fred8033

I must admit I prefer long standing scoutmasters. Troops change personality with the SM and youth need continuity. BUT why shouldn't it be okay. We want scouts to step up and adults to minimize their own involvement. It seems like rotating adults promotes youth owning their own program. My only fear is it takes a long time to really figure out the job. I'm betting at least two years. It would not be fun to have a SM continually learning his role.

... Jealous ... It's one trek that I always wanted to do.

It's one of the reasons that I think opening BSA is a good thing.

I did not answer the original question. No. Our troop generally followed BSA's standard troop meeting. We did have a service patrol and a program patrol. Patrols cooked and camped together. Patrols often socialized together. Patrols were long standing. Beyond that though, patrols were a way to make the troop manageable. I would have liked seeing patrols being tighter and more significant. I would have liked seeing Patrol Leaders having a more significant role.

"you call the helpline?" ... That's 911 and the cops. Sort of an contradiction. ACB ? Australian Cricket Board ? Yep. I'd call for help.

"Weekly meeting" don't have to be a recurring, 6:30pm sit in a chair thing. IMHO, that's part of what is killing scouting. ... Camping? That's a meeting. Activity setup by the program patrol? That's a meeting. Service project? That's a meeting. ... Regular cadence of scheduled meetings is important, but scouting isn't about meetings. My son's troop monthly cadence was: 1st & 3rd Monday troop meetings ... 4th Monday PLC (with separate committee meeting) ... one camp (11 of 12 months a year) ... one activity ... one service project. That was five meetings a month. Six if yo

deeper pockets.

When do they add almost every school district to the legal claim? BSA recruited in schools. 10,000+ charters were schools.

I meant in no way a slight. I was responding to the words you wrote. "... AT&T broke itself up ...". It was a historic, groundbreaking antitrust. Larger than standard oil. It's why I added "... based on settlement of a massive anti-trust lawsuit. " ... I can't imagine how this case was managed. At least BSA's legal case has databases, modern word processors, etc. AT&T had mimeograph machines and file cabinets. I wish we were on the same camp outs. It would be fascinating to hear the stories and history. Absolutely fascinating. I grew up listening and watching thes

This is how our council trained us. When I received my BSA shooting sports training (now 10+ years ago ... I have to remember things right), we effectively became council volunteers. This allowed us to open ranges just for our pack. I know another trainer created a range for temporary use per the BSA shooting sports manual for his pack. But, he was functioning as a council / district representative at that point and having an event just for just his pack. I remember being invited multiple times to help district / council similar events.

That's what I thought too. I suspect we have a nationwide inconsistency on re-opening lapsed liabilities.

Okay. Sounds like what I heard is wrong. I thought it was not being retroactively applied to public schools and other government orgs. I'm surprised this is not happening nation wide. I'm aware of similar rumors in my school against specific teachers. I'm betting this is nation wide and could easily be reverse applied to the 1960s and 1970s.

I recognize you can sue. What I'm saying is ... from what I understand ... the recent law changes that allowed re-establishing expired liabilities ... even decades in the past ... again from my understanding ... did not re-open expired liabilities to schools and other government organizations. If it was extended, then these lawsuits should be hitting every city, state and school district that chartered scouts for the last 50 years. If you want deep pockets, go after the school districts.

I actually think your proposal is a reasonable response. Parents failed. Teachers failed. Police failed. Many, many parts of the system failed here. If damaged needs to be made whole, it's our whole society that should pay the price.

Does BSA get any protection for the scouts chartered to government organizations? This is at least 10,400 units in 2004. From my limited understanding, past liability was re-opened by recent law changes. BUT, that liability was not re-opened for public schools and other governmental organizations. I'm trying to understand ... So BSA can be sued, but the charter organizations of many can't be sued even though they selected the leaders, provided the building, owned the materials and implemented the specifics ? From what I read below, as of 2004, 400 units were sponsored by militar

Or to add the insurance companies and their policy limits to this suit.

How could anyone protect themselves from what is happening today? How could anyone decide the proper insurance amount? How could anyone protect themselves against a drastic societal change? Most blatantly ... Laws changed to re-open lapsed liabilities. I now I've said it before, but this whole situation is ugly on top of ugly and injustice on top of injustice. Sadly, the only ones profiting are muck rackers.

I agree with you. Supreme court decided BSA vs Dale correctly, but it skewered BSA's future. I've seen a few massive screw ups related to this ... I really question BSA's relationship with their legal representation. Any lawyer worth his salt would have advised to avoid BSA vs Dale. ... There are other clear blatant massive screw ups too.

Alumni support has dropped because of heated political positioning. I'm hoping in 10 to 20 years, it returns as the support is based on getting kids outside camping and teaching responsibility and independence. IMHO, the heart of why people donate to scouting will not have changed. ... But it is not a short term fix. BSA needs to get out of the controversies. Yes and no. There was not activism, but there was systematic on-going pressure and open hypocrisy. It started with moms asking why they could not be registered leaders. Then, why could they only be cub scout leader

For summer camp, our troop adults bought a two burner version for the adult patrol. We love it, but it's a beast. A three burner version scares me.

Very well written. I'd add a few points. Religion ... <modified your point> ... I don't want to remove religion because I value my faith. But I agree, de-emphasizing is reasonable because at no time has scouting been a primary channel for teaching faith. BUT, there needs to be a comfort and tolerance in scouting with having faith present and having a place for faith. I'm not sure we really have to do much different or if anything needs to change. It's just that I think scouting shines in the outdoors. I'm not sure scouting shines when we start talking specifics with politics

I agree. My view is slightly different. BSA membership changes were done to end 20 years of being a political punching bag. External groups intentionally targeting BSA for their own political purposes. The membership changes have really changed little. Yes, girls are now allowed, but it's not really anything significantly structural. I think BSA knew the membership changes would hurt as much as helped. BUT, BSA had to get out from under the abuse from other groups.

Program is king. "Active troops" attract and retain youth. Scouting leaders should keep focus here. Of course "active" does not mean meetings and sitting down quietly. "Active" means "active". Getting out. Doing things. Camping. Outings. Adventures. Some merit badges, but more about doing things. The challenge is marketing to today's "INVOLVED" parents. They are looking for one of many things. Organization? Reputation? Troop goals? Compatibility with family vision? I'm not really sure anymore. "active" can actually scare these parents away as it might hurt competing obj

I'm not always the best at handling subtle situations like this. If it happened outside scouting ... and one kid is not showing up ... there is not much we can do. Perhaps a friendly chat might be nice with the kid that is showing up. Maybe if done well, the kid might not realize there is advice during the conversation. BUT, I am a firm believer that we as adult leaders can make things worse if we inject ourselves too much.

Slow cars move to the right lane ... Agree, but the reasoning never makes sense. It's an oxymoron ... How can drivers expect slow drivers to move right as a rule while at the same time ignoring the speed limit rule? It's hypocritical. I still agree on the rule, but it is hypocritical. ... Plus, police will penalize even low level speeders, but you have to be blatantly or dangerously slow in the left lane to get a ticket. Speeding ... In my city, there is a grace of up to 4 or 5 MPH above the limit before police stop you. After that, our city does ticket for 7 MPH over the limit. Ti