Gold Winger

"A Scout is a friend to all. He is a brother to other Scouts. He seeks to understand others. He respects those with ideas and customs other than his own." I'm sure that you Scout organization has a similar stance. Would you accept someone in your organization that supported the return of the Nazi party?

" Only a NFP entity can hold a gambling event, and then even that's limited by state." A club that I used to belong to had a 50.50 at every monthly meeting and no-one worried about any legalities. Our membership included a fair number of lawyers, a couple police captains and a state judge so you'd think that they'd know if we were doing something illegal. 50.50s like that are private events and may be covered by the same rules as playing poker in your living room. Considering the number of raffle tickets that I've bought over the years, getting permission to run a raffle must be pr

"Well, I still find it somewhat hard to believe that a private organisation can discriminate as much as it wants. If that's what they supposedly can, they could also exclude Blacks, Hispanics, Indians, etc. That, I find highly strange and, forgive me, not very American." Freedom of association is one of our freedoms. There are groups that discrinate against whites. There are groups that discriminate against Catholics. There are groups that discrinate against whites. There are groups that discriminate against Catholics. I understand that in the UK books may be banned. T

"So, this is a valid example of tax dollars being used for a program which provides great benefits for the community as a whole, but still discriminates against a segment of the population." And discriminates a LARGE segment of the population.

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I was on the District Committee for a number of years but to qualify for the District Committee Key, I need to complete "District Committee Training Workshop." Unfortunately, when I ask about that at either the district level or with the council, people just blink and stare at me as if I'd grown a second head. Any ideas where I can get this "training"? I managed to do the job for years without it but I really need that knot to bolster my ego and make me look like a faux general.

Paying for the privelege of volunteering, doesn't make sense to me. Paying $200 to burn up two tanks of gas and give up two weekends to train others doesn't make much sense to me. That's like asking the professors at Rutgers to pay tuition for the courses that they are teaching. I was asked to work at the last Jamboree and that sounded like a great idea until I heard the price. Maybe I have the wrong attitude but volunteering shouldn't send me to the poor house.

This looks pretty discriminatory to me . . .http://www.cmh.pitt.edu/hbfp.asp Run by the University of Pittsburgh, a state supported university, as part of their Graduate School of Public Health, in university buildings with university resources. Is there a Center for White Folks Health? Nope. Probably never will be. Can I take part in any of their programs? Nope. (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

" But Russian women...I mean they are breathtakingly beautiful." Some but not all. I grew up in a predominately Russian neighborhood and there were some seriously unattractive women/girls. I've found that breathtakingly beautiful women come from Russia, Texas, Georgia (the state), England, Japan, etc.. Then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and Desmond Morris says that the fonder you grow of someone, the better looking that they get.

I just visited the Spiral Scout website. It says that it is based on Pagan beliefs. I didn't think that bikers would support any form of Scouting. :-) What are "Pagan beliefs and practices"? According to my dictionary, anyone who isn't a Christian, Jew or Muslim is a pagan. That would include any of the poly-theistic religions like Hindu as well as worshipers of Baal, Zeus, Thor, and wood nymphs. Do you use a narrower definition?

"It makes sense to place the first knot of a row in the center. That's what your picture shows. It provides no instruction for the 2nd and 3rd knots. For the 2nd knot in a row it makes no sense to remove the 1st knot and center the two as a group. For the 3rd knot in a row it doesn't make sense to remove the first two and then repositon all of them." Only if you are lazy. It makes perfect sense to me and doesn't really take that long.

"Teachers do a lot more work with kids than we do, and have a lot more trainin'. So do counselors. So do outdoor education professionals and guides. Yet none of 'em wear ribbons on their clothes. In the adult world outside of the military, that's just not done, eh?" Not really. If you hang around Washington DC for a while, you'll notice men wearing a little circular device on their lapel. They come in different colors and patterns. They are the ribbons for a Presidential or Congressional citation. Police officers wear devices to represent awards. Heck, if you go to Wal-Mart, you'l

That's news? I wish that I had his salary but I wouldn't want his job. The president of my wife's local makes over $300,000 a year. That's at least five times what the highest paid member makes. A lot of people out there are paid a lot of money. Many are paid much and contribute little to society, lawyers are a good example. College coaches are another. That's the world.

