AlFansome

This was posted today on Facebook by the Scoutstuff and BSA Licensing teams:

"The United States Postal Service will unveil artwork for the Celebrate Scouting stamp at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum on Nov. 12 at 10 AM. This stamp tributes the impact of a century of Scouting on the American landscape and will become available during the summer of 2010."

In the case of units chartered by community groups (Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions, VFW, etc..), it is very rarely the case the a CM or to some extent even SM would be a member of the CO. Usually, it's the parents of the kids and with the rotation in and out of boys, those parents typically aren't members of the CO.

Check out my reply to http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=257086 for some info on how to get closer to your CO. It was directed towards getting the unit closer to the CO, but if you do that, then your personal relationship will improve as well.

Troop Webmaster, LNT Trainer and Bugler are all (as of 1/1/2010) valid PORs for Star, Life and Eagle. There was a misprint (suprise!) in the 1st printing of the new handbook that left out a few PORs for Eagle.

However, at Philmont, it was confirmed to me by speakers from National, that it was indeed an oversight and those 3 are valid for Eagle as of the 1st of the year. Expect a new Eagle application, of course, as well.

There are 2 groups on Facebook related to Maine Scout camps...

- a "Camp Gustin" one with 114 members and lots of folks talking about there memories at the camp.

- a "Save Maine Scout Camps" group with 501. According to the group page, there's apparently planning going on for a rally at Camp Gustin on the 15th at 2:00. There's been a call for help for Scouters to attend a planning meeting for the rally tonight from 6:30-8:00 in Lewiston at the IBEW hall.

If you want more info, you can PM me (or signup for Facebook, of course).

This one ...

http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&item=940

attach it to the blue portion of your square knot as emb021 describes above.

Regarding crossed palms...

Never seen anything official anywhere that says it's OK. Never seen anything official that says you can't.

http://www.crowl.org/George/Varieties/devices.doc has more info that you need about knot devices. It says that they can't be worn on the knot.

And...

Philmont Training Center Master Track Award - completing the 3rd track allows the wearer to add the PTC device.

One more:

- the NESA Life Membership Award can have the same pins as the Eagle Scout Award.

From http://www.scouting.org/Training/TrainingUpdates.aspx:

"Twenty councils will pilot required training for top leaders in 2010. Top leaders are Cubmasters, Scoutmasters, Varsity Coaches, Venturing crew Advisors, and Sea Scout Skippers. Plans are to require training for all top leaders in 2011, and all direct-contact leaders in 2012. Direct-contact leaders include all assistant leaders and den leaders. Council training teams should begin to update training records by conducting training inventories of all leaders and begin preparing to make training more readily available. "

What our Council is telling us is that this means that your CM, SM, etc. must be fully trained (including IOLS for SM) as of the charter in effect on 1/1/2011. All DLs, ADLs, ASMs, etc. must be fully trained by the 1/1/2012 charter start date.

The interesting thing is if you replace "training" with "uniforming", the exact same comments apply.

It's all about modeling the preferred behavior, leadership in executing the vision, and an understanding of the benefits of training (and uniforming, too).

Saw on Facebook today that the (unofficial) PTC schedule for 2010 is now posted at http://www.ptcstaff.com/philmont_training_center_news.htm

Time to start making plans!

Beavah-

Love the idea of a "Kiwanis Kampout"...definitely on my to-do list to start thinking about!

In my initial written reply to the unit leader today, I laid out very clearly that we're not just an on-paper CO, spelled out what I expect of the unit leadership (training, community service, following the program, family participation), and also listed what Kiwanis can do for them...exactly what I'd say to leaders we'd recruit if we were starting a pack from scratch ourselves. I then extended an invite to have a sit down with them before we agree to charter the unit. The ball's in their court...if they want a partner in operating their pack (who will also exert influence as necessary), then they know my number. If not, I guess it's "Parents of Pack xxx" for them. For the good of the unit and the boys, hopefully they'll make the right decision.

