Eamonn

Yes the District is an arm of the Council. "Carrying out the policies and objectives of the Council" is one of the purposes of the District Committee. I do see the District Committee as being broken down into smaller committees, which do overlap and are dependent on each other. The District meeting does provide an opportunity to coordinate these efforts and make sure that everyone is on the same page. I whole heartedly agree that the program is delivered by the really important people the Unit Leaders. Districts should not interfere with the running of a unit. However he District can and hopefully does play a big part in supporting the units. The District Chairman is a voting member of the Council Executive Board and does represent the District at these meeting. Which is where the policies and objectives of the Council are decided. The real work isn't done at a meeting. (I don't know of very many meetings that do any real work!! - At work I attend a lot of meetings where I'm informed of what is happening, what needs to be done? I report what has happened, what my needs and the needs of the department are and I'm given updates of any changes that might be coming up. I return to my department and share this with the people who will be doing the real work.) The meeting can help ensure that short and long term goals are being met. It can help provide establish plans that might be needed to support a unit that needs it. Eamonn

Lisabob Not sure if this will help answer your question or not? For us (The District Committee) having goals made it seem useful and that we were in fact doing something and going somewhere. I in my infinite wisdom!! (LOL) Decided that we were sick of hearing about Quality District. The Council has four Districts and we were the smallest. We knew that maybe being the biggest wasn't a realistic goal, so we came up with the goal that we didn't want to remain the smallest. On the outside this looks just like a goal for the Membership Committee, but we set goals for Training, getting more leaders trained. Finding out why people weren't getting trained (What we were doing wrong and right) We looked at how we were communicating with the volunteers. We looked at District events. (We found that we had too many! Troops wanted less events and the events we did offer had to be better planned.) When it came to finance, I fought with the SE for a District goal (a total) in place of 3 separate goals (Family, Community, and District)This meant that we could put more effort into developing the Community campaign and while we of course still did the family campaign we didn't need to keep bugging the volunteers to dig deeper. Working with the local cable company we managed to blow our project goals out of the water and do a better job of marketing Scouting in our area. When the numbers came out that moved us from the smallest to the second smallest we had a big bash and celebrated out victory. We did try to take second place, but it didn't happen. Sadly today we are back being the smallest District again. Eamonn. (Having Chairs give written reports does away with a lot of unnecessary debates.) Thanks Bob -I see that Eammonn guy is on the lose again!! (-Just joking!)(This message has been edited by Eamonn)

Westmoreland Fayette Council has Camp Conestoga in Somerset PA. Call (724) 837-1630 and ask for details. Eamonn.

My copy of The District is kinda old (7 30176 33079 2) 1993 Printing. It lists the functions of the District as 1/ Membership 2/ Finance 3/ Program 4/ Unit Service. When it talks about the District Committee is states: The committee coordinates all the functions of the District for the purposes of: A/ Organizing and supporting quality units. B/ Carrying out the policies and objectives of the Council C/ Extending the program to the greatest number of youth. Just as different Troops do things differently, I'm sure that different Districts do things a little bit differently from even the District next door. I hate attending meetings which are held just because the calendar tells me that it's time for a meeting!! As District Chair, I had to attend!! But I tried very hard not to: Have meetings that went over 90 minutes (I tried to keep them to 60 minutes but that never worked) Have an Agenda that only required the people who were doing something to attend. (Finance Committee Members met in November to plan the FOS Campaigns, which kicked off in February. The goal was to be done by St. Patrick's Day with a final report in April. After April they were done till the next November.) Unit Service was covered by a report from the District Commissioner. -Most times if there was a problem he or she had contacted the people who needed to be contacted and what ever was happening was already under way. I did try to get the Committee Chairs to meet with their Committees before the District Meeting. That way they could just make a report, which didn't require a long drawn out discussion. I put a lot of time and effort into making sure that we didn't have committees of one!! We did set goals, for just about everything. (We didn't always meet them!!) If I seen something wasn't being done, I would contact the person who was supposed o be doing it and find out why? I did hold people accountable to do what they said thy were going to do. When and if it was available we did work toward helping the Council achieve and meet the goals laid out in the Council long term strategic plan. Sadly at times there wasn't one or it was so old that no one remembered what was in it!! When I was new I did try to include some sort of training, but this just didn't seem to work! So I gave up. Eamonn.

