AlFansome
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Posts posted by AlFansome
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I had seen this a while ago but didn't want to believe that it was true. Got confirmation on another list that there are indeed new rank badges for 2010 and they are hitting the stores now.
Check out http://bit.ly/7FvGT8 for the PDF file (Boy Scouts on page 1, Cubs on page 2).
If you like them, click the thumbs up icon on this post, if not, thumbs down.
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I wonder if this boy was wearing a helmet....
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A 12-year-old boy from Pottstown died while sled riding at Ski Denton in Ulysses Township.
State police say the boy, whose name they didn't release, was on a Boy Scout trip and was sled riding on the slopes at around 11 o'clock last night. The boy was riding on a saucer style sled when he hit a ski lift tower, causing severe trauma to the back of his head.
The boy was taken to Charles Cole Memorial Hospital in Coudersport, where Potter County Coroner Kevin Dusenbury pronounced him dead at 1:07 this morning.
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As ScoutNut says, OWL is not a "must" for Webelos Den camping, but a "should".
See the "Webelos Den Overnight Campouts" section of http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/CubScouts/Activities/Adults/camping.aspx for the wording.
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It's a shift from home-based achievements and badge work to more of a den meeting based plan. Whereas before the Program Helps tended to get electives (and some achievements) done in den meetings, the new planning guides tend to have pretty much all achievements done in den meetings (except for those that require family involvement).
The requirements themselves haven't changed, just that more emphasis on achievements is suggested (not required) to be done in den meetings. Gives the den leader the guidance and plan needed to get everything done in the meetings if there is no/little parental help. Sort of throwing in the towel, IMHO, but BSA says that retention is up during the pilot program, so there you go.
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Twocubdad-
Yeah, probably right with regard to a 10-mile radius. Depending on your area, finding a public park, bike trail, or hiking area is your best bet with a bunch of Scouts. Depending on the age level and density of the caches, you could do urban caching as well in some sort of relatively small area, explaining to the scouts about the need to be discreet in public places when searching so as not to draw the attention of muggles (i.e. non-cachers).
I'm in Northern California and within a 1-mile (not 10) radius of my house, there are probably 20-30 caches. On some of the hiking trails nearby, you could be within a mile of 40-50 caches.
So, it really depends on your area. Go to geocaching.com, create a free account, and search your area to see what's nearby. That will drive your decision on whether to hide your own or use public ones. Others have already posted great ideas if you decide to lay your own caches.
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I saw this on Scouting Magazine's Facebook page today and thought I would start what could be yet another long, drawn out discussion of "active"... :-)
It is interesting that they have reviewed "active" recently at National and made no changes.
From Scouting Magazine's blog at http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2009/12/ask-the-expert-1.html ...
-- beginning of snippet from Scouting Magazine's blog --
We at Cracker Barrel feel geographically blessed to be in the same building as most of the Boy Scouts of Americas major decision-makers.
So when one of you comes to us with a question about Scouting policy, we know how to find the answer. That was the case when Clarke Green had a question about advancement. Clarke writes:
Many troops have adopted a policy that interprets the active requirement as attending a specific minimum percentage of meetings and outings. This seems to be in contradiction to the BSA policy forbidding adding or subtracting from requirements. Are troops permitted to add these percentages to requirements?
The short answer: No. For the official reasoning, we went to Bill Evans, team leader of youth development for the BSA. Heres what Bill told us:
Good question. As the writer states, it is true and stated several times in the Advancement Policies and Procedures Guide that neither, councils, districts, nor units may add to, modify, or delete BSA advancement policies. This rule is highlighted, bold, and in a box so people wont miss it. If a unit does modify the active requirement as the writer suggests, it could come back to haunt them if the youth appeals a negative decision based on that modification. The national advancement taskforce just revisited the definition of active and, after great discussion, decided to leave it as it is. Units may not add a percentage of meetings to attend.
We hope that clears up your question, Clarke.
-- end of snippet from Scouting Magazine's blog ---
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John in KC wrote: "To go on any trail at Philmont you will need to do the full Trek version of their physical."
Last year when we went to PTC, there was no mention of this in the packet and no mention of it at orientation, either. Plus the kids hiked all over as part of the family program (Cathedral Rock, the dinosaur hike, etc...) with no full form, either.
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We went to PTC last year with the family. We flew into Albuquerque, rented a car, went to Santa Fe, Taos and a national monument or two, and then on to Philmont.
Unless you really want to be on a train overnight and since you're already paying airfare to Chicago, why not fly into either Colorado Springs or Albuquerque and then either rent a car or take a train/bus from there? You'll get a chance to sightsee a bit if you have the car (or if you spend a bit of time in ABQ or Santa Fe).
