Eamonn

Trying to think like a parent and not as someone involved is hard for me. I now feel bad that because I didn't like the idea of Thailand, I dismissed OJ's wanting to go. I wasn't keen on spending $3,500 on him going someplace that I didn't want to go. I'm not going to take all the blame as he could have done a better job of pleading his case. He will be 17 next month and it seems that Scouting in the Troop that he is a member of stops at 16 or soon after reaching Eagle Scout. The Troops in the District or maybe the Scoutmasters in the District seem to lack imagination. Or it could be that they never hold on to the older Scouts long enough to do anything with them. Kind of like the chicken and the egg and which came first? In our Council we do have a High Adventure Committee. They are doing a better job than they used to do, however it seems all they do is offer very limited spaces to Philmont, Sea-base and I think they did try Northern Tier once. It seems to me that the same old same old groups go every time. Looking at our neck of the woods, we have one Scout Camp which has the facilities and the location to offer older Scouts a program that I think they could get their teeth into. It is owned and operated by Greater Pittsburgh, has a fine lake and offers motor boating,is close enough to Laurel caverns, which offers caving, climbing and rappelling and is close enough to the Yough River for white water rafting. There are trails for biking and hiking. I don't know what Heritage Scout Reservation charges for a week at camp? We charge $170.00. I,wearing my parent hat would not blink at paying $300.00 - $350.00 to send OJ to a camp that was action packed and full of fun and adventure. Of course the problem is that the camp is there to serve to members of that Council. I don't think that a Scoutmaster from Greater Pitt. Would be happy to learn that the week that he has always gone to camp is no longer available to him and the troop. One big problem that the District has is that a District doesn't own anything, we are just an arm of the Council, so unless we could talk the Council into buying equipment and maybe allowing the Scouts that want to attend the more expensive activities to fund raise in the name of the Council (Like Jamboree Troops) The district would have to borrow equipment from a unit. Then there is the unhappy SM, who will feel that the District is taking away the older boys. As most of the Scouts have never been trained in certain areas or have skills that are rusty, it wouldn't just be a couple of weeks at the activity, it might mean older scouts missing a few troop events. I can't help thinking that maybe somehow, someway the OA could really be a big help in this area? Eamonn.

I think that parents will spend their hard earned cash on high quality experiences. I think I touched on this in a thread about our District or rather the Troops in our District not offering high quality programs. The problem seems to be at the local level, at least in my area. Scouts seem to do much the same thing at the same time every year. I have to rush off to a Area meeting, but really hope that we can explore this topic and see what gives. I'm unsure if the District, Council, Area or Region should or should not play a more active role. I'm sure some Venturing and Boy Scout Leaders might see this as interference. Eamonn.

I don't as a rule read much when I'm away with Scouts, there seems to be too many other things going on. However I'm looking for a couple of books to take to the Jambo to read when I watching the site!! I have read everything that Grisham has ever done.A lot of what Mario Puzo has done. I read the The Da Vinci Code, in less than 3 days. Any ideas? Eamonn.

