KC9DDI

Just a guess, but perhaps since Scouts do things like wear uniforms and sleep in tents on a fairly regular basis with their own troops, this brochure was created to highlight some of the more unusual or exotic activities available at Jambo. Or maybe the thought was the Scouts would already expect to be wearing uniforms and sleeping in tents at Jambo, and they wanted to draw attention to some of the non-obvious activities that would be available. I'd also recommend against using four images from one brochure as a basis for assuming that an entire program's "emphasis" has changed. Not

If one of the OA's greatest strengths is an illusion, rather than something of substance... well, maybe that's the problem right there.

Hmmm... sounds to me that there something more going on here to warrant a 25 year grudge... We don't feel that we are denying our Scouts access to OA. We are denying agressive OA recruiters access to our Scouts. Well, fair enough. I personally don't much care for the OA, but at least it sounds like you'll let your Scouts explore the possibility if it's something that they want to do.

many some of the "pros" I have met it seems like just a job. Well... for them, it is just a job. It's their day job (that often spills over into nights and weekends.) As long as they're doing their job, I don't have a problem. I guess I'm wondering what is meant by "trust" in this sense? There's plenty of Scouters, both volunteer and professional, who I don't consider to be trustworthy. But I don't think that the level of the program at which they operate (local, council, national...) affects their trustworthiness. Do I agree with every decision made at a council or at a na

Hi David - Just curious, has the question of whether to become involved with the OA been revisited by the current membership of your unit, within the past 25 years or so? But I see your point about the cartoon-ey imitation of Native American culture that the OA can promote. I guess I don't see it as offensive, per se... just silly. And I think that's probably a big component as to why the OA is in decline. Most Scouts just aren't interested in the imitation Indian costume and dance routine. That said, I guess I still don't understand why you would refuse to at least present it as

And here I was worried about whether or not we would be able to tie the decline of the Patrol Method with a man's posture while urinating...

Hi Bart - I think you were talking to me? you're saying that Google and Facebook should stop allowing websites to interface with Google and Facebook accounts? Well, I would like that, honestly. But, if it bothers me enough, I can always opt out of my account. But that's not really what we're talking about, is it? What you're saying is that essentially Google and Facebook have an obligation to provide APIs for their software. They decided it was in their best interest to make such APIs available. But the BSA, which is in a radically different market, decided that it is not in the

so if they haven't gotten back to me yet it's because National doesn't want to get back to me. To play devil's advocate - wouldn't it be irresponsible for an organization that stores personal, demographic information for millions of past and current youth members, and additional information on adults, community organizations, etc - to provide information on "interfacing" with that database to every Tom, Dick or Harry that contacts them online?

Others are right - It will likely take a few days to a few weeks for Google to get your site indexed. The more links you have pointing to your site, the more quickly Google will "find" it, and the higher it will rank in it's search results. You can try to help Google find it a little bit faster by going to www.google.com/addurl/ and typing in the URL of your site.

So a 3-month old thread gets dug up, and the next two responses are polar opposites - "be nice," followed by a prediction that gays will want to go "back in the closet." I'm personally not overly impressed with either argument. Serious studies show that homosexuals are much more "tolerant" of pedophile sex than your basic heterosexual males That's very interesting, and concerning. Could you point me to one of these serious studies, as I'd really like to see that evidence first hand? At age 11, what kid REALLY understands sexuality Fair enough, but the point is that,

I can try to address a least a few of your concerns. First, I think you might be misunderstanding the legal definition of a non-profit organization, like your council. Basically, for an organization to be legally classified as "non-profit," the organization can't pay out any profit at the end of the fiscal year to its owners or shareholders. Any excess funds must be re-invested into the organization (such as into equipment, facilities, and yes, professionals salaries.) It does NOT mean that each individual event, like a camporee, can't do more than break even financially. So yes, it's

I think it kind of depends on the size, maturity and dynamics of your troop. But, in general, my gut feeling is that your committee is on the right track. It seems like there's a lot of problems that can arise from a group of kids knowing roughly how "rich or poor" their peers are. There may be some other options, though. It sounds like you have a pretty technologically advanced group - could you look into some automated way to email account balances to the appropriate scouts/parents at the beginning of each month? Or, the low-tech way is just to print out a hard copy of an account st

trainerlady - this may have changed in the past couple years, but a few years ago I worked at a council Scout Shop, and we did in fact collect the "council portion" of the blue card before selling merit badges. I believe the instructions to the scout said "turn this part in to your unit leader," but the unit leader was then to turn it into the council when picking up the merit badges. One of the triplicate Advancement Record sheets was also required for merit badges (and, in fact, for nearly all Boy Scout, Venturing and Cub Scout rank and award patches). Technically, we were supposed to

