jmcquillan

I don't think it's necessarily a sign that the troop is in trouble. Take stock of the rest of your assets. Are you still getting cross-overs from Webelos each year? How many vs. what other troops are getting in your town? Are they staying? Are the older scouts still quite active? Do they participate in troop activities regularly? Are they having a good time? Do your camping trips end up with littlt participation? Are the kids not interested in the the things that they help plan? The fact that they reach Life and then sit there for a while isn't cause for concern all by itself. I

Very few of the Chartered Organizations in our area get involved with their troops or packs. Our troop was, at one time, chartered to a church. There were no members of our committee or leadership from that church. Nor were there any Scouts from that church in the troop. The church pretty much lost count of us, and, although we tried, there seemed nothing we could do to get them interested in the troop. (They were the CO before I got involved, and this was long before they were called CO's.) We got ourselves another CO, a Legion Post, and although they provided the flag, they never really got

There are, indeed, very religious folks out there who don't attend church. But whatever faith they participate in likely have some sort of leader who can serve the part. In the case of the family that deos not participate in an organized religion, perhaps practicing at home, the BSA allows for a letter from the candidate stating what his beliefs are, and how they impact his life, and how he fulfills his Duty to God. The letter of recommendation that usually comes from the parents can serve to reinforce that statement and how the Scout fulfills his duty to God.

While I'm not a fan of those who pierce things other than their ears, or the tattooing faces and necks, to each his own. And as long as they took care of themselves, I think that would mee the standard of clean, yes. The pierced ear, the tattooed arm or back are fine with me, and that's how I approach the subject. And cleanliness fits right in there for me. I do think, however, that it would be a real hoot if suddenly we found out that BP had "BRITANNIA" across his chest.

While I do, indded, understand persoanl taste, and the abhorance one may have for tattoos and piercings, I pose tyhe following question for your consideration. This is a real-life situation, and I'd just like to see where you folks would stand if you ran across it in your troop. You've been with your troop for, well, going on 20 years, and some time ago, a boy graduated out of your troop as an Eagle. Probably the best Eagle you've ever seen. His qualities were the kind that you wish every boy could have, but know that only a few will have. This young man went on to college, and graduated

OK, Dedicated Dad. I got nothing, absolutely nothing to trade. But I'm dying to know how to do those neat things you listed above. Do tell, please?

Those are all great ideas, but I wonder how easily it would be to get National to go along with creating or recreating them. It's been my understanding that Merit Badges are usually dropped when National takes stock of how many Scouts are actually working on and earning them. Lack of participation seems to be the rule for dropping a Merit Badge. The woodworking ideas would be great, and might be easily counselled as there seems to be many adults these days who work with wood, either professionally or as amateurs. The Blacksmith one might be difficult in areas like the Northeast where the

FScouter, You're absolutely correct. But you fail to take into account the over-confidence that some of us succumb to prior to hitting the darned little "post" thingy. I'm looking for another little thing to hit to edit posts that I fail to go over, and over, before posting. A fault that seems all to common in my posts. Oh...and how do you guys italicize things? That's one I haven't yet figured out....go figure.

"But I think it best we move to a point where a person is judged by the content of their charactor and not by their appearance." Bingo, OGE. Well said.

Well then, by the definitions offered, my sons and I, and the Mrs., for she has a tattoo also, must be seeking attention, and we all must have a character flaw. Funny, I've always perceived myself to be a rather upstanding kind of guy. Benn a Scout Leader for over 20 years. Been a member of the Lions Club for 5 years. Been on countless school committees, including the Citywide Parents Council in Boston when Judge Garrity was enforcing the school busing issues. Even been to and back from a little Asian country back when the fightn' was going on (got the holes to prove it). But there must b

Well then, Dedicated Dad, we have at least one thread subject where we're pretty much on opposite sides of the coin. With regard to the tattoo thing, that's a non-issue, as every state I'm aware of where it's legal (and that's most) outlaws the practice on anyone younger than 18, or the age of consent in that state. BTW, I have a couple. So does my oldest son...the one who is still jump-qualified, even though he's been out of the Army Rangers for a few of years. Oh, and he had a pierced ear in High School...since grown out...it was a fad thing. And he earned his Eagle. And my youngest, the ex.

Of course, as I just noticed, in a thread like this, with a subject like this, one would expect that all the current posters are "senior" members. What does that tell us?

Mike's probably right on the LMHO thing. It would be a much more Scout-like version of the internet-forum-popular "LMAO".

