AlFansome

Yeah...re-read the original post, guys.

The poster asked if it was OK for a project to count towards an elective and towards ONE of the special awards (LNT, World Conservation, or Outdoor Activity). No where was someone wanting to count the same thing for all 3 awards.

I don't see any problem in counting something for 1/10 of an arrow point plus for one part of one of the awards, if the project meets the requirements.

Calling the poster's program weak and broken and questioning his motivation over 1/10 of a freakin' arrow point isn't exactly called for in this situation, IMHO.

Had he wanted to use the same project for LNT, World Conservation, and Outdoor Activity, then blast away, but that wasn't the question being asked.

(Edited for clarity)(This message has been edited by AlFansome)

...and as a computer guy, don't even get me started on how a search through a database for fingerprints/mugshots/whatever always flashes the images really fast on the screen. Or when the grainiest, fuzziest video can be made crystal clear to get that license plate info at just the click of a mouse! My wife is now conditioned to my instinctive groan whenever computer capabilities are "enhanced". The worst is that blonde character with the glasses on "Criminal Minds"....gotta reach for the remote on those scenes!

We served snacks and junk at the end of our Pack meetings for years. When I became CM and a new CC started at the same time, the committee decided to eliminate the snacks both as a health/sugar thing right before bed and also to eliminate an unnecessary expense.

Nobody cared at all that the snacks were gone. IMHO, they are unnecessary and counter to what we should be modeling to the boys.

Yes, definitely. Crank radio and lights for sure. Some glow sticks as well.

There will be other stuff in there that may or may not have a shelf life as well especially in the first aid kit, so the plan is that each year during April/May, the Pack will open up the supplies and then replace and add as necessary. This way, emergency prep is an ongoing part of the program and we can make sure that everything is good-to-go each year.

It would have if Andy had given me an acknowledgement or response to a few previous e-mails that I had sent to him over the past few months.

Secondly, I didn't ask anyone to confirm anything. I asked if anyone had more information.

Saw this at Ask Andy (http://netcommish.com/AskAndy169.asp). Anyone have any more info?

"Keep your eyes peeled for the new Boy Scout Handbook-Centennial Edition, due out around the end of summer. This 2010 edition, according to author Robert Birkby, will focus on the experience of Scouting, rather than paralleling the Tenderfoot through First Class requirements, which was the theme of the 1998 book, or emphasize eco-friendlinessa new consideration at that timeof the 1990 edition. The new edition will look back at the past 100 years heritage and also forward into Scoutings second century, using a combination of vintage images, modern photos, and contemporary graphics. The Centennial Handbook will have three main sections: Scoutcraft, Woodcraft, and Campcraft; it will also be the first Handbook with a chapter on effective leadership. The initial press run is said to be 750,000 (with millions to follow, without question). Ill bet they just fly off the shelves! "

In our Pack (chartered by a private school), we do a service project for the school each year.

This year, I've proposed to the headmaster that we load up 4 (or more) big rubbermaid bins with identical supplies to be placed around the multi-building campus. Since our 2nd year Webelos have bridged out, and we only have 1 den per grade, we can have each den work on their bin in a den meeting.

The school already has water and emergency food, so our supplies will focus on lighting, first aid/medical, water purification, communication, gas-shutoff-wrenches/tape/ropes/tarps/gloves, blankets, warmers, and all the other myriad of things you want when in earthquake country and you may have a bunch of kids to take care of and no power or clean water.

Luckily, all the buildings are one story and we have no other natural disasters to worry about.

Doing something like that (even at a den level) would seem to fit the bill as other posters have said.

Couple of things...

1) The Chartered Organization technically "owns" the Pack and anything that the Pack earns, receives or calls it's own. So, in essence, anything that anyone gives the Pack is really rightfully owned by the CO.

2) There is nothing preventing the VFW from donating whatever it wants to the church for the express purpose of having the Pack use the items. As long as the VFW trusts that the church will do the right thing with the equipment and let the Pack use them for its purpose, then that's your easiest path to get the supplies. Neither the DE nor anyone at district or council has any say in this matter, as it's between the CO and a 3rd party donor to the CO.

3) Not saying that you should change CO, but there's nothing preventing the VFW from being your CO and still have you meet at the town-owned scout cabin. If (down the road) you have issues with your CO, it would seem that you have a backup CO ready and waiting.

