Eamonn

Does "Hey You!!" Not count? Eamonn

I agree that a lost or ruined cell phone is not the responsibility of anyone other than the owner. -Much the same as a Scout sock. If there is no coverage for cell phone use, that is a fact. I have informed the Scouts attending the Jamboree that there is no way of recharging their cell phones and they would do better to take a phone card. I am sure that some of them will take their phone and it more than lightly will work for a few days. The choice is theirs. We have at our Council camp a pay phone, outside of one of the buildings. Scouts can use it without any interference from the camp staff. It has been there for a very long time. Many Years ago when OJ and I went up for resident Cub Camp, the Cub Scout camp director informed all the Cub Scouts that the phone didn't work. The Cub Scouts went passed the phone several times a day. The phone worked just fine. A little Lad seen a Boy Scout on the phone. The word spread quickly. The word wasn't that the phoned worked. The word from the little Lads was that the Cub Camp Director told lies!! Not the message I would want people to take home about me. Eamonn.

About a month or so back I was singing the blues and not feeling up to par. Some wise posters said that I needed to get out and be around some of our youth members. Since I posted that I was in need of a shot, there has been a Jamboree Troop meeting. It was the day of the first real snow and only about half the Scouts made it to the meeting. Still I am lucky in that yet again I have a real good group of Lads who even at their worst manage to make me smile. The January District Meeting was hurt by the snow and the fact that more and more people are taking a winter break. Again only a little more than half the committee showed up. Thanks to me still taking some nasty pills we didn't even go for "Tea" after the meeting. That is where I do my best arm twisting. Yesterday we were supposed to join the rest of the Council by participating in the Annual Mall Show. We used to have a Mall, one little strip Mall. It had a Montgomery Wards and an Ames store by they both went bankrupt and slowly but surely it died. So we don't have a Mall anymore. We held the District Pine-wood Derby and the Boy Scout First Aid Meet in a local elementary school and had the local cable company tape it. I haven't seen the tape yet.However maybe because it was being taped everyone was on their Sunday best behaviour. No complaining parents or fuss about the race. The Scouts seemed to really get into the First Aid meet. OJ was busy with the Lodge, they were doing a training for the new officers of the Lodge. I no sooner got home when he phoned needing copies that the Web-Tech guy needed. So I rushed up to camp with them. Boy oh boy was I impressed these guys really had their act together. The training I witnessed was truly first class. They invited me to stay for dinner. I have never turned down a dance a drink or a free dinner in my life. I sat with a group of Lads that I didn't know very well, knowing how un-cool it would be to sit anywhere near my dearly beloved son. They had heard that I was going to be doing a presentation on the OA Scoutreach Mentoring program at the OA Banquet that is coming up at the end of the month and they were asking all sorts of very intelligent questions about the program. By the end of the day I had seen our little guys and their parents have a good time race their cars. Spend some time with our Boy Scouts who were doing their best wrestling with humongous First Aid problems (I have never worked out why the problems have to be bigger than life? Why can't we just have a cut finger?). Seen the OA youth members pull off a Training as good as I could do, maybe better. Yesterday, I didn't give a thought to FOS or goals. Yesterday was about kids.- It was great. Tomorrow (Monday)there is an Area Meeting, Councils merging, membership and finance. Still what went down on Saturday has recharged the old batteries and there is another Jamboree Troop meeting in two weeks. - Another chance to see real Scouting in action. Eamonn.

" However, throwing insults at the Venturing Program because of what you have seen from certain crews or leaders isn't productive or scout like". I have owned a few Fords and still own two. I like Fords, but Ford were the company that made the Edsel. FAILURE EXAMINES THE HISTORY OF THE EDSEL by Kathleen A. Ervin "Those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it," warned philosopher George Santayana. In the high stakes financial world of the auto industry repeating the mistakes of others is prohibitively expensive. So its no surprise that when Saturn Corporation launched "a different kind of car company" in 1990, it used failurespecifically the lessons of the Edselas its road map to success. A dozen years and more than 2.2 million vehicles later Saturn is still going strong. As a result of the Edsels impact on Saturn and other auto manufacturers, its legacy may be redefined from one of the most monumental failures of the twentieth century to one of the most instructive. From what I see happening in our area Venturing is fast becoming the BSA Edsel. If we act soon take what we have learned we could make it into a Saturn. This is in no way being un-scout like and would in fact work wonders in helping all of us people who love Scouting further the mission of Scouting and the BSA. Eamonn.

