John-in-KC

E, Have to agree with all your examples. That said, the one who came in from 500 miles away... there was some CD/CD cross coordination to find a local person for ticket counseling. Question: In my neck of the woods, WB is something a Professional has to earn if he wants to make it to Senior DE. How did someone get to be an SE without it??? I just didn't go into detail what I meant by a "couple cases". To bring this back to topic: CNY: GOOD ON YOU!!!! :-D J(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

In my course, in only a couple of cases, did the TG not carry over to be the TC. CD/PD logic was they had come to know the Scouter the best.

Beavah, By that definition my former Troop came close to being Rogue... 1) The Invisible Commissioner: The youth did a lot of communication within the Troop, but the SM and CC sent a lot of Scouter/parental stuff by email. As Advancement Coordinator on the Committee, I didn't kill trees unless I had to. It's really easy to take a text file out of Troopmaster and drop in on a word processor. Then I could email it to SM as needed. Anyway, UC was regularly upset we didn't have a newsletter (we did, it was online). Told us he wouldn't do internet. More than once we were offsite at an activity when he'd try to do unit call. Then... he had his shift rotated so he couldn't visit evenings at all. Then... he was relocated, and the ADC said "I don't have anyone for you." 3) No popcorn. Seen the profit factors from popcorn? Seen the unit density in my 25 sq mi (5 x 5) corner of Kansas City? Popcorn wasn't worth the time to try to sell, especially by youth in their neighborhoods. Christmas wreaths and chili suppers did far, far better. District Chair to IH: Why don't your units sell Popcorn? IH (who is a sales guy by trade): Going to give me an exclusive sales area around my population base? Dist. Chair: I can't do that. IH: I won't have my units sell popcorn. 5) Kid comes up for Eagle. Get an email from the Professional who advises the Advancement Committee: Why didn't he list ZZZ MB on his app? (msg forwarded from Registrar to Professional) My email back: He never earned it. His email back: It shows on ScoutNet, this date. My email back, AFTER checking advancement report: He earned YYY MB on that date (10 key error, this was before internet advancement). - Also: On "this date", I got an annual download of advancement status from the Registrar. On "this date +3" I submitted an amended advancement report, asking the Registrar to withdraw the MB listing... the boy never earned it. His email back: Oh. That's all, oh. I recognize BSA is "sales on salary". I recognize many local Councils rely heavily on fundraising to pay everyone (I'm doing Family FOS pitches tonight and tomorrow). IMO, Councils which claim "rogue units" need to look at themselves and ask for Feedback... it's a gift, after all.

Hunt, You've hit the vital issues. Each of them must be addressed at the local organization (church/clubs/Scouts/school), the State (since only States can pass laws which create felonies... I've not heard of any US State delegating this power to its Counties or Cities), and the National (US Federal) level... WHEN THE FEDERAL INTEREST lies under the Commerce Clause. There are lots of trade-offs. What's the bill-payer for a church SS if the parish council mandates two teachers in the classroom? To whom and how does a group say "you cannot be a direct contact youth leader? (I'd argue a registered sex offender is almost certainly on the list, but a tax fraud offender may well be off the list). I know my church had a youth protection program which arrived in the mail one day, for mandatory, no-negotiation implementation: It was from our liability carrier. Using it had been written into the annual policy renewal. Our parish president and pastors (both facilties) hands were tied. BTW, the next year we went shopping for a new liability carrier... one that helped design a youth protection package. It seems our old carrier required us to use the law as written in its State of Incorporation... not our location on the ground. Kinda sorta different. I know that Missour's Children's Services would have people err on the side of over-reporting; they say so on their website. To me, the State and Federal problem is: What resources do we appropriate to support the policy? Not enough $$$ implies less than ideal support of the law.

CNY!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I see no one has really mentioned the real "What Next?" It's time to start working your NEXT ticket... As others have mentioned, I'd re-contact your TG. Give him a date or event you want your Beading. I'd also contact your Patrol members and invite them. Keep having fun in Scouting!

Pack378, Depends on the Lodge. My Council's Lodge offers 3 induction weekends, induction during its 3 Scout Camp sessions, and 1 Special needs induction session.

kahits, There is nothing wrong with forest camouflage. Since I bought my first sets of BDUs in 1980, lots... lots of patterns have been introduced to the market, trademarked, or copyrighted. Around here I have a Cabela's super-mega-humongous-big-box store. I can get patterns for a treeline, a cornfield, down in the creekbottom, wherever I want to be. Heck, even cutting open an old BDU shirt and making a neckerchief from the back wouldn't be that bad. SFAIK, no one made a BDU large bandanna, capable of being a necker. Besides, Mother Army has announced wear-out date for BDU of 1 June this year. That leaves only the US Zoomies. All that said, I think the best option is a camo pattern which is appropriate to your own home grounds

We had a very similar situation to yours; more Scouts who wanted to transition together than any one church was willing to absorb. There's a lot of good advice here. I'll add two distinct points: - If you can, recruit up to 4 (startup SPL, ASPL, and two TGs) older Scouts who are willing to work hard and model youth leadership to your 11 year olds for a year or so. Give the graduating Web II's time to develop themselves as people. - Within 2 years, push out several young men back to Packs to be Den Chiefs. The best recruiter of Cubs to the Boy program is an effective and enthusiastic Den Chief No matter how you decide, happy Scouting to you and the youth!

