fotoscout

Is it just our Scout Shop or is it a nationwide problem that the shop never has enough inventory to support our council? Case in point..... For the past two years the Scout Shop has not had enough Rank awards for our Blue and Gold. Most units in this area do their Rank awards at B&G. How difficult is it for them to order and appropriate amount of patches at each level? In September people went looking for uniforms...guess what? No uniforms..all sold out. In the late spring I saw people looking to buy shorts for camp...guess what? No shorts. Our shop is a National Supply D

In the greatest sense Ed is correct. There is no training needed for this type of situation. Anyone worthy of working with kids as part of a youth organization should have had the wherewithal to show leadership in this situation. I am personally astounded that no immediate disciplinary action was taken by anyone. AND I still do not see that the Scout Executive was contacted. I see COR, DC, CC, OA, but not the Scout Executive or even local law enforcement. This troop is like FEMA, functioning with a complete lack of leadership!

There should be no question here, if this happened in the workplace the individual would be fired. Some behaviors are simply not to be tolerated. This boy apparently left the area and then returned with a fire arm...albetit a very realistic looking pellet gun. This boy should have had his membership yanked immediately. Would you have wanted to be the boy on the barrel end of that gun? Youth protection intervention, and a report to the local authorities. Counseling for all the leaders and parents of the Troop along with some type of Council probation for the incredibly incompetent lac

When you add this to the security breaches, I think this is the beginning of the end for Cheney. Look for him to resign during the next 4-6 months.

In this world of extended families, is it our responsibility to decide who is in fact financially responsible for the boy. I don't think so. When we look at campership applications we assume that they are honest requests from prideful people who need a little help. On the other hand, we don't have the resources to do the background checks that would be required to validate the campership applications. Most important to us is the unit leaders recommendation. We, the Council Camping Committee, give away as much campership money as possible and do not make it contingent on the unit pay

Yeah, they could have virtual meetings, virtual patrols, virtual outings, virtual camp, and virtual advancements, all from the safety of their homes while sipping warm milk.

Here is one thought on retention...... We see den size going up, because we have fewer adults willing to do the DL job. Consequently, when you have a bad DL, the odds of losing a larger number of boys is increased. Not rocket science. I've seen this happen in too many Packs. Everyone really needs to keep an eye on each other if you want to enhance retention. Many Committees and CM's focus on the Pack program and forget about the Dens. Spend time with the Dens and your retention will increase. As for my own unit, we rechartered with 51 boys as opposed to 55 last year.

Not for the NFL, or the players, or the sponsors. Not even for Joe Montana who wanted $100,000 for a 20 yard walk. It's ALL about money. As for the United Way.....let's not forget that the UW is not everyones best friend anymore. There are Councils who receive not one red cent from the UW, and there are other Councils, like mine, who saw the UW change it's distribution formula, with a resultant moderate loss of funding to the Council. I do have to agree, this was probably a lot of fun for the kids. But were we taken advantage of?

I second Scoutldr's sentiment.....What did the NFL do for Scouting in exchange for the free labor they received? The NFL is the wealthiest of all the professional sports leagues, even wealthier than the NY Yankees franchise! Certainly they could have paid to have the souvenir pouches placed at every seat. I am quite sure that the boys and leaders had a great time doing this, but were they taken advantage of? I think that this kind of effort, done for an organization like the NFL, bears no reasonable facsimile to a service project and is simply opportunistic on the NFL's part.

Try hunting around in this site. http://www.nerbsa.org/ If you don't have any luck, use the phone number and call the region office.

Thank you NWScouter. Eammon, I know of no other unit level fundrasier that is sponsored by, or supported by National. I believe that individual councils have the option to not participate in the Trails End popcorn, but they make that decision themselves. Either way the concept is the same.... individual units should support their councils fundraiser (whatever that may be)instead of being selfish by running their own and then complaining about the local camp or service from the Service Center.

