Hal_Crawford

555 raises a really good question. The new medical form contains a phrase "Individuals desiring to participate in any high-adventure activity..." but I can't find a definition of "high-adventure activity". There are a number of high-adventure programs but what are the activities. The GSS assigns age limits to various activities but does not define those activities as high-adventure or not-high-adventure. I think I know what it is but the next guy might not agree in all cases. In a lot of cases it seems like a matter of degree; trekking for a week is high-adventure but trekking for a week

Welcome to the forum. Your scout pedigree is much like mine, I did cubs, arrow of light and made 2nd class and some work on 1st (I love to say I was close but I don't think it would be true) before I was sidelined with an injury and then moved oversees. 35 years later my son was in the same pack. I was a committee member and then spent a year as Cubmaster. Both of us continued with scouting (not my old troop as it was long gone) he was a patrol leader and senior patrol leader and earned his Eagle before turning 18. I was Committee Chair and then Assistant Scout Master and I have no plans

Sounds like a great program. I sometimes wish that we (in the DC area) had the kind of winters where you could actually count on snow. Our Klondike derby sleds always have wheels! Ice fishing is something they do someplace else. It is unseasonably cold here today which means that it is below freezing and we actually saw some snow flakes yesterday for a brief instant. On the other hand, shoveling the driveway and walk on a daily basis might get old. Packsaddle knows in his heart that the GSS limits black powder shooting to percussion caps. No flint locks. Happy New Year,

Some of these posts have piqued my curiosity regarding the level of scouting in South and Central America. I found this in Wikipedia regarding scouting in the Americas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOSM-Interamerican_Region Scouting does exist in most of the countries but the organizations are small and in many cases coeducational. This seems to confirm that scouting is an upper class institution in many of these countries. It appears Argentina, Brazil (portuguese speaking and culturally different from the Spanish speaking countries) and Mexico have the largest organizations. While w

Barry: I think I was the first to use the word racist in this thread so I will point out that it was with regard to the possibility of "unscoutlike" incidents involving Latino scouts. Not all Latinos are illegal immigrants. Not all Latinos are even immigrants and many are US citizens. Lumping all Latinos together, illegals, legal residents and US citizens (whether through birth or naturalization) is one of the causes of racism against the hispanic community. It is the very sort of thing that the BSA will have to deal with when Latino and other scouts are mixed together at camporees or s

Agreed.

That is a fascinating piece of information. At least Dr. Hornaday took action when the black community objected to this blatantly racist display. Madison Grant makes for some interesting reading as well. Like Hornaday he was a noted conservationist and a friend of presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover. His writings on race and eugenics however strongly influenced anti-immigration and anti-miscegenation laws in the US and were embraced by the National Socialist movement in Germany. Hitler referred to one of his books as "my Bible". His writings were introduced as evidence at the N

Scoutledr: After looking at the site again I see that I was wrong and it does address your condition under the adult guidelines: "Participants with sleeping disorders may experience health risks due to long days and short nights for the duration of the jamboree. Participants with sleep apnea requiring a CPAP machine should reconsider participation. If considered fit, all equipment (e.g., CPAP machine) must be provided by the participant and be self-contained as there will not be electrical support for the machine. This includes batteries (without provisions for recharging) to be both br

Scoutldr: Rather than making assumptions based on the Scouter article I would suggest that you visit the Jamboree site for more specific information. http://www.bsajamboree.org/prepared.html The site goes into a lot more detail about specific risk factors. It does not address your particular issue or define what they mean by "medical devices" but there is a link to contact them with questions about specific risk factors. I think it is a bit of a leap to infer that handicapped scouts "need not apply and are not welcome". I certainly hope that is not the case. Best of

I agree with much of what shortridge says. The key component is the chartering organization as church is very important in hispanic culture. Latino/hispanic is not one culture but they are more unified than the Asian community and they are closer to each other than they are to us. Trying to reach the Asian community is even harder as the various groups do not like each other. The Vietnamese have a strong scouting heritage and have active units with there own structure and a strong cultural component and family involvement. I have not seen anything similar from the other asian commun

That was one of the changes implemented in the 1970s to make the Boy Scouts more hip and urban. Red Berets were one of four approved forms of head gear. They didn't look hip or urban... they looked dorky. I found an old Bicycling merit badge book that showed a scout cycling in uniform with his beret on. To me it just highlighted the changes in 30 years... today he wear a helmet. Hal

BP: In our area the majority of the immigrants are from Salvador and Bolivia with some Peruvians and Columbians. As with the Mexicans, recreation is centered around the family which poses a challenge for the scouting program. Another huge problem is qualified leaders. There isn't a lot of scouting background in these communities so it is difficult to find anyone with the experience to lead a troop. An Anglo Scoutmaster isn't the answer as there are just too many cultural issues. I suspect that Latino units will have to have some leeway in how they implement the program in order to