I have served as a District Key 3 person for going on nine years. Nearly six of these I served as a District Commissioner. I think the world of our Council Commissioner,he is a super nice Fellow. When it came to rechartering he more than anything didn't want any late charters. He pushed me, I pushed the Assistant District Commissioners, and the Unit Commissioners. We got the Charters out as quickly as possible. The Unit Commissioner met with the unit leader and names were added and names were taken away. Signatures were got and the unit wrote a check. Her Who Must Be Obeyed served as a Pack Treasurer up until a couple of years back. Like any good Treasurer she was very careful with the Packs money. She looked at the Charter very carefully making sure everything was in order. There was no way she was going to spend an extra red cent that didn't have to be spent. The charter went into the Council service center and was processed. The Charters along with a copy of the unit membership went to me as District Commissioner, the District Chairman and the Scout Exec. Also got copies. The Charter was presented to the CO, inside was a copy of the membership. Never once did I see any changes made to a membership list, the names listed when it went in were the same names listed when it came back. About 3 years back we did start a Scoutreach pack in a low income housing project. Due to the people living there being so transient and the membership going from being very high one month and very low the next month, the pack has five boys on the charter. All are listed as J.Doe. I know that there is only five boys on this charter because I personally pay for the rechartering of this unit out of my pocket. I watch the district membership numbers like a hawk,I want to know how we are doing in order to make Quality District. There are no "Ghost Scouts" or "Phantom Units" I can't speak for the rest of the country, but I know the guys in South Western Pennsylvania just wouldn't let it happen. Sure we are a small District, with just over 1,000 members, but I pride myself on knowing each unit and knowing what is going on in the unit, heck I know most of the kids names. Sure there have been a couple of guys who have managed to pull the wool over the eyes of the volunteers, but lets not appoint blame where there isn't any. We have over 300 Councils and I have no idea how many Districts, these Councils and Districts are served by good quality volunteers and to say otherwise is plain downright wrong and I look upon it as a smack in the face and an insult. Eamonn. District Chairman, Braddock Trail District Westmoreland Fayette Council

I feel sure that I will be dressed. I don't care how many extra shots!! Eamonn. (With tongue in cheek or is that check?)

I'll second that Mr.FScouter. As for "i guess you have to hunt for all your life to feel like i do about camo" Can't help wondering how long it takes to feel that way about Scout uniform? And if I should be concerned that people who show that they are unable to follow very simple rules, should be carrying loaded firearms in the woods? Eamonn.

I get fairly regular from Steve. Steve was without a doubt one of the best Scouts ever to to belong to the 17th. His son is now a PL and a little time back Steve became active as an assistant leader. We still laugh about how he landed me in hot water for building a monkey bridge on the training field at Gilwell Park. Some people have no sense of humor!! Eamonn.

How very sad. My prayer is that young Brennan is found safe and sound as quickly as possible. My heart goes out to his parents and Leaders. Prayer to Saint Anthony Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints. O Holy St. Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God and Charity for His creatures made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Miracles waited on your word, which you were ever ready to speak for those in trouble or anxiety. Encouraged by this thought, I implore of you to obtain for me the safe return of Brennan. The answer to my prayer may require a miracle. Even so, you are the saint of Miracles. O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the Sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms, and the gratitude of my heart will ever be yours. Amen. Eamonn.

Thanks for the help. While I do have a lot of friends who will be working as staff members at the Jambo. I think everyone and their brother will be asking them to recharge something, I'm thinking cell phones, lap-tops,batteries and shavers. I really don't want to be a pest!! That's why I was looking at the solar recharger.I have several recharger's that work well at home or in my car, but of course I won't have my car and I'm not at home. Think I will order the solar one and try it before we go just to see how it works or doesn't work. I'm unsure what cameras everyone else is taking, I don't think many of the Scouts have digital cameras and I think they will have the same problems that I'm looking at. Our Jambo Commissioner, also serves as our Council Commissioner, so I did think of bringing a lap-top and dumping the card while he keeps the computer in a safe place. He is a super nice Fellow. I do agree that I now seem to take more shots, than I did when I was paying for film and developing and they are no where near as good. I'm hoping that I get one shot that is good enough to send in to the Scouting Magazine competition!! But that might be wishful thinking. Eamonn.

hacimsaalk12 The sad thing is that the dead guy was from your neck of the woods, and was shot not far from camp sites that you use. I don't hunt, but it seems to me that the Pennsylvania Game Commission, changes the dates of what is in and what isn't in every year. I have been up at Camp Conestoga when guys have been hunting, in fact it has happened twice, once when Turkey was in and once when Squirrel was in. I as a rule know when Deer and Turkey are in, but there is a very long list of times when other game is in. So apart from breaking BSA Article X,Section 4 clause 4 (a) Which it seems so many people seem happy to ignore. If you feel safe running around in state game lands wearing camo, you are a lot braver than I. I would draw your attention to: COYOTE, OPOSSUM, SKUNKS & WEASELS: No closed season, with certain exceptions during deer and spring turkey seasons. No limits. With a season like that Bambi would be glad to move out of the woods. Eamonn.

