LIBob

It looks to me like you have been given a lot of good (albeit sometimes contradictory)advice on this thread. To sum it up - you should definitely not take this lying down. - whizzing in the woods is one thing, whizzing i side of camp but wiht whizing in ful view of others and but grabbing songs, this guy MAY have crossed the line into a YP issue. - if he won't change, then either have him removed or leave. But one thing seems to be missing from all the above discussion. Namely, you should talk to the CM. Tell him what's on your mind. If it helps print out your original post a

Allen posted "How do you recertify for BSA Lifeguard. In our council, they told us we either had to take the 12 week course again, or spend your week at summer camp doing it. We are not offered a chance to recert. with just an afternoon of skills review and testing. Is there an official list of stuff to demonstrate? Can I find it online?" here's a link http://www.usscouts.org/advance/docs/BSA-Lifeguard.pdf

Sounds like a winner. btw I notice you're from CT. Anywhere near the Appalachian trail? The reason I ask is that at our troop mini-gof outting I overheard some one scout excitedly telling another about his new discovery (the Appalachian trail quote: "And they've got this whole trail that goes all the way from one end of if to the other." Our boys also plan the troops events (each eyar in Fall). If the exceitment has not worn off by this fall's planning session they may decide to backpack part of the trail in which case it may be wise to find a local scout to serve as guide (s

As someone stated above, most camps have a "provisional" troop so scouts in your situation (and others like it) can camp without their troop. When I lived in VA my family spent a summer in PA. Rather than haul me all the way back home to go camping I camped with the Provisional troop" at Seven Moutains Scout Reservation near State College PA. It works.

SSScout, It sounds like you ahd a great time. Still when swiming in an ungurded swimming hole THAT big you prolly should followed procedure and set usp swim zones, brought aa whistle for buddy check etc. Wednesday, July 30, 2008 EAST TAWAS - A camping trip up north turned to tragedy Friday for a group of Boy Scouts and their young urban guests when a 12-year-old boy from Lansing drowned in Lake Huron. The incident occurred on the southeast side of Tawas Point State Park in the parks designated swimming area. http://www.iosconews.com/articles/2008/07/30/news/news02.tx

Wow Herme. I love the "Mr. H talk" and should the day come that I am SM I am SOOOO gonna steal that and use it. As for the SM's role in the MB process I guess it depends on factors like the size of the troop. I belonged to three troops as a boy. Two had about 10 scouts one had 15-20 active scouts. In such small troops the SM is very hands-on in the MB process, nearly half the time he IS the counselor. Still I can easily imagine that in a larger troop (such as the one my son just joined) things work very differently.

Thank you Gunny, and if I went over the top at you I apologize. (Hmm, I just got an idea for a thread but will avoid mentioning it here.)

I am not suggesting any sort of subterfuge. In fact I repeatedly warned against it. FOUR TIMES (caps for emphasis, not for yelling.) Seriously at YOUR summer camp do they teach canoeing? Do they teach canoeists what to do when a canoe capsizes? Do teach those skills in the SWIMMING AREA? I am saying, have said, and will repeat there are legitmate scouting activites that can be performed in unroped waters. Playing Marco Polo is ot one of them. Free swim time is not one of them. Water volley ball is not one of them. If you are on a scouting event and you want your kids on

After several decades out of scouting, I signed up again last week (my son just turned 11.) I am in the process of re-certifying as a lifeguard etc. (I am to be the troop's offical "Aquaman.") That said, I see no reason to extend the license period from 3 out to 5 years. You can re-cert in a single afternoon. If you've been out of scouting for 3 or more years why not recertify? I guess I'm not opposed to extending the cert to 5 years. I just don't see the point.

The point about BSA and liability is that BSA is financially liable for bad stuff (from broken toes to drowning) that happen on officialy sanctioned BSA outings but not liable for stuff that happens to a group of scouts and families on their own time. If you want to have a "summer outing" with some scout friends go right ahead and swim under any conditions you deem safe. But if it is an official scout event and you want tot take the scouts into an unroped swimming area then do so for a BSA-approved purpose not for random play.

Hi Beav. Just in case I was not clear. I am not trying to say folks should feel free to play fast and loose with BSA rules, or interpret them loosely etc. I'm saying the BSA rules are strict but not unreasonable. If your goal is to let the kids cool off in a local (unapproved) swimming hole there are ways you can do it. But you must plan ahead (be prepared) and can't let them go there to play Marco Polo. Scout camps teach canoeing (including how to respond to capsize, how to climb in an out of a canoe, how to formo a shore rescue line etc.) all the time. They do this outside

Knot Head wrote: "I do wonder if a skilled adult who used to be a lifeguard could give this test for the purpose of a canoe trip. I started a thread with that question before I saw this thread." The answer is "NO" According to BSA SSD http://www.macscouter.com/usscouts/safety/SSD_slides.pdf "All swimming activity must be supervised by a mature and conscientious adult age 21 or older who . . . . is trained/committed to BSA Safe Swim Defense." The course takes about 20 mintues plus 10 minutes for the quiz. It can be found here: https://myscouting.scouting.org/Pages/H

Having "your own" cub pack on board is a HUGE plus, and it sounds to me like you want to start a troop for all the right reasons. However, having started a new troop myself at age 13 I can assure you new troops means you need to find a large number adult leaders from a remarkably small pool of avialable adults. (3 people on the troop comittee, SM and preferably ASM all on day one.) It also means started a "scout-led" troop with a group of kids most of whom have little camping experience and zero experience leading camping trips, troop meetings etc. That said, if it doesn't wo