The car will set you back a bit, of course, but unless you were planning to hang out on Wednesday, you could use it for a day trip on the down day.
Or, you could always use the car to grab some geocaches like the kids and I did! :-)
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BadenP-
You say... "The troop can not legally use the EIN of their sponsoring church since they are considered seperate legal entities, the troop can file for their own EIN number, if they meet certain requirements, but that is a bigger hassle than its worth. "
Maybe you were referring specifically to 501©(3), but in the general case my question would be then which EIN should the Troop use for things like it's bank account? I've always read that the Troop can either use it's CO's EIN or get one for itself. Getting an EIN takes a few minutes online, but then implies filing a 990 form at tax time. Each troop and pack has to have an EIN of some sort...so it's either the CO's EIN or one they get themselves.
Some other places on the web where it says to use the CO's EIN if possible:
http://bsa-la.org/miscellaneous/tax-exempt-status.html
http://www.gpc-bsa.org/finance/unittaxexemptstatus.asp
http://www.bsasavannah.org/PDF%20Forms/Unit%20Tax%20&%20Process/UnitTaxStatusFAQs%5B1%5D.pdf
As a Chartered Rep, we've gone around and around on this in our Board of Director's meetings. If a unit uses our EIN, then we as the CO need to roll up their finances into our filings. If a unit uses their own EIN, then a separate 990 would need to be filed. (BTW, we're 501©(4), not 501©(3) as of now).
Edited to add: 990 filings are only necessary for units with > $25k in receipts, so this wouldn't affect most units, I guess.
From what I've seen, it can go either way according to docs from several BSA councils.
(This message has been edited by AlFansome)
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I'm not an accountant, but I would imagine that the deductibility would depend on the 501©(3) status of the Troop's chartered organization or the status of the group benefitting from the project (if any).
Technically, the troop is owned by the Chartered Org and inherits any tax status from the CO. So, if a Troop is chartered by a church (for example), any donation to the Troop is treated the same as a donation to the church. Ideally, a Troop would be allowed to use the church's Tax ID number (EIN/TIN) and either the Troop or Church could generate a receipt.
If a Troop isn't chartered by a 501©(3) group but the project benefits a 501©(3) org, then maybe a receipt from that group might be possible.
If no 501©(3)'s are involved, then there's been no donation to a charitable org and no charitable deduction.
However, businesses can deduct contributions to 501©(4) groups (such as Kiwanis or Lions) as business expenses, so that may be another option.
This, of course, assumes that contributions to Eagle projects are the same a contributions to the Troop...not sure on that one, although it would seem to make sense.
Clear as mud, right?
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The new form is explicity mentioned (and linked to) from http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Venturing/Awards.aspx, so it's definitely real and here, apparently.
Since I just finished being a Cubmaster for 2 years, I guess the "easy" part for me was in relation to a Cubmaster earning it. If you put any effort at all into it (and you have a decent program), you'll get the knot as CM.
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Now we have the "Unit Leader Award of Merit" ... http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/512-003_WB.pdf
Requirements have changed, Cubmasters are eligible, and all top leaders (CM, SM, Coach or Advisor) all work off the same requirements.
To me, it looks like the requirements are easier with the new award compared to the program-specific requirements of the previous award (http://www.boyscouttrail.com/square-knots.asp#meritSM)
Anyone else have any more info? Can't find anything else online...
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Some/all the info Eagle92 is referring to is at
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Depends on the Chartered Organization:
Ideally, a CO has an actual reason for chartering a Pack, Troop, Crew, Ship or Team. In reality, there are alot of COs that have no clue about Scouting, have no real hand in guiding the unit's leaders, and otherwise exist only on paper. In these cases, I'd say that the unit doesn't really provide any benefit to the organization.
Now, for those CO's that are actively running/guiding/overseeing/opeating their units, you've got alot of different benefits that can be gained:
- If a CO is a service organization like my Kiwanis Club which sponsors 3 packs and 2 troops, then you get the benefit of being able to extend your mission in your community to hopefully help provide more service to your community, while at the same time helping another generation of youth become involved and active in their community in general.
- If a CO is a church or religious institution, then Scouting can be used to help instill the values that are espoused by the CO in the youth that are in the program.
- If a CO is an community group with a specific focus (boating, outdoors, hobby trains, historical societies), then a Venturing Crew can again help extend the interest and visibility of the CO in the community while also providing Scouts with skills and interests that the CO may tap into later.
- In general, COs can also benefit from the visiblity of the units in the community and also try to recruit the parents of the scouts as possible members in the CO (Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, etc...).
...and the list goes on.
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I've always seen "snug". Looks neater and cleaner, IMHO.
