Eamonn

Hi Joe, Welcome. Reading your post, I really think that both you and your son are in the wrong Troop. I get the impression that he really can't be happy. I know I wouldn't be. Get outta there find a Troop that works for you and junior. Eamonn.

"Using the rule that official BSA uniform gear is always official, I have a 1930's campaign hat made by Stetson (size 7 1/8) with the original BSA pin. Well worth the 5 points" The hat isn't in question! It's the head and what program the head is in. What's it they say: If you want to get ahead get a hat, if you want to get a hat get a head? Of course the Sea Scouts are the only program that really uses the head -But we aren't going there!!

John-in-KC I think you will find that the campaign hat is not the approved headgear for anyone in the Cub Scouting program. Cub Scouters wearing campaign hats would miss out on the 5 points on the Uniform Inspection Score, have sleepless nights, go to jail, go directly to jail and not collect $200.00 Eamonn. See: http://www.scouting.org/forms/34284.pdf

Meechgalanne So far I haven't read anyone say that there is something wrong with ads about people who are gay? If you have an interest in it feel free to click away. As I type this there is an ad for a Boy Scout Ringtone. I'm not interested in a Boy Scout Ringtone, so I'm not going to click on it. In fact I don't think I'm ever going to be interested a Boy Scout Ringtone, so I'm never going to go there. I don't know too many people who really can't live without a Boy Scout Ringtone, but I'm sure they must sell or give a few away or do whatever they do with them. Eamonn.(This message has been edited by Eamonn)

Just to try and make sure we don't confuse everyone. Most reports from National or the Region will talk about traditional programs. They refer to Cub Scouting, Boy Scouts and Venturing. Many membership reports will include Exploring and LFL. These are not traditional programs, even though Eploring is older than Venturing. Eamonn.

Looking at the report again. National Report: VENTURERS : 180,194 UNITS REGISTERED :17,565 That works out to less than 11 per Crew. I have heard that most of the VARSITY SCOUTS (56,255) are in LDS units. I'm in Area 4 of the NE-Region (13 Councils) We only have 80 Varsity Scouts in 14 units. We have 1,674 Venturers in 203 Units (8 per Crew/ Ship) If we have 30 Sea Scouts in the Ship that has to mean that there are some very tiny little Crews out there? 1,674 in 13 councils? Even with 100 Units we would have twice as many as we need!! I don't know if this is because the volunteers are not wanting to join forces and work together? Or if the Pros and Key 3's are starting Crews in order to make Quality District? No matter what the reason is, it would seem that it isn't working. Kids are leaving the program and are not being replaced. I don't know what the total available youth number for Venturing is? I'd guess about 12 million ? It should be our biggest "Market" and yet we can only reach 180,194 I think that's really sad. Eamonn.

Talking about Cow tipping!! I think I've posted this before - But I like it and it's a good story. We have a lot of youth workers, who come in mainly after school and at weekends. I really like them and get on well with them. Very often they seem to forget that I'm around and I become a fly on the wall. A couple of years back I over heard them talking about going cow tipping. This was something I'd never heard of. Coming from down town London, my education was sadly lacking. I don't know how much was added to the story? However it seems a car load of them went cow tipping and a very irate farmer came after them. These Kids were so loud, I very much doubt if they ever got to tip any self-respecting cow. That night at supper I was telling Her Who Must Be Obeyed and Number One Son about the Kids and their cow tipping adventure. Later a friend of Her Who Must Be Obeyed arrived at our house with a couple of little fellows. I took them, OJ and Shane our Collie -this was BR (Before Rory) for a walk across the fields. The farm next door raises Buffalo and is trying to raise the cross Beef-alo. As we stood at the fence the biggest buffalo I'd ever seen in my life came over to check us out, but he was missing a hind leg. Number One Son, looked at me and said "Hey Dad, we could tip him real easy!!" Eamonn.

