJ that even though the guy was wrong, he just didn't see it that way and sadly things like this will happen in life. I went on to tell him that what happens next is really up to him. He can choose to carry a grudge and be a pain about all this or he can choose to move on. He choose to carry a grudge. Things are getting better he now can say the fellows name without adding any sort of a description after it. What we as individuals can learn from this sad situation is enormous. Eamonn

"STAND BACK-LET THESE YOUNG MEN TAKE THIS COURSE AND RUN WITH IT, BE PREPARED AS A ADULT TO WORK HARD IN MAKING SURE THEY GET EVERYTHING THEY NEED TO MAKE IT HAPPEN" I seem to remember some wise person saying: "Train them, Trust them, Let them lead" Seems that this is a recurring theme. All we need to do now is get the adults on board and who knows we might be on to something? Eamonn

And how was your summer camp experience? It was great -Thanks for asking. Sadly the van we were to drive down got sick the night before we left. So we took cars. OJ had my Explorer up at camp. That kid is all heart, he informed me that he had saved us money by having it there which meant we got better gas mileage. What a nice kid. I'll remember that on Sunday -When he turns 18!! We seem to not be very good at departing on time. But that wasn't the case, in fact we go going 15 minutes early. I had 3 of the nicest Scouts that you are ever going to meet in the car with me. Driving across West Virginia in the early morning is just wonderful. The clouds, the mist, the mountains. I did try and make a few improvements by doing my John Denver impersonations. He sounds a little better than me and I think him knowing all the words is a big help. I'd asked the Scouts to keep cell phone calls down to when we were at rest stops or had stopped. They were really good about it. I don't own an I-pod. I'm just too cheap to spend that sort of money. But Sarah had hers, we plugged it into the car stereo. Now I want one!! I didn't know half of the stuff she had on it. But we made a very cheerful noise as we all joined in singing along with Queen and we all had a good laugh with the Devil Went Down To Georgia. The number 1 song with the Scouts is a very catchy Rap Tune that has something to do with riding Dirty? I'm thinking maybe I don't want to understand all the words. The song that stayed with us for the week was Ring Of Fire, by Johnny Cash. Zane seemed really happy playing with my new $600 camera, I have lots of photos of Sarah's eye and people I don't know who were at different rest stops. Everywhere we stopped everyone was really nice to us. The Mapquest directions really worked. We arrived at Camp Blue Heron about an hour earlier than I'd guesstimated. Looking back I should have seen that we were in for a full week. We were no sooner parked when, someone said "While you are here you might as well.. That while you are here thing is always a sure sign that someone wants you to do something. In this case it was take a swim test. Our pool at camp is the reason why Camps call the early morning swim Polar Bear, but the water in this pool was really warm. We all passed. The next 45 mins was spent just splashing around and goofing off. We were asked to leave, because our food was ready. No one had said that they were going to feed us. I didn't have the heart to tell them that we had in fact just ate. Still we managed to put on a good show TJ ate five burgers and I was exposed to my first Moon Pie. We were the only Scouts in camp. It's kinda nice having 300 acres all to yourself. We made our way to our tents. Miss Rhonda was waiting for us, she was to be our guide and best friend for the coming week. She is a very nice Lady, a great kayak-er, who at times comes across as a kindly Aunt at times seems more like Attila the Hun. She was ready to do the shake down. This was when we seen Sarah's wash kit!! It was bigger than all of my gear and weighed in at something like 60 pounds. This was when we noticed that someplace, somehow we have a failure to communicate. I'd sent personal equipment lists to everyone and to parents, the web page has lists, heck we had more lists than Santa. But Allen didn't have water shoes, Zane didn't have a jacket, Sarah didn't have a mess kit,Jess didn't have a flash-light. Of course being the "Super Scouter" That I am, I changed into my Super Hero outfit and found spares. I'm just glad Allen has size 9 shoes. OJ wears size 13!! I don't know how well anyone else slept? But I needed no rocking. Breakfast was in the dinning hall, bacon, eggs and grits. Two land mark days in my life were when OJ stopped wearing diapers and when he started eating "Big Boy Food". Looking at the grits brought back memories of cream of rice!! Still when in Rome... Lots of black pepper is the secret to eating grits!! The day was marked by thunder showers. We picked out the Kayak that fit and would be home for the week. I found a very sporty red one. We practiced different strokes, got to know the parts of the boat, practiced different rescues, got very wet and met Jason who was to join us as a Sea Dawg. Lunch was in our camp site cold cuts and more moon pies. Then back on the water getting to know the boats. Getting used to getting in and out of them in different situations and practicing self-rescues. We then loaded up the trailer with the kayaks. Dinner was in the dinning hall. They called it Shepperd's Pie. I think if this was reported to anyone involved in the Trade Descriptions area there might be problems. There was some kind of meat, topped with spuds, topped with tasteless melted cheese. Of course one good thing about being hungry is that you eat just about anything. TJ ate 3 helping!! After supper it was time for LNT training and then a late night splash in the pool. Dry bags were issued and it was time to pack. After alight breakfast (small portions of grits) We piled in the camp van and were underway. At the dock all the equipment and food and water were loaded into the hatches. It's hard for me to guess how warm it was, the breeze was nice, until it turned into a cross wind and then the cable to my rudder broke. Not much fun. We found a great sand bank, pulled up and the Scouts had a great time splishing and splashing. There is great joy to be had just watching kids being kids and acting like kids, even if you are trying to splice a rudder cable. That night was spent an Cow Patty Island. An isle owned by an individual who is kind enough to allow Scouts to use it. Looking across the island I seen my first wild pigs. I didn't go near them and thankfully they returned the complement. We had taken solar showers with us, boy that felt good and even with the tarps up it was still the best view I've ever had while taking a shower!! The next few days were spend paddling along from Island to island. We got hit by a couple of nasty storms. Seen a alligator which now grows by at least two foot every time someone retells the encounter. We got to spend half a day on a beach. Super Scouter here who spent half the trip yelling at everyone to add more sun screen decided that a barefoot walk along the beach seemed like a good idea and guess who didn't put sun screen on his feet? Needless to say I suffered in silence and blamed my discomfort on my water shoes. The food was what we needed, cooked by the Scouts. I never ate more trail mix in my life. The peanut butter and honey torttias (sp) were a big hit with the Scouts. I hate peanut butter!! Sadly the week flew by way to fast. But I'm not sure my back could have taken much more abuse from the seat of my sporty red kayak. We arrived back at the dock reloaded the boats on the trailer. The camp had provided a cooler full of ice cold coke. I don't think the Scouts ever enjoyed a coke as much in their entire lives. I don't drink the stuff. I was starting to feel my age, in fact I was feeling very tired and took a cat nap on the drive back to camp. Back at camp all the boats and all the equipment had to be washed to remove the salt water. I went and raided the walk-in cooler!! Memories of my old college days!! I downed half a gal of milk in less than 90 seconds. Dinner was in uniform in the dinning hall, a low country boil. It was good but didn't compare to the crabs that the Scouts had caught and cooked. That night we had an awards ceremony. I asked each Scout what they thought they had taken from the trip? I was surprised how deep their answers were. After the ceremony they wanted to swim, so the camp said it was fine (We had lifeguards and all that good stuff.) They stayed in the pool till almost midnight. The drive home went well, I became a fly on the wall and was happy to just be a pair of ears. The reports were all good. A couple of the Scouts had been with me at the Jamboree, they said this was better. So I'll say that our summer camp experience was great. Even if my feet are starting to peel. Eamonn.

