Stosh

I normally would feel hesitant to support single individual who motivated to "get the word" out on any particular cause. But in this situation the woman was publicly humiliated and shamed for doing what is legally her right. This woman deserves an apology directly and publicly from the SM. In our state when two lanes of traffic merge down to one, both lanes are to go to the point of merger and then alternate cars to maintain flow. Somewhere along the line people start to get into the one lane way back and leave the one lane open. When someone legally moves forward to fill that lane people get the idea that they are jumping ahead in line. I saw a trucker move over to block the lane and then forced someone off the road who tried to get around him. I got the license number of the truck and stopped to see if the elderly couple that were forced off the road were okay. They were. I called in the situation and about 3 miles down the road the state police had the trucker pulled over. They had not seen the situation and were going to write him a ticket. I stopped and gave my name address and phone number, said the couple that had been forced off the road were okay, and I was witness to the whole incident and was willing to testify. At that point the ticket went from a warning to a citation for leaving the scene of an accident. Like the SM in our thread, maybe next time she'll understand the rules before she berates another human being. I bet that from that point onward, she's going to have to stop and think twice before not approving a scout for living the Scout Spirit.

I would think a combo of the UC and COR could investigate this issue. if threats were made, it should be turned over to police to investigate. This is something the unit should not be involving itself in. If it's not illegal and the police need not be involved, is it really necessary to ban a parent? That's the grey area I'm trying to wrap my head around. What, short of illegal, is there that would cause a troop to take such action?

My task this next week or so is to personally contact every boy that DID NOT CROSS OVER. I got a copy of the "dropped" Webelos boys from each of the packs. If nothing else, I'm going to learn why the dropout rate at this point is so high.

There's something seriously wrong with a troop that has to ban parents from their activities. Unless there is an issue of legality, what would constitute sufficient grounds to ban a parent?

I had my Webelos cross over boys for their first scout meeting. They formed two patrols with one of the older boys PL of one patrol and one of the Webelos boys PL of the other patrol. The younger PL is heavy in to sports and hasn't been attending well and so we'll see how long that lasts. The other older boy will function as TG for that patrol. But they do have patrols, patrol names, made decisions on flags, patches, etc. and it was pretty much hassle free. They all got their study packets for Scout rank and the older boys got their packets for 2nd Class. ALL the boys will be attending summer camp. Looks promising. Parents have organized another fund raiser and are looking into more before summer camp to help defray the cost. Parent stepped up to take on the CC position and another treasurer. I asked on of the fathers to be ASM/committe member in charge of monitoring advancement, Life is good. There's gotta be something in the Kool\aide here, From what I hear on the forum, this isn't normal.

I guess if one is going to have mixed aged setups, they have to make extra rules to accommodate the "exceptions". So along with the extra rules now there has to be rules for buddies, too. I may not toe the line with mixed patrols, but I don't have all the extra rules and none of the hassles. I guess that makes my life easier and the boys aren't complaining either. Two boys to a tent they are all within a year or two of each other, no big deal.

http://www.fearlessformulafeeder.com/2012/04/why-we-shouldnt-use-the-term-breastfeeding-nazis-except-when-we-should/ Now that you mention it....

As SM I generally drive, I sometimes pull the trailer (when we had one) and collected $$ from the boys for gas. The gas amount was an estimate. If I came up short, I told myself to figure the mileage better next time and if the $$ was over what I spent, it went into the troop funds.

I find that the HEAVY DUTY paper clips, the black ones with the two pinch levers that fold down work great for anchoring onto tents where the ties have been ripped off. A big safety pin through the tab remnant will also anchor, but don't stick it in the canvas. One of the things one must remember is that if there is no release of the netting when strained or sat on accidentally, it will tear. The HD paper clips will generally release before tearing the netting or tent. It's always a good idea to make sure one's tent is securely anchored in a windstorm, but the beauty of the tauntline knots is that it will give and prevent the tent from tearing. The same holds true when rigging netting. If the poles are rigid and don't give, the net will.

Organizations do not have rights. They have members who have rights, and whereas some rights drive those members away others are more welcoming. I do believe that @@David CO's church is the exception because I have never seen any church anywhere that is set up for nursing mothers. Cry Rooms, yes, but moms and dads both use those rooms for fussy children. And yes, there are churches which I avoid due to a number of policies they engage in.

It would seem to me that this "compromise" between the unit and this scout mom puts the onus on the mother. She is within her legal right to breastfeed wherever she wants and BSA from SM on up want her to give up her rights for the sensitivities of others. There is nothing in BSA policies anywhere that states the BSA expects anyone to forego their rights for any reason. This is the ultimate PCism at it's worst. I have never been a fan of PCism and every day that passes sets me further from ever supporting any of their distorted agendas. The SM is a BSA backed personal zero-tolerant no legal basis bigot towards nursing infants and their mothers. Spin it any way one wishes, it still comes out the same.

Hmmmm..... Mom and baby in the back of the room. SM up front addressing the boys. Scouts all (99%) facing SM, don't notice a thing. About the only person who would even notice the mom nursing would be the SM. Who did and made a stink. Totally inappropriate on the part of the SM. Sorry, I still side with the Mom. She didn't make an issue of any of this and most people would have never known had not the SM overstepped the Scout Law and Motto.

Thank you and your scouts!

