Horizon

All of my Webelos end up in the same tent (I have an old 10x15 barracks room tent from REI). That reduces any discussions of who is sharing a tent, and puts them all in one place. How and where parents sleep or attend - I don't care. I don't check their legal status, I just tell them that the boys should be sharing tents, and the parents should be on the other side of the campsite (might not be Kudu's 300', but at least gives us a little distance).

Interesting statistics. I decided to check my library: 1 Book of Mormon 1 sayings of Buddha 1 Qur'an Harper Collins Study Bible (NRSV) The Narrated Bible (NIV) King James version (gift to me in elementary school) 3 other Bibles on a high shelf (one is the white one my wife walked down the aisle with, not sure about the other two). So my response to the survey would mess with the data set a bit.

Ah - I thought it was just me. Nope - different Orange County ceremony. Mine is in Irvine. Congrats to the lad - sounds like a great project.

skeptic - PM me. Curious which unit's ceremony you will be at (in case it is the same one I am attending)

Training IF you have decent net access is pretty simple. I give a special t-shirt to any parent who does 4 training courses (Intro to Scouting, Serving on the Committee, Youth Protection and Weather). Those 4 are the required ones to be an adult on a campout as well - no parents allowed, just trained volunteers. Now IOLs could always use a tweak or two, and personally I didn't learn anything (instead I helped teach the class). We offer CPR at the Troop once per year (It took one phone call to set it up). Paperwork, however, is different. Medical: We have solved the medical form

NBC News has picked up the story: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/09/19378560-faith-based-group-starting-alternative-to-boy-scouts-will-allow-gay-youth-adults?lite

perdidochas - poor parsing on my part we I said "we have dropped" - I agree with you. Those Scouts who aren't chasing the Eagle lose interest and drop out on their own (or never join in the first place as you say). We then respond to our remaining customers by focusing even more on advancement, which then chases away even MORE Scouts. The end result is a much higher rate of earning Eagle - but I think it is the same youth earning Eagle - there just aren't as many who are just along for the ride.

That was my thought as well. I always counseled the Patrol Leader on the subject on the best way to deal with the conflict. Part of my job description I felt - help train future leaders on how to deal with conflicts in the field. This is the only time so far that the issue has come up, and it has been raised by an adult not by a youth. Then again, the unit has a problem with adult pushed rule books that the youth barely look.

Sorry - figuring out how to comment on my own thread. We don't have an openly gay kid, we have a Troop adult who wants to make sure that his son does not end up tenting with a gay kid (assumably against his wishes).

BasementDweller - the ones who stick around are chasing the Eagle. Modern youth don't have the time to be dilettantes - every activity has to result in a check box for a job or a college application. My hypothesis is that we have dropped the youth that used to just come for the fun of it, regardless of advancement. On top of that, there are more materials available for a boy to pencil whip his way through a merit badge (downloadable workbooks from MeritBadge.com for example).

Scouter99 - he wants a policy for allowing kids to refuse to tent with the gay kid.

I am focused on the boys when on the ground. The only time this issue has come up is when someone thinks we need a unit policy for dealing with when one Scout doesn't want to tent with a gay Scout. I simply asked why we needed something specific to gays - every campout there can be a scramble to avoid tenting with any particular Scout for a variety of reasons. I have kept my actions at the National and District level only so fa. Barry - The BSA stigmatized themselves through their actions, communications and lack of communications through the years. We as an organization are obviousl

As long as Scouting professionals are measured based on FOS, popcorn and booklet sales, new units and total numbers we will see the incentive system drive behavior. As long as units carry Scouts on the rolls, they will leave them there in case they come back (if the unit can afford the $25 or so annual carrying fee). My son is on the rolls for one unit, though he only shows up to help once a year or so while he is in college. As long as rechartering remains such a pain, units will also leave some people on the list rather than deal with the poorly designed interface.

packsaddle - water chugging is a contest to see who can drink the most water in a period of time. It sounds harmless, but there is a slight risk of "Water intoxication, also known as water poisoning or dilutional hyponatremia, is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside safe limits by over-hydration." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication There are a couple of cases per year that I hear about, and I can see this being something that could happen at summer camp in the heat if you aren't c

For some of us, we reconcile our faith with science by NOT taking the Bible as the LITERAL word. We go further to accept the belief / statement that the Bible was written by people influenced by their culture and environment, and the Bible should be read with that understanding. In high school, I read Genesis and story of the creation of Adam from sand. I looked at it and felt that if I were to try to explain single cell evolution, I would use sand to eventual human as an excellent analogy.