Welcome to the forum. To be very honest I don't know what to tell you. If you explain the situation to charter organization Rep and the District Executive, they may be able to help. However, I don't know what the computer will come up with when it runs a check. I think, but don't know!! That the Scout Executive (The Boss, in the Council Service Center) may be able to use a certain amount of judgment. If I were you which I know I'm not I would speak to these guys, fill out the application and see what happens. I wish I could have been of more help. Eamonn.

I never really got the photography bug. Over the years I have owned several fairly good cameras a good Pentax. I normally do carry a camera in the car with me. A while back on an impulse I bought a Sony Cyber-shot 3.2 mega-pixels. It isn't the greatest, but for what I use it for it does OK. I e-mail a lot of photos to friends and family. If there are enough good pictures I transfer them to a disk and mail them, but it seems I don't print that many photos. I also use a Samsung compact camera with a small zoom. I hope to take a lot of pictures of the Jamboree and plan to give each Scout a disk at the end. For the Sony I have 16 MB, memory card which came with the camera and I bought a 128MB along with 256MB card. I don't really know how pictures this lot will take. From what I can work out it seems to be around a little over 300. The memory cards are not cheap. A 1GB Sony memory stick runs about $130.00 A 512MB is about $90.00. Are there any tricks to getting more photos on a card without losing too much quality? Also looking in the Campmor catalog they had a battery recharger that was solar powered. Has anyone tried this? And does it work? Eamonn.(This message has been edited by Eamonn)

I swear that I will not roast another Pig as long as I live. The museum next door wanted to try a square dance and pig roast. Most of the people involved in the museum tend to be blue haired ladies that at more at home playing bridge in the country club than anyplace else. I was asked if I could roast a pig. I said sure!! I found a guy called Zip, who was supposed to be an expert pig roaster. He had a trailer type thing with a spit. I met with Zip he gave me one of his caps. I still have the cap. On the front it reads "Zip Eat My Pork". We ordered the pig a beast of an animal close to 160 pounds. Zip and I met early to get the pig a roasting. The spit weighed a lot, the pig weighed a lot. We cooked the pig for about nine hours. Everything was fine until we wanted to remove the pig from the heat. The spit stuck, I burned my eye brows off, when we did get it free I managed to drop the darn thing on my toe, and broke my toe. The next day was OJ's baptism, people came from Canada, Ireland, England for the event. I still have photos of me with a burnt face and no eyebrows and remember limping all through the church. Some years later we started hosting a wild game dinner. Where local hunters donate game and we cooked it raising money for pet charities (You know mine!!) Someone said something about cooking a wild boar. I very quickly said I wanted no part of it. So they dug a trench in the back yard lit a fire early in the AM and started cooking the boar. It was a hot day, the fire was hot and soon the pig roasters got into a few cases of adult beverages, every now and then basting the poor pig with half a can of what made Milwaukee famous. We saved the pig and send the pig roasters home to sleep it off. Eamonn.

I have over the years done a lot of work for the Wild Turkey Federation, even though I don't hunt. About 20 years ago I attended my first WTF Banquet. After the banquet I was writing to my brother in England. I said how strange it was that the guest speaker was the world champion Wild Turkey caller, and how a room of 600 guys sat and listened to a man make turkey noises. Somehow to a guy from the city I found this really funny. What wasn't funny was when I asked what had became of the previous world champion, it seems he was in the woods wearing his camo, calling in turkeys and someone shot him. There is a lesson in there some where? I do think that we need a rule about not taking any wild or exotic animals to camp. Elephants are a pain to clean up after. Lions and Tigers eat a lot, heck even the kick from an ostrich can land you in the intensive care ward for a week. Worse still is when one of these birds gets tanked up on sweet tea, the mix of sugar and caffeine is just horrible. Next thing you know theres goes the cell phones, game boys and the Scoutmasters lap-top. Eamonn.

