Horizon

Does your Troop allow women on campouts and as leaders (I know that some do not, hence my question). Don't limit yourself to Biodad - go after Biomom as well and invite HER camping with her son. Give her a partial weekend even - showing up late so that only one night under the stars, etc. She might enjoy a weekend with other parents. If he has done We have done that with some of our Scouts - and got some GREAT new parent leaders out of it.

In my old Troop lost items were a signing event - Happy Birthday to whoever had a birthday coming up. This was taught to the SPL at NYLT.

It is only the equivalent of the "whats your major, where you from and what dorm are you in" that you get on a campus. The only issue is when they use that information to judge you without getting to know you. They can read your unit from your uniform, so the dorm question is out obviously! I DO ask if someone was in Scouting as a kid, and if they liked it. It tells me if they know what Scouting is like from the perspective of a kid. Since I am married to a women who earned her Gold, I have the utmost respect for both Girl Scouts AND those who earned their Gold.

Fully support it. Our Troop used to campout on the field at the local Relay for Life site. We had 24 hour clean up and support duty, so our guys would get to pitch tents there. It was one of our more popular campouts for the older Scouts, thanks to the high school girls that would come by to do the relay late at night. If 1 of our you annual campouts is on the field - great! I am going to look around here and see if we can do the same.

I have long had a business plan on my computer for an online system for tracking and integrating financial reports for neighborhood style non-profits like a BSA Troop, Little League, AYSO. It would have a a simple interface and would integrate with the bank account. Might need to dust it off again and go find a programmer or 3.

If the Clinton machine couldn't find enough to take him down during the primaries 4 years ago, I don't see how Sheriff Joe has a snowball's chance in Arizona in summertime.

Basement - you are correct. I meant that I could see a 10 year old joining the BSA due to skipping a grade, hitting FC if he was dedicated and serving in his POR for Star, Life and Eagle without a problem if his patrol mates kept electing him PL after he earned FC. My example was my kid at 11 being a PL with zero experience (and I was not yet Scoutmaster).

Re POR - My son was Patrol Leader with nothing but a Scout badge on his shirt. His Troop did a NSP, and his buddies elected him Patrol Leader. So in his case, I could easily see him having the POR knocked out in time for a young Eagle role. Mind you, instead it took him 9 months to get his Tenderfoot instead due to his fear of the SMC and BOR.

Eagledad - you miss the fact that Federal taxation does not recognize gay marriage, so the tax benefits of a spouse are not there. Social Security benefits do not apply either. Even if a state creates a recognition of a gay union, it will not translate to other states nor will it translate into the legal benefits that come from legal marriage. Now, I do not know what sources you have in regards to what the proponents of gay marriage want, but they do not match up my experience with various gay couples. None of them are out to destroy the moral foundations - they just want to raise thei

Beavah - the problem with your recommendation is that our law is full of various legal definitions wrapped around the word marriage. This includes inheritance, forced testimony, hospital visitation rights, taxation, etc. The simplest path would be massive "cut and replace" function where "Marriage" in the civil code is replaced by "Civil Union" or some other such term. If this was just a religious definition, we would not have the same problem. Instead, the State has taken a religious term and enshrined it into law in so many places that untangling it is near impossible. This is a l

After the poor response from my local council when one of my Scouts applied for a campership, I cut my annual FOS donation in half, and put the rest into a Troop fund for camperships for boys in my unit. I told the DE what I was doing, and why.

With land impacted here in Southern California, it is great having a place where I can take large troop for a week. We also leverage a lot of the specialty stuff available: Whitset organizes whitewater rafting MB and activites. Emerald Bay on Catalina Island has a SCUBA program. Chawanakee has great stuff on the lake (including a very cold mile swim). The camps also have the required NRA instructors for rifle and shotgun. Do I need them the rest of the year? No - never use them. But having the available for summer camp is great.

moostracker - that is exactly what it would look like. Maybe a nice placard like the health department ones. The only way to legally not serve members of a protected class is to openly state that you won't. I think that the market would make its feelings known fairly quickly.

If New Hampshire and other states wish to legalize discrimination by businesses in their state, they should be allowed to. However, they should make it open to any type of discrimination - quit messing around. If you truly believe that a business should be allowed to discriminate, then let businesses discriminate against anyone that they wish. The only caveat is that they have to post who they will not serve, so that everyone can make a fully informed choice. THAT is how a fully informed, transparent-information market can then decide.