Looks like an AP article. Here is a link from the Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Dissension-and-fiscal-woes-beset-the-Girl-Scouts-4617295.php

So national wants to know every time a kid needs a band aid? Because that is what that document implies. I agree with a report for any incident requiring the help of a trained professional (i.e. a visit to an ER, a doc-in-the-box, etc.). It is the requirement that I track all "near misses" that is absolutely ludicrous. Worse, it forces one of two responses - a complete abandonment of adventure or an willful decision to ignore the requirement. I am more concerned with the latter. If you put in too many stop signs, people stop coming to a complete stop. If you put too low of a speed limi

RichardB - before I begin, I appreciate your contributions and the tough position you are in (as I recall - you are at National). But let me look at the reporting requirements at the bottom level (where no ER / Hospital visit): NEGLIGIBLE • Near miss • Injury/illness not requiring first aid By the end of the unit recharter year, do the following: 1. Complete a Near Miss Incident Information Report, No. 680-017. 2. Keep the report in your unit or forward to the enterprise risk

Per usual, it depends on the unit -and units change. There is certainly a lot more paperwork, fear, concern, control, "we won't sue you" documents to be signed, etc. Lets also not forget the change in attitudes on environmental issues. I was taught to dig fire pits, chop wood, etc. That is not allowed in national forests. Heck, here in Southern California we can't even have fires in rings for half of the year or more But some units still do the fun stuff. We grab our packs and head into the Sierras. I took our Venture Crew to the backcountry of Yosemite for 7 days. We have an annual

When a certain individual in my unit end up on a BOR and decide it is their chance to interrogate a Scout about how they follow the Law of Reverance. Other than that, a little at Scout's Own and some interesting ones on the trail, especially from the older Scouts who are moving from Sunday School memorization to young adulthood questioning.

The Times has printed pictures of Scouts handling the colors at Memorial Day and other ceremonies. Those are not as interesting as controversy, however, and they don't sell newspapers. The Times also has ripped apart the local schools, with 10x the coverage as when a a local school wins the Academic Decathalon. There is also the problem that under recent leadership (since the Dale decision), the Boy Scouts have chosen to avoid press coverage. This year was the first that I received a note from my Council asking if we were doing anything for Memorial Day, so that they they could tell the p

Great article in today's LA Times about Boy Scouts in Afghanistan: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghanistan-scouts-20130614,7405823,5794763,full.story " The group's motto, "Be prepared," takes on special meaning here, where members risk death to attend meetings, earn "rule of law" merit badges and learn to identify roadside bombs in first aid class."

Sentinel947 posted the BSA release, here is the reporting from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/19/us/boy-scouts-sexual-orientation/index.html?iref=allsearch (CNN) -- The Boy Scouts of America would no longer deny membership to youths on the basis of sexual orientation alone, but would maintain its ban on openly gay adult leaders, under a proposal it is considering, the group said Friday. The organization's executive committee made the proposal, which is expected to be presented to the Boy Scouts' voting members in May. "If approved, the resolution would mean that 'no youth may be

Posting more to test the site, but here on the Left Coast a panel in the state capitol is proposing taking away the tax exempt status of the Boy Scouts (collect sales tax on every Scout-O-Rama booklet sold): " A state Senate committee recommended Wednesday that California revoke the tax-exempt status of nonprofit groups including the Boy Scouts of America[/url=http://www.latimes.com/topic/social-issues/social-organizations/youth-organizations/boy-scouts-of-america-ORCIG000073.topic] that do not allow gays and transsexuals to become members." http://www.latimes.com/news/loc

I received the survey (answered it for local control, and that my concern is that this entire issue is a distraction from our mission), as did my wife (who is also a registered leader). Our Council is having a meeting to nominate/elect/select our representative as well. I WOULD have been in that meeting, but since our Council eliminated the "parents of" type charter organizations, I am no longer a COR.