Kinda getting off topic, but I hope meamemg will understand. While a Webelos Scout Den Leader, I worked with the Webelos Scouts on the Citizenship Activity Pin. Someone asked how I could do that. I explained that my Son, who was at that time a Webelos Scout, is an American and my wish for him is that he will grow up to be a upstanding fine American citizen. In fact my wish for all the youth I deal with is that they all become fine upstanding citizens. Eamonn.

We have cheap folding, carry in a bag type chairs in all 3 cars that we use to watch his Nibs when he plays soccer. I think they were cheap!! Under $10.00 anyway. I also have a light weight chair that you can use with a Therm-A-Rest pad, I need a seat where I can lean back. This thing is very light but was expensive about $30.00 Eamonn.

Am I missing something? What does a eight year old case of a child molester have to do with the Atlanta Scout Executive? Do People make mistakes? Yes. Did the Atlanta Scout Exec cheat? Yes Does every Scout Executive Cheat? No Are all BSA volunteers child molesters? No Do we go out of our way to protect the children we serve? Yes Eamonn

I honestly do believe that most Scoutmasters are not brain dead. In fact most are intelligent talented people who are also very clever and resourceful. I think most are capable of asking Why? And How? Mr. Scoutmaster sees that attendance at Troop meetings is not good. He asks himself Why? He asks the PLC why? He also asks how can we make meetings better, how can we make our meetings the best show in town? How can we make our meetings so darn good that no one will want to miss one? Being the clever chap that he is he will meet with the PLC after each meeting for a very brief reflection. Maybe when he asked Why? there was a reason why? Maybe a lot of Scouts were involved with a school play or other activity. Maybe it is just a temporary thing that will fix itself in a few weeks? But maybe the Troop meeting night is never going to work and needs to be changed? He could go to the Troop Committee and ask for a by-law but if the meetings are bad all the by-laws under heaven are not going to change things. In another thread we have almost 80 replies on First Class First Year. Again for a moment lets change the first year to a reasonable amount of time. But if Mr.Scoutmaster is looking over the advancement records and sees that a lot of the Scouts who have been in the troop for a while are not reaching First Class he has to ask himself why? He will go to the Leadership team and ask why? Then he will see how they can fix what isn't working. Look for where the hold up is and do something about fixing it. I could go on and ask Why the Troop members are wearing uniform and see how that could be turned around. Why the PLC is not up to snuff? Why Scouts get lost on every hike? Why Scouts are not attending Camp-outs? But far more important is the How do we go about fixing it and getting it right!! Believe me the answer does not lie in a bunch of stupid rules and by-laws. Eamonn.

RUN!! Get out ASAP. Eamonn

I read all that unnecessary, unwanted and unwarranted dribble. The thing that amazes me is how anyone can say: "Kudos to Ted....you should rant more often." As leaders we provide our Scouts with the information and show them the "How to". We are in the business of helping them to make choices. Not be mindless rule followers. As to: How do we make sure those elected by their peers are ready to aid in the delivery of a good program? We train and support them. This is the number one role of the Scoutmaster. However if he is so busy trying to enforce stupid rules, I doubt if he has time to deliver the real Scouting program. In fact I have very real concerns about the leadership ability of any of the adults in this unit. Eamonn.

I am not an American citizen. From the very limited research I have done it seems that it is up to the individual. He can as Hunt states:stand respectfully while the Pledge is being recited, or if he wishes he can salute the Flag and not say the words. On the rare occasion that someone has at the very last second (When everyone is standing up!!) asked me to lead the pledge, I normally just ask someone else to do it. We did a few activities with Americans while I lived in England. At one camp site where there was an American school near by and a BSA troop who used the site a lot we had two flag poles of the same size, and two flags of approx the same size. At Flag ceremonies we would raise both flags at the same time. Which was a change for the British Scouts who normally Break the Union Flag. At a RAF base where there was a lot of American servicemen, I noticed that they stood to attention with the RAF guys and both the USAF and the RAF saluted while both National anthems were played. On September 12,2001 Queen Elizabeth II planned a special Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Thursday to honor the victims of the attacks. A military band played the American national anthem, which was followed by two minutes of silence. This was the first time the national anthem of another country was ever played outside of Buck House. Eamonn.

