Horizon

Beavah: A lad smoking weed: As I have told my son: It is illegal, which makes it a foolish thing to do. If caught and convicted, you can no longer get Federally subsidized student loans or Pell grants. That makes it a monetary risk. Next, it is an unregulated product, that could have many effects that are not predictable. Excess intake can also lead to loss of control, which is a risk factor. The ONLY part of this I personally find immoral is the potential subsidy of a criminal class. A lad sleeping around: As I have told my son: It is disrespectful to the woman and to yours

evmori: This is what is published in 10-A: The integrity of the church demands that those who serve in ordained office meet high standardsalways seeking to live according to the life and teaching of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As we affirm in the words of the Theological Declaration of Barmen: Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to trust and obey in life and in death (The Book of Confessions, 8.11). And yet no person follows perfectly; each of us is entirely dependent for our salvation, and for our growth in fait

As a PCUSA Deacon, and a member of a Covenant Network Presbyterian Church - I am thrilled about this. We have been fighting for this for quite awhile, and I am happy that it happened. This does not mean that anyone has to accept a gay or lesbian Minister. The PCUSA does not appoint Ministers to congregations, congregations choose their Minister. This does not mean that a Presbytery has to ordain a gay or lesbian, it only means that gays and lesbians can openly apply to be ordained. Simply put - local control. Yes, it is true that many congregations have left. My congregation has

evmori: I will freely admit to playing with others chosen semantics a bit. They HAVE a child. Period. They are part of the reality of over 100,000 children in the United States who are adopted annually. All of those parents chose to have an additional child, just to not have one biologically.

acco40: It took my two gay male friends less than one year to have a child, once they decided to have one. They filed the paperwork with the appropriate groups, paid the attorneys, and have a beautiful baby boy that I hope to lead in Boy Scouts someday. It took my wife and I over 6 years to have our second son, once we decided on the second due to 5 miscarriages and a 9 month pregnancy.

I counsel PM, and I would accept that in a flash. Too often the boys budget for a video game by doing some extra chores, etc. If his parents are willing to open up the books, then go for it. As an aside, my older son enters all of the data into my spreadsheets for taxes each year - it lets him see how much everything costs.

Regarding Parent's Carrying, etc. My Eagle candidates have to write a pretty comprehensive proposal, or the District won't sign off. The Scouts with parents who know how to write formal proposals make it in one pass. In other words, the Scout writes this: I want to help the hikers in the San Bernardino Mountains by building a new trail switchback. The old one is bad and causes erosion. Lots of people hike the trail. Hikers will benefit. I will need a lot of older Scouts to do the work and shovels and rakes. That gets rejected. Dad takes over (or guides, or edits, or how

We have uniform and campsite inspections at our District Camporee, but it typically is a pair of easy grades. This year they just went and let it be self reported by the units, rather than sending inspectors through. This let the boys go through the entire day just focusing on the events. We tend to have brand new Scouts at Camporee. This year we bridged them on Thursday and they left on Friday for Camporee. Of COURSE some of those boys were not in full, correct uniform yet. They had received their new neckers, patrol patches and unit numbers the night before. To nail the patrol bec

I have been known to ask my boys, "Sooo, how many points of the Scout Law do you think you just violated?"

We picked up a new trailer: Big enough for 6 patrol boxes to fit when car camping (9/12 of our annual outings). Those boxes cover 5 patrols and the adults. The tents are stacked on top. The milk crates of tarps and ropes go behind them. 2 canopies, 5 dutch ovens, bags of charcoal, firewood (no gathering where we camp), and all other sundry items are added. Patrol coolers can fit too. On top of the trailer is a cage / box system to haul wooden poles for pioneering projects. In front of the trailer is a cage rack system that holds 6 full zied propane tanks. This is a s

Pack: Officially COR (Friends of Pack ###), unofficially Den Leader (with my wife holding the title) and Assistant Cub Master. Troop: Scoutmaster. Nothing More. Nope. Not Gonna Do It. Crew: Adviser. Council: Merit Badge Counselor (I assume this is a Council position). Now - can we find a way to have separate background check documents from the position documents? I had to re-fill out all 4 this year, each time handwriting the same stuff. I really wish Scouting would get with the times and put the background check and approvals online, allowing me to update and re-s

skeptic - my son did the hour plus mile swim at Camp Chawanakee, then 30 minutes at the fire to get his body temp back up. That lake is COOOOOOLLLLDDD.

I find them useful to hold up a merit badge sash. Stitched an old loop on the inside of my son's sash, then he is able to button it to his shirt. No sagging sash during a long Scout activity.

SeattlePioneer: The G2SS is pretty clear on this one - unauthorized. Now some of us have wondered how this would apply to squirt guns, flour bombs, and other wide area games we used to play as Scouts. However, the G2SS specifically lists paintball and lazertag, and I expect a future re-write to add in the airsoft guns as well - no wiggle room there.

