KL Wisconsin

If the pack committee feels the tents are inappropriate for the pack, you may consider trying to sell them to a nearby troop with the stipulation that the pack gets to borrow them back once a year or something like that. Good luck.

If I read this correctly, it was three youths and one female adult going to a non-camping event, a forum. In other words, one boy, two girls and one adult lady driving together to a public meeting. I wouldn't question that situation at all. Most times we have one adult driving multiple youth in a vehicle. And the forum woould have other adults in attendance. But Here comes the rub. What happens if the driver, here the adult female, drops off these youth at their respective homes? After dropping off the first two youth, suddenly we have one/one situation. Unless the last youth in the car is the leader's own child, we're breaking the two deep rule. For this reason, we always have a central meeting point where the youth are dropped off and picked up by parents, and if a pickup person is late, another family must stay with the leader and youth to again prevent breaking the two deep rule.

You are trying to cover a lot of territory. But I may be able to help you. Are you looking for adult Eagle or youth? MAC maintains a complete list within its Scout Museum going back many, many years. Please submit an email address where you can be reached directly and some more details and I will respond to you off this forum.

Tachion,

One other branch of scouting that was not mentioned so far is Venturing and Sea Scouting. Sea scouting is a special brach of Venturing. Both are for youth age 14-21, so you could have years of more scouting fun as a Venturer/Sea Scouter before just taking on adult leadership responsibilities in a regular troop or in addition to leadership in a troop.

My own experience is as an advisor to Sea Scouts. All our older sea scouts have found their rank and participation and ranks in sea Scouting was received very favorably by college recruiters. And the Venturing program has several awards you can earn--BRonze, Gold, Silver and Ranger as well as Quartermaster in Sea Scouting. And Venturing and Sea Scout Crews are often co-ed.

So another way to continue to participate in scouting is to look into the Venturing program in your new area.

Another point about the Eagle ceremony, it can be a ssource of inspiration to the younger scouts as much as a recognition of your accomplishments. So do consider having an Eagle Court of Honor to show the newer scouts what can be in their future as they continue on the trail to Eagle. Good luck

Thanks for sharing this with us.

And thank you to all our veterans out there.

First let me extend my condolences to your scouts and families.

In addition to the excellent suggestions that have been stated here,I might add that some tangible memorial of the scout might be an appropriate way of helping the scouts cope. They could decide together what it might be. Perhaps a tree planted at your meeting place or at a special campsite with a small placque at its base. Or a special campership in his memory funded by some fundraiser that the troop holds like a car wash, or something where your scouts can take an active role.

If the boy was known for something, like his special sense of humor or scout spirit, you could make a troop award in his memory, an award awarded at Court of Honor, like the John Smith Spirit award. Let the boys help determine what they would like to do in his memory, that putting them in control will help their grieving process.

September 2001 issue of Scouting has the article.

In the article, Frank Ramirez, associate director of BSA's Scoutreach division, states that Scouting has published close to 100 brochures, training manuals, videos etc in Spanish. Among them is a video titled "Que es Scouting? (BSA no. 94-124, a poster and flier "Scouting, Vale la Pena!" Nos. 94-110 and 94-104, and a resource for Hispanic parents "Requisitos de los Cub Scouts para el Ano 2000" No. 94-195.

If those code numbers don't help your local council get more helpful, contact Ramirez.

A recent issue of Scouting Magazine had an extensive article about scouting and the hispanic community. BSA even has a catch phrae for it, "Scouting, Vale la Pena" which they interpret to mean "Scouting, It's worth it" YOur council should be able to get the materials from national, it was a pilot program in Texas, if I recall right, that they now intend to take nationwide.

Good luck, bueno suerte.

Wear temporary patches on the back of a uniform sash? I understood that was not acceptable. Only merit badge were to be worn on a merit badge sash. I know speical event patches are routinely worn on the back of Girl Scout sashes, but not on a Boy Scout sash. Can someone clarify that please.

Our Council office has several different Eagle ceremony props available there. We just reserve them and pick them up for the Court of Honor. Have you checked with your council or the District's advancement chair to see if they have them available for your use?

Our troop committee just had a special troop committee training session, a new program I understand. It was very informative and I highly recommend it if available in your council.

The primary purpose of the troop committee is to free up the Scoutmaster for direct intervention with the scouts. In other words, the troop committee exists to handle and support all the infastruture that is needed to maintain a good program. The troop treasurer obviously maintains the books, outdoors committeeperson does coordinating of campouts, etc, vehicles and equipment needed; the advancement chair maintains records on the scouts rank and merit badges and arranges for getting the patches at the appropriate time, etc.

