Gold Winger

Try using google to look for World Scout Conference and World Scout Committee.

I'm not an instructor and I've assisted the instructor in CPR classes because I'm so handsome and dashing.

The limit is how many people you need to get the work done. A District Committee should be organized as a group of subcommittees: Finance, Communications Membership Activities Each of those can have hundreds of people if needed.

"FL gets the blame for the 2000 election" I thought that they got the thanks for the election, at least that's the way that this radical views it.

" but I think the military look can be a real turn-off for many boys, as well as a lot of different kinds of people." I suppose that's why so many boys wear BDUs and other cammo clothing. It isn't the military look that turns them off, it is the currently out of vogue idea of neat attire and a bit of discipline.

I wouldn't see RennFest as a problem just because alcohol is served there. If that was the case, your den couldn't eat at Pizza Hut or go to Busch Gardens or go to a minor leage baseball game.

My son's troop had a bad experience at the council camp about ten or tweleve years ago and started going to another council's camp. After ten years of that, our DE browbeat the PLC (she actually came to the PLC) into "choosing" the council camp. The day we showed up, the boys looked around and said, "this place is a pit, we're not coming back." Only one boy had a positive comment and that was that the tents were new. The food was bad, the program was up to what we were used to, and the facilities were poor. How many ruined summer camp experiences do we need to give the council?

Stosh, it looks like you missed the point of my story. It wasn't about voting with my feet. Every year we had to attend at least 16 hours of refresher training and take two exams. Despite all of his training and the fact that he had to pass the exams to be working, the official in question still refused to do things the right way. It's that way in Scouting too. How many "trained" Scouters do we all know that think that boy led means that the SM appoints the PLs or is okay with a mom doing the meal planning? How many trained MCs out there are willing to pass a boy on to the next rank even when confronted with evidence that he never did the work just so his feelings won't be hurt? In my shooting instructor's class we were taught that someone is trained when they have effected a change in their knowledge, skills and attitude. Attitude is often the hardest thing to change. Why'd I vote with my feet on that other official? Attitude.

When I was a youngsters, about Avery's age, I was a dyed-in-the-wool Orthodox Christian. I knew doctrine, prayers, services, went to church and communion on a regular basis, didn't eat meat on Friday . . . the whole Magilla. The idea of studying other religions never occurred to me because . . it probably would have been prohibited by my father. He didn't even like me having Protestant friends. He may have been worried that they'd try to get me to eat a burger on a Friday. Off I went to college and I started looking at other things. Mostly because I had friends from other churches but quite a bit because I lived in a really cool all men's dorm at an engineering school and we'd sit around in the wee hours of the morning and discuss strange things including religion and philosophy. I had bible thumping friends, friends who were Mormons, Hindus, Jews, Buddists, B'hai, Wiccans, and many other things including atheists. One of the most religious fellows went on to get a Ph.D. in Physics. He figured that he was just unraveling God's mysteries. He's now a professor at a fairly prestigious school. What happened is my view of doctrine and dogma changed and my views on religion changed. I guess you could say that I'm now a poly-theistic Christian now. The moral of all of this is that you have to keep an open mind about everything related to beliefs because you might change your mind. I'm even open to the idea that Harley may someday make a bike that I'd want. :-)

That's what I thought and that's what many think but someone up the chain of command (most likely an "advisor") thought differently years ago. The electees are sent a letter which includes a medical form for ordeal and told to bring it to call out. It is common knowledge that if you don't get the letter, you weren't elected. The call out is held as an event seperate from any other Scouting event. The result is that only the electees bother to show up. That's not just my son's troop, that's the entire district. Apparently, the idea of being there to support your friends is foreign to everyone. It seems that parents were perturbed with driving aaaaaaalllll the way to the call out (maybe 10 miles from the most distant point in the district) and then having to drive home with a disappointed son. Also, as one of the advisors told me, "if we don't let them know in advance, they won't come to the call out." So? I know for a fact that if you don't go to the call out, they'll still let you go to ordeal. Why wouldn't a boy go to call out? Soccer practice, baseball, a date . . . after all this is just Scouts, it's not something important. I don't like the system but I'm not in charge, I'm not even an advisor.