I know that we have some forum members that will be able to give you the "Official" answer. Shame that my son is working at camp, he knows far more about the workings of the OA than I do. You ask: "Can we join an OA Lodge out of our Council?" I think not. The Troop you are in is part of the Council and the Lodge is also part of the Council. The Lodge supports the unit and the Council and you not being in the Council Lodge just wouldn't work. Many Lodges support their Council financially and are actively involved in promoting attendance at Council Camps. Again if you were to belong to the "Other Lodge" this just wouldn't work. You might want to have the SM if he is an OA member visit http://www.jumpstart.oa-bsa.org/ As the Lodge is youth led, the only sure way to really find out what is going on is for the youth in the unit to get involved!! They need to grab the bull by the horns and join a committee. While all Scout Executives are Chief of the Fire, some are more active than others, some tend to be happy to allow the Lodge Advisor take care of things. I think we have a great Lodge, but there have been times when the youth who are supposed to be doing things just don't do it. For a while the Newsletter was great then it went down hill and now it's great again. All because of the fact that different youth members have taken care of it. While the election is held within the Troop,I have always seen membership in the Lodge as an individual thing, which really has nothing to do with the Troop committee - But that might just be my take on it. My son is very active as is one ASM from the Troop he was in (Now a Sea Scout and the Ship has no ties to the Lodge other than the individuals who are members.) While they make a big deal about the election and going up for the ordeal, I rarely see anyone from the Troop at the weekends or the banquet. Eamonn.

I think I must have too much time on my hands! Having spent a good deal of time working on ideas to present to the quarterdeck for next year. It suddenly hit me that of all the things that I have ever done, the thing that I have stuck with and stayed true to the longest is Scouting! Sure there have been times when I have been more active than others, but 40+ years is a long time. I wish I could put my hand on my heart and say that my involvement was in answer to some higher calling or that I felt I was doing this because deep down I was serving some higher power. But that's not true. I think I do this because I'm having fun and really am enjoying myself. Boy!! That sounds very selfish!! I really do enjoy the people that I have met because of Scouting. I really do enjoy spending time with the young people. The little Tiger Cubs all the way up to the older guys and lately the girls. I feel deeply honored that they are willing to give up their time to spent time with an old codger like me. Thanks to my involvement with Scouting I've mixed with kids from the flats (projects) and Kings, Lords, and just about everyone from every class, color and creed. I like to think that maybe thanks to Scouts and Scouting I'm maybe a nicer person? Maybe a better parent? Maybe a better boss? And maybe a better employee? At times I have laughed so hard that I thought I'd split a rib and things have happened that have made me cry. Thanks to Scouting I learned how to cook, eat burnt food, hike in the rain and not feel too down hearted. I also learned how to laugh at myself and keep my ego in check. I learned that kids can see right through you, they know if you really care or are just playing at it. I have been amazed at how honest kids really are and how even the little toads grow up to be really nice adults. I'm getting better at not sweating the little stuff and I'm working hard on taking plenty of no notice. I've seen some of the best firework displays ever!! But I think I'd trade them for time spent talking with a group of Scouts around the embers of a camp fire. One of these days, I'm not sure when? We will move far from the cold Pennsylvanian winters to a place where it's a little warmer and I'll quit. I don't know what I'll do to fill the void? But right now I love this Scouting stuff. Eamonn.