I'm going to spin off and we can talk about the role of the District Committee. I have been an adult leader of a Pack chartered by the RC church which I'm a member of. The Parish Priest who was there before I got involved with the Pack liked kids, did a lot for the school and the youth organizations that the church was connected with. Sadly the priest that came after him was the exact opposite. He didn't seem to like kids, seen the school as taking money from the church and while he tolerated they church youth group and the Pack, saying that he supported them? Might be an overstatement. The COR was a member of the Parish Council, who also served as the Church Youth Group Leader. He had served as a Den Leader. (His son decided not to cross over into Boy Scouts) He was and is a very nice guy. But he was busy with the youth group and only attended Pack Committee Meetings when it seemed that there was a problem. (Most problems seemed to be about the priest allowing other groups to use the Church Hall when the monthly Pack Meeting was supposed to be there!!) This Priest has now been moved and the Priest that is there now is a bit more supportive. There is a Boy Scout Troop , but the Pack has folded. The COR is a friend of a friend who is a ASM! I see him every now and then in the Elks where he was a member of their Committee. As Cubmaster, District Commissioner and District Chair. I have tried to work with the COR's and the PP. I have visited the PP given him reports of what has been going on. At one time the Relationship Department had a magazine that I to them to mail to him. I'm very friendly with the Priest who the Diocese has given Scouting to as part of his job. (A few years back he served as the Council VP - Membership) We have met for dinner several times and discussed the apathy that some Priests show, his take on it is that it all depends on the individual priest. Yesterday I had a phone call Stuart from a pal of mine in the UK. He called to tell me that he is getting married. Stuart and myself have been close friends for going on 40 years!! Back in the early 80's, he came over as an International Camp Counselor (Sound familiar!!) He ended up somewhere near Salt Lake City. Some time after he converted from being a RC to joining the LDS Church. We talked on the phone for over an hour and of course Scouts and Scouting came up. He said that the LDS Church does not have anything to do with UK Scouting since they allowed gay leaders to serve. I'm not sure if he is right or not but he tells me that they (the church) is also no longer supporting Scouting in Canada and Australia. While I know he didn't in any way mean it as a threat, he went on to say that if the BSA falls (His words)The BSA is going to lose a lot of financial support. I don't know very much about LDS Scout units, we have one in our Council. I have attended an Eagle Scout COH at the church and was very impressed. At the time the husband of my boss was the Bishop. While the Troop did seem strong the Pack wasn't doing so well. I put it down to peaks and valleys. From what I have heard the LDS Church in the USA does use the BSA Program, but with permission from the BSA has made some changes so it works hand in hand with the churches youth ministry. I don't know how active each LDS Church is with the Scouting program it offers to the youth it serves? I do know that my Ex-bosses husband did attend PTC for a conference on LDS Scouting. I wonder if like the RC units it is left up to the local Bishop as to how involved or not involved the church is? We do seem to at times talk about the CO adapting the program to fit the needs of the CO. I'm not sure if this happens a lot? From what I see a good many if not most CO don't know enough about what is going on to adapt anything. Some if they are lucky will get an annual visit from the DE. I'm not sure what they talk about? But I'll guess it's more or less a "How's it going? Any problems? See you next year!" type conversation. Sure units will turn up on Scout Sunday, some will do good turns for the CO. But as far as the program goes? They don't know, they don't have any idea. They accept that the people selected to provide the program are following the BSA program. I'm sure that the RC Priest kinda expects that the RC Scouts are going to attend mass, the Rabbi expects that all the dietary guidelines are being followed and so on. But at the end of the day it is the leaders who deliver the program and it seems to me that the CO's take what is offered. Eamonn.

