kasane

"While your involvement is appreciated and important, none of the credentials you list include training in the advancement program, except for being on the training team" DID YOU READ THE REST OF MY POST? THREE years as troop advancement chairperson - I didn't sit on my hands through those three years. I had an active troop committee, I attended advancement training within my District, in my Council and at a university of scouting. I trained people in troop advancement, I chaired over 20 boards of review including training new members of the board. I reported to Council, I atten

"While you present you plan very well you need to be aware that much of what you have written is in direct opposition to the methods, procedures, and policies of the BSA program. You might take time to review the Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures manual, as well as the Scout Handbook and the Scoutmaster Handbook. " Actually I guess as a unit commissioner of 5 years standing, a Troop Advancement chair of over three years, and a member of the District Training committee and District Committee, Friends of Scouting Family Chair, wife of scoutmaster, etc, I might be behind on my re

Yes, you do need to have your boys get involved with the merit badge process. It is a hard thing for a boy to call up a stranger (to him) and ask that person to be his counsellor on a merit badge. I would also like to point out that no one has their "own" merit badge counsellors. To be a merit badge counsellor, you have to register with the council. You get put on a list with all the other counsellors and your merit badge areas are indicated. This list should/must be available to ALL advancement chairs (at the very least). Each Troop should have one. I realize that some merit

Welcome to a very interesting and challenging position. I was Troop Advancement Chair for three years and had to start from scratch as well. Hints: 1) Electronic Data keeping - whatever software program you use, make sure it is Scoutnet compatible. It simplifies your record keeping and ensures that the data you give to the scout office is the same that gets into their database. 2) Re #1. Irregardless whether you give the scout office paper or electronic copies of the scouts records, once or twice a year do an audit of your files versus the scout offices. Get a printout from t

Welcome to the 21st Century Wheeler. The world economy is here. You are currently wearing at least one clothing item manufactured in the Third World by people beyond the reach of American labour unions. Your food today came from cows raised in Argentina, your orange juice came from Brazil, and your lettuce and tomatoes hand-picked in Florida by itinerant labour from Mexico. That burger you ate at McDonalds was served by an 18 year old (or a 60 year old) making just the minium wage. In some cases they are raising or supporting a family on that. McDonald's offers benefits, but there

When my step-son was in the 4th grade, his teacher decided to try a reward system for good behaviour. Instead of her awarding good behaviour awards each week, she had each child assess their own behaviour. If the child felt they were good ALL week, they would have a leaf with their name on it on a merit tree in the hallway. Note that the merit tree was not in their classroom and none of the other classes in the school were doing this. At parent teacher night, I asked why there were many leaves with the same names on the tree and there were none of the rest of class including my step-son

In today's age of celebrity marriages and divorces, Paul and Linda McCartney set an example. They were one of few celebrity couples to survive the pressure cooker life style of fame, and the strain this puts on a marriage. In their nearly 30 year marriage, they never spent a night apart, voluntarily. This came to an end in April of 1998, when Linda succumbed to breast cancer. With Paul's recent remarriage and birth of a new child, I guess his practice of serial monogamy is going to get him drummed (pardon the pun) out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Websters defines adultery as voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a partner other than the lawful spouse. The emphasis is on voluntary. However you can then put a spin on it that even rape is adultery (which is still done in many parts of this world). Then you end up with the case of this woman: "Zafran Bibi walked into the police station in the village of Kerri Sheikhan, deep in the valleys of Pakistan's North West Frontier, and gave a harrowing account of how she had been raped by a neighbour. Medical tests were ordered, witnesses questioned and a trial was held

"There's much to be said for that system". I can only hope your tongue was firmly-in-cheek when you stated this. New Delhi July 9. An HIV-infected woman in Kuppam of Chittoor district was stoned to death on July 4 [2003]. Stoning in Iran, The Washington Times, February 27 (this was dated about 1997) "The condemned are wrapped head to foot in white shrouds and buried up to their waists. "Then the stoning begins. The stones are specifically chosen so they are large enough to cause pain, but not so large as to kill the condemned immediately. They are guaranteed a slow, tortur

Well, lets get this straight right now gentlemen. The moment you guys get pregnant, you get the chance to decide whether to carry to term or not.

It is probably only in the last century and this one that abortion can be called a "medical procedure". And only in the last 30 or so years was it made legal (with conditions) in many countries, including the USA. In the eons prior to that it was a desperate measure by a woman (with or without the aid of another person) to terminate a pregnancy. It always ended in the death of the fetus. The mother would die either during the attempt or shortly after from infection or blood loss. Many older physicians can probably tell you of the women who were brought into hospitals ill or dying fr

I am Canadian and I have lived in the USA for nearly 10 years. I still think that Americans have totally missed the point of what a Canadian or British health care system is about. Everyone is covered - the young, the old, the sick, the well, the poor and not so poor and yes the rich.The employed, the unemployed. You don't have to worry that you will lose the house if someone gets sick. EVeryone pays something into the system. What I paid through my taxes to support the Canadian medical system - my husband pays even more (and his company benefit plan) into the American system for

