Gold Winger

How many times have people lectured here that cannot play judge when it comes to child abuse and that we need to report it? This really isn't any different. What if you go to have a nice sit down with him and he jumps you and sticks a needle in your arm? What if he shoots you, his family and the detective you invited to frighten him? Come on people, this is the 21st century, get with the program. In any situation where you are unsure of what to do, call the authorities because that is the safe thing to do. Who cares if you ruin people's lives over what might really be a hill of beans. Don't think. Don't try to take care of anything by yourself. Call the police. Let them overreact, possibly arrest the boy and toss him in the clink for the night where he can become a sex toy for thugs. He apparently has access to dangerous chemical so SWAT and HAZMAT need to be involved.

Call the police, let the professionals handle it. Just as were are not trained to determine if a given situation is child abuse, we are not trained to analyze the minds of teens to determine if they are joking about death threats. (This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

Just like text-book management rarely works, there are, as snoring bear said, many ways to skin the proverbial cat. However, #3 is prevalent because everyone assumes that because he could play basketball that he can coach or referee. I'm here to tell you that ain't so. Quite often the player turned coach will forget about teaching the fundamentals and concentrate on plays. Why? Because are boring and he didn't want to do that back then. The player turned ref will often spend too much time watching the game and the plays as a spectator and ignore the chaos raging around him. Rulebook? I don't need no rulebook, I played basketball in high school. Fortunately, in basketball there are checks and balances. If you are a bad coach, you lose games. If you are a bad ref, you lose your job. How does the problem get fixed in basketball? If the person wants to fix the problem, the magic word is training. However, for training to have an effect, there must be a change in the knowlege, skills and ATTITUDE of the trainee. First ask the committee to get a couple copies of the Scoutmaster's Manual and G2SS. We actually gave a copy of the G2SS to every ASM and MC who regularly worked with the boys. I like asking questions, "what will the boys learn from this activity?" "How will this enhance the patrol method?"

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"We were given exact proportions, and wore safety goggles. This is definitely NOT something that you want to play around with at home." Boooooooring! Back in my youth we had chemistry sets at home and burnt all sorts of cool stuff. We also made explosives and then went into the woods to test them. I suppose today we'd be branded terrorists but we also wandered around unsupervised, swung from rope swings and stole baby coach wheels to make go-kart.

" I had my first ever hospital stay in March for diverticulitis surgery. Even at age 53, it's scary and stressful," Anyone who thinks that a hospital is a quiet and restful place has another think coming. Back in the mid-80s, I spent a week in the hospital but things seem to have changed. Last year and this year I got to spend a night in the same hospital as 20 years ago and it was anything but quiet. 2 AM, the nurses/aides are out in the hall shouting to each other. Then you have the coming in to check on you every couple of hours. You're sound asleep and they come in and bang the cabinet doors, turn the lights on, and then say, "How are you doing?" Food? I'm not complaining about the quality, just the quantity. I'm a big guy they gave me a tiny lump of grilled chicken, a scoop of cole slaw, a dinner roll and a tiny cup of canned fruit. Okay, that's an appetizer, where's dinner? Try to get a snack! Two grahm crackers and 4 oz. of OJ. Anyway, best of luck and hope that he doesn't need to spend anymore time in the hospital.

" Look at the PS failures, their parents just don''t care and have given up. That''s why I think that homeschooling is superior is a myth. If those same parents sent their kids to PS, they (the parents) would be just as involved and their children would excel to the same degree or better." How did we manage back in the days before everyone's parents spent all of their time managing their kids' lives? (This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

" Does anyone know how many copies of it go out each month. What is its profit each month?" Every year, they have to publish the number of copies printed and number of subscriptions in order to keep the post office happy. Look through your back issues and you can find it. Profit? Those number are double-secret. With the amount of advertising in those magazines, I'm sure that they aren't losing money.