We reached the "Magic Number" by looking at all the pack activities. At times there was some heated discussion about these. Things like should the B&G be a covered dish or catered event? Would we give away hot dogs and drink at the Pine Wood Derby or sell them in the hope of boosting the Pack Fund. In the pack advancements are easy to budget. We did have a hard time budgeting Belt Loops, at times I think the Den Leaders spent more time on them than the advancement program. We ended up budgeting for six of the darn things per Cub per year. With Boy Scouts you could look back over past years and divide the total awarded by the number of Scouts and get some idea. Please don't tell anyone but we also added 10% to the "Magic Number" Just to be on the safe side. I posted the sad tale in order so that everyone could see what can happen when things are let go. Things in Scouting go so much better when we work hard at Communicating and don't allow a few people do all the work. What was funny was when I met with the Cubmaster the Pack Committee Chair was present. After asking a few questions it became very clear that she had no idea what her role or job was, when I started to explain it, her husband a Webelos Scout Den Leader jumped in and said that she was told that she didn't have to do anything and she didn't have time to do the job. I asked who had given her that information? It had come from the old Cubmaster. Sad, sad. Mad mad. Eamonn.

These accounts are a very sore subject with me right now. The treasurer of a pack in the district left things go and didn't keep on top of taking moneys out of the Scouts account. I'm not sure what she did or how she did it, but in November parents got a statement saying that they were in the red for some amount and then after they paid this they got another statement in January saying that they still owed more money. I met with the Cubmaster and he said a lot of the Scouts that were no longer in the pack had left owing money. When I asked where the money that was missing had come from, it turns out it came from the accounts that belonged to Scouts who have money in the pack. The whole thing is a real mess. They had run a system where all the money went into each Scouts account and each Scout paid for what he got. Tim got two belt loops his account was charged for two belts, Fred got one so he only paid for one. Big items were charged at the cost divided by the number of Scouts that were in the pack. The pack is now faced with raising money to replace the money that has gone along with the Cub Scouts, many have left because the parents didn't want to pay up. Back when I was in Cub Scouting our pack held a planning meeting which in turn led to the pack budget. This led to what I termed the "Magic Number". At that time it was a little over $100.00. The deal was that somehow, someway you reached this amount. You could participate in the 3 pack fund raising events or write a check or do some fund raising and then pay the rest. The Pack Committee didn't care how you got there as long as you did. (If there were Cub Scouts that for some reason were having a hard time or families that had more than one boy in the pack, other arrangements were made.) After you reached the Magic Number, any money you raised would be put toward camp or some other Scouting expense. I have been thinking about this and I now think that you would need two accounts. If all the money in the Unit Account belongs to the Chartering Organization, the Pack Account should hold only the money that is Pack Funds. There should be another account for holding the money in Scouts personal accounts. What is sad is that the pack that messed up is going to have to ask the Scouts to do a pack fund raiser and the boys will raise money to have it put back in their accounts, where it should be anyway. A big problem was that the pack was being run by three super hero's who didn't hold monthly committee meetings, they were too busy doing everything and didn't have time or see the need for a monthly meeting. Money,and money handling is way up near the top of my list of why adults in Packs have ill feelings and problems. There should be an accurate and up to date accounting of all unit funds each month. Her Who Must Be Obeyed served as a pack treasurer for many years, everything was done in the open, there were no secrets. She tried to only write checks once a month at the Committee meeting. The Cubmaster would have met with the Den Leaders and collected any unpaid bills the week before and he would present these and requests for "Up front money" that might be needed.No system is foolproof there were times (School Sign up night and Cub Camping Kick off) when She would very grudgingly hand over a blank check to the fearless Cubmaster (me.) The checks needed two signatures. Three Committee members were listed. I as Cubmaster was not listed and did have to go cap in hand. Looking at the mess they have now - Give me the Magic Number any day of the week. Eamonn.