While I have never used profanity at a scout. -Well not yet!! I do have to be careful. At times I have been known to use words and phases that others might think are harmful or are intended to cause harm. While most of the youth I deal with do know me and I know them! At times, especially with newer Scouts I do have to remember that these words can be taken the wrong way. There is one Lad in the Ship who teases me for telling him not to be "A lazy toad". One girl in the Ship has worked out that a lot of the stuff comes from " Wind in the willows" I do however no matter what I'm thinking not call any of the Scouts "Rats" or "Ratty"! Ea

Lisabob In our Council spots are filled on a first come first served basis. I'm not sure how you sell it to the parents! Many of the Scouts who do go have parents who are "In the know." Having Scouting families. A lot come from Troops that have sent Scouts to events like this in the past. Last Jambo our Council sent two Troops. For the Jambo the Council is split into a North and a South, with two Districts in each. The North end of the Council is shall we say the more affluent!! But it seemed to take a long time for them to fill all the spots. I live in the South end. Sadly we only managed to get one Scout from the other District. A lot of the Scouts did come from Troops where the adult Jambo leaders served. Maybe the fact that for the past five Jamborees the SM is from our District has something to do with it? We did hold a Jamboree kick off meeting, where we invited anyone and everyone who was interested to attend. We had Scouts who had attended past Jamborees to come and talk about their experiences, some brought "Their Jambo Stuff". We explained the payment plan, uniform expectations, outlined what fund raising events we would be offering. In 2001 we had about six or seven Scouts who were returning for their second Jamboree. So while I'm not sure how you sell it! I think providing as much information as is available, having Scouts who have attended come and talk to the Scouts and their parents is a good idea. Maybe trying to find someone from the unit your in to attend as an adult leader or as a staff member might help put the Scout's parents minds at ease? When I was SM I send each parent a little resume to help them know a little more about me. Eamonn.

Over the past few months we have been working on a pandemic influenza preparedness and response plan. We have been told to expect 30 40% employee absences. If that number proves to be right? Imagine the problems we are going to have. Some stores will not be able to open? Gas stations? Truck Drivers? Power workers? The list goes on!! If this really does happen, crisis conditions will become a reality. Eamonn.

During my term as a District Chairman each and every month I mailed all of our COR's a postcard reminding them about the District Meeting. The District had about 40 units which were chartered by about 16 organizations. As a rule we seen two COR's at the meeting and these were fellows who were involved in Scouting in some-other position. At the big annual Council meeting when we held the elections, again every COR was invited and in the over ten years I attended I never seen a single COR. From what I have seen nearly all Chartering Organizations have very little idea about what the Scout unit really does. Even the CO's that do know only know what we tell them. The Ship is chartered by our local Elks. They hold a monthly meeting and the Ship is an agenda item. When I was Skipper I would write a few lines for the COR to read at the meeting telling them what we had done and were planning to do. The COR did attend our Ship's Management Committee meetings. I don't know what he had to say? As I wasn't at the meetings. While I was serving as District Commissioner and then District Chairman, a lot of times the only communication I got from the CO was when something was going wrong. Most times it seemed to me that the CO didn't seem to understand that the unit was part of their organization. I'd get a call telling me that "The Scouts" had left the church hall in a mess. Or that they (The CO) needed more room and we would have to move our tents!! While I'm sure that there are chartering organizations that do take an active role in the program offered by Scout Units, I have to say that there is very little evidence of it in our area. I'm not just talking about the CO's who only sign the charter once a year, but even the better ones really don't know what their Scout unit is doing. Eamonn.