" It is exactly a short 100 years later and look at the positions of Britain and India today. I think Mehtab Singh can keep his shoes on now!" I think that more Indians are trying to move to the UK than Brits trying to move to India.(This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

"However, because of our past prejidices, most Americans perceive anyone who is biracial as "black" or "Asian" or whatever." I think that most "bi-reacial" blacks percieve themselves as black, if they don't they are accused by others of "passing." I knew a girl in college who was blond (natural) with green eyes. One hot summer day she made a comment about "her people being able to handle the heat." This confused me so I said, "your people? What's your ethnic background?" She gave me a very surprised look and said, "I'm black." Huh? Turned out that a great grandfather was black so she claimed blackness. If she had said Swedish or Irish, I would have believed that and been very confused by the "heat" comment.

"Statistics show that of about 3 million Scouts nationwide, 70 percent are white." So? Isn't the country still about 70% white? Black are only about 12% of the population and, incredible as it sounds, "Hispanic" is not an racial description, it refers to people who come from Spanish speaking cultures. "First, the Scouts' traditional uniform, with pressed pants and insignia, might be off-putting to immigrants from countries where dictatorships thrive." Check out a Latino gang. Their clothing is immaculate and pressed. I've seen predominately Latino troops and you'd think that they were Marine. Clean, pressed, orderly. Simply amazing.

"You have no right or authority to say what the BSA program IS." At the risk of making people's heads explode, Bob does have the right and one needs no authority to say what something is when all one does is repeat what the entity has already stated. All Bob does is quote chapter and verse of BSA publications. It has been few, if any, times that BeeDub has offered any personal interpretations of BSA publications other than to say, "accept it as written." No nuances, no hidden meanings, no "could they possibly mean . . ", just take it as it is written.

Time to pick nits, FDR died in his fourth term.

"The biggest complaint about the "old" switchbacks (both here and on all other Scouting boards I read) was that they did not work well for differing leg lengths." I don't get that. They came in different inseams. All you had to do was find the pair that fit. Or you could be like the kids and sag them so that you're walking on the bottoms and be really cool. I'd still like to see a pants option for those of us who don't spend all of our time frolicing about in the woods.

Adam was a distant relative as was Eve. That's about it as far as I know.

"But when you rub two sticks together and make a fire side by side with an adult of good character . . ." I'm confused here, why would a Scout be making a fire side by side with an adult? Shouldn't the Scout be making a fire side by side with another Scout whilst the adults watch the proceedings from a distance?

The largest that I've ever seen of the old green shirt was 17 1/2. When they went to SML sizing, the XL wasn't a big as current XLs. I have one and it doesn't fit me. I think that people just weren't that big back then.

There's a lot of regular folk with calluses on their hands who recognize the good that Scouts are trying to do.

Mo' money!

" The reason they stopped those at the time was that the added cost to sew these pockets on at the manufacturer was in the neighborhood of fifty cents each. A relatiely small figure until we multiply by the thousands we produce." I don't buy that. So the cost goes up half a buck and the retail price goes up by six bits. Would the difference between $35 and $35 keep anyone who wanted the pants from buying them? Maybe if they went from $35 to $50.

Obama/Biden? Can we spell "gun ban"?

Cub Scout - 1998 Boy Scout - 2002 John, I don't agree with you entirely. I learned to drive about 30 years ago. I don't need to repeat basic driver's ed. About 20 years ago, I took more than 10 intensive high performance driver's school. Those could stand repeating because I haven't been on a track in a decade. Usage keeps skills fresh. Additional training enhances those skills. Other training that I don't need to repeat: Basic Marksmanship Touch typing Water boiling Arithmetic

" We know those are not businesses we want to seem to endorse, for the health of our Scouts." A coderate monsumption of alchohol has been found to be hood for your gealth. Hic.

Don't ask, don't tell.

"Don't include me in your "we" statement." We're all part of the problem. Did you ever say to your employer, "I don't need a raise. Use the money to hold the line on prices."? Do you refuse to buy Chinese made products? Wal-Mart isn't the only villian in this play. Go to Sears, Macy's, The Bon-Ton, Boscov's and look at their products. I was in Macy's the other day and stopped to look at "Irish" glassware, it was made in China. Not long ago I bought some big iced tea glasses at Wal-Mart, I was surprised to see that they were made in the USA. So I went back and bought four more. You're right. BSA should not be buying products from countries that don't support Scouting. I did find their comments about their licensing practices to be a bit disingenuous, they claimed that they wanted to make sure that every thing was a quality product and that they were inspecting the factories. Har!