In actuality, jumping in with these leaders will actually be easier that what I've had to deal with with our other 4 units. For them, I took over as COR 3 years ago after a very long period of benign neglect. So, not only did I inherit leaders that I had never met, but I also inherited 4 distinct cultures that in some cases did not match our/my vision of what a unit should be. Still working on some issues there ... :-)

You can find the cases that BSA lists at

http://www.bsalegal.org/litigation-222.asp

All the "Morally Straight" ones seem to be filed by folks who had their applications denied either for membership or employment or who had their membership revoked.

Likewise with the "Duty to God" and the "Girls seeking membership cases".

In most of the access to government forums, it was the BSA/council/CO that was doing the suing.

Now, that's not to say that there weren't plaintiffs looking for a fight, of course, but there is a person behind all these cases that say they were harmed.

DenZero-

Each pack we charter is based out of an elementary school and draws their boys only from that school for obvious practical reasons. In addition, our 2 current packs are 5 miles apart and the new pack is yet another 5 miles distant. During the course of travelling the 5 miles between any of our packs, you'd probably pass the meeting place of 1 or 2 other packs on your drive. We've got alot of density with 20+ packs within a 4 mile by 12 mile area (not even including the LDS units).

Also, our school district has no problem allowing the packs to use their facilities, so a meeting place is not an issue, either.

I talked to the DE earlier today and the pack literally has everything except a chartered org...they've got a UC, a meeting place, leaders all in place, a pack meeting next week, etc. So, it looks like we'll move forward with the charter assuming the pack leaders share our same outlook on the vision of what the pack will be (i.e. following the program appropriately, some community service projects, etc.)...still waiting to hear back from the adult volunteers.

Just got off the phone with the Registrar. All the paperwork is complete and finished including youth and adult apps ... except for the charter agreement (since there's no chartered partner yet). If my club decides not to charter the pack, then they'll just charter as "Parents of Pack xxx". It's possible they are also fishing around over at Rotary for a chartered partner as well.

So, I guess it's up to our Board to decide if we want to charter another unit. Mission-wise, geographically, philosophically, it makes sense for us to do so, since that's what we do.

Also, from a high level, based on my experience, it'd be better for the pack and the boys to have us charter then than to go the "Parents of.." route, for a variety of reasons.

Our club draws it's members from 3 towns with a total population of around 130,000 people. Those 3 towns make up the district. There are close to 70 units in the district and we charter 2 packs and 2 troops. Only one pack/troop combo has what you would call a feeder relationship since they meet at the same school. These relationships predate my joining the club 9 years ago.

Since our club is large geographically, it makes sense for us to look at chartering units from all 3 towns, although the number and type of units can be debated.

Our club is exclusively a community service club. We sponsor 4 Key Clubs (Kiwanis for high schoolers) along with chartering the 4 scout units. The "why?" of chartering is pretty clear to us.(This message has been edited by AlFansome)

My Kiwanis Club is the CO for 4 units and as the only Scouter in the club, I'm the COR for those units.

I just got an e-mail forwarded to me from our President. It came from out of the blue via our website from someone associated with a new pack.

It reads:

"We are starting a new Cub Scout Pack in xxxx and need a Charter partner. We are meeting at xxxx Elementary school and have our first official Pack meeting next week. We're off to a great start with 18 boys already!

Because this is a new Pack, we are all doing this for the first time. Does your organization partner with Cub Scout's to help us charter?"

The school mentioned is a brand new school in the district, so my assumption is that the DE has been driving the new unit creation and knows that we're a CO that geographically draws members from the entire area. He probably directed the pack to us. Would've been nice if the DE called me first (since he knows me) to let me know what was going on (assuming my assumption is correct).

Now, obviously my first calls are to the DE to see what the heck is up and to the Council registrar to see how far along the paperwork is (if at all). If they don't have a CO, they don't have a charter and they don't have a unit. However, they look like they have leaders, a meeting location, and of course, boys.

My club would be more than willing to be a CO for another unit, however from my personal perspective, I'll have some issues if none of the leaders are trained, if no one is registered, and if there's a bunch of stuff to get in order in a very short time.

I'm not looking to go up the chain to complain to the FD or SE (at this point) since the DE's a good guy and I support his efforts, although I will certainly have a chat with the DE if my assumption is correct about the backwards process and his role in it.

Thoughts, advice?

