John-in-KC

Venividi, Thank you, kind Sir! I also asked for TWO ideas. Why? Two makes you get to what really matters to your heart and mind. It takes little effort to give a laundry list. It takes a bit more to think about just a couple ... and say a few words about their importance. Thank you to all so far.

I thought we were still brainstorming here, ... It's the ability to fill in a form using a common electronic tool (a COMPUTER), to save it to a hard drive, to email it back into a service Center. The fax machine is so 20th Century. Email with an attachment is faster and cheaper. Think about it. We cna internet recharter, we can internet advance. Why can't we order a drop shipment of rank, MBs, etc online for either store pickup or if we want to pay the fees, delivery? Of course, Supply Corporation only started selling uniforms online to begin with in the last two years.... well behind most other e-commerce businesses out there!

Ed, You can have a hummer if you can afford the fuel...

Have you called the Regional Office to see what may be available in the other Regions?

Just tried calling Longhorn Service Center. Guess y'all are having a dry winter... lots of fire restrictions. Gotta wonder if there'll be fires at the campfires (As an aside, one year at our Scout Reservation in the Ozarks we had a burn ban so bad that we had to bring in a fire pumper and a 2000 gallon tanker truck for the County and the Corps of Engineers to give us a one-evening campfire permit!)

Prayers for his family, friends, and teachers. This is the big bad thing I think all parents dread... and hide deep in the darkest recess of their minds.

The next Boy Scout program revision cycle is coming up, as Beavah mentioned in another thread. Here's the deal... You get a letter signed by the National President, the National Commissioner, the Chief Scout Executive, and the head of the Boy Scouting Program Division. Your input is solicited: You may recommend no more than two specific changes to the program. They may cover the Boy Scouting program itself, or they may cover adult training for the Boy Scouting program. To help interpret your recommendations, you're asked for a short "why is this important to you" paragraph for each. From now until Sunday, let's make this is a "Blue-Sky" exercise, brainstorming only. We can evaluate later. I'll start off with my two: Youth Program change: Add a 22d Merit Badge to attain Eagle. It is an addition to the current Eagle Required Matrix. The Merit Badge is COOKING. Why? Ingredient victuals are generally the least expensive way to create a meal. Freezer or canned portions are generally more expensive, and restaurant/take-out meals are generally the most expensive. The statistics show more American men than not will have a failed marriage during their lifetimes. Providing Scouts with fundamental cookery skills mastered in the outdoors assists them to be better functioning in a world where split families are not unusual. Adult Training Change: Evaluate the need for and consider implementing a true "School of the Outdoors" for adults entering Scouting as adults. WHY? Increasing numbers of American adults are no longer exposed to the outdoors as youth or young adults. Much of the "greatest generation" learned fieldcraft from being in the Army or Marines during World War II. Whilst the boomer generation was exposed to the outdoors, proportionately fewer members of the following generations received that training. America fundamentally converted from rural-based society to urban/suburban based society between 1930 and 1970. Adults who will lead Scouting need opportunity to learn and master skills before becoming training resources to youth. Why am I starting this thread? It might be a rhetoric drill, but I think reading where each of us sees weakness and has a vision for change is useful. At the very least, we see what each other thinks is important enough to write about...

This does sound like a resident overnight camping program of the Council. I'd call and confirm, then the opportunity is there to sign up and have fun!

I like what Lisa said. gwd, I would add ... if they are around at all, this is a time for the COR to specifically ask the District Commissioner for lots of help. It sounds like there are training needs from program to support for the adults of the Troop. There are opportunities from JLT to OA to be tapped into to revitalize the kids and the program. I'd ask your DE/District Commish to consider visiting not just the Chartered Partner's IH/COR, but perhaps the general membership. Scouting is a contract with the community organization. They need a description of "what right looks like." I'd also urgently recommend putting a couple of those existing Scouts into Den Chief PORs... and telling the kids bluntly the Troops rebuilding depends on re-filling the recruiting pipeline. It's not their fundamental responsibility, but a team effort, including an ASM coordinator to Packs and the SM recognizing the Den Chiefs may not be at as many Troop meetings because they're serving. My thoughts.

Good-Bye Rudy (I was there on 9-11) Guiliani!!!! Good-Bye John (my hair is pretty) Edwards!!! Dems look like it's down to Hillary and Barack. Reps look like it's down to John, Mitt, and Mike. None of them excite me. All of them have policy flaws. Sigh.

Bob, A question which helps develop the idea is one thing. On another forum, I sometimes play the part of the cynic or the iconoclast. When I do, I explicity say WHY I propose to throw cold water on an idea. Right now, it appears BSA uses established political jurisdictions to draw area boundaries. That may or may not be the right method of doing it. We have some councils which are geographically huge and population poor. We have other councils which are compact but have huge populations. Establishing urban councils makes some sense. But, why not try to equalize the rural councils, such that each serves a more standardized number of youth and families? BSA has at least five Council size groupings? Would redistributing assignments so each Council had a more uniform population help or hinder its service? I don't know. I don't have all the answers, but my grad studies were in policy analysis. Finding the best bang for the buck is pretty darn important to a non-profit which has limited resources. My thoughts.