I like to think that I'm a loyal supporter of Scouting and the BSA. I at this time am not involved with a unit. I do at times get involved with trying to start new units. Packs and Troops are fine. But I have a hard time with Crews. Most church groups in our area start with 12 year old members. The people in charge are not keen on having a separate program for the 14 + teens that they serve. We have gone to existing groups such as junior firemen, Civil Air Patrol, Tie & Fly clubs. The list is a long one. They are already serving the youth that are interested in what they are offering. What do we offer them? They are not sold on our Advancement program. They don't understand it or want to take the time to try. The youth hear Boy Scouts and this is not a selling point. About 18 months ago, a Crew sprung out of the troop that OJ is in. Many long hours were spent dealing with elections, by-laws, selecting a uniform. After all this and during all this there was no activity. I did end up taking them skiing. This was followed by a weekend away at a council owned campsite. The Crew President was wanting to do a week end of wilderness survival. He had all sorts of books and equipment for this. I dropped OJ off and stopped for a chat. They had a building for the weekend, and inside I found half the Crew inside playing with a Play-station with a huge pile of DVD's ready for later. The end result of the weekend was that half the Crew quit. Eamonn.

Fathers that are SM's = "Dad...you're my dad, and I LOVE YOU MAN!!!" Camp Menus = "Sometimes you've got to break the rules." Scout Uniform = When you got it, flaunt it" Pine Wood Derby = "No more tears." ASM = "His master's voice." District Chairmen =

I tried to ask much the same question a little while back. I have read most of the books on Venturing a couple of times and have presented some of the training's.. I see what is stated in the fact sheets. http://www.scouting.org/factsheets/02-388.html But for some reason we just don't seem to be getting where we want to go or need to be. We are doing our rechartering at this time and it looks as if we are going to lose three Crews. These were /are Crews that sprung out of troops and never seemed to have any real idea what direction they wanted to go in. I don't know if they used the materials that are available, but with six or seven members I doubt if they did? It seems to me as if we (The District/Council ) Have left these young people in some sort of Scouting purgatory, many of these Venturers are still in the troop and the promise of great things has been made, but nothing seems to happen. At our Key3 meeting last night our new DE started to say that starting Crews was easy (I don't know how he knows that? Being as he has yet to start anything?) I yet again asked what are we selling? What do we offer these young people? He said that we have the advancement plan, and liability insurance - I can't help thinking that there are not to many teenagers who will get excited about these!! If we are going to sell advancement we have to put Venturing Awards on a par with Boy Scout Awards. At the risk of sounding sexist it seems to me that Crews with females or Female Crews seem to be doing better than all male Crews. As an organization we do a darn good job working with youth and offering programs that are fun, challenging and adventurous. Why can't we seem to put these experiences to work with Venturing? If us trying to be all things to all interests isn't working maybe we need to narrow the field a bit.Maybe we need to look at what we do well and offer that and allow the youth that have interests that are in programs that we know nothing about alone. I have requested that our District Membership Committee and the DE do not try and start any more "Troop Crews". If a troop comes to us and wants to start a Crew that is fine, but us going in and doing the hard sell in order to get closer to a goal is something I hope we can avoid. I know of course that come Fall if we still need units my request will go out with the bath water. I will have to give the idea that we are still "Forming", some thought. Five years is a long time, tweaks have been made, could it be that with so many paths that we are just unable to form? I can't help thinking that if we don't make some real adjustments that in five more years we will be saying "It's only ten years". Eamonn.

A good friend who I hope will return PM me and suggested that a list of Fun and adventurous activities follow the word Scouting and we follow this we a twist on the Nike ad using: Just Did It. (Hey Pal, we /I miss you and would love to see you back. If not now, hopefully when you are ready.) Eamonn

