AlFansome

It's more complex than that.

Just because a group is tax-exempt or non-profit doesn't mean that contributions to the group are tax-deductible.

For example, my Kiwanis club is 501©(4) not 501©(3). Donations to it are NOT tax deductible by individuals (except perhaps as a business expense). Likewise, donations to the 5 units we sponsor are also generally not tax-deductible even though we are a non-profit group. We are in the process of creating a foundation and converting over to 501©(3).

In addition, if a chartered org is hesitant to allow a unit to use it's EIN/TIN, then it's possible to set up a "Group Exemption" through the IRS whereby the chatered org's tax exempt status can be used by subordinate groups (like a scout unit) that uses a different TIN/EIN than the parent organization.

For lots of gory details, go to http://www.lectlaw.com/files/tax13.htm and http://www.nonprofitlawblog.com/home/2007/02/group_exemption.html.

Our Pack's website is primarily a vehicle to communicate to parents already in the Pack, and is used to help recruit and give background to prospective parents in May when we sign boys up for the following year.

So, pretty much anything and everything that you need to communicate to parents is fair game.

On our front page are always any upcoming (within a month or so) events or outings, along with any PDF files that may include sign-up forms, handouts, directions, announcements or whatever. Add to that info on recent past events (Pinewood winners, toy drive results, leader recognitions) and you have a pretty complete front page.

We have other pages that include photos, a calendar, links to web resources, documents (uniform inspection, permission slips, pack newsletters, etc..). And we also have a contacts page so everyone knows how to get in touch with everyone else.

Our site is www.palmerpack215.com

Our setup:

==========

6 lane track

Perfect-N rotation among all boys in the Pack

53 boys racing this year

Started racing at 9:40. Done with first round, finals and awards by 11:45.

We used to do lane rotation on a per den level, but the big downside is as follows:

If you have 6 tigers in a den and you have a six lane track, then a boy will race against the same boys 5 times in a row and pretty much know exactly where he's going to finish after the 1st or 2nd race. In addition, once a den is done, the boys can really lose interest fast unless you have a good MC or other things to keep the boys engaged.

Benefits of perfect-N over the whole pack:

- no boy races the same group of boys over and over...always a chance for a "slow" car to win a heat if he's up against other slower cars

- chances for brothers to race against brothers, which isn't typically possible when racing is confined to dens

- lots more uncertainty about who are the top finishers in each den. The software makes it very easy to race among the whole pack, yet display results by den (Grand Prix Race Manager).

- boys do not finish racing early, typically, since their races can be spread throughout the event.

This year a Tiger won the whole thing and watching his car beat the older boys in the first round really brought out alot of cheering among his den. If he had beaten his den over and over in the first round, this may not have been the case.

My $.02.

NEWS from CPSC

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Office of Information and Public Affairs

Washington, DC 20207

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 11, 2009

Release #09-126

Firm's Recall Hotline: (888) 611-9905

CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772

CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908

Outdoor Stoves Recalled by Jetboil Due to Burn Hazard

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Personal Cooking Systems and Group Cooking Systems

Units: About 15,000

Manufacturer: Jetboil Inc., of Manchester, N.H.

Hazard: A tight valve attached to the stove's fuel source can allow gas to leak, posing a fire hazard to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: Jetboil has received five reports of fires resulting from leaking fuel. No injuries have been reported.

Description: This recall involves personal and group cooking stoves often used during outdoor camping. The recalled models include: Personal Cooking Systems in black (PBL075-BLK-(PCS) and camo (PBL075-CAMO-(PCS), Backcountry Gourmet Set (BDLFRY), Personal Cooking System with Companion Cup (BDL001), Personal Cooking System with Pot Support & Stabilizer (BDL002), Personal Cooking System with Coffee Press (BDL003), and Personal Cooking System Java Kit (BDLJAVA) and Group Cooking System (GCS150).

Sold at: Specialty outdoor and general sporting goods stores nationwide and on the Internet from July 2008 through November 2008 for between $100 and $130.

Manufactured in: United States

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled product and contact Jetboil for a repair or replacement.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Jetboil toll-free at (866) 611-9905 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's Web site at www.jetboil.com. Consumers can also email the firm at customerservice@jetboil.com

To see this recall on CPSC's web site, including pictures of the recall product, please go to: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09126.html

Most likely, BL gets the pics direct from Mom/Dad/Cubmaster once the story comes in.

His pics isn't that far off compared to the pics in "The Electric Company" story... Bear hats with Tiger neckerchiefs with not a single patch anywhere on the shirt (no CSP, Unit #'s, etc..). It is what it is...many packs do the best they can with what they've got.