I figured that I'd contact Philmont to see what they have available. BSA has changed the rules regarding the use of Philmont logos. Shirts may now only have Philmont logos if they are produced by BSA licensed vendors. Why? I'm sure that it involves big bucks. Their shirts are reasonably priced for "wicking plastic" but that's another $200,000 in revenue for Philmont. I do have a feeling that this rule will most likely be observed by being ignored. Why on earth would anyone want to be limited to the few designs that Philmont offers. What's next? No more locally made

I suppose that we do take it for granted but when BSA was new, it was an uphill battle. Training? You can borrow much of BSA's training and just adapt it to your own organization. The publications aren't secret and are available at any Scout Shop. Camping? I know that most BSA camps are available for other youth groups. I've never been involved in finding campsites but my son's troop often uses state parks. I know that we always agree to doing some sort of service project like clearing a trail or picking up litter. To most of us, helping the kids is more important than

Another thought. If someone donates equipment for the unit to use and you give it to the youth for their use, unless the donor says otherwise, get it back when the youth leaves the crew.

My son's CO used to run a 50.50 raffle at their meeting and donate the proceeds to the troop. Some folks made a fuss so the idea was run through council who declared it legal since the CO was doing it on its own and not as a function of the troop. We'd get about $200 a month from this activity. Unfortunately, the 50.50 has stopped because the CO wanted to have a couple Scouts come to the meetings in uniform and sell the tickets. We said that would be inappropiate so they killed the program. However, they still give us a couple grand a year so we can't complain. Too much.

I moved not long ago and in my old district, very few Scouters seemed to have the Silver Beaver and those were one who had been involved for many years. In fact, one friend has been an active Scouter for over 40 years and just received his this year. In my new district, it seems that everyone has a silver beaver. Well, not everyone but many. I know that there are committees that decide such things but it seems that different standards are being used. The fellow in charge of applications stands up at Roundtable and announces, "if anyone in your unit does a lot of work, submit h

I wear my knots because I did the work to qualify for them just like I wear the silly "trained" patch. I view my knots and my stars as sort of a resume. A stranger can see that I've been involved for a while and might have a clue. A friend views his knots as a way of remembering the good times that he's had as Scouter. They're like military decorations. Some mean a lot and some mean next to nothing.

" If I go to Atlantic City and win $1000 and then donate it to FOS, will the Council turn down my check? HA!" They should because it is the devil's money! A friend won a big chunk of money and wanted to give 10% to his church. They refused. Claimed it was "the devil's money." He said if its the devil's money, take it and do God's work. They still refused. He kept the money and found a new church.

"I admire Merlyn's zeal but is he out camping with the boys or just looking for a way to bring down the existing and offensive(to him) organization?" I believe that it is the latter.

I think that chartering only costs $10 so get the charter first. That way you can say, "We're a new unit and we need . . ." instead of "we want to start a crew and we'll need. . ." Also, if you do fundraising before chartering the crew, what happens to those funds if something goes awry and the charter never happens? As for the Scout accounts. That depends on the rules of the unit that is holding the money. My son's troop allows a boy to take the money with him to a new troop. Other units say, "nope, the money has to stay here." If a person doesn't have any gear, they can g

I have more questions. What did the OA do that was discriminatory and affected health and safety? In my tiny mind, not every activity can or should be adjusted to accomodate everyone. I turn my jaundiced eye to the claim that BSA asked the CO to drop the charters because of your actions. The more expedient thing would be do revoke your memberships which is what they did. Perhaps the CO decided to drop the units because they wanted to distance themselves from the problem. More information, that's what we need. I too searched the news organs to see if I could find the sto

Can't offer any advice because the whole story is way to vague and I can't even begin to imagine the council side of it.

Heritage Reservation, about 1/2 hour east of Uniontown Pa is pretty nice. They offer both dining hall and patrol cooking camps.