Gold Winger

That might be a camp policy. I think that it even sounds like a good one.

Ed, Scouting isn't about advancement nor is it about earning badges, it is about learning important skills for life. We weren't holding the Scout back, he was holding himself back. He had his uniform, he had all of the patches, he had someone who was willing to sew them onto his uniform for him. It was his job to get the three together.

Operation Dark Star? Scouts flying a spaceship that goes around blowing up planets? Cool!

Makes you wonder what they are going to do with it, doesn't it?

So? Color TV didn't exist until about 1979, right?

" They told me they will still keep it in their files and on their computer system because they are required to." Required by whom? BSA? FBI? ChoicePoint?

" Though...it might be cool to be bit by a snake just once...think of the inspiration it would give you!" That's what Cleopatra said.

"Cost of requiring a SSN vs. Cost of letting someone slip through into the system." That's a warm and fuzzy answer, goes along with "Better everyone should suffer so that I don't have to fret." Here's the real question . . . how many have been rejected by any of these background checks? Another question, how many people slip into troops without being known by others in the the unit? If someone who isn't/wasn't a parent of someone in the unit wants to be involved, you can be sure that he was already vetted by the pastor of the church that charters the unit, the CC who's know the guy for 20 years or someone. Sure, a "predator" may slip through the cracks but how likely is it that a convicted offender will apply to join any particular unit. It is the uncaught ones that we need to worry about. In a country where the judicial system says, "Better 100 guilty men go free than one innocent man goes to prision" isn't invading everyone's privacy in an effort to catch one out of 100,000 a bit of hypocrisy?

". I guess these are just too time intensive and would basically be the only badge earned that year with the exception of orienteering (and that would need to be a 2 hour class to be done right)." With a week of wilderness training, a Scout could earn Orienteering, Hiking, Camping, and Backpacking and maybe even Wilderness Survival. Now that would be a week of serious Scoutworthy merit badges. (This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

"I wonder if he even initated the SM Conference. In our troop the scout has to ask for both the SMC and BOR. " At that time we has SMCs and BORs on the same night. You came in, talked to the SM and then he'd walk you down the hall and introduce you to the Board.

"Now this is just wrong! If this was the only thing holding the Scout back from having his BOR, there is a big problem in the unit!" So your solution would be to hold the BOR even though you know that the Scout is perfectly capable of wearing a complete and proper uniform? That really sends good message, doesn't it?

I may move to Mexico.

We had a Scout who was stalled at 1st Class for about six months because of his uniform. His father bought him a new shirt and said, "Bring me the patches that you need to go on the shirt and I'll sew them on for you." The Scout never did that. BOR is scheduled and he shows up with bare shirt so gets sent home. That repeated itself numerous times. His father thought that it was hilarious because the boy would never come home from a BOR and say, "Dad, can you sew these patches on so I can do my BOR next week?"

Gotta love it when they work Emerson, Lake and Palmer into a Monty Python Skit :-)

There was a show about a family trying to survive on a homestead, 1800's style. There was a British show about a family living as Eritish gentry in the early 1900s. What I found interesting was the amount of work that had to be done without technology. I don't have cable so I won't be watching the show so I don't know if that is their intent or this is supposed to be a real version of survivor.

I'm not a GS leader but I have daughter who's been in GS for nine years now. I think that her troop became a multi-level unit in in second or third year. It does take a dedicated leader with plenty of help, much like a Boy Scout troop or a Pack. The great benefit is that the younger girls have the older girls as examples. A second benefit is that the older girls get to mentor the younger ones. There are different meetings on different weeks for the different ages for the most part. Overall, I'd say that it has been working well.

"the Boy Scouts, I believe, have drifted too far from an emphasis on nature itself." I might just agree with him.

Your mother was a hamster!

Yep, you're being ignored but your posts keep showing up. Software, gotta love it. I'll do my best to ignore you without the help of technology.

You were. Apparently, it doesn't work all the time. I'll try again. You don't get it do you? Stalls are neither male nor female, they are just stalls. You could say men's stalls or women's stalls and be accurate. You probably like to point at the president and laugh at his command of English. Sheesh! Bye, bye.

" remodeling their male bathroom stalls to avoid a repeat of the Idaho senator caper. " There are male bathroom stalls? I thought that stalls were sexless, primarily because they are inanimate and partly because English has very few nouns with gender. Wow! Learn something new every day.

You could do routines and chorus scenes with footwork impeccable. :-)

Our reaction would have been much the same if you had said, "We're selling Trails End Popcorn and we told the boys that if they sold $500 in popcorn, they'd be advanced to the next rank immediately." The problem of making everyone understand that getting free camp or free registration has string attached is pretty simple. Just write everything down in clear terms and ask, "Does anyone have any questions?" Your raffle is a fait accompli, so move on and for the next fundraiser, make sure that you know the rules. Simply put, fund raising must be done by selling something of value such as popcorn, first aid kits, Christmas trees or even lawn mowing or snow shoveling. The rules are a bit more complicated when it comes to wearing uniforms whilst fundraising. Individual units may not solicit monetary donations to support themselves. However, your charter organization may solicit donations to support their youth programs. Also, their is no rule prohibiting a Charter Org from holding a raffle and then giving the money to their unit.

Interesting thoughts about leaders who were Scouts and uniforms. The SM selectee for my son's troop is an Eagle, the current SM was a Life Scout and the previous SM is an Eagle as well. All three are big on proper uniforming as they believe that proper attire sets a proper attitude (among other things). The SM who was around before all of that was not a Scout and thought that uniforms were silly (among other things). Go figure. BOR as a barrier to advancement? As a non-Scout who was the Advancement guy for years, a BOR isn't a barrier to anything unless the Scout or the SM makes it so. The BOR is simply part of the verification process to make sure the Scout in question has actually done the work.

"I'm not sure we are talking about the same thing, but real changes are a result of reason, not fear." Ever hear of the 18th Ammendment to the US Constitution? What about "gun bans"? Both are based on fear, not reason.