I don't know port from starboard!! While we do have the Youghiogheny River running through the District, I really know nothing about Sea Scouts or Sea Scouting, there were a good number of Sea Scouting units in the UK, but I never had much dealings with them. I of course see the need for a program for older Scouts and the potential of serving more youth from our community. I have wearing my District hat been instrumental in starting a number of new Venturing units, in fact one of these is the Crew that it seems that everyone looks upon as being the model of what a good crew should be. That's the good news the bad news is that I also helped start two crews that only lasted a year and never really got off the ground. It is easy to blame poor leadership and there was some of that, but I can't help thinking that the adults were much like me and the program just wasn't something that they could sink their teeth into. Plan B, would of course be to start a new Troop, which in time could offer activities for every age group, but would do nothing for the Scouts who are to my mind being cheated out of some of what Scouting could offer them. BadenP I really don't think I have that big a problem with a coed program. I have to admit to having never worked with young girls. I have worked with female leaders and feel sure that I am in no way a sexist. What you see as the beauty of this program,is exactly what I don't like. I'm not saying it doesn't work. The Crew that is doing well proves that it can and does work. My problem is that I see this need and there really is a need, but the people who are in need are happy being Boy Scouts, they just are not being offered the fun and the adventure that could be theirs. I could very well be a stuffed shirt, but I like Boy Scouting, and the methods of Boy Scouting and the Boy Scout program. While there are people who were great Cubmasters and Den Leaders, but never really understood and in some cases never really liked their new role. I feel that would be me in Venturing. It could very well be that what I want to do just can't be done. I feel certain that there is little or no chance of changing the way our Scoutmasters do business, they are set in their ways. It would be wrong of me to go out of my way to "Poach" their older Scouts, but the truth is that many of the Scouts are doing very little with the Troops and very few will stick around much after their 16th birthday. There are a few like my son who is going on 17, but really the only thing making him stay is his involvement with the Order of the Arrow. He is now a JASM, but has no real interest in what the Troop is doing, because they have done it so many times. Almost like the Batman TV show "Same Bat time, same Bat Channel". But last week he went and bought a new pair of long Scout pants. The Troop seems to have an open door policy once you are 16 you can look in and visit, tag along if you want, but nothing or no one seems willing to go out of their way to do anything with these guys. Two years back a ASM decided that he liked the green shirt and started a Venture Crew. They sat around for months writing by-laws and had a T-shirt made, they helped with the running of a District Camporee, went skiing once and they only done that because I drove them, their leader was too busy and they organized a weekend camp-out. The Crew President, was very much the outdoor type.When I dropped OJ, off at the camp site he had all sorts of books on wilderness survival along with vast amounts of rope?? But when I looked in the building that they were using there was a video game system and a pile of DVD's a mile high. That weekend was the last thing they ever did. Soon after everything fell apart and this year the Crew didn't recharter. Of course the problem wasn't the video game system, the DVD's or the wilderness survival, it was poor leadership all the way around. Yes kids that age like to play video games and watch TV,and while I don't have a problem with the small electronic things that some kids bring to camp, I somehow can't see me helping to organize a camp-out where the guys empty out their bedroom and bring the contents to camp!! While this example only shows the lack of leadership and poor communication, the fact is that both the Wilderness Survival group and the video group were both doing something which is acceptable within the Venturing program. While there is a lot to be said about being social, I don't think that a Scout camp is the right setting. Eamonn.