Laurie, You may have some idea how emotional I am. When we talked a few weeks ago I said about the people I knew who had lost their son. Soon after we had talked I was telling my sisters about Ryan. I had asked them to pray for him and all his family. We talked about my friends. I said how sad I was that I had lost track of them. Both had been really close to me, but over the years my phone calls had become letters, my letters had become a card at Christmas with a note and that had become just a card. Till they moved and the card came back. Maggie, was very much a calming influence on me. She is the person who gave me the phrase "Take plenty of no notice." When we got married my wife who had been staying at my house spent the night before the wedding at Maggie's house and they had helped her dress for the wedding. They had organized the restored 1933 Bentley that we used. Maggie and Patsy were family. When I received your e-mail this morning I forwarded it to both my sisters. Her Who Must Be Obeyed had to see the Doc. who had done her radiation so we were not home most of the day. When we finally did get home, as ever everything was a rush. OJ was rushing to get back to school for the first performance of the school play. He had been home and using my computer. He was preparing some presentation for some OA presentation. He seen your e-mail and sent it to his girl friend. That had a falling out about a week ago. Her mom is very active in the church they attend and they had been praying for Ryan. After the girl friend had got the e-mail she phoned and they managed to patch up what ever they had been fighting about. Up till now she had been ducking his calls. I was busy getting ready for a key3 meeting. I checked my e-mail and out of no where there was an e-mail from Maggie. One of my sisters had tracked her down and forwarded the e-mail that you had sent me. Maggie never was much of a writer, she had just sent me her phone number and added a note. I called and we talked for about an hour. The note she had added read " God Love Him". Eamonn PS Ryan who we never met had in his passing been very influential in helping OJ and his girlfriend patch things up and brought me and my friend back together. - Not bad for his first day on the job. I echo Maggie when I say God Love Him.

Hi Lynn, If you take a long hard look at the Wood Badge icon you will get a fair idea of what you are in for and I will not have to move in with you. One of the reasons for the "Hush Hush" is that there is a lot of good stuff in the course, which is better if you hear or see it for the first time. Think of a Camp Fire skit if you see the same one time and time again. It is still good, still funny but never as good as it was the first time that you seen it. You got a bargain we charged $200.00 for the course a couple of years back. Do take the time to do the pre course assignment (The 20 questions) Maybe not all at once, but over a few days and then look at them before you go to the course. These questions can be a real big help when it comes to write the ticket. I really hope you have the best-est time and who knows you might be lucky enough to be a Bear. Eamonn.

Thanks JWKnoll Welcome. I think that having been a Venture Scout and a member of a Venture Unit back in England, I do at times mess the name up. Thanks for putting me straight. You seem t know the In's and Outs of this program. What about head gear? Eamonn. The inspection sheet I looked at was the one on the National web site - I didn't note the date, kinda thought that they would update their stuff as and when!! (This message has been edited by Eamonn)

Our local cable company does donate free spots on the cable networks for Scouting. Them being free has a lot to do with the when they are on. The ads come from National and have Astronaut's and are very much talking heads. The national web site used to show the latest and newest print print ads, I haven't checked if they still do or not. Last time I looked there were a good number of Spanish ads. I don't work in advertising but I do see some of the problems that a national campaign might have: Who: Most of the ads that we get from National sell the values of Scouting. They are aimed at the parents, not the boys or youth members. Do young people want to hear about values? Much as I am for our value based program, I think kids want to hear and see the fun of the program. What: With programs running for youth from 7 year olds to 21 year olds, my money would be spent on the little guys!! However would a campaign showing clean, bright smiling Tiger Cubs hurt the sale of Boy Scouting? Somewhere I have a VHS tape made for Cub Camping, with dancing Cub Scouts in dark glasses. I remember the reaction of the people that watched it. They looked at me, open mouthed and seemed really glad it wasn't one second longer. I'm sure the kids that were in it had fun. Where Looking at the network TV lineup where would you put ads for Scouting? I don't watch sitcoms so I don't know if any of them would or wouldn't be suitable? Cop shows don't seem the right place. ER? Maybe. My favorite network show is the West Wing, but maybe we had better wait till President Bartlet is replaced by a republican? It would be a tough call. I have for a number of years been trying to impress on the people in the District that we are very lucky. Our small town local newspapers will print just about anything that is send to them. Photos of kids doing fun stuff is free advertising. Sure we get the Eagle Scout looking very proud in a posed photo, but a bunch of Scouts having fun doing a fun activity would do a lot more good. The Editor of my home town paper went so far as to offer me a weekly Scouting page. I thought about it and turned him down!! I thought that it would be come the thoughts of the District Commissioner as I was at that time. I wasn't sure if the units would send me enough stuff every week. The Editor has been kind enough to visit the Jamboree Troop and talk with the Home Town Reporters. We are very lucky in that we have a outstanding relationship with our print media. The big daily newspaper is owned by a very right wing family, they sponsor the annual Eagle Scout Dinner. The guy who has just become the District Training Chairman, is the head photographer for the smaller daily evening paper (Owned by the same family) Our District covers three school districts, two areas have weekly local papers, both are part of the group. The family has ties to the Mennonite Church and the owner is very big in our chamber of commerce.He and I used to take turns hosting a summer picnic. He really is all for the community and is a nice guy. I used to not only advertise in the papers, but also have them print menus and business cards for me. He always had his staff Christmas parties and other functions in my restaurant. This is one reason why I like living in Small Town USA. I don't understand why our local units don't see how lucky they are. I wish that they would do more to support our small town merchants. These are the people who help us meet our FOS goals and belong to the service organizations that charter the units. Scouting is neighborhood based, before we go on national TV and spend mega bucks, we really need to do a better job of E-mailing the local rag a photo or two. Eamonn.