"If the collective nation recognizes homosexuality as a perversity, then politicians and the courts should honor that standard." Collective nation? Define collective. A majority? 50.5%, 99%, 100%? If every person in the nation that had the right to vote (not registered to vote - but met the citizenship and age requirements to vote), voted on this issue, you would not get 100% in favour or against. By the very nature of the voting process (the measure of agreement), you would have the very people this affected voting on the issue (or would you deny their rights to have a say in the mat

True everything comes at a cost. Utimately though it is how much or how little each person benefits from the cost involved. The cost of health care in the USA is so high/person that many millions cannot afford the cost. Those that can, can only afford to pay (insurance, or fees) for themselves and immediate families, and that's all who benefit. Canada has set their system up that every person pays somethiing (if they pay taxes) and ensures that EVERYONE gets something back for it. The Boy Scouts (depending on the Council) now have insurance coverage for leaders and boys. The

""Do you think there are other prohibited marbles still in the container?" Yes there are and if left in the container long enough they will contaminate the entire container. " Wow! What a statement. I wonder if this was the same argument used before the schools and armed forces were integrated?

I am very glad to see the boys were confident enough to go against the prevailing peer pressure at the OA fellowship and tell them to cut out the vulgur jokes. However, my question is - if the slurs were made about another ethnic group would you as a parent continue to allow your son/child to be member of that group? There are many boys (I would consider any young man under 16 a boy) who are still forming their opinions, morals, ideals, etc in life and are members of OA. Exposure in a peer group that condones this kind of behaviour generally results in another young man with the s

You are correct Ed. Wrong word - I should have used regulated instead of controlled. The laws here in the USA differentiate alcohol, tobacco and controlled substances. The point that I was making however is still the same - if you can't have any alcohol anywhere at a scout function (including religious ceremonies), then tobacco will have to be prohibited too.(This message has been edited by kasane)

Tobacco is a controlled substance. You can't buy it unless you are a certain age (depends on the state/province). You are carded if you don't look the legal age and tt is illegal to consume if you are underage. It is also illegal for an adult to provide the substance to minors.

Just to turn the thread a bit. If there is to be no controlled substances consumed while on scouting business, then smokers would have wait until they are out of uniform and the scout business is finished. This would apply across the board to committee meetings, campouts, troop meetings, etc. There would be no sneaking off behind the bushes to have a smoke. The kids know who smokes and wondering if it is so bad, why are the leaders doing it anyway (and sneaking off to do it)? They may not be smoking in the presence of scouts, but you can sure smell the tobacoo smoke when they get b

Our troop found itself in a similar situation a few years ago. One of the boys brought a recipe for a spaghetti sauce that required wine as one of the ingredients (not sherry or cooking wine, but actual wine). The sauce was made at home by the father and the boy brought the sauce in a container and added it to the spaghetti (his turn to cook for the patrol). By all reports the sauce was terrific. The boy then shared the recipe with his patrol and the leaders at the campout. The wine was mentioned. The leaders went uh oh, but underplayed it with the other kids. It appeared to blow

Further to Rooster7's last comment "Heterosexual adulterers have not formed a special group to force their way into the BSA as accepted members! " Well, in case no one was actually looking closely at the adults in scouting - heterosexual adulterers are already in the BSA (as well as alcoholics, spouse batterers, thieves, embezzlers, etc). Apparently adultery is a given in socieiy . Many people wouldn't pass scrutiny as a leader if being an adulterer (past or present) was a criteria for rejection in the BSA. My husband came back from a campout (as a parent - preleadership) complai

If a boy was leaving the troop for another one and he still had money in his scout account - we (the committee - not the scoutmaster) would see what fees were still owing. If nothing, then we would write a check payable to the boy and the new troop he was going to: Joe Smith and Troop 12345. The only way it could be cashed was the boy had to countersign it over to the new troop and they would deposit it into his scout account with them. No funds in the boy's account - no money transferred. The only time a direct check would be written to the boy or his family was if they had giv

We always had the problem of who gets what share of the profits of a fundraiser (troop and/or boys), especially when the same boys/parents would come out everytime. These hard workers would then end up subsidizing the boys/parents who didn't show up (some may have had valid reasons). In order to get around this problem and to make it fair to EVERYONE (parents, boys, troop, and anyone else who might have a vested interest), our troop decided to levy a user fee (troop fee, whatever) of $100/boy (payable in two installments) that could be taken out of the boy's scout account. This is not w

NJCubscouter said"I would hope that what National would actually do is allow a boy to give his side of the story before taking any action, but I will readily admit that I do not know that for certain, since I am not familiar with this aspect of BSA procedure. Logic would suggest that more than a phone call from someone claiming to be a victim, or a victim's relative, when there is no public record of an offense, would be necessary for this type of action". Actually, there is no logic in at all - boys and adults have had their memberships revoked in the BSA based on allegations and accusa

My question is: After the entire revocation of membership appeal process is pursued up to National and they deny reinstatement of membership, how is it that the District can re-enroll the scout and permit him to complete his scouting career up to Eagle? i have seen these revocation of membership letters (from District up to National). Once the National office has denied membership - no council is going to re-enroll a scout - you are banned for life. Possibly somebody wasn't checking the paper trail? Was the boy registered under a different version of his name (eg danny vs daniel