Lisabob, You asked: "What would you add?" I'd include the Scout Oath and Law along with the vision and mission statement. My thinking is that it never hurts!! I'd also add some long term and short term goals. I'd talk with the Troop members adult and youth, trying to if nothing else get them thinking. Every now and then I find myself hung up on a topic or idea. Right now I'm really into the idea that we are only passing through. The Scouts we have in the units will not be there forever and the adults will in time for one reason or another be gone. While we spent most of our time serving the Scouts we have today, I think we have some sort of a responsibility to ensure that the unit will be there long after we have gone. In order to make this happen we need to ensure that the CO really feels that they have ownership of the unit. Maybe you might want to add a wish list. The more money that the CO has in the unit the more they should feel that they own it!! I also have a very mean streak. I think I'd be tempted to add something about how many District Committee meetings Troop Committee meetings the COR attended and make mention of the fact that he or she did or didn't attend the Council Executive Board Annual Meeting. If he or she is attending I'd praise the heck out of him. If not, I'd make it known that the Unit is feeling let down by this lack of representation. But this is just me and my evil twin!! Eamonn.

Thanks for clearing that up Terry. The Scouts in our Ship asked if they could start a "Group Page" Their first choice was something on "My Space." I've never visited the My Space site, but due to all the recent bad publicity it's been getting I said maybe it wasn't such a good idea. They settled for a Yahoo Group. It is really helping with our communication, which has been a problem. It doesn't cost us anything and I don't need to learn any new skills to use it. I do have to wait for the group owner to OK everything I post (Yeoman is on a power trip??) We do have to put up with the ads. I think somehow they use keywords. When we talked about Kayaking we seen lots of ads that had to do with kayaking. I think maybe the discussion on medals may have led to jewelery and we do have a history of discussing gay topics. I'm not into jewelry, most of the time I don't even wear a watch, but next time I'm in the market for a toe ring -I'll know where to look. I'm happy to ignore the ads that don't interest me. Eamonn.

BadenP With respect. I don't know or have a break down of membership by CO. In the NE-Region we don't have that many LDS units. I also have a different view of the role of a DE. However, I do think it's a crying shame that what I'm calling the quest for quality has eroded my trust in professional Scouters. Of course there are still very many great people who serve Scouting from the professional side. But even these good people are being asked to push personal ethics aside, by their bosses. I think in part this is one reason why the turn over is so high. Eamonn.

I seen this a few years back and thought it was a great idea. I asked our SE if we could do something along these lines? Sadly he said that we couldn't National wanted to use this only in the Soccer and Scouting program as an outreach to Hispanic youth and families. Of course we all know that SE's walk on water and are never wrong and would never tell a fib?? We used soccer as a recruiting tool back home in the UK for years. At one time my local soccer club Fulham, were really bad. Their grounds were by the river next to Bishop's Park (Which has Fulham Palace, which was at that time the residence of the Bishop of London) Very often when Fulham was losing big time we would turn around and watch the cubs playing in the park. In fact the first time Her Who Must Be Obeyed came to visit me in England. I met her at the airport. Dropped her bags at my house and rushed her off to watch the Cubs from the 17th Fulham play the 23rd Fulham. We (17th)won. Eamonn.