Between any set of Council Service Centers, there's a midline. That's the point where you are equally distant from one service center to another. What happens in my neck of the woods is that some of the furthest away units are very close to the neighboring Council's service Center. They do indeed go there for the Scout Shop, and they even drop off advancement reports there (they're batched up and mailed down once a week). A couple of years ago we had a conundrum in my Council. My Council Service Center has a BSA Supply Division Scout Shop (and regional warehouse). We had State changes in sales tax exemption law which took the tax exemption away from Supply Division (it's not corporately based in our State). The guidance from the State taxation authorities was each UNIT had to establish itself as an IRS 501©(3), then obtain State sales tax exemption, to buy tax-free at the BSA Supply Division Shop. Meanwhile, the neighboring Council was a BSA DISTRIBUTOR... running the Scout Shop as an element of the local Council. They were not affected by the State taxation rulings; they were already a State non-profit corporation. Where I live, I'm a quarter-mile short of the midline between the two Service Centers. Two of my unit leaders lived North of the midline, actually closer to the neighboring Council Service Center. The third unit we chartered SM lived a mile south of the midline. I was a COR at the time. My IH and I made a decision, and we communicated it to the SE, the President of the Council, and to the units under charter: Mail in advancement reports to Council Registrar. Use the other Council's Scout shop to buy awards and such. We did that for about 3 months, until Council, the State Legislature, and the State taxation authority got things undone.

http://www.scouting.org/pubs/gss/gss03.html Extracted from the Guide to Safe Scouting: Overnight camping by Tiger, Wolf, and Bear Cub Scout dens as dens is not approved and certificates of liability insurance will not be provided by the Boy Scouts of America. Tiger Cubs policy rule omitted. Wolf and Bear Cub Scouts and Webelos Scouts may participate in a resident overnight camping program operating under BSA National Camping School-trained leadership and managed by the council. Welcome to the Forums Ms (I presume) April-D. The magic question to ask your Council is if the event is Council-managed, and if the leadership (Director/PD) are National Camp School Trained. If they are, take your den and have fun! If they are not, then the basic rule of "No Wolves camping as dens" applies. If your Pack organizes a full up Family Camping trip (see rules in the url on the Guide to Safe Scouting above), then your Wolf age youth, in family groupings (no less than 1/1 parent-child coverage) may go. Here's the url for that: http://www.scouting.org/pubs/gss/gss03.html#bb (copy/paste this url including the #bb) As always, boldface in the G2SS denotes policy. RFE: 2d url needed clarifying instructions(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

ASM162, I recommend you have a cup of coffee, sooner than later, with your CC. Make sure he's onboard. Then have another cup of coffee with your former SM. What you do not need is one of your ASMs making trouble because of decisions you make in program development... or that the PLC makes in program implementation.

To me, depends on the number of folk participating. If it's just a few, then whole flags over the fire, or field cut from the union and each placed on the fire, work. If there are many folk participating, then stripping the flag gives more opportunity for participation. No matter what, do have both a CO2 and a water based fire extinguisher handy ... nylon and polyester flags need CO2, cotton water. I've seen flags flash off at least once; you want to be able to keep a fire from burning one of the folks working the fire.

Now it looks like the Senate is going to play Senatorial games with this "stimulus." Anyone care to bet on a date W signs it? What would be a better stimulus? Each corporate CEO, Board Chair and President of the Russell 2000 puts his/her year-end bonus into a new house (that can paid for in cash with said bonus). That will help re-prime the pump. Sigh.

I like what OGE said, but asking the PLC to make a decision is one way for them to assert that it's their Troop. Give them a few plusses and minuses, let them figure out some more of same, and let them make a decision.

Lots to chew on here. One issue of Venturing is BRANDING. BSA's "program brand" is the outdoors. Our ability to market youth support of the arts to the arts communities, youth support of faith to faith communities... to name two, isn't as strong as I'd like it to be. Another issue we have is the loss of ability to charter to public schools. I'd love to have Venturing be the vehicle under which our Band Executive Council learns leadership... but the band itself is a curricular activity of a public school district, and the boosters are NOT a separate corporation, in fact they are an authorized adult activity of the school district. jblake hits a good point: A troop and crew combined can have up to 6 separate housing areas... males 14-18, 18-21, and 21 up, and ditto females... when they are working with a Troop, and they are co-ed. To me, bluntly, one of the best things of Venturing is it allows new relationships between youth as they discover their interests and are finally ready to explore them in great detail.

GW... OK... A fool and his money are soon elected. ...Will Rogers About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation. ...Will Rogers Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate? ...Will Rogers Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke. ...Will Rogers It's easy being a humorist when you've got the whole government working for you. ...Will Rogers Our constitution protects aliens, drunks and U.S. Senators. ...Will Rogers The difference between a Republican and a Democrat is the Democrat is a cannibal they have to live off each other, while the Republicans, why, they live off the Democrats. ...Will Rogers There ought to be one day - just one - when there is open season on senators. ...Will Rogers

B, I like everything you say. Cub Scout Division and Boy Scout Division really need to work together to make Web better.

E, Yes, they do PD 1, 2 , and 3... and so much more, between Irving and PTC... and grad school, and... I think the point of running them through WB is so they have a volunteer's perspective on much that they do, and they see the impacts some of their "good ideas" cause.

What do you call a lawyer who keeps their billing records in the spare bedroom? Hillary.

Congratulations to your son!!! Now, he gets to enjoy more Scouting, more on his own terms.

We need a spoof knot for bypassing the BSA copyright police ...

I hope you are a member of NLAS http://www.nlas.org/ If not, definitely worth the while to join. Their certificate for completing God and Church (in particular) is wonderful! I'll be glad to share with you how my District, through an area church, leverages PRAY's materials. BTW, the Hazelwoods (Mark/Debbie) have come to many Relationships Weeks. It's a wonderful chance to pick the brain of the God and Country series course author (Debbie) for how to implement the program. See you in Cimarron!