Well, here's the form that the Council commitee would send to National...

http://www.hoac-bsa.org/ae_links/lifesaving_meritorious_action_award.pdf

The Council advancement committee is the suggested committee to decide these things at the council level according to page 6 of the form that I linked to above. If they don't agree with you on the level of the award (if any), then you could try to go straight to the SE and try to get a sympathetic ear, but he/she may just kick it back to the Adv. Committee. On the other hand, it's always good publicity for council to report on a Scout that saved a life. So, from a practical matter, that route may be helpful, although going around the Adv. Committee won't win you any friends there.

More concerning would be if you don't have a statement from the person who was rescued. According to the form, that is required (see the checklist at the end).

I'm a Chartered Org. Rep. for 4 units in addition to being a leader in my son's pack, so I can speak from both sides of the relationship.

1) Realize that this is a two-way relationship. Your pack is chartered by a church. Think of ways that you can reach out to help the church with their mission. It could be as simple as a landscaping cleanup, helping with a fundraiser, providing service during your church events, whatever. Just making that initial effort to try to be a good partner with the church leadership may help to at least thaw the chilly feelings you're getting from the CO.

2) Publicize what your pack does to the CO and/or the whole church. Any way of getting Pack events into the church bulletin or other communications? Try to get the general church membership involved if possible with your events just like you can get involved with their events. Clearly, there are practical limits to this approach, but getting the organization as a whole to develop a warm and fuzzy feeling about the pack and the boys in particular is a good start.

3) Whom do you deal with at the CO? Is it the head of the church council, the pastor/priest, or someone that's been appointed to serve as the Chartered Organization Representative (COR)? If there is someone in the congregation not affiliated with the Pack, yet who is a supporter (or at least "gets") Scouting, then perhaps that person could be considered by the CO to be the COR. It would remove the head of the CO from direct day-to-day issues with the COR and would allow you to have a friend of the pack in there to act as a buffer between the CO and the pack.

Take the time to listen and appreciate (if not agree with) the position of the CO. Anything you can do to try to minimize his issues through things like I've listed above can slowly change the relationship between you can the CO.

Good luck.

For patches hanging off the right button on the new uniform, I just get a twisty-tie (for the bags from the produce section at the grocery store) and secure the patch by pinching the loop right up at the button. Tuck the tie up under the flap and you're good to go.

Interesting article at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33470581/ regarding the use (and misuse) of personal locator beacons.

Anyone been in a situation where you've seen these things abused, used accidentally, or been used as a crutch to allow an outing that shouldn't have been attempted?

The official word is at http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/HealthandSafety/TourPermitFAQ.aspx

No expiration date for BALOO.

The same thing is going to happen with Outdoor Leader Skills (OLS) and presumably BALOO and Outdoor Skills for Webelos Leaders (OWL).

I got this via e-mail from Dan Zaccara a couple of months back in response to a question I had asked him:

"We are in the process of revising OLS. When we do there will be one OLS for all Programs. The program specific outdoor courses will go away. "

The little blue knot on the bobblehead is supposed to be purple ...

http://www.oa-bsa.org/events/n2009/live/sat/morn/National_Chief.jpg

1) liability and $$$: At http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/HealthandSafety/GSS.aspx, it's specifically mentioned in the "Scouting $$$ Pay Liability Claims" section. Mom and Dad don't have anyone to sue if little Johnny burns himself at the backyard grill.

2) family program: During the Wolf and Bear year, achievements are to be done primarily at home. (At least until this new FastTrack program was rolled out). It's much safer for mom and dad to supervise than it is for a den leader with 8 or 9 (or more) seven and eight year old boys running around. See point 1) above....

In the Wolf book, there's a picture of a scout flipping burgers and hot dogs at a family picnic with dad right over his shoulder. Clearly aimed at having the boys do the achievement at home.

In the Bear book, the suggested things to "cook" are smores and hot dogs wrapped in biscuit dough and tin foil to be thrown on some charcoal.

Do smores count as "cooking"? Can Wolves and Bears make smores? Who knows. The G2SS is just a guide anyway, right? :-)

All I know is that if you assume the BSA knows is *ss from it's elbow and if outdoor cooking is not for Wolves or Bears according to the G2SS, then the logical way for a boy to get his achievements done is with his family.