Before this most current uniform change, we'd have everything from Council patch on down touching each other ... Council patch, vetern unit bar (if any), unit numbers, position patch and trained strip.
In the case of a district or council volunteer where there is no unit number, then a gap is left between the council patch and position patch.
My $.02..YMMV.
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scoutldr, what do you think should be the right course of action? Give the generals what they want, redirect to Pakistan, nation build until it's done?
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From http://www.usps.com/communications/organization/csac.htm:
"6. Stamps or stationery items shall not be issued to honor fraternal, political, sectarian, or service/charitable organizations. Stamps or stationery shall not be issued to promote or advertise commercial enterprises or products. Commercial products or enterprises might be used to illustrate more general concepts related to American culture."
...could be the reason why no logos or fleur-de-lis or distinctive BSA symbols. According to the current rules, things get pretty generic, pretty fast.
Some stamps from the past look much better:
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Yep...horrible. Remove the word "Scouting" and tell me that you can figure out what it's supposed represent...maybe the Sierra Club or some birdwatching group. They clearly could've come up with a much better design without too much tought.
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Probably so.
But then again, we didn't go in there to create an environment where women had decent human rights. We went in there to crush Al-Qaeda. Somewhere along the way, they set up shop across the border in Pakistan and we didn't immediately go after them. To think that somehow we're gonna be able to get a functioning government in Afghanistan that has control over sufficient portions of the country to prevent Al-Qaeda from setting up shop again... well, that isn't going to happen, which is why is wasn't the original reason for going in after 9/11 and rightly so.
Better to go back to the original mission and take out the top Al-Qaeda leaders wherever they are than to stay the current course, which neither is doing much in-country against Al-Qaeda (since they aren't there) nor is going to result (in the end) in a stable, strong central government there. Taking out the Al-Qaeda leadership without even further destabilizing Pakistan should be the focus, since that's the security threat to the US, not what happens necessarily in Afghanistan. Looks like there's more focus on that recently, but lots to be done.
Besides, if it's buhrkhas we're worried about, there a whole list of contries to invade...we could start with Saudi Arabia, perhaps? Or, if we're worried about oppression and human rights, there are a bunch of places in Africa that could use some attention, too.
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Tokala-
Interesting that you mention Armenians. My wife is Armenian and it turns out (in areas where there is critical mass) that there are Armenian organizations that can be very good Chartered Orgs for scout units.
One example from down in LA is at
http://www.massis.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=2
In their community and generally for all Armenian populations, the church tends to be the social gathering point in addition to place of workship. The church or affiliated group is the most obvious place to have the chartered org.
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Well, looks like there are some new devices coming...
Charles Spitz posted this on the Scouting Community:
"There is a new device for Eagle Scouts that has just recently been approved by National, and the program is administered by NESA. Each year, Eagle Scouts can submit their Eagle service project to the local council NESA committee. That committee will select one project as the best in the council, and the Eagle Scout will get a bronze device to wear on his square knot. The councils will submit their selection to NESA. They will choose one per region, and those Eagle scouts will get a gold device, and then select one for the National Award and that Eagle scout will receive a silver device. There are monetary awards that accompany the regional and national awards.
Check with your council NESA committee for the information"
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My son and I saw this on scoutstuff.org as part of the Scavenger Hunt contest that's happening until the 23rd. It was clue #7:
"I'm a classic tale of right and wrong. I'm older, by my memory lives on. A remake of me is coming quite quickly. It might help to know that I'm made by Disney."
Roll over the little compass icon next to the top right of the rocket at http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&item=179GRK to see the clue.
I sent an e-mail to Scoutstuff to get more info and will post if I get a response back.
Splitting Dens into More Dens
in Working with Kids
Posted
Great questions...
My thoughts:
Keep your eye on the prize. Cub Scouts is about FUN, not about advancement, speed, or whatever. In fact, there are no "good" or "bad" scouts or "slow" or "fast" ones. They are who they are and as long as they are having fun in their den and have good leaders to guide them on their way, that's all that matters.
Now, how can you help them to have fun? Let the boys group themselves together with their buddies and then form dens based on those groupings. Boys will have alot more fun if they are with their buddies than if some adult arbitrarily assigns them to dens.
Once you get the groups of 3 or 4 buddies from the boys, then you can start taking care of the considerations you mentioned. Which groups have parents who are leaders or are involved? Which groups won't work well or mesh with which other groups? Which groups (if put together) would overwhelm a den leader? Which groups would perfer to meet on Tuesday vs. Wednesday vs. Thursday? Based on these questions, combine the groups into dens.
That way the boys are happy, the dens are functional, and hopefully the split won't be that big a deal (hopefully!)