I did notice this month that the drawings in the "Scouts in Action" section about lifesaving are now using Centennial uniform (green) shoulder loops for the Boy Scouts. That's new this month.

Two choices:

- either walk away (as the Chartered Rep and CC seem to be doing) and let the troop be what it is going to be

- or you're going to have to roll your sleeves up and get back involved on an active level as either the SM or CC or Committee Member at the least. If you're willing to do that (and have other adults on your side who are also willing to be on the Committee), then go to the Chartered Rep and get him to toss the SM (and the whole Committee if necessary) and replace them all. He and the head of the Chartered Org own the program and approve (and can replace) the volunteers. All the Wood Badge card waving in the world can't prevent or overturn their decision, if they feel that the troop is going in the wrong direction. Given that the CO is open to starting and owning a new Venturing crew, it's suprising that there's this level of indifference with regards to the Boy Scout troop. I'm the Chartered Rep for 5 units, and you'd be darned sure I'd be at every meeting to assess the situation if I heard that there was this level of dis-function in one of my units.

You'll very likely lose alot of boys from the Troop, and that's something you'll need to consider when deciding what you want to do.

Good luck.

Taking what you say at face value and if it's as bad as you say, why hasn't the Committee Chair and/or the Chartered Rep removed the Scoutmaster (or started to consider doing so)? You haven't mentioned the Committee Chair in all of this. What is his/her position on the issue?

You also say "due to the Scoutmaster shuffling committee positions and removing anyone who does not just fall into to his line ...". Well, the Scoutmaster doesn't have the power to do any of that. He is selected and appointed by the Committee Chair / Chartered Rep, not the other way around.

If things are as bad as you say, and if the Committee Chair and/or Chartered Rep has a spine, and if there is someone willing to take over immediately as Scoutmaster, then the Scoutmaster can be removed immediately with a simple "Thank you for your service, we've decided to appoint XXX as Scoutmaster effective immediately".

Now, if you don't have any support from the Committee Chair and/or the Chartered Rep, then you've got a much harder task in trying to influence the direction of the Troop.

In particular, the soon-to-be out-of-date Insignia Guide makes pretty good distinctions between "Scouter" and "Boy Scout" throughout the section at http://www.scouting.org/media/insigniaguide/06F.aspx.

For the Den Chief Service Award, only "Boy Scout" is listed.

Yeah...I noticed the off-center Summertime Pack Award, too.

The reality is that the inspection sheets (and even the insignia guide) don't really address all the pin possibilities on a Cub's right pocket, which could include multiple Summertime Awards and Wolf Track pins (for subsequent earnings of the Outdoor Activity Award).

Capt. Sully and his family live on the other side of town. His wife has spoken at our Kiwanis club about her work with guide dogs for the blind.

Once the dust all settles and life gets back to relatively normal, we'll hopefully have him speak as well. Of course, it goes without saying that he'll also get an invite to be in our 4th of July Parade, if he wishes.

If I get any info, I'll pass it along.(This message has been edited by AlFansome)

Yeah, I guess "Centennial uniform shirt" isn't the official name of the "new" uniform shirt.

The "official shirt" vs. "official uniform shirt" terms are used a couple of times, but of course don't make any sense (in good BSA style) since an "official uniform shirt" is by definition an "official shirt"!

The intent is pretty clear in that they are distinguishing the old and new shirts, but the terminology is terrible.

Regarding the unit numerals (and the commissioner arrowhead), I assume (perhaps naively) that they will be addressed in the Insignia Guide.

(This message has been edited by AlFansome)

It's official ... the "Trained" strip goes on pocket flap.

Here are the links:

Boy Scout: http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/images/pdfs/34283.pdf

Scout leader:

http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/images/pdfs/34048.pdf

Cub Scout:

http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/images/pdfs/34282.pdf

Webelos:

http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/images/pdfs/34760.pdf

Still no new Insignia Guide either orderable or online, and the Forms section on scouting.org hasn't been updated yet, either.

It really doesn't matter about the past...that's history and will just confuse the issue.

Read the Eagle Scout Application at http://www.nesa.org/trail/58-728.pdf and it will be 100% crystal clear that Venturers can earn their Eagle rank.

From that app:

"AGE REQUIREMENT ELIGIBILITY. Merit badges, badges of rank, and Eagle Palms may be earned by a registered Boy Scout, Varsity Scout, or Venturer. He may earn these

awards until his 18th birthday. Any Venturer who achieved the First Class rank as a Boy Scout in a troop or Varsity Scout in a team may continue working for the Star, Life,

and Eagle Scout ranks and Eagle Palms while registered as a Venturer up to his 18th birthday."