Good luck!

You can get 2007 and all-time stats from http://www.scouting.org/media/factsheets/02-500.aspx

Addition: Here's what you're looking for... http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Merit_Badges_Earned

(This message has been edited by AlFansome)

...and then the scouting.org website says at http://www.scouting.org/BoyScouts/GuideforMeritBadgeCounselors/RankAdvanceFAQ.aspx:

Question: For the Star, Life, and Eagle Scout ranks, how is "Be active in your troop and patrol" defined?

Answer: A Scout is considered to be active in his unit if:

1.He is registered in his unit (registration fees are current).

2.He has not been dismissed from his unit for disciplinary reasons.

3.He is engaged by his unit leadership on a regular basis (Scoutmaster conference, informs the Scout of upcoming unit activities, through personal contact, and so on).

The unit leaders are responsible for maintaining contact with the Scout on a regular basis. The Scout is not required to attend any certain percentage of activities or outings. However, unit leaders must ensure that he is fulfilling the obligations of his assigned leadership position. If he is not, then they should remove the Scout from that position.

Now, if that is indeed the BSA position, then could Troop leaders use the position of responsiblity requirement to ensure that a Scout is "active", if they feel that actually being engaged with the troop is important? That is, if a scout is elected/appointed to a position for a 4 or 6 month term, and then isn't doing his job well (or at all), wouldn't that be the point to remove him from the position, thereby stalling advancement until he is indeed "active" for at least a 4 or 6 month period per rank?

Maybe this is a question for another thread...

We use free Scout website software from Decision Design. No cost for hosting or use of the template software. Downside is no e-mail addresses or forwarding.

Check out their info at http://decisiondesign.com/decisiondesign/scouts.asp. There are also a couple of sample sandboxes to play in to check out the software.

PM me if you'd like to check out our site, which is pretty complete for what a Pack would need.

Yeah...after all the stuff about pulling the old trained strips from the stores since "red is out", they re-introduce it and then put pretty much all the red back into Webelos and Cub Leader uniforms, instead of reinforcing the fact that Webelos are transitioning to Boy Scouts and that leaders are leaders period.

If only all of us on the forums were in charge! :-)

Al'sDad writes:

"Similarly, if the CS leader wears the red trained strip but puts it on the pocket flap, it won't fit."

Guess what...the red trained strips (that were yanked from the Scout Shops for a while) are now back...and are the same size as the green ones.

So if (as a Cub leader), I move to the new uniform, then I'll use the red trained strips, but they'll go on the flap, not below the position patch where it makes no sense.

emb021 says:

"Now we have the green/khaki numbers for the centennial uniform for those people, youth and adults, who wear them (Boy scouts and their leaders, cub scout leaders, webelos scouts and their leaders). the old red & white are left for cub scouts and Venturing."

From what I read in the new Insignia Guide while browsing at the Scout shop, I got the impression that Webelos and Cub Leaders are supposed to wear red unit numbers, even on the green uniform. Of course, the picure of the Cubs/leaders in the Centennial uniforms had green/khaki numbers. :-o

Go figure...

Educating the Webelos Den Leaders that you come in contact with is also key. There is vitually nothing (if anything?) in the Cub Leader literature about boy-run. It's not a concept taught anywhere in training nor is it part of the Cub program (even in the run up to Arrow of Light).

If you can engage Webelos Den Leaders at the beginning of the boys' 5th grade year (if not earlier), then that will filter into their Den Meetings and AOL work as well. Hopefully, the last 6 months will be much different than the previous 4 years of Cub scouting for the boys if the Den Leaders back off from adult-led gradually and move in the direction of boy-led. That gets the boys prepared somewhat for what lies ahead.

In addition, the Den Leaders have more contact with the parents than the prospective Troop leaders and (if they do a good job) can really get the point to the parents that "we are now transitioning from Cubs to Boy Scouts" and this is how it will be in the future.

Without this, don't be surprised if the Den Leaders are just as clueless as the other Cub parents.

My son is finishing his 1st Webelos year, and in the fall, I (as a former Cubmaster and Den Leader) will be making sure that the Webelos Den Leaders devote most if not all of their time to the transition to Boy Scouts including the introduction and preparation for a boy-led experience to both the boys AND parents.