First you have to understand that at some level Scouting becomes a business. Unfortunate but true. Camp costs have to be paid, staff costs have to be paid, and facility expenses have to be paid. All of those costs and more are paid from revenue brought into the Council. Revenue brought into Council comes from many places; interest on an endowment, direct corporate giving, FOS, Camp profits, Popcorn profits, United Way (??) or similar organizations, and more. Your $10.00 annual registration goes directly to National and does not contribute to the Councils financial health in any way. So,

$52.00 OR "Support your Council" would be a better alternative! How many of those people who are now _itching and moaning did not participate in the Popcorn fundraiser? How many of those people who are now _itching and moaning never support district or council events? How many of those people who are now _itching and moaning never attend the in-council summer camp program / or day camp programs? There are regular audits done of the council's financial records and they have an executive board, it's simply too easy to cite bad management as the cause. If the membership of this council sh

As mentioned above, Commissioners are usually selected or referred by the District or Council Scouter's. Most Districts are always looking for more Commissioners, so there is really no reason why you could not approach your District Commissioner and ask the question. They will probably do some checking and ask some questions before putting your name up for approval.

The answer is Yes. In fact it is preferred because it allows the UC to develop a better relationship with the COR/CO or maybe even the IH. In addtion, most often there is a lot or overlap with the pack and troop adults. Provided this UC is a "get along" kind of person, it can work very well and be of great help to both the pack and the troop.

Here is a suggestion on cold weather sleeping bags: The bags are mummy or rectangular with Polarguard 3D, with a Pertex Endurance shell. They are the top of the line LL Bean bags. Very nicely made and VERY cheap for the type of bag it is. http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/search?storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1&startRec=1&numWanted=20&loggedIn=0&page_type=&hotBG=0&searchTerms=ta45454 LL Bean is discontinuing these bags because, "Our customers don't look to us to supply this kind of gear". They are red, and come with a storage bag and

What better celebration of Scouting than to have a special event, AND to have most (all) of the boys go home with something really special like there new rank badges. If that isnt enough, how about recognizing and acknowledging the most senior boys in the pack by presenting them with the highest award in Cub Scouting,. If that still isnt enough, why not, bid farewell to the newest Boy Scouts in the BSA with a grand sendoff. Sure the ceremonies all suffer in this format, but what could be more special. The event itself makes it special. This thread, and the thread that this one spun

The recommended method of nurturing parents then asking them to help is certainly preferred, BUT, most often it doesnt yield the numbers or adult volunteers needed to run a good operation. Unfortunately, this method presumes that all of the adult leaders in a Pack have the personality, desire, willingness, and BSA knowledge to nurture those adults who have not stepped up. In addition, it is only the den leaders who spend enough time with the parents to really get to know them, and the den leaders are generally just too busy being den leaders. Weve been most successful, by pulling the par

Without question, the hardest and most unappreciated job is being a Cub Scout Den Leader!

We do something similar here. A successful outcome is largely based on how seriously the Troop takes this opportunity. You should note that Webelos cannot camp with the BS. They need to be separated!

There really is no reason or excuse for a 15 year old to be having a social drink. Both the parents and the boy (and any other children they have at home), should be referred to MADD & SADD. As I read through this thread I could not help but think about what a horrible contagion these parents are.

ASM1, As you can see by my posting in this thread, I am no big fan of how National has handled some aspects of the Jamboree. However I do think that you're way off base with your condemnations. First off, you should have known better than to take such young children to the Jamboree. I spoke to many people before I decided to go as a visitor. All of those people told me the same things; 1 -the place is very large be prepared to walk: 2 -don't plan on taking the buses, be prepared to walk; and 3 -The weather can be a very variable be prepared with boots, rain gear and water bottles.

Air conditioned buses for 40,000+..... come on lady get a life! Often we are too quick to limit the fallout that inevitably follows poor decision making. Greg Shields was on the right track when he inferred that "some" leaders didn't follow the rules. But Greg's comments were quickly "corrected", and that's unfortunate. Talking to leaders in another sub-camp on Thursday, they found it unbelievable that the series of events leading up to the tragic accident could have happened at all! They clearly stated that it could not have happened in their subcamp. Scouting needs to come out and tel

Do you know if this will have a BSA event attached to it???

The difference seems to be semantic. The bottom line is that families should be invited and welcome on Cub Scout Camping trips. Ive seen nothing that describes in detail how a Cub Scout Camping trip should be organized. So, how you do it will mainly depend on your expectations and ambition. Some Packs firmly believe that Pack camping should be little more than a group of CS Families gathering together at a campground. Each family with their own campsite and agenda; and, each family doing their own thing. Maybe theyll have some group activities during the weekend like a campfire.