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jmcquillan

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Everything posted by jmcquillan

  1. grekonsz & momof2scouts, I've been in contact with a friend who has had "long-haired Eagles". He has no pictures he can get, only the memories. But be on the look-out for an email.
  2. Is your hair worth the hard feelings that will result from forcing your Scoutmaster to bend to your terms. Excuse me, DD, but I wonder just where you're coming from with that remark. Whose hard feelings? The SM because the Scout had his own mind? Or the Scout because he was forced to do something neither he nor his parents wanted him to do? Might I try changing that around as a for instance, and cast it back at ya? Is an Eagle worth the hard feelings that will result from your Scoutmaster forcing you to bend to his terms? And this from someone who is putting voice to his opinion
  3. If I might make a suggestion here... This problem definitely sounds like one that requires an adult to Scoutmaster discussion, not an Eagle candidate to SM discussion. This is basically an issue of not adhering to National Policy, as others have pointed out. The Scout should not be required to, or placed in a position where he has to, take issue with his SM on National BSA policy. The committee should be handling this, but perhaps the spark may have to come from some other concerned adult...some other adult who sees this as breaking ranks with National Policy, and allowing ones own person
  4. Interesting articles, to be sure. But I'd be a little more interested, sctmom, were you to include your thoughts and reasons for the thread. I chuckled at the ever present spin the ACLU included in the beginning of the article on Americans employed in the private sector of the economy... They said... There are 80 million people employed in the private sector of the American economy. Only about 20 million of these are union members protected from unjust dismissal by collective bargaining agreements. The remaining 60 million are employed "at will". "At will" employees serve at
  5. Just my two cents...I posted on another site sometime ago regarding this very same issue. Writing troop policies and rules and regulations can be a daunting task. It can also be quite dangerous unless the author(s) remember that the basis of all rules and policies in Scouting must come from that which is published by the BSA. For my purposes in Scouting, as a Committee Member, SM, ASM, and other leader positions, I always tried to remind those helping to author such things that all policies and rules should be written such that they point directly at the Scout Oath, and the Scout Law, no matte
  6. Both ways have their upside and downside. The obvious upside is the enthusiasm and excitement with which the project is approached by those intent on starting a troop. The downside, is finding the other side. Years ago, the troop I was with needed a new CO. The one we had no longer had the interest in sponsoring a troop. Depending on which part of the country you hail from, finding a CO may be easy or difficult. In the New England area, it seems to be easier to find folks to participate on the "troop" side, than the "CO" side. Our troop had quite a difficult time finding a new CO. In fact
  7. My question is, at what point do I quit trying to improve the adult relationships and move on? When running headlong into the brick wall begins to hurt more than you're willing to accept. If I can venture a guess, here,...it sounds like you've already passed that point and are looking for someone to help you reinforce your decision. Well, here's some reinforcement. It's really quite obvious that the SM doesn't have clue about how things should be run within the picture you've painted. It's also fairly obvious that taking him to task, by yourself, as a committee, or with the help of
  8. Public school all the way. When my two sons reached high school age, they opted to go to a local agricultural vocational high school (regional) as opposed to the town high school. But the Aggie was still public. I don't think they, or the Mrs. and myself, could have made better choices.
  9. I've gone through this same problem as CC for a Pack and later SM for a troop. It finally dawned on me that the only way to get the others off their collective butts and move to find a replacement, was when I set a date, and told the whole committee that upon that date, I would be leaving, retiring, gonzo, and that it would be in their best interests to have someone lined up to take the position as of that date....sooner would be better. They dragged their collective feet still, but when the advertised date arrived, I bid them all goodbye, and went on with my life. I've remained on as a genera
  10. Terry, I participate in a number of forums, some are Scouting, some are Philo & Politics, and I'm a moderator at a couple of them. I've got to give you credit for attempting what you're doing in the Politics and Issues Forum. Leaving the doors open for any member to speak his or her mind, on any acceptable subject to the forums, without running interference, and avoiding the obvious temptation to squelch some things is very tough. It's especially hard when the rules are pretty much in the honor system arena. My limited experience tells me that there appears to be little to the middle
  11. Ditto to what Ed said. Second two are "could-be's", but would need more detail to render an opinion.
  12. As I said above, I rarely wear "much" in the bag. I might have indicated that I always wear "something", if for no other reason than to keep the bag clean. And, no, I can't explain these things scientifically. I only know that I can't sleep comfortably when I'm all bundled up in a lot of clothing and the bag. And I really can't stand the "mummy" bags. They're far too restricting. The one I have is a modified mummy, more rectangular than mummy. Room to move within the bag at night is a must for me. What I haven't mastered yet, though, is keeping the bag on the pad at night. The Thermarest I hav
  13. If you're not backpacking, and weight is not of the utmost importance, then the closed cell pad idea is a good one. When winter camping and I tow my own sled, I'll bring along a peice of closed cell foam padding a little bigger than my "ThermaRest" pad, and place it under the ThermaRest. Then the ThermaRest (fully inflated as others have said), and then the sleeping bag...all inside a tent, of course). I found a great bag at REI. It's a zero degree bag, man-made fiber insulation, with a flannel lining. I'll bring my next-day clothes into the bag with me, but I rearely wear much in the bag, eve
  14. The Mrs. tells me that I should never consider a new hat when the activites of the previous 24 hours have put me in the spotlight, or granted me some new award or success. She figures that I should let the swelled head regain it's normal size before comtemplating the hat. Of course....I've never tested her theory....