It would be very wrong of me to try and make it seem that I in any way represent or talk with any real authority when it comes to The Scout Association. I don't. I still have some dealings with UK Scouting, mainly because of a Scout Headquarters that is worth a very large amount of money and being as there is no longer a Scouting unit there it is going back to the Scout Association. I am listed as a trustee of the building. I was up until about a year ago still listed as a member of the 17th Fulham (Pioneers). However when the Scout Group was no longer. I didn't remain a member. I have been very happy to serve in what way I can, here in the USA for the last twenty years. Where I live now is not a diverse area, in fact the HS that my son attends has less than ten African American students and I don't think it has any Hispanic, or Native American Students. But I live out in the sticks. The Council has very few scouts that would not fall under the heading of white. Please don't get back to me with the correct terminology, I'm tired and it's been a long day! Back home twenty years ago, the Troop I served as Scout Leader (Scoutmaster) was located in Southwest London. At our peak, before I split the Troop, we had 90 Scouts (11 -16 Year old) About 40% of these were white, the other 60% were from all over the globe. We had a lot of West Indians Scouts, most of their parents were from Jamaica, Barbados and that neck of the woods. We also had a lot of Asian Scouts, their parents came from India and Pakistan. We had a couple of Jewish Scouts and the Religious believes were many. Just like we have Harlem in New York, twenty years ago we had areas of London that became home to one race more than another. Where I lived at one time had been home to a lot of people from Ireland. I remember taking Her Who Must Be Obeyed to a bar in Hammersmith, where an Irish band was playing and some guys came around collecting money to support the IRA. Brixton, was home to a lot of West Indians. Ealing, where I went to college was home to a lot of Sheiks. Some of these areas became the way they were because, the white people didn't want a person who was different living next door. My Father told me that when he first came to London in the 1940's employers would have help wanted signs or ads but it stated very clearly that "No Irish need apply. The same sign was on rental properties. My Mother loved our Pakistani Doctor, but used the term Darkies, for West Indians. My Parents remained Irish all their lives. Citizenship was a little messed up, but that's a long and very boring story. I at present hold dual citizenship, both English and Irish. In this forum not so long back there was a thread about what to do at a Hockey game when the Canadian National Anthem was played? I mentioned that when the Pledge of Allegiance is said at Scout meetings I stand quietly but do salute the American Flag. Some Forum members questioned my saluting the flag? I did a little research and found out that it my choice. The rules of the BSA were changed several years ago, and Non- Americans were allowed to become Leaders in the BSA. I have heard but never seen talk about having people like me not say " and my country" and replace it with "and in the country in which I'm now living". I view the USA as being mine, because I live here, I pay taxes here,My wife is a very proud American as is my son and chances are that I'm going to be here until the day that I die. I also love the USA and think that maybe one day I will understand some of the things that I still don't understand!! With the UK being so diverse, I can see that some people would not be happy promising to do their duty to the Queen. I am not saying that I agree with them, but I can see it. There were times when things happened in Northern Ireland, when I was very unhappy with what was being done there in the name of the Queen!! As for the decline in membership in the UK, I have no idea what was going wrong. I could point the finger and say how the District I was in from age 8 till 28, had 19 Scout Troops, 21 Cub Scout packs and about half a dozen Venture Units and today there is no longer a District it has been merged with five other Districts, because there were only 8 Scouting units operating in the old District. This however doesn't tell the whole story. The real story has to do with the cost of property. About 45 years ago my Father bought a house in the area, it was the first house on that street that sold for over 1,000 Pounds (The exchange rate really doesn't make any difference. I think the rate today is something like one pound UK buys about $1.85, but I haven't checked lately) Everyone said he was nuts and he would never get his money back. About 25 years ago I bought the house next door and paid 76,000 pounds. My Mother passed away a few years ago and the house that Dad paid a little over 1,000 was sold to settle the estate, it sold for 435,000 pounds. People are changing the what were family houses into apartments and they aren't having kids. Not only is there no room, but they can't afford them. Of course this isn't happening all over the UK. I think that the Scout Association, seen the decline in membership about ten years ago. They spent a lot of time looking at what could be done. They looked back at the last time the program was really changed back in 1969. They moved ahead with new programs (Which I think look very much like the pre-1969 programs, with different names) They changed the uniforms, in fact they made a lot of changes. I don't live there so I don't know the mood of the people. I hear that Sir Elton John is waiting till after Christmas to get married to a man, the wait is because then it will be legal. Homosexuals do seem to be accepted in a more friendly light than over here in the USA. I don't know what the reason is or even if there is a reason. Friends of mine that are Leaders over there seem to be getting used to the new programs, but only time will tell if the changes will help stop the decline in membership. I like a lot of the ideas that they have come up with, but I don't have any idea if they would or could work over here. I admire the fact that they seen that there was a problem and done what they thought would work for them, of course what might work for them doesn't necessarily mean it would work over here. A very dear friend of mine is the Group Scout Leader of the 2nd Cuddington (Rowe) Scout Group, which is a litte way (A few miles from London. They have a web site which does need a little updating but if you visit it, I think you will see a group of Scouts (OK a few are female!) having a good time doing very much the same things that our Scouts do over here. http://www.2ndcuddingtonscouts.org.uk/index2frameset.htm Eamonn

