JoeBob

Don't be intimidated: http://www.amazon.com/SABRE-Pepper-Spray-Advanced-Protection/dp/B0007VM8UC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412343967&sr=8-1&keywords=sabre+tear+gas

2 cautions: Totally 'boy led' can devolve into 'boy led astray'. The trips become all car camping because it's comfortable. A little adult pressure is needed to push the envelope and go backpacking and canoing.

So you're saying that a better trained Eagle would have known to bring BBQ sauce for the bird and made an OA dance headdress from the feathers? I agree!

Gee charmoc. Judgmental much? I'm thinking definition 2: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypocrite Is this not a good example of courtesy? Qwaze: Plastic Eagles are probably a bit firmer than paper eagles. But, discounting the smell, I bet Plastic Eagles leave no more trace than a paper eagle after being exposed to good campfire...

charmoc: I'm going to have to decline your invitation to refrain from using the term 'Paper Eagle'. The fact that you know what 'Paper Eagle' refers to validates the existence of a problem that is within the scope of this forum. Pretending that it isn't so does not make it true. Let's all work to improve our programs so that 'Paper Eagle' becomes an out of date reference. Or a piece of origami.

Some young men are more outstanding than others. (Probably from standing outside more often?) For the purpose of discussing this widely recognized phenomenon, what term of endearment would you prefer?

Okay fred; what is an Eagle Scout in your program required to know?

Disagree. Advancement is a record. Badges of rank are NOT participation trophies. Is expecting an Eagle scout candidate to know 6 basic knots (that he should have been using for a few years) and rudimentary first aid an impossible hurdle? Really? If your program is out-processing boys who are only required to have a few ink squiggles in the correct boxes, and not required to KNOW anything....

Boy Howdy! Have we ever drug the OP into the weeds!

We tried it for a 2 years with 3 12 person patrols. It didn't work. And the older boys rarely stepped up to be patrol leaders. They figured out that being PL was work, and Mr. JB held them accountable for their patrol. Much easier to just lay back and enjoy the trips without any responsibility. (I once had a New Scout elected PL because no one else wanted to do it.) Sorry, the adult SM over-ruled that. Trying to guilt boys into choosing Scouts over their other commitments doesn't work either. We're a heavily involved Catholic community school, and I'm glad to keep the boys interested in Scouting at all. Dealing with reality here.

Parents were only a problem for us when they first came up from Cubs. Troop meetings are much more chaotic than the Pack. I try to warn them before they come, "It's going to look crazy..." I asked the PLC to divide our 40 boys into 3 patrols; large patrols if you read all the literature. They gave me aged based patrols that robbed the young boys of the experienced scouts. And the experienced scouts had no one to mentor. So the SPL and I divided the troop into homogeneous patrols. The older boys didn't like it, but came to accept that it was best for the troop. My biggest mistake while converting to patrols was numbers. We usually have half or less of the troop attend camping trips. Lacrosse, football, marching band, theater, altar servers, etc. always created legitimate conflicts. With patrols of 12 active boys, we'd have camping patrols of 2 and 3 boys wondering why they had to be separated from their mates. So we'd abandon the patrol method based on making the camping groups realistic. Last month we re-divided into just 2 patrols. Now we should have enough boys in each group to adhere to their patrol structure when they're in the woods. I hope.

I like using the PLC for extreme discipline cases. 1- They greatly increase the authority perceived. 2- It invests the troop members in their own good behavior. 3- They'll be the ones monitoring future behavior: the PLC has more eyes in the right places than the SM & ASMs. 4- The SM can temper their discussions if they get too blood-thirsty.

Bravo to your BoR! They did their job, which is to review and decide if the scout has met the troop standards. And this was for Life rank, which is no small deal. I'm glad to see that the BoR didn't consider themselves to be a rubber stamp. You mentioned three total discipline issues with this scout. I'm presuming that that had something to do with the scout's inability to convince the board that he was ready for Life.

Very interesting... A school that has to allow Boy Scouts to meet there. In liberal Austin. How's that for a sharp stick in your eye!

I'm not going to bother researching the way the law is worded. It's not that important to me. But let's face it: these charges are an attempt to criminalize political disagreement. "abuse of official capacity, coercion of a public servant, official oppression and bribery" Pretty vague. If you want to argue that what Perry did was morally wrong, I'll partake of that discussion.

That you did. But does declaring "Mud!" mean that it's not mud-slinging? ;^)

HuffPo as a reliable source? Tuck in your short-tail; your bias is showing.

“I very clearly, I very publicly, said that as long as that individual is going to be running that agency, I had lost confidence in her, the public had lost confidence in her and I did what every governor has done for decades, which is make a decision on whether or not it was the proper use of state money to go to that agency,†Mr. Perry said Sunday.

Two questions: 1- Why do you think that threatening to veto state money from her budget is illegal? Should he not announce his consideration of a veto (ie- 'threaten'), and cut the money without advance notice? 2- What other types of pressure from whom do you think would work? (If Perry has to follow through and veto her budget, this woman, who still clings to her office will be working for free just to retain her power.)

Videos of Lehmberg's arrest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrxsCH_p1oc I'm glad I wasn't on the road with this woman, the top law enforcement official of Travis County, who now refuses to resign. Anyone want to argue that she should keep her job? And if Governor Perry should not use his authority to pressure her to resign, who should? Who else can?

I was all ready to jump in and scream "MEDIA BIAS!" But although the headline is misleading, the article does contain the meat of the issue. "Perry and other high-profile Republicans said Lehmberg should resign after she was arrested and pleaded guilty to drunken driving in April 2013. A video recording made at the jail showed Lehmberg shouting at staffers to call the sheriff, kicking the door of her cell and sticking her tongue out. Her blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit for driving." ​A pocket of Liberal Democrats in Austin (who worked for Lehmberg) is suing the Governor for threatening to use his veto to get this drunk to do the honorable thing! Wah! How about a counter-suit of "coercion of a public official"? They sued the Gov for contemplating the use of his mandated powers!

If I were in your place... I'd let the CC write his rule and add it to the troop paperwork where it will be forgotten and seldom applied. If he wants to come to the woods and enforce it, fine. Having a few of your tents collapse in a record frog-strangler has been a great learning experience for your boys, and they now understand their vested interest in selecting good tents pitched correctly in a good site.

Stosh: agree. Minus the congressional charter might even make Scouting better if they had to compete. Do you think that Trail Life has made BSA look more closely at their program?

Adults with busy lives need to plan way ahead. So when our PLC decides their annual calendar (9 trips), the CC sends it out to all troop adults. We get volunteers to be responsible for each trip. I am blessed to have a competent former SM as CC. As SM, I attend about half the trips; ASMs and parents lead all the trips; that's not my job. I co-ordinate youth leadership and make sure that the adults are getting things lined up for their trip (drivers, permits, recruiting other adults). Since we plan an annual calendar, we would never get to a week before and have to cancel.

"Drill Ass - Not Gas" "Gays Say No F*cking Way" Quotes from the signs carried in the Pride Parade, post #56. (But they didn't use the ampersand.) I can't see how anyone thinks that association with that language and/or sentiment can benefit our boys.