In our area it seems that the Scouts are long gone before they age out. The Lads that are left, become the minority with a big band of younger Lads becoming the majority. One big complaint I hear a lot from older Scouts is that they don't like having to "Look after the little kids." While I do see Leaders in this forum post news about really great activities that they offer for older Scouts, I just don't see this happening in our Council. I wish I knew why? Some leaders just are happy to camp at the same old places and don't seem able to help the Scouts come up with a program that offers them the adventure and challenges that they need. Hey!! Even poking the fire with a stick get old after a while!! A lot of Troops have fallen into the week at Summer Camp and a big outing every summer. The big outing is the Scouts playing tourist, visiting places that might well seem interesting to the adults, but they never ask the Scouts "Where do you want to go?" The highlight of some of these trips, from what I hear from the Scouts is a visit to Wal-mart!! That sounds as challenging as watching paint dry!! Some adults tell me that the kids just can't afford to participate in the more adventurous activities! Yet when the Council offers high adventure activities or the Jamboree, most times there is a waiting list. I believe that Scouts and their parents are willing to pay for a quality program. High Adventure Venturing Crews, show be able to fill this void. Sadly, it seems we just don't seem to have the adult leadership who are able to pull this off. Sure it sounds like a good idea, but so many Crews, with so few kids in them it just isn't happening. Powder Horn, which I admit I've had very little to do with should help introduce these guys to the activities that these kids yearn for? To date we have never offered a Powder Horn course in our Council, we just don't have the numbers to fill the course. The few people who have taken it went to Cleveland.(170 Miles from where we are at!!) Sure they all had a wonderful time, two weekends of playing kid. But it did nothing to introduce them to what is available in our area.We have just about everything on our doorstep, but they rarely if ever make use of it. While I don't want to get into the "Young Eagle Debate", it does seem that a lot of Troops are just offering MB Classes, which result in Scouts becoming Eagle Scouts at a young age. They may well have leadership skills coming out of their ears, but they lack the skills that would help them really take on challenges and provide real adventure. So they quit. With how busy the kid of this age are, it seems really hard to find dates when they are all free. Mercenary as it may seem, my time is valuable. I don't mind giving up my time to take 25% of the Ship away. That means about 6- 8 kids. I don't think I'd be as willing to take 2!! I don't think they would have as much fun, our Scouts seem to enjoy just being together as much as anything. Maybe the number of youth required to start a crew or recharter a crew or Ship should be increased? Cut the number of units and improve the quality of the program? Eamonn.

TOTAL CUB AGE = 1,141,446 (Down 6.5% from this time last year) TOTAL SCOUT AGE = 802,959 (Down 4% from this time last year) VENTURERS = 180,194 (down 10.1% from this time last year) TOTAL MEMBERS = 2,124,599 (down -5.9%) LEARNING FOR LIFE = 1,597,036 (down -1.6%) Boy Oh Boy, Things are not looking that great. I can't get over the number of Venturers that are no longer in the program. To go from 200,532 down to 180,194. is one heck of a drop!! Here in the NE-Region we went from 30,244 down to 26,560. These 26,560 are in 2,207 units. That would mean that we have a lot of small Crews? 26,000 Kids from the entire NE-Region? That's really sad!! We have 31 Sea Scouts, that must mean that some Crews/ Ships only have four or five members? Can they really expect to deliver a quality program to so few members? Eamonn (This message has been edited by Eamonn)

Some say it's very much like tracking Guinea-pigs in Peru. How goes the great American Novel?? Great to see you back. Eamonn.

ScoutNut Wow! How things have changed. The bit about; The university, is trying to educate their students & faculty would never have happened back in the day!! Maybe I ought to keep OJ home next year and send Rory!! (Posted with tongue in cheek!) Eamonn.

Rory the cute little eight pound puppy that Her Who Must Be Obeyed presented me with on Christmas day 2004, is now eighty-two pounds. He is very light colored for a Goldie. Much lighter than his parents were. He graduated from Puppy School and for the most part is a very obedient dog. I looked into further training but it was mainly to do with hunting. I don't hunt and didn't want to invest $900.00. He really enjoys our "Big Walk". Every day we take off for a little over an hour. We cover about 3 miles or more. Walking mainly through the fields. Some have corn planted in them some are just grass/hay fields. About 15 minutes are spent on his leash, reinforcing his training. The rest of the time he is free. He loves water and muddy puddles!! He is my first Goldie. A real character, with his own personality. I love him dearly, but he doesn't seem as bright as the collies I've had. He doesn't seem to know what is going on around him. That or he is just lazy. He does give the odd robin a chase, but doesn't seem to take any notice of groundhogs, rabbits. He completely missed the red fox I seen the other day. Yesterday three deer were crossing and he spotted them. They were to far away, he gave chase but they were long gone before he got anywhere near them. This must have hurt his ego. Today he spotted them and had the angle just right. He took off. Three white tailed deer a Mom and two fawns. He was catching up on the smallest one when Mom came after him!! I've never seen such a thing, she was chasing him and winning. He was barking. But she just kept going after him. Being the big brave dog that he is he ran back to me. She gave up. He remained very close to me for the rest of the walk. Talk about motherly love. Eamonn(This message has been edited by Eamonn)