The Yorktown is an unusual situation where idealistic YP hits reality "Idealistic YP" for me is an environment where Scouts are protected from harm, and have safe, appropriate interactions with adult leaders and their own peers. Not blindly following a bunch of guidelines simply because they exist, without affording any additional thought or common sense for the matter. The 'Separate Accomodations' doctrine was written to prevent predators form getting alone with youth. For starters, it's not a doctrine. It's a guideline, that happens to be generally a very good idea. Also, Y

The council I'm working with changed for this first time this year to a vendor other than Trails End. Reactions so far have generally been positive - in terms of quality, price and value for money, as compared to Trails End. The council also seems a little happier dealing with this vendor, rather than Trails End. We're also using a local vendor, which I think helps make it an easier sell. The downside that we've seen is a slight reduction in variety (which apparently hasn't really harmed sales much). Also, while the boxes and tins of popcorn that Trails End sold featured the Scouting

Could I ask for some clarification on two issues: acco, I wasn't aware that there was any guideline pertaining to an adult entering an unoccupied tent of a youth. I know that adults and children cannot share (ie, occupy at the same time) a tent, but I would think that unit leaders and parents have some ability to enter and search unoccupied tents, when appropriate. JoeBob, how does a guideline about tents apply to aircraft carriers?(This message has been edited by KC9DDI)

One would hope that the appropriate course of action in such cases would be obvious to responsible adults, regardless of any "guidelines" published by a corporation.

One would hope that the appropriate course of action in such cases would be obvious to responsible adults, regardless of any "guidelines" published by a corporation.

Absolutely right Scoutfish. If you have a legitimate suspicion that a youth has been harmed, you need to call the police. Not the CEO of a small business (aka, the Scout Executive.) The SE's goal in such matters is to mitigate the negative affects on his business interests. Unfortunately, that goal isn't always compatible with ensuring the health and safety of the youth in the Scouting program.

EBOR: "since Eagle projects are required to have 'lasting value', tell us..." Scout: "Well, I believe that this project, while not physically constructing anything, has given 'benefiting organization' a positive experience working with Troop 123, and of Scouting in general, which I hope will be of lasting value to both organizations. I also hope that other members of the community who assisted us, or just observed us working on the project, will also have a lasting positive impression of Scouting. For me personally, I believe that this experience has helped develop my organizational and

Scoutfish - I think we're talking about two different groups of people. One is a group who treat emergency services as a tax-funded taxi service, that they are entitled to make use of for any and all purposes. This group either doesn't know or care of the dangers presented to others in the community who may be suffering from a life threatening emergency while the nearest ambulance is busy driving a guy with a tick bite to the ED. I think the group of people you're referring to are those who go into denial when they are faced with a potential health problem. Sure, they know that their c

Hi Kudu - Some very good points. Back when we could refer to patrols as patrols, we did very strongly emphasize how a functional patrol works, and how that relates to a functional troop. We also focused heavily on developing the patrol leader, and training him to, well, lead a patrol... Now we don't do that. The most obvious criterion is how well they do with Baden-Powell's minimum standard for the Patrol System (150-300 feet between Patrols on Troop campouts). Maybe the most obvious, but probably not the most useful. We spaced our patrols at least 300 feet apart in the old

SSS - I guess I don't understand how a tick bite justifies an ambulance? I'll believe that it might require a trip to the ED relatively urgently, but why the call to 911? Arterial bleeding - sure, that's obviously a life threatening emergency. And I believe we still teach our scouts to handle it as a "hurry case." Though I'm not sure how you could have arterial bleeding and not know it, unless it was some kind of internal bleeding? It's not just about paying taxes, it's about ensuring that emergency resources are available in true emergencies. Because every time you call for the

As another first responder person myself, I'd just like to add that the recommendations of a first responder in a case like this should be taken with a grain of salt. It's kind of like asking a car salesman if he thinks you need a new car :-) For example, did you know that up to 50% of patients transported to a hospital via medical helicopter are discharged within 24 hours of arriving? The decision to call the helicopter is often based on a similar marketing slogan from the air medical company - "when in doubt, just call! we don't mind!" Of course, they don't mind overcharging patients ten

back to the original question: How might it be made better? From where it is now, I think we need to drop the generic, one-course-fits-all-programs method, and instead focus on providing targeted, specific, advanced training to Boy Scouts and to Venturers, directed towards the unique elements in their own respective programs. In other words, we need scrap the most recent modifications to the course. If we reach that point, I think we need to practice what we preach and evaluate the effectiveness of the current curriculum. For example, are all of the "buzz words" and acronyms effect