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eisely

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Everything posted by eisely

  1. I have pasted in below the email sent out by our council scout executive on this. It is pretty self explanatory and factually correct as far as I can tell. I understand that this made the Today Show this morning. _____________________________ We want to let you know that one of our Scouts proactively notified his Troop leadership and Eagle Scout Counselor that he does not agree to Scoutings principle of Duty to God and does not meet Scoutings membership standard on sexual orientation. I want to assure you that the BSA did not proactively ask for this information, but based on his sta
  2. As Beavah pointed out there will be situations where a legitimate change in plans might not only be desirable but necessary. For example, changing a route half way through on a backpacking expedition because the planned route is not available for some reason, would be perfectly acceptable. However, throwing in an additional higher risk activity without notice to parents and scouts is a poor call, even if everybody had a great time and no one got hurt. I too would not want my son going on an outing with an adult leader with a history of those kinds of changes to a plan for an outing.
  3. Our council put out a blast email on this yesterday. I have pasted in the language below: ________________ Dear Scouting family, This weekend, the LA Times ran a story concerning the Boy Scout confidential youth protection files, which are being released. As you know, Youth Protection is of paramount importance to the Boy Scouts of America and we have established a multi-tiered approach focused on effective volunteer screening, education and training, and clear policies to protect youth. As part of this effort we have, and will continue to use, Ineligible Volunteer Files (I
  4. I have pasted in another article from the LA Times that is quite informative about this threat. The article actually mentions an outbreak in 1993 that occurred on, if memory serves me correctly, the Navajo indian reservation. We were living in Southern California at the time and that was when we first learned of hanta virus. Apparently it is everywhere and the primary cause of transmission identified at that time was dust being kicked up around the areas where the Navajo lived. That could also happen at a camp site. So those who live in the Southwest or are considering camping in area
  5. Probably the best compliment in scouting I ever got was from a divorced mom. She had two daughters and a son who belonged to our troop in Southern California. The mom was an established professional in her field, and they all were doing well and there was no problem in the household that I saw or ever heard about. Nevertheless she commented one time that it was important for her son to be around men since he was growing up in an all female household. I took that as a compliment since I was one of the men she had selected as an influence for her son.
  6. I would expect terms for the volunteers running the council at the top will vary by state among other things. Some states may have their own rules about non profit corporations that the state charters. More likely terms are governed by the corporations' own bylaws. BSA national probably has expectations about what will go into bylaws, but I would not expect standardization across councils.
  7. After several months of debate our executive committee decided in August not to merge our council, Mount Diablo Silverado Council, with the San Francisco Bay Area Council.
  8. An urban setting is not desirable for a functioning summer camp, but does have other advantages. Probably the most valuable piece of real estate our council owns is Camp Herms in El Cerrito overlooking San Francisco Bay. Camp Herms was developed for a summer camp in the 1930's. I understand that it was used as a summer camp into the 1960's. In the meantime el Cerrito grew up around the camp. It is a great location for Webelos activities including summer day camp. It is a great facility for training, complete with a lodge and a recently modernized and expanded kitchen. I hope it never en
  9. Cabin camping is clearly different from tent camping, or camping with no shelter at all. I don't think that the Order of the Arrow draws any distinction here in its eligibility requirement that at least six nights of camping be "long term" camping. I have always understood this to mean summer camp. Summer camps differ and some have cabins or some kind of fixed shelter. Those nights still count.
  10. A third death has been reported. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/09/yosemite-hantavirus-third-death.html
  11. There are two separate but related questions: 1. Is the congressional charter necessary for success? 2. Is the congressional charter helpful for success. I think that most people would agree that the answer to the second question is yes. The answer to the first question is a qualified no. If BSA were to lose its congressional charter, I don't think there would be too much difficulty in creating a successor corporation chartered at the state level. Presumably such an organization could pick up most of the identifiable valuable intellectual property in the process. How
  12. Perhaps it is a reflection of the size of California, but I am not aware of any restrictions on transporting firewood. There are restrictions on burning wood from Oak trees as this does spread a fungus that attacks the trees. One source of commercial firewood that seems to be inexhaustible is from old orchards that are being replaced.