There's no way that this can be argued. If these two still think they are right, then you need to immediately start escalating the issue and get these bozos out of the equation.

You have an interesting perspective on the recruitment/transition process.

In the 4 years that I've been to Roundtables, Troop Nights, troop visits and have talked to Troop leaders, I can say that "patrol" is not something that I've heard at all in the context of recruiting and new scouts coming on board (other than maybe that the new scouts will be part of a NSP or somehow integrated into existing patrols). While I can clearly see that there are many troops that use the patrol method internally as a core part of their program, it seems that most/all troops in my area really don't emphasize this aspect of Boy Scouting when recruiting at least.

The focus is pretty much exclusively on stuff like "Our troop goes to camp at ..." or "Our troop is boy-run because.." or "Our troop is very active and does alot of ..." or "Our troop really had a great time at ...". The concept that a patrol (as opposed to the troop) is trying to recruit new members never comes across at all (i.e. "Hey, Johnny, it'd be great if you'd join our patrol!"). Even though the older boys do try to connect with the prospective scouts, it's more of a general troop-wide effort to show the Webelos a good time and get them to join the troop and not much deeper than that.

How much contact do your patrols typically have with new scouts before crossover? Given that our Pack doesn't have a default troop to join under the same CO, our Webelos dens go on several troop visits in the fall/winter but typically wouldn't see a troop more than once or twice as a den. As a result, any "extra" contact between a boy and a patrol/troop would need to be initiated by the patrol/troop. I've never seen that happen with maybe one or two exceptions. Troops tend to sit back and wait to see who joins once the den visits are over, rather than actively keeping in touch with the boys from the dens that have come through.

From your perspective, what would you like to see Packs do with regard to the transition and recruitment process that they don't do well or enough of?

From a Pack/Den perspective, the focus tends to be on AOL, making your troop visits, getting the boys exposure to Boy Scouts through troop/den events, camporee visits and the like. No where (?) in the Cub literature or AOL requirements is there any emphasis (or even mention) of "patrol", so it would seem like (in the general case), if the patrol method is to be encouraged as part of crossover, it would need to be from the Troop side of things since that's where the knowledge lies.

stosh's last post just came through as I was typing mine...

I agree with everything you said. Having an SM-only invite and sticking to it, doesn't seem to serve any good purpose. In my experience, the more the Cubs see and interact with the Boy Scouts, the better. Ideally, it's the SPL, PLs, older brothers or other scouts that would be handling the receiving of new scouts into the troop.

"Patrol", "Patrol method" and "adult-led" are not typically in the vocabulary of any Cub leader unless they are experienced Boy Scout leaders, or have read alot of non-Cub-specific materials, or have gone on Boy Scout leader training.

In addition, from the Cubs and their families' perspectives, the boys are bridging/crossing-over from a Pack to a Troop, not from a Den to a Patrol. This crossover is the "graduation" from Cubs to Boy Scouts and any mention of a patrol/troop distinction would be lost on 99% of the parents and boys. At least with the troops we deal with, formally assigning/selecting/choosing boys to patrols typically happens after cross-over once the Cubs are officially Boy Scouts (although some Troop certainly are more pro-active on planning and recruitments than others).

Finally, a Webelos scout typically has a few interactions with their troop before cross-over and probably doesn't know which Patrol he will be joining (especially if the Troop is still setting up NSPs or hasn't figured out where all the new boys will be going). In some cases, I would imagine that a Webelos scout crossing over may not even be able to define "patrol", depending upon how well he was prepared by the incoming Troop or current Den Leaders.

That being said, however, as a Cubmaster, I would encourage and support as many PLs, SPLs, ex-Pack members, or whomever to come and receive new boys into a Troop. We have OA come for the AOL ceremony and we also invite the receiving Troops to meet their new scouts on the other side of our bridge. First point of contact is always the SM and, depending on the troop, the SM may defer to the SPL or may orgainze things him/herself. We have boys bridge into 4 or 5 different troops in any given year, so things vary from troop to troop.

I guess it's a matter of perspective. To me as a Cub leader, bridging and cross over are Cub Scout events to which the Troops are invited. They aren't Boy Scout events that are directed and led by the Troops to promote the patrol method (although the inclusion of PLs to welcome boys into a particular patrol is a fine idea).