I don't regret missing out on the bruises but I do think that the symbology of the tap is more significant. Of course in my chapter, the call out is a mere formality. Not only do you know that you've been elected before the ceremony so very few non-electees show up but if you don't come to the call out, you can still go to Ordeal.

"The numbers of scouts in the council has been dwindling at an alarming rate, the quality of some of the programs I and my staff observed were horrible and I decided it was time for action." Training alone won't fix the problem. The desire to implement the training is what will make it work. I worked with a basketball ref years back who implemented a rule correctly. It wasn't cruicial, critical or game deciding so I didn't say anything until the next time out. I recalled the situation to him and explained that there was a case book situation that went counter to his call. He looked at me with that cocked head that dogs use when they don't understand what's going on then he said, "I've been doing this for 20 years and I don't care what the book says. I'm not calling it that way in my game." After the game, I called my assigner and asked to never work a game with him again. The first hurdle is to be willing to do it the "right way" whatever that way may be.

"Ever wonder if ejection seats make for more dangerous pilots?" It is a truism that there are old pilots and bold pilots but very few old, bold pilots.

This wasn't ours but it made our equipment guy green with envy. It was big, a tandem axle job. Not only did it have the big back doors but it had a side door near the front for access to stuff stored there. Outside above the hitch there was a metal rack made from angle iron with an expanded metal floor for holding the 20 lb propane tanks. Inside on the front wall were shelves about 18 inches apart and 8 inches deep with a low railing for holding small propane tanks, lanterns, and whate ever. Things were secured with bungee cords. There were racks on the inside of the back doors for holding folded tarps. On the roof were capped 6 in or larger diameter PVC pipes for holding flags, flagpoles, extendable poles for rainflies, poles for lashing together big tripods for the weather rock or the troop sign. That's all I can remember.

"I just finished placing flags on the gravesites of veterans at two of our villages cemetaries. " Thank you.

"So do you drive without a seat belt too?" Gern and I duct tape ourselves into place.

Any BSA cap or hat is still official headgear with any uniform.

"the government can discriminate on the basis of age" Interesting, I can't discrinate on the basis of age but the government can. I guess that just goes along with the basic idea of American government that we only have to follow the rules that we want to follow. " newsletter welcomes a new member "Carl Nittinger" " Does the newsletter state that this person is a man? (This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

"That is a load of puckey. The Scout Executive can do that for anyone, not just a professional." But he doesn't, does he? Maybe he can but in ten years I've never heard of one in my Chapter or Lodge.

Speaking of Obama, a picture is worth a thousand words. http://www.truthorfiction.com/images/salute.jpg

Grab out?

By PM do you mean "Cub Master"? The Cub Master doesn't have to be willing to step down. The CM serves at the pleasure of the CC and the COR. Since your COR is AWOL, the CC can just fire the CM. Harsh but true. " He overrides the CC on things that are her respsonsiblity, tells the leaders how they will run their dens. He has said that "If you are the one in charge, you should decide how things are going to be run." The problem here is one that is epidemic in Scouting more often in Packs, the CC is in charge not the CM. "I don't want to hurt his feelings or cause an uproar, but what do we do?" Why? He's not doing his job. If he was a plumber that you brought in to fix your toilet and spent all of his time telling the carpenter how to do his job but never fixed the toilet, you wouldn't worry about his feelings. Would you? Just because he's a volunteer doesn't mean that he's entitled to special treatment even though he's running amok. Get your Unit Commissioner involved for moral support if nothing else. But take steps now to fix the problem or the pack may fold. What's worse, hurting the CM's feeling and having him take his son out of the pack or having the pack fold and hurting all the boys.

That's Veteran's Day. Memorial Day is for the guys who didn't come home. Visit the local monument and thank the guys whose names are inscribed there.

"What about the guy like me works for the BSA?" You guys have that special "in."

Oh, the plugged in generation. When I walk, I want to be aware of my surroundings. Most of the time, in my care, I have the windows open so I can hear the engine and the sounds of my tires, there's a lot of information there that the average driver misses. Same is true on a bike, either pedal or motor. On a hike, I want to hear the woods, the birds, the bees, the distant roll of thunder . . .