  13. One of the themes promoted by the Democrats is that the Republicans are a party of racists dedicated to reversing policies promoting equality. The Democratic National Committee web site even went so far to declare, "For more than 200 years, our party has led the fight for civil rights..." Nothing could be further from the truth. Either the people who put that up are lying or stunningly ignorant of the history of their own party. Excerpted from a conservative web magazine is the following regarding the Democratic party, which: Supported slavery in 6 platforms from 1840-1860. Oppos
  14. I agree that the CC and SM are doing the right thing in simply not signing the eagle application. It is good for the troop and its programs that this surfaced now. This young man will have a great deal of difficulty explaining his unwillingness to do even the minimum while there is still time. The experience in our troop a few years back left a very bad taste in all the adults' mouths. Contrary to a promise to solicit the unit leaders' views, the council just acted and gave that scout his eagle without so much as a telephone call to either our SM or CC. I am glad that the new procedur
  15. This virus has been around a long long time. It has gained national notice because of the situation at Yosemite. The best prevention for scouts when camping in an area where the virus is either confirmed or suspected is a clean camp site, particularly with regardsd to food preparation and waste disposal. One cannot exterminate all the rodents, but there is no point in creating an attractive nuisance for them.
  16. The attorney general has finally done the right thing and announced that the DOJ will not be prosecuting intelligence agents. Now if DOJ would just be as zealous in pursuing the government sanctioned gun running pursued under this administration. See link: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/August/12-ag-1067.html
  17. I am inclined to agree with the other comments. Even if the SM refuses to sign the eagle application, an eagle BOR will likely approve the award, and if an eagle BOR does not, the council will. If the SM feels strongly enough that the youth was less than sincere throughout all the described course of dealing, perhaps the SM should simply not sign the application as the SM's form of personal protest. However, you would all do well to resign yourselves to the inevitability of this young man getting his eagle. We had a somewhat similar situation in our troop a few years ago. The issues w
  18. Married couples get divorced for all kinds of reasons. While over involvement in scouting may sometimes be a contributing factor, it is more likely a symptom of a deeper problem. There have been many things over the years in scouting that I would have loved to do, but turned down specifically to keep some balance in my life.
  19. I favor rotation of adult leadership, but on a five year schedule. Two years is way too short. One of the unmentioned keys to this is the troop committee which should select the new SM. Unless change is really on the overall agenda, one of the selection criteria should be an emphasis on boy led, and not on the selectee's vision.
  20. I thought the term applied to bureaucrats employed by the European Union in Brussels.
  21. Forty hours per week does not sound right to me either. Several years back when we went from a manual paper system to troop master, there was a lot of work to set up the data and enter everything in initially for a large troop, but the effort has paid off in a more complete and transparent system. Weekly maintenance does not take any where near that amount of time.
  22. A kind word about EZ Ups. While they are not very useful for camping, they are useful for training events such IOLS. Patrol size dining flies are the way to go. One alternative that was mentioned was "Noah's tarps." I don't know where that term comes from, but they are also very useful. For the last two years we used them on canoe trips for shade, stringing them between trees. Some scout skills and ingenuity required for setup; but ultimately very useful, light weight, easy to pack, and greatly appreciated.
  23. I have always been amused by "lifetime" warranties on anything. The question arises, "Whose lifetime are we talking about?" I have been told that lifetime refers to the expected life of the product. That could be two weeks or years. Having said all that, I have never had a problem with a handbook, but then I haven't bought a new one in about three years when the current version was just released. I would think that any publisher or manufacturer selling products for use by boys would be well advised to offer no warranty whatsoever.
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