I echo BadenP and VentureScoutNY. Trying to find a Troop with Scouts that age might be hard!! My fear would be that he would just see the stuff needed to advance as being a little silly (It's not, but selling it to a Lad going on 17 is a tough sell.) If he decides that advancement really isn't his cup of tea. He could still have a good time and enjoy himself. But to be very honest my son lost interest in the Troop when he was 16. If it hadn't been for the OA and now Sea Scouting he'd be long gone. Of course the $64,000 question is what does he want to do? Eamonn.

Sure at times I'm a arrogant little toad. I go out of my way to do my best. When it works I enjoy it. When it doesn't I try harder. I did my first Wood Badge Course at Gilwell Park 30 years ago!! I did for all the wrong reasons!! I needed it in order to be a ASM for the 1975 World Jamboree. I was young. Full of myself and thought I knew it all -Hey I'm a Queens Scout -There was only one other person on the course who had reached that goal. I was so busy showing off I didn't learn very much. When I was first asked to staff a course (It was a Cub Scout Course.) Before and up until the first development weekend I wanted that third bead. The participants didn't really count. I wanted that third bead. In them dark days staff had to write a ticket. It wasn't until I sat down to write that ticket that it dawned on me the course wasn't about me and that third bead, it was about the participants. I went on to staff Boy Scout Wood Badge Courses in different Councils. Some of the Scoutmasters were so full of themselves it just wasn't funny. Some courses were like family reunions, the same old crew doing the same old stuff, maybe adding some new stupid idea. I seen Scoutmaster chairs carried all over the place, silly thumb sticks, extra patches. It was so far removed from the idea of servant leadership it wasn't funny. The last old style course I staffed was very different. The Scoutmaster let it be known that none of this silliness would be tolerated. He made the good old boys remove all the extra patches and followed the syllabus. Sadly the first new course I staffed wasn't very good. When I looked at the staff I seen why. We only had two new faces. At least six of the staff had been Scoutmasters of the old course. A lot of time was spent talking about the good old days. When I got the opportunity to be a Course Director, I started by looking for people who would get "It". Of a staff of 22 only 5 had previous Wood Badge Staff experience. Sadly I had to let one guy go. He was only there for the third bead!! I have over the years enjoyed attending the Gilwell Reunion, when it was only for Wood Badge holders. When I wear a Boy Scout uniform, I wear my beads with pride. I'm arrogant enough to think that maybe I in some way have helped the leaders I have worked with and I'm hopeful enough that they will do a better job for the units they serve because of participating. I'm also realistic enough to know that if you send an idiot to Wood Badge, at the end of the course you have an idiot with a Wood Badge. I'm not sure but if you belong to a group of over 100,000 can you really be considered elitist? Eamonn.

What a sad situation. While I would normally accept any advise that the gentleman from NJ offers. I kinda think he is a little off on this one. The problem is that there isn't a BSA policy. I'm guessing (I don't know!!) that this is by design. The policy would be the policy of the Chartering Organization. Following what the Beavah said. The money or funds were raised in the name of the Chartering Organization and technically belong to that organization, as do any dues paid. Being as this money is not owned or managed by the BSA there is no policy. Of course if a Scout had made payments toward camp from money not from unit sponsored fund raising he should be repaid. OK - So that's how it is. But. Back when I was a Cubmaster, when the time came for a little fellow to cross over, he took whatever money he had in his account with him. The Church really had no idea what money was where or what it was being spent on, even though the COR was at most Pack Management Committee meetings. So maybe I was giving away money that wasn't mine to give?? Right now we have just had a Lad join the Ship. He is 15 and has been (Mostly thanks to his Dad) been the top Popcorn seller in the Council since he was a Tiger Cub. He has over $4,000 in his account!! The Troop can't wait to get rid of the money. I don't think our Ship Treasurer really wants it. I would talk to everyone concerned and remind them that we are in this for the kids. Eamonn.