You do need to read and file the paper work!! We have done well selling Pizza kits. There are 3 kits in a box. They sell for about $15.00 a kit and the profit is $5.00 to $5.75 a kit depending on the amount sold. We also have a bakery that makes the worlds best sticky buns- I know all about sticky buns!! They sell for $5.00 a doz, and each $5.00 brings in $1.25. We have looked at non-food sales but the schools seem to have them. We were going to look at First Aid kits - I will try to remember. Eamonn.

If you know of a change ahead of time and the service center is open and you have a fax machine near at hand. I strongly suggest that you cover your tail. If it is a last minute change and the service center is closed. It is not a hanging offense.I don't see the need to call anyone at home. Think of the worst possible case scenario - You testifying in a court?? We promise to do our best!! Eamonn.

The uniform inspection sheet states that the campaign hat is for Boy Scout Leaders. The Scout Stuff page shows two hats for Venturing, neither of which is a Campaign hat. I don't think that Boy Scouts can wear any other loops other than the red loops.The color identifies the program - Den Chiefs don't wear blue!! I agree that the Venture Patrol needs a new name how about Pathfinder Patrol? If a crew came up with a campaign hat as part of their crew uniform that would be ok - I think?? Heck why can't we just have the same uniform for everyone with just the green loops? Is there a good reason - Other than we have a lot of green shirts in stock? Eamonn

About the new Den Leader = "Everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like Sara Lee." Commissioner Recruitment? = You only go around once in this life, so you have to grab for all the gusto you can get." Wake up time at camp = Nothing does it like Seven-up!" Wood Badge Training = "Ask how. Ask now." Eamonn.

Much as I hate to brag. When I left Pack 155 to move on to the District, I knew that things were in good shape. The pack had great Leaders, a good working committee and things looked good. My successor was my Assistant Cubmaster. He didn't do things exactly as I had done and there were things that he did that I didn't like.But he was the new Leader and I was content to let him do his thing. I really like him. He went on to restart the troop that had not been around for a good many years. He was my ASM for the last Jamboree. He passed the Pack over to another nice guy. The membership remained strong, but I did note that they were not having as many Committee meetings and at the one pack meeting I attended there were very few parents. When his time came he passed the Leadership on too a Den Leader who had four boys in the pack. Her husband was also a Den Leader and her best friend was her Assistant. The best friend and her were like glue. Together the three of them attended Wood Badge. Meanwhile I'm patting myself on the back, thinking how great things are and what a wonderful job I had done. Yes I was very full of myself. The great me had set this thing up. I was so wonderful that this was the model of how things worked when the wonderful me was around. Not long after the Wood Badge course the husband of the Cubmaster said that he was leaving her and the kids. Shock-waves ran throughout the District. All three quit Scouting very soon after.But our District Commissioner said that he was working with a new Cubmaster. I was happy to hear that. Last week the new guy called me and said that there were all sorts of problems. I met with him and found out that the District Commissioner's idea of working with him was just dumping a stack a books at his house. There is no working committee and there hasn't been for a good while. Worse still they have individual Scout accounts and the treasurer had not kept up with them.A good number of Scouts are in the hole and owe money and some of these are no longer in the pack. The money too fund these guys has come out of other Scout's accounts. I can't believe that this has happened to the pack. The pack that is chartered by the church that I attend. How could I be such a dumb twit as not to have seen it? I am working with the new Cubmaster and we are having a Pack fund raiser to replace the missing money. Eamonn. (With head hung low.)