Lisa'bob I was our Council Training Chairman when the Committee Challenge Training came out. Back when you posted that you had gone to District wide Training for this I thought it was very odd. That just isn't the way the training is designed to be delivered. We are a small Council with less than 100 Troops split into four Districts. I ordered 8 kits (Not hard I just went to the Council Service Center and asked for them to be ordered. When they came in I said for them to be charged to each District - We recovered the money by selling the committee members Trained Patches!!) We hold an annual Training for the District Training Team and cover the challenge. The Council offers free rank advancement patches, we added taking the challenge to the requirements for free rank advancement. Each district has two kits, one that the District Training Chair has signed out and one that the District Boy Scout Training Chairman has signed out. Committees are urged to plan to take the training and the District guys are urged to push it. We found newer units wanted to jump on it, while the old "We always do it this way" units were a little slow. Offering it as a District Training will lead to some of the Training "Junkies" (The guys who seem to take each and every training and the brag about it!!) becoming elitist and if everyone isn't on the same page what good is the training? Sure we still have a few units that have not taken the training. I don't think they ever will!! They tend to view any one from the outside as some sort of spy?? I had one group come to my home for it, we opened a bottle of wine ate some good cheese and had a great time. (No uniforms or Scouts in sight.) When we treat adults like adults and have fun Scouting is a lot more enjoyable!! Trying to deliver this in the way that it wasn't supposed to be delivered is to my mind a waste of everyones time. Why not do it right? Eamonn.

The Guide to Safe Scouting offers th following: All members of the Boy Scouts of America are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with the principles set forth in the Scout Oath and Law. Physical violence, hazing, bullying, theft, verbal insults, and drugs and alcohol have no place in the Scouting program and may result in the revocation of a Scout's membership in the unit. If confronted by threats of violence or other forms of bullying from other youth members, Scouts should seek help from their unit leaders or parents. Unit Responsibilities Adult leaders of Scouting units are responsible for monitoring the behavior of youth members and interceding when necessary. Parents of youth members who misbehave should be informed and asked for assistance in dealing with it. The BSA does not permit the use of corporal punishment by unit leaders when disciplining youth members. The unit committee should review repetitive or serious incidents of misbehavior in consultation with the parents of the child to determine a course of corrective action including possible revocation of the youth's membership in the unit. If problem behavior persists, units may revoke a Scout's membership in that unit. When a unit revokes a Scout's membership, it should promptly notify the council of the action. The unit should inform the Scout executive about all incidents that result in a physical injury or involve allegations of sexual misconduct by a youth member with another youth member. It seems to me that you are a little unsure if Scott is in fact telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Some 12 year old Lad especially little Lad's with over protective Moms have been known to twist the truth and use things in order to manipulate their parents and other adults. Scott sounds to me like he is a little toad. But Toad or not he doesn't deserve to be bullied. At 14 Harry is developing a real sense of justice. If he is indeed innocent blaming him for something that he isn't guilty of will cause a lot of harm. I think my first step would be to get the two of them an other adult who knows how to nod and shake his /her head and not say anything. I'd then proceed to give both of them my best Scout Oath and Scout Law lecture, I'd make sure I had a very pained look on my face, telling them both how saddened I am this is happening in this Troop and on my watch. I'd let them both know that telling lies and bullying is not going to be tolerated and if I as much as suspect or smell any ill feelings between the pair of them, that I will be calling their parents to come and pick them up and calling the Troop Committee Chair to take it from there. I'd explain that I just don't have time for this sort of foolishness. Then I'd let them know that my nodding buddy and myself will be watching them like hawks. I'd ask them both if they understood what I'd just said? Then I'd have my buddy lead them both in reciting the Scout Oath and Law. Of course now that I've made a promise I would go out of my way to keep an eye on the pair of them. But I would do everything I could to catch them doing things right and praise them for it. I'd keep a special eye out for the occasion when Scott is being a little toad and Harry doesn't thump him and praise Harry for not thumping him. If this doesn't work? I would have no alternative but to follow the G2SS. Eamonn.

Of course if he has great looking Knees like mine (So says Her Who Must Be Obeyed !!) He might want to show them off in a kilt and join a local unit. Back in the day.... When I was a service team member at Walton Firs National Camp Site in Cobham we seen a lot of T184 -Nice group they redid the chapel for us. Eamonn. (This message has been edited by Eamonn)