Get a topographic map of the area of the camp. See what possibilities there are for hikes and one-night outings away from base camp. Give PLC options for developing Plan B.

OGO, it just ran for me... Plan B (always have a Plan B... didn't I hear that at WB too?) use video.google.com to search. For that matter, here's the youtube.com url: Mmmm, mmm, good. Bobwhites: Taste Like CHICKENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!

Barry, Absolutely agree on not getting "the top of the line" in just about anything at his current state of growth... having been there twice (EagleSon in his youth program time and me waaaay back when), top of the line gear will shortly be outgrown. Of course, I can guarantee you a complete backpacking outfit can be bought several times over for the price of a tuba! I do like REI, but my co-op number is just over 100,000. Problem is, I don't like at this stage not having a real outfitter to go to. Since the poster didn't say where he is... so I can't help on shops. Edit to add: Where is Mr Gizmo, the outfitter of my youth in Reseda, CA? He's the one who taught me "head, shoulders, knees and toes among other things... and he taught a lot about backpacking gear from selling it and using it!(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

Absolutely agree with Lisa. Your Scout is probably still growing. A frame designed to fit a 5'3" young person will have challenges if he grows to be 6'4"... Right now, the one thing I would suggest is good hiking boots and socks. The feet are the foundation of the "house on your back" as Colin Fletcher put it in his book "On Your Own in the Wilderness." Your Scout needs a stable foundation. Beyond that, I'm not going to give advice, because I don't know where you live, what the climate regime is ... all manner of basic information. Hopefully his Troop Guide and Instructors are giving him the info he needs. If you have questions, ask to speak to the youth trainer for your son. If you find that there's a hole in teaching these Scouts, ask the Scoutmaster to share a cup of coffee with you and share some info too...

But the shirt was designed by Oscar de la Renta, Lisa I thought women adored the de la Renta label... (Tongue planted FIRMLY in cheek)

Dope? Dear Old Pennyslvanian from England? ??? Inquiring minds, E! John

BW hasn't seen this thread.... nor has he been to my Council lately... http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=177659 Of course, beyond District patches, we wear our Mic-o-Say and OA lanyards with our Class A and B uniforms too We even give guidance of "what right looks like" for these lanyards on the Council website When I re-set my Venturing uniform for the new Crew EagleSon is in, I guess I'll have my home District patch (North Star) in the temporary position, and my unit's District patch (Northern Tier) below the Venturing BSA patch on the right sleeve.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Baden, I'd have the IH ask the DE and SE out for a long cup of coffee. Have those Professionals take some heat for the quality of service rendered by the Council under the Charter Agreement. Even better, money talks. If the Chartered Partners and the area businesses in the FOS Family and Community Campaigns are high dollar givers, and they tell the SE they're thinking of sending their money elsewhere, they'll get attention. They call me Mr Cynical...

He has the hair of my course's Troop Scribe... and the beard of the course's UC... OMG!!! Frankenstein has arrived in Scouting, and he's BOB WHITE!!!! Get a stake!

E, You are no mans' fool, kind Sir. Appreciate the input. You're helping me understand how all these things we do fit together...

Feedback is a gift, OGE is giving his Thanks my friend.

I got my invite. Silver on the sage...

withdrawn. The joke didn't quite work...(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

Poor Bob. He didn't completely and precisely do his part of the Nationally Approved Syllabus.

I've seen a couple different ways to handle the after... in one, there was one heckuva cookout after. In the other, there was the cake and ice cream, and the Scout brought all his STUFF from his cub scout scrapbook to his Philmont trail map. Both of these have been repeated several times over.

I'm sorry, gwd Bad John, Bad, Bad...

FScouter, We have to apply common sense and judgment to every situation we encounter as adults. That includes what we see when we're at the Troop meeting or campout, and we see something that doesn't look right. I live in Missouri. Here are two websites for the child abuse reporting hotline: http://www.dss.mo.gov/cd/rptcan.htm http://www.dss.mo.gov/cd/can.htm In my case, since I am not a mandatory reporter, I can make an anonymous report. There is also a resource I can use to ask questions if I'm not sure. Now, your State? You have to do your own research.

My copy of Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures #33088 is elsewhere. Can anyone look this up? Absent a hard look, Lisa's comment passes the common sense test.