I would hope that we as Scouter's would do our best to set a good example. This would mean that doing our best to avoid swearing, cussing, and words that others find offensive would be a given. As for a "BSA policy". - I for one am happy to use the oath and law for most situations. My thinking is if we had a policy for everything? The Policy Book would be a very heavy tome and even then people would still play word games and pick holes in it. So my answer on the question "When is it apropriate..."? Is never. I'm a little lost with this talk about "White-collar"? I do understand that sometimes we (Me) can and do get the wrong end of the stick. My Mother, lived in England for a very long time but just as I have never lost my English accent, she never lost her Irish accent. At times she would call someone " The Quare Fellow" (As in the title of the play by Brendan Behan). While maybe today it might be said that she was calling someone a nasty name. At that time and the way she meant it was her way of saying that someone was 'strange' or 'unusual'. Carl, you ask about staying with Scouting and passing on the skills that you have. A frequent complaint that is voiced by Scout leaders is that Councils and Districts try a little too hard to start new units in areas where they feel there are already enough units. I mentioned this to someone once and the reply I got was that there should be enough units so that if a boy doesn't like one he should be able to go to the one down the road, till he finds one that he likes. I would hope that the same holds true for adults. There are several Boy Scout Troops in my area that I'd be happy to some kind of a leader in, sadly there are one or two that might not be such a good fit. You might want to attend a few Boy Scout Roundtable meetings, get to know some of the people there, make a few friends and see what happens? Eamonn.

Goldwing, I'm not sure if the movie Quadrophenia is available? It was made in 1979!! It does a good job of taking a snapshot young people living in London at the time. The music is great. Ea.

Back in the day I used a 750 Norton to go to college. Not sure it was ever a real pleasure? At that time petrol was expensive in the UK (It still is!!) Cars and car insurance was expensive and I was poor. Riding a motorbike wasn't very cool at that time!! I really liked the music of The Who and a Vespa with a very long antenna with a few dozen Tiger tails would have been cool. Still I looked good in my two tone suit!! Ea.

If anyone needs to direct a comment to me they can send me a pm. What I choose to do with it or about it? Is my choice. This forum isn't about the moderators. I think I speak for all the moderators when I say that first and foremost we are Forum Members, we joined to discuss things related to Scouts and Scouting. Eamonn.

I have been thinking about this forum a lot over the past few days. Mainly about my role as a Moderator. While I do understand that most of the Forum Members are adults and should be treated like adults. I in some (Not all)ways see my role a little like that of a Scoutmaster. Terry our host and owner of the site is like the Executive Officer of a chartering organization. While we don't really have a Committee the moderators as a group might be seen as such. I serve as a moderator at Terry's request. He "Hired" me and he can "Fire" me. While I hope to do a good job, I serve at Terry's pleasure. To this end if someone is unhappy about my performance or doesn't like the actions I take, they need to talk to him. I'm not going in any way going to bend or give way to things that I see as being wrong (Yes I said "I SEE") just because some people are not happy. I'm not going to allow someone who is unhappy to start a Thread saying that they are unhappy and blasting the heck out of me. I would never allow this from a Scout or his parents. If they seen what I was doing as being wrong they can go to the CO and make them aware of how they feel. I'm not on any sort of a power trip. I am a little upset and very fed up feeling like some sort of whipping boy. I do want to make it clear that I'm not talking for any of the other moderators. We have a wonder resourse here for the exchange of ideas and discussions that are related to scouting, we are guided by the Scout oath and law. I'm not that active in many other Scouting forums, I think this one is one of the most active. From what I have seen I think in part this might be due to the fact that we don't have a lot of heavy handed moderation. I know that I'm not always going to be right. But I'm no more wrong now than I was when Terry asked me to serve. I'm going to keep on doing what I have been doing. What you do is up to you. My hope is that the Un-Scout like carrying on that seems to have appeared over the past few weeks will end. Thank you. I'm going to close this thread as I see this as a statement and I'm unwilling to debate it. Eamonn.

Hi TK, Welcome. Your going to have to help me out a bit. I'm not sure what a Message Board is? The Sea Scout Ship I'm affiliated with does use a Yahoo Group page, which is password protected and all messages have to be approved before they get posted. Is this a message board? Any help would be great. Thanks. Ea.