Trevorum wrote: btw, welcome to the forums thanks Trev. Scoutfish wrote: I get what you're saying LIBob! No, I do not want to hear the gay guy at the office talk about all his weekend conquests at the gay bar. BUT I do not want to here about the office studmuffin brag about how many women he conquested this weekend either. I'd tell both of them to shut up! Yeah that's 99% it. Except that as Trev pointed out, in polite society a guy is allowed to say "She's cute. I'd like to date her," Whereas guys are NOT allowed to say the same thing about ot

MY last post got kinda twisted up. Lemme put it this way. If I'm in a fancy restaurant wiht my son and he wants tosing the diarrhea song, or read me an email list of 101 uses for a dead cat, I would ask him to change the subject and inform him that such talk is inappropriate in some settings. (Even though there is nothing immoral about diarrhea and the dead cat email is actually funny.) I suspect you would do the same. Certain discussions belong in certain circles and "disbelong" in others. Thems the rules. It is not hateful to understand that, nor bigotted to instill

Well I don't know what community you live in, but here on LI if a guy came into work and couldn't shut up about how badly he wanted to date some other guy he would not be taken out and beaten but he would be considered in a negative light. (Much teh same way as some guy who can't stop atlking about all the women he has been wiht.) Whereas discreet gay men and women and discreet Casa Nova types seldom find their lifestyle leads to ill feelings at work. My point is that doing one's best . . . to be morally straight does not mean embracing the latest social norms. Moreover it preclu

Well that's not what I meant. If you want to go that deeply into it then I suppose I should add that scouting is many things but it is not a vehicle for social change. You will notice for example that neither the citizenship in the nation MB nor any related merit badge ever adopted a diversity requirement or a "same drinking fountains" requirement, and it sat out the entire civil rights era. If a scout is gay he should keep it to himself. If a scout is straight but sleeping around with a different woman every weekend he should keep it to himself. I don't make up the so

Heres my 2-cents. Imagine a heterosexual scout is sexually active and proud of it. Imagine he comports himself in such a way that every scout he encounter soon learns Eagle Scout X likes sleeping around and if you think hes cool you should too. I am sure somewhere in the rules there is a way the SM can tell him to put a sock in it, and can separate him from the troop if he steadfastly refused to do so. If a scout is gay on his own time, or scout is a (hetero) Casanova on his own time then that is up to him. However his private habits should remain private, scouting is not a

My suggestion is that for a designated (6-12 month) period you keep the younger kids together and assign them a senior scout (or two) as PL and perhaps an APL. This will give the young 'uns time to work on things that do not interest the older ones and give 1-2 older ones an opportunity to develop leadership skills. As iime passes however you will want to mix the two patrols in order to - promote troop unity (prent cliques, and to - give their PL a chance to stop working with tenderfoots (tenderfeet?) and work on his own advancement.

Dear all: Please do not use any of the following as an excuse to take your scouts on a recreational swimming trip in any manner that violates BSA SSD. Not all BSA activities that involve kids in the water are recreational swimming. Every year, summer camp puts hundreds of kids into water that does not meet SSD standards (no roped areas no checked bottom etc.) Doing so is perfectly within BSA regs if you done so for instructional/preparedness purposes but not within BSA regs if done so for the purpose of recreational swimming e.g. 1. While teaching canoeing, rowing sailing skills

sincere Congrats SMT I'm sure you and your troop had a great time. As a former BSA summer camp lifeguard (and now in the process of re-certifying to become the aquatics MB counselor for my sons troop) I can safely and honestly say - The way you handled it sounds adequately safe to me. The question at hand s really more a question of liability to the BSA, and adherence to BSA rules. - As a scouter posting on a scouting forum Ill not post anything that would encourage you to violate BSA safe swim defense (which, as has already been pointed out was actually designed for setting up swim

When I was in cubs my Dad was a teacher and we spent all summer every summer at our summer home. I honestly have no idea if my cub pack took summers off I know my brothers and I certainly did. As a BS the rule (with my first troop) was you had to attend both of the two troop meetings prior to summer camp or you could not go. Anyway if you are looking for ideas about how to address the issue the best I can suggest is that you should look at scouting's roots, or at least it's earlier days for guidance. Here's (link to a) circa 1959 scoutcraft book discussing various pioneering

Honestly I don't understand why a BSA camp reservation would provide electricity to its campsites, but if they are going to do that then troops bringing in big screens is soething I would predict as the next step. (electric fans are not far behind.) Keep in mind not every SM is a born and raided devoted scouter. some of them sorta got roped into the deal and perfomr their duties out of a sense of responsibility. While I certainly do not approve of big screen tv's at scout camp, I try not to judge such scoutmasters hashly. They are actually giving up MORE because they are "st

That's a great story, and one that will be tough to follow. Although some of the silly stuff I did on my first Webelos overnighter (circa 1978) is STILL being talked about: Prior to my first Webelos overnighter I had done extensive reading about camping, backpacking etc. I was a big fan of Daniel Boone etc. and had already proudly learned things like camp near a source of drinking water, pull your food up into a tree to keep it safe from bears etc. Wel, when you arrive at Ockinickon SC in Bucks County PA the FIRST thing you see is the Lake. We drove about a mile in parked t

Camp Rockanickon, sigh some great memories there.