  15. Once an Eagle, always an Eagle. Or so they say... I wouldn't be in favor of eliminating the square knot. I think there are many who would still like to wear it. And I wouldn't be in favor of any new badge just for adults. I would, however, be very much in favor of allowing adults who earned the Eagle to wear that Eagle, the one they earned, their very own sacred Eagle patch, on their adult uniforms. My first thought at this subject was along the lines of, "why rock the boat?" But upon thinking about it, there's really no good reason to not allow those adults who earned it as a Scout,
  16. A friend of mine in Scouting has been Scoutmaster of his troop for almost 30 years now. And there's no sign that he's ready to call it quits. Nor is there any sign that the troop is ready to let him go. He has somewhere in the neighborhood of 65 Scouts in his troop. He also has about 70 registered Scouters...all in uniform...in his troop. His SM position is the ideal. He's surrounded by significant talent, and is able to stick to the job as defined in the books. I took my direction from him, even though I never achieved his mark. I was a Scoutmaster for two terms in the troop, totalling 1
  17. Darned I wish this editting thing would work.... The Girl Scout thing was a tongue in cheek thing, of course. Through the roundtables, some really significant events were planned with the GS, and everyone had fun, even though the Girls always won the cooking events, and sometimes the log sawing..........
  18. When I first got involved in Scouting, I didn't even know what roundtables were for the first year (as SM). I wasn't trained, and didn't know that many Scouters outside the troop. Upon learning of the event, I started going, learned about training, got trained, and then went to every round table, not missing one, for my next 5 years in Scouting (every month). The guys who were running them at the time made them simply terrific. They were activity laden events. Hands-on stuff. We were all doing the stuff that was suggested for teaching or for games at our own troop meetings. I even remember lig
  19. I'll chime in here a little on the conversation between FScouter and Bob White about refusal for BoR. In our troop, one of the things we've been able to accomplish, as part of the chain of command, is the chain of communication, at both the adult and Scout levels. And it has been long standing troop policy that BoR's are done only in full uniform as defined and required by the troop. A boy showing up without that full uniform is informed that he'll have to wait until it's rescheduled. That's part of learning responsibility for ones actions. The lines of communication are constantly drilled wit
  20. Dan, I believe that the text in the SM handbook is refering to the fact that many troops supply special "troop" neckerchiefs and hats, but not all do, and therefore, as those items are allowed to be different from troop to troop, they're not considered as part of the official "full" uniform. That leaves the door open for troops (like mine) to not consider them part of the "full" uniform. I might be wrong here, but I think the hat, the neckerchief, and perhaps the t-shirt are the only items that are viewed as parts "a" uniform that can vary from troop to troop, allowing for special designs
  21. In lieu of some magic that bans those posting things we might not want to read, it's better to simply ignore the offensive posts, pretend they and their creator don't exist, and go on. Eventually, and hopefully, the offender might go elsewhere as no one will talk with him/her. I know many will say "Easier said than done"...but it's also an easier route to take than trying to incite a moderator, webmaster, or other authority. At least it is for me. Troll???........what troll?
  22. Oops...didn't see your post until mine was on the way. But.... Bingo, you've hit a good idea there. If there's another organization who might work with your son and really appreciate the telescope, that sounds like a great way to go. It eliminates the Director and his methods...unless, of course, the school has a clone just like him.
  23. An Eagle Project is sort of like a contract. Once the project is accepted and approved by the Director, the candidate is responsible for completing his end of the contract. Unfortunately, it's a pretty one-sided contract, for there's no way to force the Director to go forward with what he originally accepted and approved. And that smacks of changing the rules in the middle of the game. It happens, though, in Eagle projects and in life, and isn't good either way. It occurs to me that the publicity about the project could go either way, too. A successfully completed project deserves accolla
  24. Yes, I have seen this before, and there are really only two trails to walk here. In most cases where this happens, the project sponsor (the director?) really has no clue as to what an Eagle project is all about. He only knows that there is some kid who wants to do something for him, and get credit for it in Scouts....how cute. The Director probably isn't aware of what his change of mind is doing to the project, the timing, the Scout, and possibility of screwing the whole thing up for all. He only knows what he wants for a finish product, and approaches the situation as if he's dealing wit
  25. There's a whole lot of different ways to raise money. Three methods that I can think of are: BSA sponsored methods...like Popcorn. No up-front cost, need everyone to participate to make it profitable, only part of the profits come back to the troop. Selling non-BSA things...like candy, Christmas Trees and/or wreaths, etc. These can have substantial up-front cost as you have to buy the product, and then sell a certain amount to cover costs. They need substantial participation. All the money, after covering costs, goes to the troop. Services...which require little or no up-front c
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