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Our troop is in pretty good shape, and other than a legacy of advancement not being consistently recorded, at least the basic rosters seem pretty accurate. I will say this. I think a lot of volunteers take a very cavalier attitude towards paper work. While we can all cite instances where we know that stuff was submitted to a council office and disappeared into a black hole, there are probably more instances where stuff was never submitted in the first place. Most of the training for adult leaders simply ignores the administrative side of scouting, and many new leaders or committee memb

My co worker was very clear that the scouts were canvassing for Romney. They were handing out literature. My co worker actually went outside and spoke to the adult leader present, also in uniform, and pointed out the illegality of what was taking place. The adult leader became very offended. I first became aware of this was during the 1992 election when some scouts were placed in a photograph of a Bush one rally. Apparently it is OK for scouts to act as color guards at a rally and these guys were roped into standing on the stage behind Bush. I confess to be a staunch conservative

One of my co workers just told me that over the weekend a group of boy scouts were canvassing for Romney in his neighborhood in uniform. I think this is a violation of BSA policy regarding where and when the uniform should be worn. More importantly this activity jeopardizes the tax free status of BSA. It is a little late for this election, but please keep these limitations in mind in the future.

Our troop has never run that kind of deficit. Part of the problem as described is allowing boys to run a deficit on their scout accounts. Never should have happened. Also, it appears that the troop is not taking a large enough cut of fund raisers. In our troop the major swings are Philmont expeditions and summer camp. The troop ends up funding the initial deposits which are eventually recovered from participants. We also end up funding a portion of each boy's summer camp.

Yes

Another option would be foil cooking. This would allow more flexibility for boys to select their ingredients for their own unique meals. If you do this it is best to used ground meats for ingredients, or possibly chicken "tenders" such as you get at COSTCO.

One could take it a step further and ask what purpose the EBORs really serve. If the EBORs are going to be a serious part of the process they need to have some authority. Otherwise it would make more sense to dispense with them altogether. Look at all the adult volunteer time you would release for better use elsewhere in the program.

I shall go back and re read the advancement guidelines.

I think we are in a grey area here, and I was also thinking more broadly about other circumstances that might arise. For example, in the situation of Ryan Andresen (subject of a separate thread under "Issues and Politics"), Ryan could have requested an EBOR even though his SM had not signed his eagle application. Under those circumstances it would have been entirely appropriate for such an EBOR to request that the SM either show up to explain his reasons for not signing, or at least submit a written explanation. In Ryan's situation the entire process was cut short by the National Council in

It is correct that a scout can go to an EBOR without anybody ever having contacted the references provided or having letters in hand. It is difficult to imagine a situation where this might occur. If I were on such an EBOR I would be inclined to defer a decision until a later date when at least some of the references would be in hand. The only reason to consider not deferring a final decision would be considerations revolving around deadlines associated with the scout's 18th birthday. A scout can request an EBOR under a variety of circustances. Such an EBOR must be held, but it does n

The council office is probably the last place I would send such a letter. Under current rules only the members of the EBOR are supposed to see these things. I would find out who is organizing the EBOR and speak to that person. He or she may have specific instructions about to whom to send your letter.

The decision to prosecute is, or should be, largely based on the quality and amount of evidence available. To the extent that some clear cut provable cases that were reported to the authorities were not prosecuted because of the standing in the community of the alleged abuser, then that is much more than just a BSA problem. Look how many years it took to catch up with Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky was convicted in large part by the sheer volume of vitim testimony. I don't think any physical evidence or third party eyewitness testimony, except fo one witness, was introduced at trial. BSA le

Well said Eamonn. As has been noted in other threads over the years this forum has been in business, having YP in place will not prevent all abuse. But I agree that having YP in place makes abuse less likely. Eamonn's point about better training for youth about reporting would be a worthwhile improvement. I watch every little national news on TV anymore so I missed how the networks are treating this. Nevertheless, I too get the impression that BSA is getting off somewhat lightly. Part of this may be explained by the controversy over Ryan Andresen. The petitions were delivered on the

I guess there are some advantages to having a chartered organization that is a men's club for a roman catholic parish.

Eagle732, Appeal what? How do you appeal removal from membership? This is not a matter of appealing an adverse decision regarding one's eagle. He never got to a board of review, although he could have gotten there without the SM signature on his eagle application. By removing Ryan from memberhsip in BSA altogether BSA national said he was simply ineligible to receive any further awards, and cut off the eagle process before it got to an EBOR.

Coming back to the original topic... I understand that the mom, Karen Andresen, will attempt to deliver her petition to the Mount Diable Silverado Council office tomorrow afternoon, Thursday, October 18, in Pleasant Hill with full media coverage. I thought she already got her fifteen minutes. Watch your local news to see if there is any coverage.

This is one of those rumors that you wish was true.

Eagle732, There would be at least two grounds for not signing off in your hypothetical situation. One would be the duty to god issue. The second would be a failure to "keep myself physically strong...." by smoking. The violations of law would possibly be a third.

Lacking any written bylaws governing membership on the troop committee, it is ultimately up to the chartered organization. Given the spousal relationship you mentioned, for purely political reasons you likely will want to leave this guy on the roster. When I chaired a troop committee several years ago, I encountered a similar situation without the political sensitivities you mention. That troop was carrying, and paying for, a large number of adults whose sons had aged out and were no longer contributing to the troop. I took it upon myself to call as many of them as I could reach to dir

There is nothing wrong with promoting wood badge and public recognition of adults, but forty five minutes is obviously over the top and self defeating. This tendency of adults to stroke one another is not confined to wood badge or, for that matter, scouting. I happen to go to a concluding ceremony for a cub scout day camp several years ago. Most of that was taken up by the adult volunteers stroking one another and it was a turn off. They had put in a lot of effort and deserved some public recognition, but it has to be kept short and sweet or it becomes a negative.

Nothing.

Just because some scout thinks or says he is gay, does not mean that he is really gay. I would not take action to remove the scout immediately, although I might eventually do so if the scout's conduct was inappropriate. Depending on the my understanding of the parents and their attitudes I would not automatically take it up with them unless I was sure there would be no adverse consequences at home. Many male adolescents and pre adolescents are unsure of themselves and trying to figure things out. Many years ago my own youngest son told my wife and I that he was bisexual. Other tha

Troop 212 has a program to die for. It is very hard to argue with success and I don't want to see the troop go under. If there are things that need fixing, then hopefully those directly involved will recognize the problems and do the fixing. Moraga is not a poor community, but it is not a super rich suburb either. I doubt that there any households with income below the official poverty line. We are fortunate that the town has not experienced a great many foreclosures compared to other California communities. Foreclosures have been above historical levels in the last few years, but no

Finally got around to posting...but I forgot what I was going to write.

I have avoided posting to this thread because of my direct involvement in this situation. I am not an adult leader in troop 212, but I am the district approval authority for eagle projects and met this young man and his father either in late August or early September, I do not remember which, to review and approve his eagle project. I had not heard of this family or this scout before that meeting. His project was unusual and Ryan volunteered that in the past he had been a target of bullying. I did not ask his sexual orientation and neither he nor his dad volunteered any information on that