Eamonn

Any inventory or account will onlt give you that "Snapshot in time". That is fine and I can live with that. What is getting to me is why we have to have two "Snapsots". We are aware that the year end total is not a real number. The only real number is that which the unit recharters with. The question is why do we play these number games? Add to this all the stuff that the pros. go through in June and it seems to me that no only are we wasting time, but we are a lot of the time providing facts that we know are in fact fiction. As a district we are trying to put less emphasis on recruiting and more on retention. I don't know if the rise in the membership fee last year really hurt us, but I do feel that it didn't help. While I'm on my high horse. As long as the Membership Goals do not take into account the percentage of the available youth they will always be unfair. Our district has the highest percentage of the available youth in the program.In our council and far higher then the national average. Of course that means that there is less available youth available to be recruited. Making recruitment all the more difficult. Add to this years when the birth rate was low the number of available youth goes down and as ever the membership goal still goes up. Does national have an idea of what the percentage of the available youth for the USA is? Eamonn(This message has been edited by Eamonn)

As I have posted elsewhere,here in my neck of the woods we are not doing that well in the membership department. At this time I'm really pushing any and everyone. I have asked that the Commissioner staff do a complete Inventory of membership. Who knows we might get lucky and find a load of unregistered Scouts? Post cards have gone out to every youth member with a full color picture of the new Recruiter Patch. Which I for one think looks really neat. Letters have gone out to all the unit leaders from the Membership Chairman, the DE. And little old me. Just to make sure that everyone is getting the message the other night I phoned all the Unit Leaders. Yes I am aware that I'm a pest. One Cubmaster, who is a really nice fellow was and is a little upset. I have him down as "Losing" 38 Cubscouts. I have to admit that as we get closer to meeting our goal. I do say to myself if only pack such and such hadn't lost as many. Anyway, he tells me that they have never lost 38 Cubscouts. I inform him that my records show that at the end of the year last year he had a pack of 88 and that when he rechartered he only had 50. He tells me that the pack has never had more then 52 and wants to know what I have been drinking!! I explain to him that we need to go back to the 2002 charter and see what his membership was then and add on all the boys that signed on from Feb. When they recharter to the end of the year. We of course during this time (Jan 1st thru Dec. 31st. The Membership year) Have had boys who have crossed over into the troop. Why does the membership year and the Charter year have to be different? Why can't membership be taken from the charter? Eamonn

OGE, Yes sir you are right we are lucky to have our man of Steele here to help us out. Not being a local I'm not really sure what part of the world and what council you come from. I thought it was Greater Pitt. But I now know that yet again I was wrong. You might want to find out who your Area President is and have a word in his or her ear. Eamonn

Not to get off topic. I am a Queens Scout. Back in the day, when I was a youth in UK Scouting you earned the chief Scouts Award as a Scout and could only work for the Queens Scout as a Venture Scout. You couldn't be a Venture Scout until you were 16. My parents were never really into Scouting. They were fairly well off and helped to pay for a lot of the activities and equipment. Most of my friends had quit Scouting by the time I was in Venturing. We were left with a hardcore "Gang" of really great guys. We tended to do a lot things together. As we aged and discovered females we stuck it out. In fact I was best man at two Venture Scout weddings. All this led to a lot of peer pressure. There was no way that we were going to allow another menber get ahead unless of course it was me. Eamonn

Hey Dave If that room upstairs floods your old necker will get wet. Eamonn

Back in the 17th Fulham(Pioneers), my old Scout group. Mine due to the fact that I was a Scout and Venture Scout in it. Only later did I serve as the Scout Leader. We had a neat necker. At that time the English Scout Uniform was dark green. Our necker was black with a quarter inch white boarder and a patch on the back. The patch was round and also black with a rope on the edge tied in a reef knot (square knot)In side the rope there were two crossed axes. No one seems to know who came up with the design. As for the name the troop was an early troop starting in 1909 and it seems that a lot of the Scouts at that time completed the pioneering badge. I have a wedding photo of Her Who Must Be Obeyed and myself leaving the church. The troop formed an honor guard. 84 Scouts all in full uniform wearing our much loved necker. Barry Signs off by telling us all that he loves this Scouting Stuff. You know he is right. It is really great. Eamonn

I had a really nice lad in the 2001 Jamboree Troop who is an Eagle Scout. He said that he thought that no one had done him any favors by allowing him to become an Eagle Scout at 14. His parents didn't push. He was in a troop that does. He has moved to Maine and is in a crew having a great time. Eamonn