Dedicated Dad said.... "Piercings on boys is an obvious sign of irresponsible anti-social parenting and regardless shouldnt be allowed to be worn during scout functions." Hold on there, guy! I'd bet that statement might rile some feathers out there in the Scouting world...or any world for that matter. While you may harbor that as your personal opinion, that's a pretty broad and negative generalization about the rest of us. Or, was that an attempt at humor that simply lacked the little smiley thing?

sctmom, Remember that it's not so much the amount of physical labor in an Eagle project that makes it an Eagle project. It's more the process and leadership that counts. Anyone can participate in paving a walkway, but not everyone can go through the process of the planning, the thinking, the obtaining of permission and materials, the scheduling of the work force, the pictures, the public relations coverage, and then the report. I've seen Eagle projects that were very small and very large, but everyone qualified. I had a young man once build a canoe landing on a local river. It was needed,

DUH...next time I'll read the question twice...just to make sure I understand it. I will agree with the other posters, though.

I, too, am no big fan of the Merit Badge College, and avoided it as much as I could. In fact, I really had some problems with merit badges at summer camp. Each year I would make it my business to observe some of the sessions my scouts were attending, and found that the coverage and attention given to many of the badges was quite inadequate when compared to the book. I frequently made my concerns known to the Camp Director, but they pretty much fell on deaf ears. One example was the Riflery Merit Badge. Although there were amply qualified instructors at camp, they only had one week, one ho

Nice likable guy or not, it sounds like the SPL is not ready for the job, otherwise he'd be doing it. If sacking him in favor of another is not where you want to go, you might want to counsel both, separately. Are you the SM? If so, counsel the SPL to make it his business to actually do the job he was elected to do, even if it was a popularity contest. Impress upon him that unless he performs the functions of the job, he can't get rank advancement credit for just wearing the patch. Counsel the more aggressive Scout to use his talents to help the SPL learn to do his job, rather than doing it fo

Depending on the business to be attended to, I would always reserve the last 15-20 minutes of the meeting for announcements and last checks on trip planning. If there were rank awards of merit badges to be presented, we would use that time, as that is the time when the entire troop is in formation, and usually, most of the parents had arrived at the scouthouse to pick up their sons. Of course, this was only the "immediate recognition" thing. At subsequent Courts of Honor, we would recognize those Scouts again, before the entire assemblage.

"OldGreyEagle" Saw your query regarding costs to start out. That's a tough one to answer, depending on where you live, what stores are nearby, what terrain you're delaing with, et cetera. We've given up trying to identify a cost. But, being in Massachusetts, we have the benefit of Eastern Mountain Sports stores, (yeah, we know...EMS...Extra Money Spent), nearby. For a number of years, we've had an arrangement with the store closest to us. Every year, after the new Scouts have settled in, the EMS folks come to a troop meeting and bring samples of what they sell, geared to the new camping f

Yarrow, In answer to the last query in your post, generally I'd bet that, yes, there are, somewhere, Eagles who have transgressed. Hopefully, that number is quite small. As to the bulk of your post, actions, if any, taken by the troop, would have to be taken on the basis of real hard evidence and facts, not hearsay from second or third parties. To me that means that unless the schools take action, the troop should not. And the schools are not very likely to share information with the troop, so the troop would have to make its own best judgement on what happened and how much of a tran

NHScouter, Thanks!! That's what we needed to see...the black and white that lays out just who can, and why they can. Good job.

Ed, Try telling that to an atheist. "Atheism is not a relgion!" "Is too!" "is not!" "Is too!!" "Is not!! Prove it!" "It says so, right here in my Atheist's Bib...le.......oh, wait..."

The admonition is...ack...help..wackwackwack...bludgeon...help...beatbeatbeat...ugh........ We have taken control of this posters keyboard. He shall not be allowed to post the admonition. No one outside of the Order is to know. We are.......The Order of the Arrow Secrecy Committee, and our mission is to keep errant posters from giving away information that should be earned the hard way....in an ordeal. You are now returned to your regularly scheduled discussion.

OFF-TOPIC ALERT..... Rooster's example, above, is a perfect one for the need, in these forums, of a method to "edit" our own posts. We're all susceptible to the dreaded "uh oh...I screwed up that post and found out only after I posted it" calamity. Wouldn't it be real nice if this website offered a means of editing our own posts after the fact, for those neat little moments when the signals between the brain and the fingers go awry, and the demons of the keyboard force our hand to "post" long before we should? This message is brought to you by the "Write To Your Webmaster Committee",