Can't help thinking that at times allowing things to be as they are when they are wrong only allows us to keep on getting what we got. We know who should be presenting this charter. How it is made really doesn't matter. Just as we make a big deal and have COH and BOH when we present advancements and badges, the presentation of a charter is a big deal. While I have a lot of respect for a lot of professionals, they are employees and Charter Presentations is not their job. I'm sorry John-in-KC, but I fail to see how things will ever get better if you aren't willing to help them along. CNYScouter Your DE is a member of a key 3. In most cases you will find it is far better if volunteers talk to volunteers. Your DE has a different agenda than the volunteers. You need to talk with your Dist Commissioner, he is the person who appoints, Commissioners, if he isn't doing his job, talk to the District Chairman, if there is no joy there move on to the Council Commissioner and then the Council President. Council Presidents don't like to have this sort of thing on their desk. I bet after one call or a couple of E-Mails you will have a unit commissioner. If they are not doing what they are supposed to be doing go through the system again. Accepting bad service and looking for ways not to do things right only makes things worse. OK so you might get the reputation of being a real pain, but this isn't about you. It's about a unit that hopefully will be there long after you have gone. Having been a District Commissioner and District Chair, I really took phone calls from volunteers to heart, particularly calls from new units. While I hate to sound judgmental, I think your DE would do a better job and help the District more if he stopped trying to do everything and started helping with selecting people who could do the job and know what they are talking about. Eamonn.

Call the District or Council Commissioner. Tell him what is going on. As Skipper you might say that you are part of the Chartering Organization. So in some ways it would be like buying yourself a birthday card.(Your name is on the charter!!) We are a volunteer organization. The DE isn't a volunteer. Eamonn.

This is very close to home. Over the holiday weekend we had a 300 mile each way trip. At the start it seemed anything and everything that could go wrong did. Mom of a Sea Scout who is learning to drive let her Daughter back out of the drive way (No she a driver on the trip!!) Whatever she did she did something to the tire and it went down hill from there. We had planned to be on the road by a little after 1500, but thanks to delay after delay it was almost 1700 and we still weren't on the turnpike!! I'd E-mailed the address of where we were going to the drivers. It seems they are all unable to use Mapquest. So I E-mailed the printer friendly directions and the link. I called to make sure that they had the directions. Mom with tire seemed a little put out that I'd mailed them to her twice. Needless to say when we were 20 miles from home she remembered that she had forgotten them!! PA Turnpike is easy -No fear. Just had a Scout phone and tell her what exit to get off. Informed her that we would all meet at the first rest stop in Maryland (She knew it well, it's the one where her Daughter lost her cell phone-She drove there 3 days later and it had been handed in.) She was behind me when we pulled out of the rest stop. But we got separated. Out came the cell phones. The beltway is about as close to driving in London as I know, only faster. It's getting dark. I'm not in the best of moods. Mom calls informs me that Daughter is now hungry. Like Queen Victoria, I am not amused. I say we will find somewhere to stop when we are on Martland RTE. 5 They call -They are lost!! "Where are you?" "We don't know!" "Have you gone past such and such?" "We weren't paying attention!!" "You need to find 5 south" We drive until we find a landmark and call to tell them where we are. We wait. They arrive about ten minutes later. Daughter is still hungry. We find a Burger King. Wait ten minutes without even being asked what we want. I get mad and walk out. Go to McDonald's. Half of us get what we ordered. Some of the Scouts wait and are told they forgot to put the order in!! Manager is having a problem with some older teenagers, he asks them to leave. A fight brakes out. Passing Policeman arrives. We leave. I'm now in a really bad mood. Sarah (Not the Daughter) needs to use the bathroom. We stop at a gas station. OJ decides peeing is a good idea!! Comes out saying he can't use the bathroom it's to dirty!! I tell him it's pee or die!! Allen remembers he has Internet access on his cell phone. He has been listening to the music he down-loaded on it for the last 200 miles. (OJ and TJ are watching movies on my laptop in the back seat) I hand over my directions.Allen is now directing me. We arrive only almost 3 hours later than planned. They left for home on Sunday night. I waited till Monday. Kinda gives new meaning to "Be Prepared" Mom and Daughter are coming to Georgia with us. I'm driving. We are packing sandwiches. I'm buying OJ a toilet brush for his birthday. And I love cell phones. Eamonn.

