Gold Winger

I taught "Da Moose" to my daughter's Girl Scout troop. The girls loved it but many mothers were quite upset. My favorite song might be "The Princess Pat" followed closely by "Panzerlied."

"I would hope that posters and readers have far more interest in what the BSA "IS" than in what any of us "used to be"." I used to be thin, pretty fast, and blond. I don't think that anyone is interested in that. I am very interested in what BSA will be and what I see often worries me.

Click, click, clack, click . . .

"Scouting is too often about parents ego's. My son will never receive an award he did not honestly earn." Parent's ego. Not wanting to "hurt" or "embarass" a child. Not wanting conflicts. All reasons that unearned awards get awarded. The sad thing is that many involved can and will convince themselves that the award was deserved. "Sure Bobby didn't go camping but he wanted to. He can't help it that he's allergic to trees. He should get the camping patch just like his friends."

Watching the moderators moderate in an 'unbiased' manner is just as entertaining.

$100 or thereabouts for pistol. It is up to the individual instructor counselors to set their fees. I know a few instructor counselors who only charge for materials. Rangemaster was something like $20 for the take home book.

Click, click, click . . . Disloyal Scouters. . . the problem is disloyal Scouters.

"I don't know that a non-BSA group should have less access for use of facilities compared BSA groups. It could be grounds for discrimination." Only if you take their money. It's easy to say, "We own this camp and we give priority use to our members. If we have available space and time, we will allow other groups to use it."

I don't know about Scout school but my NRA training was pretty cheap. Once you have your instructor certification, Rangemaster certification is a take home, open book test.

"I would advise not to tell the Council you don't intend to return when you do." There's better ways to say it, such as . . . if this situation is going to be repeated next year, we may have to reconsider attending council camp and look for camp opportunities elsewhere. This leaves everything wide open. I would try to find out why the ROTC guys were given prefferential treatment. Use both overt and covert resources to find out the answer to that question. If it was just a matter of "they paid more," it might be time to vote with your feet if there is another council's camp within a reasonable distance.

"So GW...Do you not enjoy the activity of scouting with the youth you serve?" The youth that I serve, as you put it, includes far more than my son. Be careful not to cut the tow rope. Click, click, click, click. . .(This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

"I have never said that the BSA never made mistakes, in fact I have pointed some out in the past." When?

I'd have to earn a few more to get my six. :-(

"On the other hand, if the resident camp program happens at the same time every year, and has traditionally used that section of camp, that does raise some troubling issues." It may be safe to assume that the Webelos camp was not a sudden whim. If that is the case, we should be asking "What on earth is Council thinking about, renting out the camp to outside organizations during summer camp?" Or is the summer camp not on a Council owned reservation and the local parks board arranged this because they saw a way of getting dual use of of the camp. I'd be ready to hang someone but we need a bit more information before the rope goes over the tree limb.

Is she Holly from Miami F L A? Doot, d-do, d-do, d-do, d-do, doooo.

"But why would you be raising funds to support the local Hooter Girl's Daycare? An Eagle project can't be for a business so why would you be identifying yourself as a Scouter?" Sheesh! Hooters is a public service. Now that I've learned that they have a daycare facility for the girls that work there, I might just volunteer to be a house boy.

I don't know if it is a flaw, it might seem unfair to the person being fired but let's remember how the organization is run. If a church fires its Sunday school director, can that director run to the publisher of the Sunday school books and cry foul? Nope. That is essentially the relationship between the CO and BSA. The CO buys BSA's program. Is is fair? What is fair? Fair to whom? Fair to what?

" Enjoys participating with his or her Scout and inspires their child to persevere in Scouting with their tenure, activity participation and achievement" If you don't see the possible problems all I can say is that someone had a key to the locker and ate the strawberries.

Okay,. You're absolutely right. As usual. If BSA has adopted this program, it must be a good thing and by expressing contrary thoughts we are demonstrating ourselves to be disloyal Scouters. (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

"Scouting provides a time-tested structure that helps bond parent/child development through group and individual activities, recognition and advancement." I'm confused. I thought that Scouting was a time for boys to grow and learn. Now it is a program for parents and children to bond.

Stosh, I gotta agree with you here. When I first heard about this program last year, I said "Ooooo boy, this is going to be interesting." I'm still confused about when this became a BSA program. Last year we were told that it was an outside program developed to help Scouting. Not part of BSA. Now it looks like things have changed. "You ask scoutmasters why kids quit and they say "lack of parental support" " What is parental support and how much do we really need? Why have things changed so much over that last 30 years that youth programs can't survive with the parents being involved at every step? I was a Cub Scout in the 60s. I have no clue what went on at the pack level but in my den, the only adult involved was the Den Mother. My brother was a Boy Scout and the only parental involvement that my parents had was my mother sewed the patches on my brother's uniform and she took him shopping for camping gear. Talking to others of my age who were Scouts, few had a parent who was involved beyond driving occasionally. The same was true for sports. When I was a youngster, mom's job was to wash your baseball uniform. A couple dads were coaches and the rest stayed away until you made the play offs. High school musicals? The kids did 90% of the work with the help of a couple teachers. Now I see professional lighting designers, contractors to build sets, and even acting coaches. What's going on?

According to the insignia guide, only five medals may be worn in a single row above the pocket but seems to be no limit to the number of knots or the number of medals worn on neck ribbons. If I had earned 10 knots, I'd be wearing them.

"Whether we like tattoos or not, they are on the rise, whatever happened to judging people based on their charactor and not the decorations on their skin?" Smoking, drinking to excess and many tatoos are all indications of someone's character. Most of the tatoos that I see on young men are screaming skulls, demon heads, flames, Satanic angels, and the like. Ads for motorcycles and professional sports teams aren't much better. How about the guys who get their name tatooed on their arm? Not smart enough to remember your name? I met a soldier who had a picture of a solideir's grave tatooed on his arm with a name an date. I asked about it and it was a memorial for his unit's first sergeant. The entire unit got them. That one is okay in my book. Around my parts, the tatoo on the small of a woman's back has an interesting colloquial name, "tramp stamp." That speaks volumes.

Routine labor? Clearing a trail is routine labor. Building bus shelers is routine labor. Building a playground is routine labor. How do you define routine? Needed to be repeated on a regular basis? Playgrounds need to be rebuilt constantly. How often do you see county employees out cleaning the roads? Not too often so it really isn't routine. Is building house for a poor person routine labor? Sure it is, if you've built a house, it is all routine.

I asked the camp director where my son went to summer camp about my daughter working there and the answer was "not until she's 18." The reason was that they did not have appropriate housing and supervision for minor girls. "I do not think it will happen in my lifetime but hope that some day in the future our BSA will join the rest of the world in having both boys and girls in Scouting." Rest of the world? We have boys and girls in Scouting. Ever hear of the Girl Scouts? Ever hear of Venturing? Maybe you should be petitioning the GSUSA to admit boys.