All of the projects at my Troop have included food for the workers during the job. It allowed the candidates to run an all-day work day. Due to the fungibility of funds, those meals were paid for by the donors. When my son was putting his final report together, his adviser reminded him to put in the cost of all of the drivers to get to and from his work site up in the mountains. That was donated money in terms of goods (he used the Federal rate from the IRS for miles, and then wrote a receipt for every one of the drivers after the fact). His project also provided breakfast, lunch, dri

As an adult leader, my role in Patrol cooking: 1) Checking the menu if a Scout is working on Cooking MB (which I counsel) or Trail to First Class sign-offs (signed by the Patrol, but I like to see the boys in action - admittedly carrying my camera). Mmmmmm - food tasting! 2) Being the enforcer for a Patrol Leader having problems getting money out of a campout drop-out. If you commit, you owe. Period. The PLC voted that you owe the money if the Grubmaster has spent it, sometimes it takes my entry into the discussion to ensure that the Grubmaster is paid. I remember cooking

I was down in Mississippi after Katrina rebuilding homes, and found that imitation vanilla worked the best, and smells nice. The stuff is cheap too.

I have been known to say to a Scout, "If you are dumb enough to use that word in the presence of the Scoutmaster, you are not ready to use that word." This is said with a smile, and then a discussion of how using language can make it then part of your regular lexicon, resulting in using the words in the worst possible times like with the Minister, the Mother-in Law or the Boss. When they say that they can control it, I smile again and remind them that they used it in front of me. Plus they get to call me on it when I slip. I have been known to scrub a patrol's Dutch Oven for my penance

I have gluten allergy boy who has introduced his patrol to the wonders of gluten free pancakes, etc. He will also pack his own bread for the sandwiches while everyone else uses the regular stuff. He does a great job of feeding his patrol. I have a vegetarian who has brought veggie bacon when he was grubmaster. The patrol went vegetarian for the weekend so that he could prove that it can be pretty good. They all liked it, even the bacon. When he is not grubmaster, the patrol makes sure that they have peanut butter, pasta, etc. in the grub box for him. The only panic was his first cam

He should talk to the SPL to see if there is a position the SPL needs filled. The SM should not be the one choosing the SPL's staff - that is the SPL's decision. Here is the list of positions from the Handbook: Patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader, senior patrol leader, troop guide, Order of the Arrow troop representative, den chief, scribe, librarian, historian, quartermaster, junior assistant Scoutmaster, chaplain aide, instructor, Webmaster, or Leave No Trace Trainer. Den Chief is certainly an allowable position - and one that can be critical to the Troop for recrui

SR540Beaver - yes, it is a video currently hosted by Moveon.org. It has been making the rounds on the 'net over the past couple of days. It shows an adult male college student addressing the Iowa legislature regarding gay marriage. He is, among other things, an Eagle Scout. He was also raised by two women who are partners. He is well spoken without being perfectly polished, and makes a mockery of those who think that gays can not properly raise children. Kudos to his unit and Council for supporting him in his Scouting endeavors, regardless of who his parents are.

SR540Beaver - yes, it is a video currently hosted by Moveon.org. It has been making the rounds on the 'net over the past couple of days. It shows an adult male college student addressing the Iowa legislature regarding gay marriage. He is, among other things, an Eagle Scout. He was also raised by two women who are partners. He is well spoken without being perfectly polished, and makes a mockery of those who think that gays can not properly raise children. Kudos to his unit and Council for supporting him in his Scouting endeavors, regardless of who his parents are.

How many Scouts and Eagles per eligible youth would be another check. We are planning my son's Eagle COH right now. It will be for him and two friends who were in Cub Scouts with him. Looking back that den, I think that 12 -14 boys bridged. Of those, 6 are still active in Scouting. 3 will be recognized this year. 2 SHOULD make it next year. 2 will make at the last minute I think 25 years ago, more would have stuck around, but I think the same numbers would have earned Eagle. I think that we no longer attract as many boys to just hang around as we used to. The great num

This is the problem with people using methods like Prisoner's D, Myers Briggs typing, etc. without have a leader trained in application. People think that once they have taken the quiz or played the game once, they can then run events themselves. That MIGHT work, but it can also often run into problems that the person running the event is not experienced in managing. In a Scouting even, I would HOPE that the instructor tries to get people to focus on the Scout Law, thereby making everyone default to cooperation.

I am a member, but have minimal interaction with the Lodge other than the election and tapout at Camporee. They show up for election, where I have to remove my just bridged Webelos or none of my Scouts get elected (the newly bridged boys won't vote, and those are counted in the percentages). I try to send an Adult who is qualified as well. My Scouts have shown ZERO interest in dancing. It is a turnoff for them. They see it as a combination of weird/dorky and a risk of getting in trouble at school. Just Google up this year's my culture is not a costume campaign to see how youth mi