Talking as an Ex-District Commissioner. Technically (Whatever that might mean??) You don't have much say in the presentation of the charter. That is up to the Unit or District Commissioners. I'd give them a call. I'm sure with the Scouts you have and their help you can come up with something. We opted to wait till we had all the Scouts in Whites, so we could use it as a photo-op in our local newspaper. Eamonn.

I have heard that some members from the National Office are visiting Councils to do spot checks on membership. I don't know if this is true or not? Sometime back I also heard that Boy's Life was being used to see if any cheating was going on? The idea being that no one would spend the extra money paying for a subscription for pretend members. While I'm sure that we all agree that this sort of thing is both very sad and just plain wrong. I really don't think that anyone in the National Office is in any way responsible. I think it is the work of a few people who really need to take a long hard look at their values. For ten years I as a member of a key 3 really worked my tail off trying to make sure that our District was a Quality District. We (Me) were not happy when we didn't make it. We felt like we had in some way let the side down, but we picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves down and started working on the next year. Sadly the bar was lowered the next year. Worse still is today when I look at the small Troops, I'm reminded of the year we failed to meet the Cub Scout goal by 125 Cub Scouts. 125 Lad's that are not in Boy Scouts today. I have to admit that I'm having a lot more fun today. I really don't worry about membership. The Ship is doing well and I can worry about the important stuff. Kids and Program. I'm happy to see any youth who wants to join the Ship. I'm happy to work hard helping them come up with things they enjoy doing. I'm happy that we are becoming known and respected in our community. I'm happy that in a lot of ways we are doing what we can to help the BSA with meeting the Vision and Mission. You might say that I'm one happy little camper. Eamonn.

Merlyn_LeRoy, Sorry I wasn't very clear. This center is run by an organization that has a contract from the state. While it is easy to say this is all about money! I however don't think so. First it costs to pay the membership fee for all these members. Sure $10.00 a head doesn't seem like a lot, but it can mount up in a hurry. A couple of years back the FD we had at the time sweet talked a School District into signing up 400 kids as Venturers (Yes Merlyn_LeRoy I know!!). That's $4,000 that to my way of thinking could have been better spent. I really think ego has a lot to do with it. Our Council is a small one which other than support from a couple of very wealthy people doesn't receive very much money from foundations or the like. Last year the United Way decided that the Council along with 38 other organizations would be de-funded over the next 3 years. Not because of god, gays or anything like that!! They cut all organizations that had a endowment fund. While I wasn't happy about it, I think I can see their point. In fact they are now giving money to the Friends Of Pennsylvanian Sea Scouts a 501 (3) ©,which doesn't have a endowment fund. (An organization very close to my heart!) Joe Hardy from 84 Lumber is a great friend of the Council who really does give a lot of money. Sadly we lost the support of Mr Eberly, he died. While we still receive some funding from the Eberly Foundation, it's nothing like it was when he was alive. Our last Council President who's term of office ended last year didn't seem to have his own agenda. That or there just wasn't the money? The two Council Presidents before him seemed to really want to make sure that their legacy was something grand. Not making Quality Council just wasn't an option, even if we did manage not to make it one year. Eamonn.