There are times when things like this little girl in the store just kind of get to you. Sad to say there are times when we just don't see what we are doing. When OJ, was tiny I owned a couple of Bars and restaurants. I have to admit that I allowed him to help load the empties into the crates. Mainly to keep him busy and let me get on with whatever I was doing. We seem to have come a long way in doing what is good for our kids. Heck I rode my bike all over London and never even heard of a bike helmet. We have a big back yard (a little over six acres) and now I insist that OJ wears his in our own yard. As a kid I bought candy cigarettes. I would and never have bought them for a kid. Have to admit to not liking toy guns and was a little upset when I seen that Estes the model rocket company were selling rockets that are replica missiles and cluster bombs, worse still the ad was in Boys' Life. I'm not going to do anything about it. I just don't like it. As for us not taking care of all the kids in the world. This is a sad sign of the times. When I was a kid if an adult seen me doing something wrong they would tell me or tell my parents. I remember one little old lady who gave my Mother Cap reports. We had a cap as part of our school uniform, mine spend most of its life rolled up in my pocket. Everytime she saw me capless she would inform my Mum. Those were the days. Eamonn

While I feel sure that someone or some organization has come up with "The Profile." I think that they will not get it right. Scout Leaders are like Dog Owners. One of the things that makes this organization great is how diverse it is. Yes there may be some truth in the idea that a good many of the Scout Leaders tend to be white and middle class. However as America changes so will Scouting. I have to admit to being sick to death of all the stuff that is going on about the gays and funds being cut. Still at the end of the day I like to think that no matter how politically correct it might be at this time to "Bash Scouting." Scouting has the backing of the majority of the everyday people. Why do I think this? While Scout Leaders come in all sizes (Some can't even find pants that fit. -Joke.) We come from every race and creed and all that other good stuff. The thing that unites us is our values. The groups that are "Scout Bashing" are having a hard time with this. When the man in the street sees and hears that these groups are trying to do harm to something that is seen to do so much good. He/She is not happy. While many of these people may not know a lot about Scouting, they do know that Scouting has done and is still doing a great job for the youth of America. When you try to profile Scout Leaders, you need to look at he why not the who. Eamonn

As a rule I opt to wear the uniform or not wear it. Sounds kind of simple? 99.9% of the time when I do wear it, I wear all of it. Yes there are times when I change at work that I don't wear the socks. For some reason I have a lot of uniforms. I think because I can't / Don't want to sew and Her Who Must Be Obeyed isn't that keen on sewing. With this in mind she tends to use some kind of iron on sticky stuff and then sew the whatever on. Once it is on it isn't going anywhere. I do own one shirt with a knot on it that is upside down. I tend not to wear it. When I was a district commissioner I wore the uniform a lot more then I do now. I liked to think that in my own little way I was setting a good example. At times I really hoped that my socks weren't visable. There are adults in the council that I have known for a long time that never wore the full uniform. Most wore the shirt but never the pants. Then along came Wood Badge. Yes we did send out a letter asking everyone to be in full uniform. No there never was a uniform inspection. But everyone arrived in full uniform. Were the uniform Police working overtime? While it is (We restart the second part next weekend) nice to see everyone in uniform. It is also a little sad. Here we have a great bunch of adults who are really into this program. Most of them are working with boys and up until now they have been happy not to set a good example. How did the uniform police get them in uniform now? Eamonn Yes I did wear the Scout socks all through the first part.

Dealing with adults is never easy. In fact at times it is really hard. As to if you did the right thing? Right and Wrong are sometimes hard to get too. The real person who needs to know the answer is you. Take a look at the Scout Law and Oath. Did you live up to them? When you got on to the son, were you getting on to him as a way of getting back at his parents? Could you do something to help the Dad improve his Scouting skills? Would this come under helpful? You might want to have a chat with the Scoutmaster and set up a rule of who is and who isn't to attend the PLC. As for the Camp outs. While this Lady might seem like a real pain, she might now be a little worried that you are going to get on to her son again. Please don't feel that I'm picking on you. This living by the Scout Law and Oath is not easy. Some of us old folks have been at it a long time and are still trying to get it right. Eamonn