Eammonn? How is that pronounced? Any way, I was talking with a couple of Sea Scouts and somehow we got to talking about bullying. It seems that the Internet is now being used as a tool for bullying. Sites like My Space are being used for name calling and spreading some really nasty stuff. Computer programs like Photo-shop are being used to alter photos, while some of this is fun some of it is intended to be be harmful and hurt the person being bullied. Kids are downloading some of this stuff and passing it on e-mailing it to other kids and sending it to each others cell phones.In a place like a high school it can spread like wild fire. While this is a lot different that the bullying that went on when I was at school - Back then it was more about physical abuse and threats. While many will say it's only name calling and "Sticks and Stones.." This kind of thing does make some kids very unhappy and while the Scouts I was talking with said they didn't know anyone who had hurt themselves because of this, they did say that at school it has led to several fights, where both kids have been suspended. I am really happy that the BSA is taking a stand against bullying. When we talk about making ethical choices? Choosing not to be a bully only seems right and helping kids who have been bullied know what to do and how to deal with it, before something happens, is just a good idea. Eamonn.

What I posted about Councils would have the choice of not taking units that they might not want was intended as a joke. But.. For a moment let's pretend I'm the Council President (A volunteer) Troop 666 wants to join the Council I'm serving. I call a meeting of the "Application Committee" I see from the very long application form, that Troop 666 has never supported any Council they have been in. Membership is weak. The adults have never taken training and the very long form shows that they think all this training stuff is a bunch of balderdash. I'm a little worried about accepting this Troop so I call the person listed as being the CO Executive Officer. When I ask him about the Troop? His answer is "What Troop?" I'm now really worried so I visit the Council President of the Council that Troop 666 was with. We chat for a while, mainly small talk and then I ask him about Troop 666. He rolls his eyes and informs me that the best thing that ever happened was when the let their charter with the Council run out!! He was pleased to see them go and there is no way that they would ever be allowed to return. I present my findings to the Application Committee and they vote not to accept Troop 666. The Scoutmaster is very upset. He informs me that they need a Council! He knows that the Council they just left is going to have him or the Troop back!! He pleads to be accepted by the Council I serve, he makes a point of telling me that he did spent a long time working on the very long Application Form and spent $2.86 of his own money to mail it to me. I say thanks but no thanks. I feel sorry for him and suggest he might try the Trans-Atlantic Council! He reminds me that we are in Pennsylvania!! Eamonn.

For many years back in the UK I was involved with ELF (Eliminate Leukemia Fund) I got involved because a very dear friend of mine lost his son to leukemia. The little Lad was only five years old. The loss took a very heavy toll on the family. They owned a pub in London. Dad took to hitting the bottle really hard, they lost the pub. They struggled financially and their marriage went through a really rough time. My prayers are with the Lad and his family. Ea.

Having once earned my living teaching English history, I'm all for learning from the past. I see nothing wrong with activities that were common in Scouting "Back in the day" -When ever that might have been. But... We do have to remember that the youth we serve are todays youth. Like it or not they are not taught the same way that some of us older people were. While many Scouts enjoy participating or visiting these old time activities many want to see what they are doing as being relevant to them. If they fail to see the relevance they tend to tune out. These Scouts and many of their parents have been raised in an age of technologies, they not only expect it, but many demand it. If we are not seen to be moving with the times, we will end up the same way as the Dodo bird. Eamonn.

For our youth members? Maybe some sort of a log which they have kept out lining what they did when they held a POR. This could be required to be signed by the SM and taken with the Scout to his Eagle Scout BOR. For adults we could come up with some sort of Mentor Plan, where a new leader is paired up with a experienced and trusted leader. Ea.

The Dump http://www.thedump.scoutscan.com/nonfict.html Is a great place to read old Scouting material and books. Eamonn.

Mark, The camp belongs to Ed's Council, but is located in the Council I serve. Have a family that lives almost next door to that camp, but the Troop attends good old Camp Conestoga. (We may have our faults but chunky milk isn't one of them.) Ea

I got black boxed in both languages? Do you think it's my accent? Ea.

Maybe on the flip side of the coin. Councils would have the choice of not taking units that they might not want? Ea.

"but I also help with my son's Wolf Den to have two deep leadership." Maybe I shouldn't ask but.. If the Den needs two-deep leadership?? Why are you an ACM? For the Pack to charter it needs two leaders for each Den. It doesn't need a ACM to charter or recharter. Ea.