If you look at http://www.scouting.org/Media/InsigniaGuide/10D.aspx?print=1 it will list which service stars are available to be worn with which uniform.

In particular, note that the 5 year star says "all members" instead of "Boy Scout, Venturer, or Scouter". That would mean that it's OK for Cub Scouts to wear.

This is the closest I've ever seen to an "official" word on the 5th year star.

Sarge-

Note that the Cub Scouter knot is not exclusively for den leaders. Any registered adult in the pack (Cubmaster, Committee Chair, Committee Member, Pack Trainer, Asst. CM, whatever...) can earn the Cub Scouter knot.

From the requirements:

"Complete two years as a registered adult leader in a Cub Scout pack."

This means any registered adult leader in any position in the Pack.

In our Pack, we award service stars at the last Pack Meeting of the year along with new neckerchiefs and handbooks for the new Wolves, Bears and Webelos. We have a bridge the boys walk over and receive their items on the other side.

We also do a 5-year service star for boys bridging out of Cub scouts, assuming they've been in since Tigers. The reason for this is that we do our recruiting and applications for new scouts in May/June right after kindergarten graduation. So, technically our scouts are scouts from May before 1st grade to February of 5th grade...4 years and 9 months...close enough for a 5 year service star.

Eagle92 is right on with regard to the choices for adult leaders and service stars...one for each program level or one for total years as a scout/scouter. Wasn't there also at one point an orange backing for Tigers when that program first started? I seem to recall something but am too lazy to go check! :-)

From http://www.scouting.org/Cubscouts/Awards/Boys/index.b.aspx:

"Pack members who take part in all three events are eligible for the National Summertime Pack Award pin, to wear on the right pocket flap of their uniform."

My addition ... if the boy already has the Outdoor Activity Award patch on the right pocket flap, then just pin the Summertime Pack Award through the Outdoor patch. My son has 2 Summertime Pack Awards plus 2 of the Wolf track pins pinned onto his right pocket. The Wolf track pins are earned for the 2nd, 3rd, ... earning of the Outdoor Activity Award.

Top left: piece 2 (rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise)

Top middle: piece 8 (rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise)

Top right: piece 5 (as is)

Middle left: piece 7 (rotated 90 degrees clockwise)

Middle right: piece 3 (rotated 90 degrees clockwise)

Below that one (bottom right): piece 1 (as is)

To the left/under that one: piece 6 (rotated 90 degrees clockwise)

To the left of that one: piece 4 (rotated 90 degrees clockwise)

Hope that makes sense!!

Can't resist puzzles...was a member of Mensa!

Here's the info from scouting.org 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:

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

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

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.

GMitch-

Thanks for the kind words...

Real functioning CORs are few and far between in our area, apparently. When I asked my pack's UC (whose also the Council registrar) which meetings I should be attending as COR, she was taken aback since no CORs ever attend the Council board meetings (non-voting) or the annual meeting (voting).

My issue (as always) is time. My son's pack is in a different district than my 5 units and there's no way I have enough time for 2 roundtables, a district committee meeting, and unit leader meetings in addition to all my pack stuff and that little thing called a job. At this point, my priority is our Pack's district. He bridges in a little over a year so we'll see which Troop in which district catches his interest. Maybe I'll get lucky!

Actually, I'm CM for my son's Pack which is not one of the 5 units that I'm COR for. My primary registered position is as CM for my pack.

My COR duties were something I picked up last year after seeing the amount of neglect our CO was exhibiting to our 5 units.

3 of the units are in fine shape with good leaders and strong programs. 1 is a troop that needs to "get with the program" as it were and the 5th unit is a Venturing crew that's small and not too active after a bunch of boys went off to college. Right now, I'm dotting the i's and crossing the t's on YP, training, leadership staffing and registrations for all the units, while also starting to focus on the one troop to get it on the right track.

I used them for my son's Cub badges that I knew were never going to be taken off of moved. For that, it works great....if the corners start to curl up or whatever, a few stitches and you're good. It's definitely not "permanent" but for little cubs who will outgrow their shirt relatively quickly, it's a good thing. Washing is no problem at all when I used it. At most, the corners started to come up and I'd go back and sew when necessary.

It also works well to keep badges in place while sewing them on (especially those arrow points), if you happen to be anal like me about positioning. However, sewing through the badge magic goop gets the needle all sticky and pretty useless, so I would put a small amount of Badge Magic in the middle of the badge to avoid sewing through it at the edges.

However, if you plan on taking off the badge and replacing it (think Quality Unit patches), there's alot of residual goop that I never bothered trying to get off...sort of a mess as I recall.