Some people do their best thinking in the shower,I seem to do mine while walking the dog. We go out everyday,I have just under eight acres and next door we have the Antique Farm Equipment Association. They have sixty-six acres. They are a nice group, made up mostly of old farmers and tractor enthusiasts. We have to get along as they can't get to their property without using a road that is on my property and I own land which to get too I have to go through their property. I can get to mine but have to drive a couple of miles. They could talk nice to the Frick Foundation and see about getting a right of way from them. We never ever talk about any of this, they have been next door for about 12 years. They have a couple of festivals a year, a few tractor pulls and are involved with a apple festival where they make apple cider. This seems to be their main source of income. They have a enormous big sawmill which they have used to make boards with and have built a fair number of buildings. Some are for storing the equipment, but they have buildings where they sell food and soft drinks and a meeting building. None of this is used in the winter and isn't used very much the rest of the year. I think with all that land they really need to charter a Scouting unit. When I take a long hard look at the Troops in the District, I see that the program they are offering to the older Scouts is not good, in fact it is really bad. The logical thing would be to start a Crew. These guys next door would I'm sure if asked by myself go for it, especially if they knew that I was going to be part of it. Not that I'm that good, but it comes under the heading; the devil you know. I however have a problem, I really don't like the Venturing program. Maybe I have been involved with Troops and Packs for too long? I am unwilling to change the program into something that I think it should be and think might work. That would be wrong and isn't the way I do things. I like the idea of having a group of Boy Scouts, who would if their Troops had such a thing as a Venturing Patrol, all coming together to do more adventurous and activities that they can't do in their troop. I could I suppose start a new Troop and let it be known that this was the area that we were going to follow, but that wouldn't be fair to the troops. I feel bad because I know without too much effort I could have 20 youth at the get go and would have 50 in next to no time (Within a year) Maybe I'm missing something, but I need (I need) a program that is more structured than the Venturing program seems to be. I like the advancement program to be an in your face program. I like real uniforms, not this free what ever the group feels like this month. I like patrols. None of which Venturing offers. At this time I know that the problem is me and the only person to fix it or do anything about it is me. But I don't want to start something and put the time and effort in to it, while all the time moaning and groaning about how much I dislike it. Eamonn.

Every Troop in the District, except one which is dead by it refuses to lie down. Is returning to our Council Summer camp. Most if not all sign up for the same week, same site next year before they leave this year. Deposits are due sometime in early March and everyone does everything possible to get in at the discount price. While this is good for the Council and good for the camp, the down side is that never in all the time that I have been in this District have I heard of a Troop going some place else or participating in a high adventure activity. Strange thing is that the Council for the Jamboree sends two Troops, a North Troop from the two Districts from the north end of the Council and a South Troop made up from the two Districts from the South end. We only have one Lad attending the Jamboree from the other District. From talking with the parents they want to see their kids go to Philmont or Sea Base, they know the cost and are willing to pay. Yet it isn't happening. I am a self confessed lazy toad, but so many of our Scoutmasters are happy to spend a week living in the site while the Scouts rush from one merit badge class to the next. I am giving some very serious thought to starting a Venture Crew, just so the 14 + age group can get a taste of some of the more exciting things that Scouting has to offer. Eamonn.