As most of the regulars in this forum are aware, I like to think that I'm active in this great organization. As a family we are all involved and have had a long relationship with Scouts and Scouting. Her Who Must Be Obeyed, my wife Jamie is the fruit of parents who both earned the District Award Of Merit and her brother is an Eagle Scout. Jamie, is not a great lover of kids and has been heard to say that spending time with a group of kids would drive her nuts. So maybe it is a good thing that OJ (Oliver James) is an only child. He seems to be just a run of the mill ordinary kid. He gets into his fair share of hot water and at times does stuff that makes me so darn proud. He is a Scout. He enjoys being a Scout. At times he doesn't like some of the activities and things that his troop are doing. So now that he is older (15) I let him decide if he is going to participate or sit this one out. He is very close to becoming an Eagle Scout. All the merit badges are in order, he is active as the Quatermaster of his troop. But he has come to a halt. As far as earning his Eagle goes. Nothing is happening. My opinion is that it is his Eagle. He will complete it if and when he is ready. Then again he may opt not to complete it. After all it is his. Not mine or anyone elses. As I meet people who know OJ, they tell me that I ought to give him a push. I try to explain where I'm coming from. There is at times a lack of understanding. They inform me about the money that is out there from scholarships and how dumb I am for not giving him a little push. Then there are others who think that both he and I are just lazy. Him for not doing it and me for not making him do it. If he does complete it will I be proud? You bet your cotton socks that I will be. But I'm proud of him every day. I love him. I'm proud of the kids that he "Hangs" with most are also Scouts. Scouting has given him so much. He knows that and has plans to do a lot of stuff. Will becoming an Eagle Scout change that? I don't think so. It might be the icing on the cake, but all the other stuff that went into the cake and the making of it, so far have been really good. Eamonn

Why Do I feel that I missed something? Did I? Eamonn

Why do parents need a Guide? Is there something missing from the Scout Hand Book? Eamonn

Have to admit to not being over keen on taking little guys/gals to Boy Scout camp outs. Maybe I'm just old and set in my ways. Still when I look at the way Philmont conference center works, I see that it can be done. These little people ought not be doing the same stuff that the big guys are doing, so if they have to be there why not bring someone to take care of them? Yes take the wife and no one if left fending and everyone is having a good time. Eamonn (Of course I only had the one son, so it is easy for me to talk!!)

We as yet do not have Venturing Roundtables. There has been talk about it on the council level, but so far it is just talk and has been for about 3 years!! OGE, makes a good point about the "Council Types" It seems to me that they just want Venturing to be Cub Scouting for older youth. Of course on the other hand there are a few Crew Leaders who are going out of their way to be out and out rebels. Finding common ground ought not be as hard as we seem to be making it. Eamonn

Mark While I agree with you to a point, I do think that we as adults have to remember that we are dealing with young Lads that may not yet see the world as we do. I only have to look at my little darling to see that. OJ is just 15.All in all a good kid. He wants to do everything and do it now. Number one on his list is a car. He is counting the days. I have said that he is on his own. So the other night he went out and came home with all sorts of applications. I can't fault him for that. I did mention that he had said that he was going to apply for the Trail Crew at Philmont. He gave this some thought and said that he would do the Trail Crew in 2005. I reminded him that in 2005 he has applied to be a staff member at the Jamboree. Oh - He said. Looking at the pile of applications I reminded him that we are off to Ireland for a month next year and that he was going to NOAC,he had also said that he was going back to be on staff for the JLTC and there was soccer camp.With all this did he think that he had time for a job? Maybe I'm wrong but boys of his age have a hard time with future planning. I would hope that his crew leader and Scoutmaster would understand this and while it might be ok to find out if there is any interest in doing something that is going to cost a lot. They would check with the parent before moving ahead. By the way I'm in the market for a safe cheap car!! Eamonn

Here is my problem. I thought that the "Hiring and Firing" were down to the Scout Exec. I don't have a problem with that. He was hired to make tough decisions. He was selected by members of the board and from where I come from he is deserving of the support of the board. As a council we have been meeting our budget. However this is in no small part due to the council receiving bequests. If we had not there would be a shortfall of about $70,000.00. The council budget committee has made it clear to the Scout Exec. That he has to come up with a balanced budget. There is going to be a vote at the next board meeting about letting our Assistant Scout Exec. go. I don't think that this is a decsion for the board. We pay the Scout Exec. to do the hiring and firing. To make matters worse the Assistant Scout Exec. is a very close friend of mine. I would really hate to see him go. I think that he is the hardest working professional that we have. $70K is a lot of money and I can see that cuts have to be made or more money has to come from somewhere. Still when I try to get an insight on all of this I keep hearing "They say A council our size does warrant not a Assistant Scout Exec." No one will tell me who "They" are. So I am trying to find out where the people who are telling me this are getting their info. Eamonn

This is a Hot Potato. I'm not sure what you mean by District Office. You need to talk with your District Advancement Chair. IMOHO I do not see church membership as part of the reqirements. Everyone of us has our own idea of what duty to God is. I belong to a church where the rules say that I ought to be at mass every week. The LDS have very strict rules. As for the letter. My thinking is that if there is someone who knows the Scout and can write a letter that states that he(The Scout) does believe in a God and is doing his best to live up to the rules of how he sees that God wants him to live. That would be ok by me. Eamonn