Only in America do we have cookbooks for salads that we don't cook. But then we drive on a parkway and park in a driveway. So we have a problem making words that mean anything. Love the snacks idea of no cooking. Dutch oven cobblers are the lifeblood of a troop. Dutch oven chocolate chip cookie cheese cake is my troop's favoriite Popcorn on the campfire is a staple on our troop. One does have to roast/cook to make s'mores. Appetizers can be cooked and substitute for a "snack" German potato salad is cooked. Sauerkraut can be heated up for the bratwurst/hotdogs. Adding hamburger, onions, bacon to baked beans is not the same as eating them out of the can. If I signed up for cooking MB and they didn't cook, I'd be kinda disappointed. Non-cooked meals for cooking MB sounds like an oxymoron to me.

If price is a consideration, there is another alternative... Just sayin'

Still kinda befuddles me how a cooking MB requirement for 5 meals would include 40% of them not cooking. Maybe it's like Driver's Education where 40% of the work is walking and riding a bike rather than driving the car.

Boys have historically been more "active" and even "aggressive" than their female counterparts. They were the warriors, defenders, etc. of past cultures. Our culture today no longer views those attributes as positive and thus the medication to stifle those tendencies. There is a reason why more males are on ADD/ADHD medication. Being male is a mental disorder. Sitting passively and keeping quiet is the main attribute the school systems are insisting on with their students. Given enough medication even recess is no longer necessary to "blow off a bit of steam" from having to sit quietly in class. The Zombie Apocalypse, compliments of Walgreens and CVS. Leaders to champion the cause are no longer necessary, as long as everyone accepts the herd mentality everything will be just fine. I think one just flew over the coco's nest.

Kinda hard to find a river anywhere where someone of any age isn't sucking down a brewski somewhere along the banks and to limit it to just college kids is a disservice to the young adults out there. I see more older people who should know better than I do college kids.

36 years ago, the pastor's wife breast fed during the worship service on occasion. There was no other place to go but the church basement or the closet. She tried to be discrete but everyone knew what she was doing. No one ever said a word. I have been around a lot of different churches over the years and there have been nursing going on all the time, I have NEVER heard anyone speak against it or bring it up as an "issue" that had to be addressed. I'm thinking breast feeding was around church facilities before the government caught up to the issue with it's laws. Granted there might be a certain flavor of Christianity here or there that might have a problem with it, but it doesn't seem to be even on the radar around my neck of the woods.

Now there's a lesson to be learned here for Citizenship in the Nation. Here we have someone asked to hide their legal rights so as to not offend someone. It sounds like Mrs. Millar was totally offended by this rude, crude "lady" SM, but none of that counted? I don't know if it is fate or kismet, but somehow Mr. Lackey got a name he deserves. If I was a leader in that troop, I would have dressed down that SM for unscoullike conduct. She missed the helpful, friendly, courtesy, kind, cheerful, and brave parts of the Law. Mr. Lackey comes in a close second.

I mowed lawns, shoveled sidewalks, raked leaves, ran errands, shopped for others, spaded over gardens long before I was 12. At 12 I added a morning paper route to the routine (legal work permit). At 12 I also added washing windows for the city library and at 14 I landed a job in the local grocery store every night after school so I could drop the paper route and window washing. I paid for everything I did in scouting with my own money except the initial full uniform for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. in 1968 when I went off to college I had $7,000 in debentures drawing 14% interest. That would equate to about $47,000 in today's dollar value. My mother taught me how to fill out my own tax return when I was 11 years old. I guess we just grew up quicker and figured out things faster than kids today.

They can do troop fund raising or they can do patrol fund raising or they can go out and work a part-time job.... or they can whine to mom and dad and they can pay for it. So there's 8 boys in the troop. All but one NEED to raise money for their outings. Does the single scout who can afford to just have mom and day pay his way obligated to fund raise for the other boys? Here's where the true measurement of leadership comes into play. How does the well-to-do scout take care of his boys? "Help other people at all times." If one is not doing servant leadership training, they are missing out on a ton of leadership lessons for the boys.

Keep us posted on how things go!

Troop Scribe - He has a job to do, how well he keeps track of the money, correspondence, registrations, etc. are all management expectations. How well he takes care of the people behind all those numbers is what makes him a leader. He reports to the SPL little Johnny didn't get the council campership and can't afford the go to camp, he told the PL he wasn't interested in going. Suggests he relay that information up the line to the SM. Patrol is in major need of a new tent, the one got trashed QM reports it is not salvageable, Scribe says the patrol has $XXX in their account. QM relays that back to the PL. Yes, we are dealing with JOBS, but there are human faces behind all those jobs that need leading. I like @@TAHAWK bottom up leadership that doesn't work. If done right is does. A toothpaste manufacturer had a problem that every now and then the machine would not put toothpaste in the cartons and they would get shipped off to the customers. It was a hassle and the customers weren't happy. They hired a consultant to come in and do an assessment on the situation. The boxes coming down the line that weren't full slipped through. So the recommendation to put a scale in the line and that when a carton came along that wasn't full it would stop the line and someone could take it off and set the line going again. Joe on the line was given the task of keeping the the scale clear. The first couple of hours the alarm went off fairly regularly and everyone was surprised how many were really slipping though. But the second day the alarm didn't go off, and it didn't go off and so they went to check to see what happened. Well, Joe got tired of knocking the empty boxes off the scale and resetting the machine that he stopped at Walmart on his way to his shift the next day and bought a huge fan. Set it up on the line just before the scale and it would blow off the empty cartons before it got to the scale. Problem solved. The consultant charged $14,000 for the scale set up and Joe's fan cost $50. The consultants got the job done, but they didn't take into consideration the human part of the problem. Joe did. Lead from the bottom up. The people at the bottom are those closest to the customer. Remember, in the BSA, that's the PL. He's the most direct contact with the customer.

There is nothing more destructive to a boy led program than interference from adults.