fred8033

Gunny2862 - Nice comments. Beavah wrote "For da Citizenship badge, the purpose of the service is to help 'em see how a particular organization contributes to their local community, and a bit of how organizations like that rely on folks in the community steppin' up as volunteers. The point is to build connections to their community, eh? And understandin'. Not to tick off 8 hours with their head down not payin' a lick of attention or cross-countin' hours unrelated to da purpose of the badge." That's exactly the view the Citz of Community MB counselor. That's what he should communi

Brewmeister wrote: "I also predict that, sooner or later, the BSA is going to say it's ok to be untrustworthy, disloyal, unhelpful, unfriendly, discourteous, unkind, disobedient, surly, unthrifty, cowardly, unclean, and irreverent as well." Democrats ???

Nights of camping - Also if you define the activity as having ## number of nights of camping, you can over-ride that for individual scouts. Very necesasry if the scout did not stay both nights. ScoutNet - We've been using this continually lately. We treat that as the master. Our TroopMaster is just for the lower details. i.e. who was on what camp out. what activities did we do. etc.

basementdweller: ".I was look for a single sheet summary for a scout...." Troopmaster -> Reports -> Awards/Advancement ->Individual History. - Get used to TroopMaster paging feature for multiple pages. It looks underwhelming if you don't page between pages. - Play around with the options. I like to include everything and ALSO CHECK "Omit details on completed ranks". That gets really long. Troopmaster is a piece of software that we've used for years. Hasn't changed at all except minor features. I would love for us to switch to something else. But I have not found

bnelon44 - I probably was unclear. If the scout is 2nd class (or what ever class) and working on the MB, fine. I'm just saying that the MB counselor should pay attention to the words in the MB requirement as written. The troop pays attention to the advancement requirements as written. If the service matches the requirements, I'm okay with it. If anything, it's a coordination issue the scout needs to take care of solving. Describing it as "double dipping" or "gaming the system" is just poor sportsmanship.

I just re-read the MB requirement. It says "While working on this merit badge, volunteer at least eight hours of your time for the organization." That puts a boundary saying you can't count hours before you started working on the MB. Other MBs fall into the basic GTA rule stating that you can't credit work done before becoming a Boy Scout. ... IMHO, this comes down to the MB counselor is responsible for the MB. The scoutmaster and unit are responsible for rank. The MB counselor is not responsible for rank advancement and the scoutmaster/unit is not responsible for MB requireme

Our "approval" is more like .... SCOUT: Scoutmaster ###, I'm going to work on ###### this weekend. Okay? SCOUTMASTER: Sounds great. Look forward to hearing about it.

Focusing on no double dipping is just noise. I agree with previous comment that most scouts have performed service many times over. I know that if I say "There's no explicit rule saying you can't count the same service for both rank and the merit badge", someone will respond that of course not every single possible rule combination is documented. Or that it should be obvious you can't do both. Or why have such low standards. Or .... one of many other dozen rules .... But if we apply the no double dipping rule, it should be done consistently. ---- Camping nights used for

TAX IMPLICATIONS - I've read on this repeatedly. Generally, the whole topic is clear as mud. As with many legal issues, it is an argument of nuances. How much is the private benefit of scout accounts necessary to achieve the public good of the exempt status? http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-wd/02-0041.pdf Gosh, we had eight eagles who did a total of 2400 hours of community service for their projects. Plus we do service projects at camp (i.e. for a non-profit). We help in the community thru food shelters and local service. We help keep kids from being delinquent. Plus selling grows character

I think the viewpoint is wrong on this. It's absolutely great if the pack can choose, prepare and switch den leaders. But, from my experience, that's rare. It's just too hard to find spare leaders who are just waiting for new responsibilities. Instead, view it as you just got a group of new scouts joining as Tigers. They have parents. One of the parents needs to step forward. If none of the parents step forward, you don't have any new Tigers. Hand them back their applications and thank them for inquiring into the pack. Sort of like the youngest leagues of sports. Parents si

Slusher - Quick clarifications. - He was BSA employed in Germany. I don't see any record he was employed by BSA in US. - Could not bring 1972 issues to local USA police attention as it was not in the USA. - The 1972 case was discussed with the scout parents. The parents didn't contact the police either. - He was registered in a different troop then his original troop when he returned. That troop was probably not notified about him. - Later he was unregistered / removed in early 1976. Police arrested him in 1977. Given how old paper records were handled, I could s

... Mind you all the events surrounding this discussion are sad and creepy.... I am fairly pleasantly surprised with the detail in the files and the effort to handle. It's still creepy stuff, but it does look like BSA was trying to do something. Not always making the best decisions, but clearly making the effort. I was also pleasantly surprised at the timeline included in the documents. http://documents.latimes.com/boy-scouts-youth-protection-timeline/

Gotta admit.... I felt a slight thrill hearing we have a new insignia guide.... I need to get a life. Then ... I started looking for the PDF. At the scouting.org web site I found the following: "A printed copy of this essential reference may be purchased online at http://www.scoutstuff.org or through your local council Scout shop." Why can't documents like this be available? Why do we have to purchase them? Why re-write extracts as a series of web pages that are often out of date compared to the official published document. Just make the PDF version available online. Or save