Sad to say we are moving house, so most of my Scout stuff is now in neat boxes filling two thirds of our three car garage. So I can't give you chapter and verse. However if you look at the name of the totem, you will see that it is/was a progress towards rank. These lads are now Webelos Scouts. By this time the either have the rank or it is lost and gone. Now is the time for them to start working on the Activity Pins. I have to admit that when I was working with the Webelos Scouts I did bend the rules a little( Bob White - Please skip the next bit!!) We gave them two of each pin, one to wear on the cap the other to wear on the uniform shirt. It does add about $30.00 to the program, but over the time that they are in the Webelos Scout den the pack committee thought it was worth it. Also I feel sure that the totem is not to be worn with the tan shirt. Hope this helps. Working with Webelos Scouts is one of the best positions that there is in Scouting. These lads are so keen and everything is an adventure. Have fun. Eamonn

This thread seems really old. Still there are a few odds and ends that are worth tying up. While at the time of posting the cost of the course seemed to be very important. The truth is that it wasn't. With one weekend to go and a few bills to pay, it looks as if the council will not have to bear a loss. But no one is going to get rich. Thanks to the course we have managed to have a lot of really big items donated, tables, chairs and a super fast photo copier. This would have cost almost $7,500. So we are better off in that we have all this stuff. As far as the participants go. No one has even mentioned the cost. We have given financial aid to six of the participants and the OA paid for one lodge member to attend. So at the end of the day it seems that everything has worked out ok. I don't know if we would have managed to fill the course if we had gone outside of the council and used a facility that would have added to the cost. Eamonn

The Stuff that our man of Steele refers to from national is all first class. You might want to have a chat with your District Membership Chair. He might have a list of Webelos who didn't cross over last year. We have done really well with this. The boys are a little older and have had some time off. Of course when looking for New Boys, it pays not to forget the Old Boys, a phone call or a note or better still a visit can bring some of them back. We have a couple of units where the leader goes into the Jr. High and does a Boy Talk. I talked with one last night, he wanted the promo tape of the Jamboree. He was going to show that in the schools. You might want to see if your local churches would let you say a few words during their services or put something in the church newsletter. Letters to the local newspaper are free, you can send a letter telling everyone that you are welcoming new members. Once you get these Lads to your meeting is it ever so important that you do everything possible to make them feel as welcome as possible. I know this sounds kind of dumb. But I have seen and heard of units that go to all the effort of getting the boys to the meeting and then do little or nothing to make them feel welcome. Make a appointment to visit the boy and his parents at their home, have all the details about your program, where to get a uniform, where the pathes go. As well as the opportunites that your unit offers for parents to get involved. Hit them with all the forms and answer any questions or concerns that they may have. While you are there find out if he has any cousins or friends that might want to join (Ask his Mom!!) Eamonn

This is super good news. I wish you all the very best. Time spent with lads of Scout age, may have its ups and downs. But one kid, one smile and one kind word from a boy is worth a mint. Cubmasters, Den Leaders, Scoutmasters and those working with Crews are the important people who deliver the program to the people who really count. Enjoy it. Eamonn

Where Can I get my hands on a document that details the recommended professional staffing levels for councils? Also how are Councils classified? I am not looking for what staffing level a executive board may have in place. I know that if the board feels that there is a need to hire more proffessionals that they can ask the Scout Exec. to do so. (I am not picking on professionals, in fact the exact opposite. Due to finances there is talk about letting one of our professioals go. I think this is not such a good idea and would like to have all my ducks lined-up and be able to use this as part of my argument if it fits!!) Eamonn

Now that I'm done crying in my beer/coffee. We have gone into action. The people who are our community FOS workers, worked really hard and went above and beyond this year. So far we are the only district to reach our finance goals. While everyone wants the district to be Quality again this year, I would really like us to make it because they worked so darn hard. So far I have sent a letter to each School Night coordinator thanking them for what they have done. I asked them to not stop. This letter was sent with a sheet showing where they were this time last year, at the end of the year and how many applications they had turned in. One Cubmaster wrote back saying that he had recruited ten more Cubscouts another wrote telling me that he had doubled his membership from 13 to 26. There is a letter going to each and every Cubscout asking them to bring a friend to the next meeting, this letter has a picture of the really neat new recruiter patch. I have a pal who owns a chain of pizza shops, he is going to provide a pizza party to any den that grows by 50%. I had asked for a pack his idea was to do it by den. He is the Dad of three adult Eagle Scouts. The numbers are going up. Maybe not as fast as I would like, but they are moving. Just in case we don't make it, I'm going into the high schools to see if we can recruit a lot more Venturers. That way we might make it on the 2%. Strange thing is that on my drive to work there is a church that has a billboard that has a kind of thought for the day. The other day it read; "In these trying times keep trying." I wonder if the Big Guy was trying to tell me something? Eamonn