The latest Boys' Life has this helpful tip from a reader on page 7:

"If you want to earn more merit badge at a Scout camp, research the badges you want before going. For example: If you need Environmental Science, do the observations before going. This saves more time to earn other badges. I earned 15 at my last Scout camp!"

Technically, these are not popup windows, since they don't actually open in a new window. Popup blockers won't kick in on these, since a new window is not being opened.

Instead, these ads are implemented as mouseovers where if you move your mouse over the ad, they expand and take over screen realestate.

Some also seem to auto-expand on load, which IMHO is obnoxious, if that's the case.

Not a religious issue, just an organizational one.

GSUSA councils "own" the GS troops. That's why you have all that end-of-the-year accounting and everything.

In BSA, it's the Chartering Organization that "owns" the scout units. So, it's really the Chartering Organization that should provide the Tax ID to the unit. (Notice that you never need to give Council any info on your finances, bank accounts, etc...)

In your case, since you are self-chartered. You could and should get yourself a separate Tax ID for your checking account if you don't have one already.

Then, if this is an important issue, you'd need to get the IRS to declare you tax-exempt.

Even further would be allowing donations to your unit to be deductible....you'd need to be a 501©(3) for that (or perhaps other statuses). (Note that being tax-exempt and having donations be deductible are NOT the same thing).

It's very complicated and there are others here who know more of the gory details, but that's a quick overview.

Your unit's months of tenure is right on the 1st page of your Charter Renewal Report that's generated at re-charter time. If you still have your report, check it out...the "Months Completed Tenure" is on the left under all the signatures on the 1st page. Alternately, if your Council prints out the Unit Roster for you, it's there as well on the upper right of the first page. As has been suggested, a quick call to the Council registrar should also get you the info.

That's the number to use and should be brought into the Scout shop as proof, if necessary.

Yeah, I wasn't sure about Composite Materials, since there was no data at all listed, not even a 0 placeholder. Here's an article that says that some boys are working on it ... http://www.scoutingnews.org/2009/01/24/boy-scouts-earn-composite-materials-merit-badges/

The link at http://www.scouting.org/media/factsheets/02-500.aspx doesn't even list Composite Materials, zero or otherwise, in their list.

Finding an MB counselor may be a stumbling block, too.

A quick Google search of "most popular merit badges", yields the following page ... http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Merit_Badges_Earned

This lists all merit badges by popularity over several recent years. (Click on the little deal-e-o next to the year to sort up or down).

For instance, in 2007, the 10 least popular were:

Public Health

Entrepreneurship

Surveying

Journalism

American Labor

Stamp Collecting

Plant Science

Fly Fishing

Bugling

... and the least popular badge in 2007 was ...

American Business

In other years, Drafting, Insect Study, Gardening and Landscape Architecture would be close to making the bottom 10.

Are the leaders indeed being "verbally abused" by the COR? Depending on the severity, I wouldn't blame them for walking away.

Because you are a close friend of the COR, you will (by default) be seen with suspicion by the parents and leaders if they indeed have negative feelings about the COR.

You need to sit down with the committee and leaders first and hear them out. Actually listen to their issues and complaints and see if you feel they might have merit. Like it or not, you are now in the middle. However, because of your relationship with the COR, you may be able to be effective in solving any problems that exist if indeed the COR needs to be convinced to change his/her behavior.

In addition, if there is bad blood between the COR and the parents, you can act as a buffer between them, if necessary. The COR doesn't need to be involved with day-to-day operations of the pack if you are a strong, involved CC. At least in the near term, keeping the COR at bay may be one of your goals until some amount of trust is built between the two sides.

Good luck.

He's also got on non-official square knot awards that he purchased from http://www.sageventure.com/store/knots.html probably. They have the dark green Venturing color as a background. Not as obvious, but noticable.

If he earned them as a Venturing leader, they make sense if you think about it, I guess.

If you search for "insignia guide" at scoutstuff.org, one of the search results tells you that the anticipated orderable date is 3/23/2009.

So, it looks like it's on its way.

If you go to http://www.crowl.org/George/ there are several links on that page that go into an insane amount of detail on knots and their history.