Another discussion point. http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2012/08/03/task-force-proposes-moving-to-one-oath-and-law-for-all-programs/comment-page-2/#comment-11017

Beavah wrote: "Average troop size nation-wide accordin' to JTE materials is 14 boys or so. " Yeah, I just don't believe that number. In retail sales, you compare store sales on existing stores and excluding stores that are new or closing down. I think that should also be applied to troop size. Exclude troops that are essentially dead or dying. Exclude troops that are less than three years old. It would be easy to exclude new troops. It would only be possible to exclude dead or dying troops by waiting a few years and then looking backward. ... Part of being a healthy troo

twocubdad wrote: "But given the relationship between the troop and pack, for the Webelos to pretend they then have to give every other troop in town an even shot offends my sense of loyalty. " I fully agree. It also helps from another direction. Right now, families flock to the most successful troop. In our town, the most successful troop will get 20+ new webelos. And then lose 50% of them in the next year. I'd rather see the pack/troop linkage stronger such that there is a continual set of new families that feed into each unit to help refresh it and make it a good program. Ri

- 25 is not a large troop. It's an average troop. - 5 to 7 is a "starter" troop. It's a troop with one patrol and no SPL. It should have a goal of getting to the ideal of 32 scouts. Avoid the troop if it doesn't have that goal and a plan and a candidate pool of future scouts. - 50+, 60+, 70+, 80+ is a large troop. The trouble with a troop of 5 to 7 scouts is... - If a few quit, you don't have enough scouts - If a few scouts don't go on a camp out, you can end up canceling events. - Every parent needs to help. Not enough families to just have a few families help. - Not

ParkMan wrote: "Personally, I'm a big fan of the Webelos being Webelos - an almost separate program from the Cubs or the Boy Scouts. " Me too. Webelos need to viewed and structured as separate from both Cubs and Webelos.

Horizon wrote: "When I was growing up, Jane Fonda movies were not allowed to be shown in our house. My father despised her for her actions during the Vietnam era. I don't think that hurt her much." Jane Fonda's career took a HUGE HUGE HUGE hit because of that incredibly insensitive picture she took and all the surrounding comments etc. And rightfully so. Our soldiers were getting killed every day in Vietnam. And she (i.e. Hanoi Jane) was sitting on artillery aimed at our soldiers. There are multiple generations that remember that picture. http://www.iconocast.com/07-10-2012/74/Jane

I remember the Dixie Chick controversy back when it happened. I had to look up the details. Then read about their 2006 tour. Wow. Adding concerts in Canada. Canceling and downsizing concerts in the US. Now touring as an opening act. Not as a headliner. Hmmm.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidents_%26_Accusations_Tour It's also interesting in that they've won multiple Grammies (plural of Grammy???). Shows a disconnect between sales and awards. Interesting.(This message has been edited by fred8033)

I was thinking Webelos still attend the monthly pack meetings at the pack meeting site day and time. But then hold their den meetings at the same date and time as a troop meeting. Start together for flag ceremony. Then branch off to run their own den meeting. I don't even think you need to limit this to 2nd year webelos. You could do this with 1st year webelos too. In fact, I think it would help the most if you start it with 1st year webelos. Zero impact on the pack. But the Webelos start seeing a much more mature program, see boys they can look up to and see activities they want

ScoutNut: "What about those Webelos who might not want to join that particular Boy Scout Troop? When they are "forced" to attend to Troop meetings of one only Troop they get the impression that it is that Troop or nothing. Can't say I am a fan of that concept at all. " It sort of goes back to the old model of joining the troop that's aligned with your pack. Natural transition. But there's no rule that you have to join the same unit. "I believe", ... no special knowledge ... , that model is being revisited to bring a smoother program.

IMHO, den chief often doesn't work. It takes either a very special unique Boy Scout or a Boy Scout who's younger brother is in the Cub Scout den. The biggest challenge is transportation. Either the scout needs to live very close or depend on a parent who's already going because of a younger brother in the den. Though I suspect some den chiefs do great job, I've yet to see it. Mainly because the den chiefs that sign up to help us have had no transportation. Or they've had other obligations too like school and sports. In a way, that's why I'd like to see Webelos dens meet at the same

Do something like the following... Proposal - Hold Webelos den meetings at troop meetings. Webelos could line up just like another troop patrol. Stand thru the flag ceremony. Then as soon as the flag ceremony is done, they break off before troop announcements and business begins. I think it would help with scout retention. Plus the young scouts could see the example of the older scouts and develop the desire to be like those older scouts. They'd also get to see how a troop is run by the scouts and the type of activities they get to look forward to doing. Webelos is alrea

scouts-a-lot: "As an adult involved in all three levels I welcome it. I cannot tell you the # of times I have said the wrong words and looked foolish!" Been there. Screwed it up too. LOL. twocubdad: "If you were going to design a system whereby half-way through the program you winnowed the membership by half, you couldn't come up with much better than the current Crossover baloney." Fully agree. I hope a one oath is just a start. I can't say the number of times I've been sad when families leave near the end of cub scouts without really understanding that Boy Scouts is a m