Great Job -Well Done. Have you checked with your Council to see if they have any money for funding training? We are in our council starting a Wood Badge Fund. It is going to take a long time to get off the ground. In the past we took $1,000 from our District Golf outing and paid for a James E. West for a person in the District. We hope to use this money and money collected from a Wood Badge supper to help start a fund that would help those who need help attend Wood Badge. The course we had a couple of years back had a few people who lost their $50.00 deposit, so we used these lost deposits to offer the course at a reduced rate to people who were having a hard time. Eamonn

The new course actually works better over two X 3 days. While no one is saying it out loud me thinks the six day course will become almost a thing of the past. Not every Council offers a course every year. The Council I'm in is part of a cluster. We along with five other Councils were to offer two courses a year. Sad to say this isn't happening as we are not getting the numbers required to hold two courses. So far we have only managed to get one course a year off the ground. The cluster is comprised of mostly small very rural Councils distance seems to be a big factor. I have staffed courses at the far end of the cluster and it is three hours each way. Boy Scouter's don't seem to mind having to travel, but Cub Scouter's seem to not like it. Seeing a course fail to get off the ground for lack of numbers and not reaching the minimum required number is a real shame. The CD has attended the CD Conference and paid for that, the staff have made arrangements to attend the course and have attended a couple of development weekends, sometimes traveling a fair distance and paying the out of pocket expenses. Then it all is for nothing. The staff working the course are just everyday volunteers. So Please, Please, support your local Wood Badge Course. Eamonn.

Scouting = "The Greatest Show on Earth." FOS = "And we thank you for your support." Patrol Boxes = "A great weekend in every box." Cub Scouting = Something good always comes of it." Pine Wood Derby Cars = "The ultimate driving machine." BSA Smoking policy (Duck) = "Making smoking 'safe' for smokers." Scoutmasters = "Next to myself, I like BVD best." Eamonn.

I have been watching too much TV. As ever the ads are better than the programing. Thinking about Scouts and catch phrases. Like the old Nike "Just Do It". Put one or two together to make a catch phrase for one of our programs. They can be new or old and could be to do with just a part of a program. For Example: Hiking Merit Badge = "Nothing beats a great pair of L'eggs." Eamonn

At the end of the day it is about as broad as it is long. What I didn't want to happen was for a ASM to tell the SM, that I said he was to wear it. It kinda falls into the same thing as loops!! I wear my silver loops, when doing district stuff but the yellow ones when doing area or regional stuff. We have one guy, who might only be registered with the region, but I see him doing stuff around the council wearing the yellow loops and I have a puzzled look. It isn't worth asking or saying anything. More a case of what ever trips your trigger!! If you are happy wearing it and it is not causing anyone anything more than a puzzled look - Go For It !! (Any uniform Police out there please note it is Eamonn with two N's) Eamonn.

I have looked at the inspection sheets and there does not seem to be one for adult leaders in Venturing Crews? I am aware that a crew can make up a uniform of their own design. What I'm looking for is the Official uniform. Looking at the inspection sheet it does mention the green loops. I thought that these could only be worn on the green shirt? But the sheet seems to not say that. But in true BSA style it just doesn't say anything!! I was of the opinion that Venturing had a uniform of its own. Is this not the case? The campaign hat is stated as being for Boy Scout Leaders, again no hat is mentioned for Venturing Leaders. I was all so of the opinion that you couldn't "Mix and Match" uniforms of different programs. Boy Scouter's were not supposed to wear Cub Scout hats and neck-wear. I don't have a insignia guide handy!! Eamonn.