One thing that was emphasized at the training is that the Scoutmaster does not work for the committee. Some committees, I guess, try to direct the program and the SM, ASM, etc. The troop committee and the troop adult leaders are two parallel functions, one is not "superior" to the other or have any authority over the other. Just that the role of the Scoutmaster is working directly with the youth, the role of the troop committee is dividing up all the administrative work that needs to be handled so the Scoutmaster is free to devote his time to the youth. Both the troop committee and the Scoutmasters are accountable to the Charter organization representative.

ww.scoutstuff.org or 1-800-323-0732 for National Supply Div.

Unfortunately, not all councils are so enlightened. We did have a scout at an Eagle Board of Review and the Board did point out that his paperwork showed he was 4 days short on 6 months in office. It was resolved, thankfully, but just letting you know. These people used the military style day of the year (Jan 1= #1, Dec.31=day365) and there better be 180 days between, etc.

Our troop board of review now meets on the first meeting day of the month, every month. The scouts must meet with the scoutmaster and then schedule himself in advance with the review board. Our board used to meet quarterly, but found it had too many boys scheduled for each review to give the boy adequate consideration. Some months they now have no scout scheduled for a review, but the board can now always finish during the same time period as a meeting.

I agree with the idea of having the lead group sit and smell the flowers as Rooster suggests. But I want to add that the break is needed by all. We had the experience of the lead group being told to wait up, but as soon as the slower part of the group got to the meeting point, the leaders who were rested were jumping up, anxious to continue the trail. Consequently the slower ones were actually never getting a break because they would inevitably want to try to keep up with the "hares". This happens in cycling, hiking and also skiing, both cross country and downhill. It takes real discipline to make the faster group cooperate. It is certainly a team effort and courtesy and consideration to all are important life skills to be developed.

Instead of participating in a parade, I'd like to suggest a "back to the good old days" Memorial Day activity for your scouts. The veterans groups who have always placed flags on the graves of veterans are having trouble doing it anymore. We helped them at one cemetary and saw first hand the struggles these men were having doing what they feel is a honor duty. We watched vets who could no longer bend over to push the flags into the ground hold bundles of flags while someone else pushed them down for them. There were some scouts there, but they really could have used more. Contact your local veterans groups (American Legion, VFW, Amvets) and ask if they need help. Another service project that needs volunteers is picking up the flags after Memorial Day and bundling up the flags for use the next year. These tasks really need workers. And suggest to your scouts that they take the time to just talk to the veterans while they are doing the task. My son worked with a very frail old man and was fascinated to learn he'd been a Lieutenant in the Rangers in WWII and Korea. When they were ready to leave, they exchanged a salute straight out of a Norman Rockwell picture.

$415 is the Philmont 2002 fee. Our troop has two crews going in 2002.

Someone just asked me in an email if a Venturer can wear his Boy Scout rank patch (First class, Star, Life) on his Venturing crew uniform. The answer is no, nor any merit badges or merit badge sash.

The Eagle ribbon and religious ribbon can be worn.

To get back to the original question, I believe a male should be required to have troop affiliation for troop level activities such as rank advancement and merit badge work. One of the strengths of the Venturing program should be that it requires a Venturer to demonstrate and teach their knowledge to earn its awards. The most logical audience for this is a boy scout troop or a girl scout troop where a Venturer goes in and shows what he/she has learned and passes that knowledge on.

But I think the venturing program has plenty to offer in its Bronze, Gold and Silver awards and the Sea Scout ranks without "borrowing" from the Boy Scout program and having the male venturers working on merit badges within the venturing venue.

Point of clarification Kevin M

Dual registration is NOT required for a male youth to earn advancement in Boy Scouting as a member of a Crew/Ship. He is a member of BSA, period. That is part of the ambiguity that we have been talking about on this thread.

He can continue to earn merit badges and rank advancement without any troop affiliation provided he held rank of First Class before joining a Crew/Ship. The current BSA Handbook requirements for Star, Life and Eagle only states positions of responsibility within Boy Scout troops or Varsity Scout teams, which would make one think troop affiliation is required. But that is a misconception. I don't have a Venturing Crew Manual handy, but I can quote from the Sea Scout Manual. Page 84, Sea Scout Manual, 2000 Printing: "The Eagle Award. Eagle Scout is primarily a recognition for young men in Boy Scout troops. However, if you have attained the First Class rank in a Boy Scout troop, a male Sea Scout may continue to work toward the Eagle Scout Award, through age 17, by meeting the requirements described in the Boy Scout Handbook. Leadership requirements may be met in the ship as boatswain, boatswain's mate, yeoman or purser. Personal conferences, conducted by the Skipper and the board of review, for each progress award must be reviewed by the ship committee."