"I think you would be surprised at how many Eagles cannot build a campfire, describe the symptoms associated with dehydration, identify poison ivy, use a map & compass or sharpen a knife). Heck, I'm amazed at how many don't know the Scout Oath." Campfire - they are OK in my troop, but far from the skill I had as a youth when we had ZERO stoves. When you are only allowed to build a campfire at best 2-3 months out of the year, IF we are camping at a drive-in place with fire rings, it is a challenge to fit it into the program. Please also note that the gathering of fuel is illegal in m

Rats. Not that my Troop has done Patrol overnights yet, this is more of a lost opportunity for my Troop. I was already planning on making one month this summer to be "Patrol Camping" weekend, and NOT have a Troop campout, but rather have Patrols choose a location and go camping instead. It was my plan to introduce this concept to everyone and train them how to handle it on their own. Back to the drawing board.

We pay a guy to run our derby. He shows up and runs the entire event, and it has 3 tracks: 1) Standard speed track with electronic timers, and every car races 3 times on different lanes and the middle time is recorded. 2) A shuffleboard type track where the scout pushes their car and gets more points if they stop in the middle. 3) A jump track, where most cars lose a wheel or 3 - distance is the prime measurement. Tracks 2 & 3 help other Scouts catch up in the "best of show" rankings. Awards are given for speed, for distance, for preciseness, for best SCOUT decorat

In my Troop, we have several different levels of income: 1) Wealthy family, nice allowance, plenty of family cash gifts. Scout saves, sometimes invests, and purchases games for his personal computer. 2) Wealthy family, no allowance. All needs are directly covered by the parents. 3) Poor family, minimal allowance. 3) Poor family, no allowance. Each one forces a different discussion. Now let us talk of jobs. There is a fair amount of academic research on working while in school. There is a strong correlation between working and having worse grades, though some argue that

I would agree that we give the boys as much room as the adults have time to give. This does mean that I don't always let the boys take complete control, because I do not have sufficient adult mentoring time to help. For example, many of the campsites here in Southern California fill up months in advance. They require a credit card, and other types of documentation to reserve. There are times that we have left it to the boys, and then had no campout for that particular month. In response, we are adult led when it comes to scheduleing and booking campouts. We DO still have the boys mak

I remember holding my hand over my heart in high school football. However, I didn't think about the song, or anything else like that. I was focused on my position, the other team, where in the stands / sideline my girfriend was, how BIG that guy over there looks, do I REALLY need to pee again, did I remember my cup (can't check now), etc. So I cut the pros a little slack, though someone should point out to them that their attention will be broadcast in full HD, and their endorsement contracts could be impacted.

We have 5 Patrols in a Troop that had around 60 boys at re-charter, and will pick up 10+ here as bridging over begins. New Scouts are adopted by patrols that feel up to the challenge. My current patrols seem to be oriented based on the Packs that they came from (yes - we draw from 4-6 different packs, plus we pick up 1-2 older boys each year as well). The Patrols are mixed age. When I became Scoutmaster, I noticed that the Troop was ALWAYS ending up with provisional patrols for campouts, and that the younger Scouts were not getting any supervision from the older ones. I held a Troop m

Part of the BSA Troop Meeting Guide includes skills instruction - I have no problem if, during that portion of the meeting, MB Counselors want to meet. We also let Scouts meet with the MB Counselors during pre-meeting time as well. An entire meeting - no. But, to get some of the volunteers to fit us in, they ASK that they have time during a Monday night meeting. The Scouts also ask for more opportunities on Monday nights as well. I would argue it is Counselor led AND Scout led driving the offering.

I am going through Wolves for the second time right now. My only concern is that the majority of the Advancement requirements are effectively all done at home, and are not geared to the outdoors either (the game with a purpose). I would love to take the requirements and wrap them in a package focused on the outdoors a bit more, even when at the Cub Level.

My son attends a private Catholic school. I think that their policy regarding pregnancy is a good model to review. "Pregnancy A primary purpose of Catholic education is to guide students growth in Christian values and moral conduct. Catholic teaching stresses that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and that the sanctity of family life is enhanced through a fulfillment of Gods plan expressed by a loving and permanent commitment. Premarital sexual activity is contrary to these values; however, when a pregnancy occurs outside of marriage, the total school community must offer sup

Tenderfoot - the first Rank they truly earn. That huge grin when we recognize them. 2nd Class - shows that they are still trying, still going, still moving. An in-between rank, much like Life in my opinion. First Class - they are now the source of answers, instead of questions (that is what I tell them during the First Class Scoutmaster Conference). I love Scouts with this rank, they are the ones that I get to respond with "Shouldn't you already know the answer to that question?" Star - They have completed their first POR, and are starting to give back to the Troop in an official capa