SA: I think the answer will have to be somewhere in the middle. The market for the scouting organization that we experienced as youths has dwindled. Times change and the needs and wants of people (both youth and parents) change. The question is how to remain true to our core values while still attracting new members. The change in the seventies was flawed because it moved away from being an outdoor program. IMHO the greatest contribution scouting makes is getting kids out in the woods. This is heresy but duty to God and country, the scout oath and the scout law are not what attr

For those who haven't seen it, this is BSA's site aimed at Hispanic/Latino communities. http://www.scoutingvalelapena.org/ Vale la pena=it's worth the effort. With regard to change in scouting, we can't live in the past but I hope we don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Some traditions probably will not be missed but scouting cannot totally give up its identity to change with the times. There were questions not asked in the survey, particularly of the Gen X/Millennials: 1. Would you be more or less interested in scouting if it were coeducational at the Cub and/

It is great that BSA is again trying to expand into the Latino community but there are serious hurtles to clear before achieving any sort of penetration. In the immigrant community there is a large percentage of illegals who will not want there sons names on the roles as it might lead to them being found out and deported. Sadly, even though the son might be legal there will be hesitancy if anyone in the household is not. Even where this is not an issue many immigrants come from countries with repressive governments where it is best to keep a low profile. Overcoming these fears will take ti

Feliz Natal e prospero ano novo ao todo mundo. (from my time in Brazil). And from Dickens, "God bless us everyone". Hal

You guys are making fun of our capital weather. If it weren't for the humidity congress might stay here year round... nobody wants that. Seriously, up until the 1980s the British Foreign Office considered their embassy in DC to be a hardship post... equivalent to Jonestown Guiana.

Get Smart. Would you believe...? Missed it by that much! Tap dancing penguins... I think we have come full circle. Happy holidays!

JKC: You might surprised to learn that Missouri's good samaritan law only covers medical professionals and other persons with appropriate training. It also has an exception for "gross negligence or willful or wanton acts or omissions" Ever known a lawyer to call negligence anything less than gross? http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/c500-599/5370000037.htm I suspect the woman would find as little protection in MO as she did in CA. Hal

The ABC article indicates that both victim and rescuer had been drinking but does not say whether rescuer was intoxicated. It also indicates that the case turned on whether it was the assistance given was medical assistance. Searching California good samaritan produces a number of articles about the case going back to when it was in Appellate court. Seems that the California statute is being interpreted to protect doctors on an accident scene rather than lay people. Important lesson here (in addition to being as well trained as possible) is to know the good samaritan laws in your stat

Scoutldr: Just saying that was the advice they were giving at this orientation. The point was that given the increased altitude BP would probably read higher than it did at home and they were giving advice to avoid getting a big surprise at med check... I think the referred to it as a $2000 surprise. They also recommended starting a serious training program to build strength and stamina and dropping weight if you were over the recommended weight. I certainly did not take it as medical advice but rather as suggestions from people who had been there and were familiar with the conditions and

What's next, Men in Tights? By the way, I am sitting at home watching a swift water rescue live on local (DC TV). 66" water main broke turning a suburban road into a river, stalled cars turned it into rapids. Drivers and passengers have been rescued by helicopter and a swift water rescue team in a john boat.

I have to go with Bob on this one. Look at almost any thread on this forum that deals with a BSA policy and you will see interpretations all over the board. Its not that Scouters can't be trusted to do what they think is right, its that by doing so there will be so many different policies that there will end up being no policy at all. To keep control of the "brand" national cannot let others decide what is appropriate use. At least BSA has (for once) clearly stated a policy in a way everyone can understand. I don't think any of the posters on this thread have any doubt about what th

I think Brent has gotten to the heart of the issue. Who decides which causes are worthy of scout fund raising? Who decides what organizations deserve the endorsement of the BSA through the use of our trademarked symbols and/or uniforms? The answer is the National Council does and they are not delegating that authority to the units or the councils or to you or me... not event to Bob. This way they never have to worry about councils or units (or you or me or Bob) making choices that might prove to be embarrassing; they don't have to worry about the American Red Cross saying, well you let the

BP: I understand that thumbing out adult leaders for weight and/or blood pressure is a common occurrence at Philmont. Our council had an orientation for all leaders taking scouts to any high adventure base. A lot of it was directed at those going with the council contingent to Philmont. They spent a lot of time warning us that the weight limits were for real and that people with blood pressure issues should cut out caffein a week or two before the trek. These weight limits are nothing new at Philmont and given the altitude, climate and length of trek I can certainly see why.