Hopefully, the next Boy Scout Handbook update will be more inclusive and state all the qualifying leadership positions instead of just troop and team positions. Until then, the confusion continues.

Sounds like a good troop service project, but remember US Scouting started with the lone scout who refused payment for a good deed, piquing Boyce's curiosity, etc, etc. If you want to have a tip bucket available, how about making up a sign that any donations would be donated to an organization such as MADD or a Children's Hospital or some other worthy cause. They you could help travelers and some other worthwhile charity.

BSA will make custom made-to-measure uniforms. It is an option in the catalog. If you have your measurements, I'm sure they will try to fit your needs. Just look in the catalog or call the national supply office.

Good luck, hope this helps.

The Venturing program has all kinds of inequalities and inconsistencies. I happen to be a trained advisor for Venturing and am an advisor to a Sea Scout Ship. Sea Scouting is a branch of Venturing, if you read one brochure, with separate rank/awards with a nautical orientation. But now our Venturer Sea Scouts must be dual registered within Venturing in order for them to earn any of the Ranger, Silver or Gold awards. So they have to be members of Crew 123 as well as Ship 123 if they would like to earn Venturing awards. And to make the silliness even dumber, Crew 123 and Ship 123 are not allowed to have identical membership. Venturing scouts were not allowed to go to National Jamboree as Venturers, thus no female US Scouts at National Jamboree, but foreign scouts can send female youth.

Venturing requirements refer to Merit badge requirements as their criteria for base level proficiencies toward completing award ranks, but as pointed out before, females cannot earn the badges.

The program is supposed to be youth driven, with "Leaders" a la Scouts replaced with "Advisors" who take a much more backseat advisory position. But much of the training material that national put out uses the term Leader instead of Advisor. There is a Venturing Leader Training Award. I am looking at the Venturing Leader Progress Record which records all my training. So they can't even get that straight, are we the leaders or the advisors??

And though in the old Explorer program there was a well developed Youth Leadership organization with the youth having regional meetings, etc, it seems to have been completely allowed to die under the new Venturing banner. The Venturing logo is a mountain, and I'm afraid it well symbolizes they have a mountain of thinking to do before this program is really well defined.

Another source: Check out eBay auctions under Boy Scout Shorts or Boy Scout Shirts. They have had lots of adult size shorts, pants and shirts available lately.

If pressure to buy back one's own cake is too tough, perhaps you could entirely eliminate the possibility of bidding on one's own cake. Color code each year/family bid card with a different color card stock or index card that you use for their bid number. Tigers get orange, wolves get yellow bid cards, bears get blue, Webelos I get white, and Webelos II get green, or something. Then if pack is bidding on a Bear's cake, no bids are accepted from blue bid cards, etc. That would eliminate buy-backs not only from the Cubs own family, but from his age group. Do warn the families in advance of the change, sometimes people put some cake decoration item on the top that they don't want to lose.

Hope this explains the steps we used.

We called wholesale nurseries until we found one who would supply us with hanging flower baskets. Many wholesale nurseries would sell us the baskets outright, but only one in this area would do it on a consignment basis. We guaranteed that we would return unsold ones the same afternoon in good, saleable condition. We generally sell between 250-350 baskets depending on weather, etc., and suppliers like those kinds of numbers. We did deal with one nursery who negotiated with us that we could return unsold stock provided we guaranteed that we would purchase a minimum of 75% of the stock we took out. We figured in the worst case, we could extend our sale to another day if we ended up with a lot of plants.

We supply our own trucks for transporting the plants and set up the trucks outside grocery stores where we'd made prior arrangements.

The scouts each bring a jug of water and sprinkling can to keep the plants in good shape during the sale. If weather is good, we take most of the baskets out of the truck and have them on display for passersby. If it is too cool or too windy, we keep the plants on the truck and the boys bring the baskets to the back of the truck as customers appear asking for type of flowers, or color, etc. We have lost some baskets to size 12 feet tripping over them, but generally the boys are very careful with their stock.

In advance of the sale, the scouts place flyers in shop windows and have made large sandwich board signs which we use annually.

If you need more specifics, leave your email address and I will try to answer you personally.

Your posting could make a really good scoutmaster minute or something to be read at a troop court of honor. I can imagine many people squirming in their seats listening to your comments.