MarkS

I think John-in-KC touched on a great idea to make the "invite-your-frind recruiting lock-in" a success. If your OA chapter is capable, get them involved and let them put together the plan. You can be their advisor.

My main issue in this discussion is we're using the Post Register as a reference and the article makes a specific claim that the Council should have known Stowell was a molester prior to hiring him when their own research clearly shows the Council could not have known. When someone so obviously misinterprets the data they've collected, it makes me question what else they got wrong. Yet we're quoting them as an authority on all of the facts of the case. Not to mention the fact that the Stowell case if off-topic from the Evans case.(This message has been edited by MarkS)

That Nieman Report article by Dean Miller doesn't even accurately report what was stated in the Post Register. It over simplifies the details leaving out the important timeline of events. The statement, "Turns out that as early as 1991 scout leaders had been warned about Stowell; they hired him again anyway." is very misleading bordering on a lie. No one doing the hiring was notified. National was notified by a "Blackfoot man" who heard something from a paster about a juvenile three years prior. Furthermore, given that the junvenile was now an adult and had no record, there's nothing they

Merlyn must know something that's not been reported because I don't see where the stakeholders and decision makers had the right information at the right time to to avoid hiring the guy in the first place (for any of the times they hired the guy). All that's there is some "Blackfoot man" and his wife spreading rumors and innuendo (albiet, rummors and innuendo that turned out to be true) to the wrong people. If you follow the the timeline and who was notified and when, you'll see it was not timely and not the decision makers who hired the guy. The final straw is when the information finally get

I read where Les Stroud uses a Leatherman Wave multi-tool. I guess my search is over.

It's not a matter of fitness, it's a matter of attentiveness. The kids won't continuously walk. They'll stop and smell the roses, look at the grass, chase the frog, whatever distraction there will is, they'll stop for it. Not that it's a bad thing, they should explore their surroundings on the hike. The callenge will be keeping them going for the full five miles. Heck, there are some first year scouts in my son's troop that struggle to reach a 2 mph pace... and I'm talking a day hike with only daypacks and water bottles. It's not a matter of fitness with them either. Oh look at that

I'm thinking that 2 miles per hour is too optimistic for Wolf scouts. I think 1 mile per hour is probably more accurate for what they're capable of.(This message has been edited by MarkS)

Yep... I had a youth working staff at a camporee challenge me that the blade of my pocketknife was too long because it was longer than my palm is wide. All of the Totin Chip requirements can be found in the Scout Handbook (ref: http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/resources/32215/s/totin.html) and there's nothing in there that says a pocketknife has to lock or be limited in length (as in my case). Others here have pointed out there could be local council, district, or unit rules that place restrictions on pocketknives or state laws that define when a pocketknife is considered an illegal weap

I would think that the behavior mentioned could diminish the den method of Cub Scouting (i.e., belonging, sportsmanship and good citizenship, getting along, and to how to do their best, not just for themselves but also for the den). It could also adversely affect the ability of the cubmaster and affected den leaders to provide the boys with a quality program filled with fun and activities, prevent the dens from functioning well, and interfere with the shared leadership plans of the dens. This is because the den leaders rely on the Tiger Cubs' adult partners to help plan their den meetings and

MarkS said, "After the SM/SAs scratch off skydiving and the demolition derby (they put them up every year, the rascals)" Beavah said, "Why scratch 'em out, eh?" They know that BSA policy prohibits these activities. They put them up mostly as an annual joke. Do like the idea about camping at the airstrip to see a skydiving demo. Although I suspect the boys would rather have a campout with an activity the can do, rather than watch.

Its Me asked, "I am running a leadership program this weekend for First Class scouts and above. The focus will be the Patrol Leaders Handbook. I need two 30-45 minutes games. Ideally one should be a team building game and the other a leadership game. What have you seen work well and Why?" Not what I've seen, just a couple ideas... You could check out the Troop Program Resources CD but have you thought about doing your leadership training on a low ropes course? Assuming your council has one, mix in your training with some of the team building obstacles on the course. Get whatever trained l

Also... BTW... At our annual planning conference, rather than providing the boys with a of ideas on a board we let them put the list together. Starting with a list of "wants" from their patrols, the boys brainstorm and come up with a list of ideas... anything goes, no comments, just get it on the board. After the SM/SAs scratch off skydiving and the demolition derby (they put them up every year, the rascals) and other things that violate BSA guidelines, the boys prioritize them. From the prioritized list they prepare a program calendar coordinating troop activities with those of the

It sounds to me that the process is working just fine. If it were me, as long as we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the activities they're deciding on and there are no violations of scouting policy with either activity, I'd let the boys lead and choose the activity. However, it's important for SMs to make sure that the members of PLC, especially PLs, understand thay are making decisions based on the desires of and/or the benefit of their patrol members and troop and not personal agendas. I think if you do that, you've done your job. Perhaps a course of action would be to ask y

http://www.longspeakbsa.org/resources/thornsroses.shtml

Seems to me that a leadership evaluation form wouldn't provide you with any additional information of value than can be obtained through observation and from your SMCs and BORs of the boys. I ask the boys questions like, "what would you like to see the troop start doing, continue doing, and stop doing?" Or perhaps, "if you were the PL of your patrol (SPL of the troop), what would you do differently? The same?"

Our District OA Chapter has organized our camporees for years. It's been very succesful for us. It's a perfect fit for their mission of promoting camping, spreads the work around to numerous different troops, and allows organizer turnover so there's no burnout.

HiLo asked, "if there are ways of changing parts of BSA policies if enough members disagree?" In the US, scout units are pretty much sponsored by two types of chartered organizations. Involved ones and uninvolved ones. The involved COs are typically churches, private schools, VFW posts, et al) who support the current policies. The uninvolved COs are typically PTAs and PTOs of public schools. Since those organizations are uninvolved, it does not matter if they support the policies or not. I think the COs are going to have to drive change and scouting volunteers would have to work thru the

When our troop takes trips that require overnight travel other than camping, we try to find a National Guard Armory to stay at. There are lots of ways to search for this on the Internet but if a state guard does not publish armory info on their web site, I have found that searching for "National Guard Armory, City, State" (e.g., National Guarnd Armory, Irving, TX) on maps.google.com is pretty successful. If it finds one, it will give you its phone number.(This message has been edited by MarkS)

All Starbucks coffee tastes burnt to me. Can't really stand it unless sufficiently camoflauged in something like a Caramel Macchiato. I think Panera's, McDonald's, and Dunkin' Donuts are all better than Starbucks.

pargolf44067 asked, "...does anyone have any ideas how to get the second and third year boys, many of whom have heard the same training over and over again, but are not leaders that will show younger kids what to do, to be interested in listening to the training?" Have ***them*** lead the training. Make sure the training is hands on with packs, clothes, and examples. Make a model snow shelter out of cardboard boxes... Less talk, more doing during training. Gold Winger said, "At some point in our lives we learn to listen to those with experience at least most of the time. It takes exp

I think the real nutshell question here is, "can scouting prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law without them achieving the rank of Eagle?" Yes, certainly. The mission of scouting can be achieved if a boy does not earn Eagle rank. Conversely, earning Eagle doesn't necessarily mean that the mission of scouting has been achieved. However, from a parent's perspective, I know that college admissions officers and those that divvy out scholarship money are only really interested in whether or no

Our Troop was at our Disctrict Fall Encampment. I think the boys had a great time with the activities... I wouldn't know. The Scoutmaster and I stayed in camp and seam-sealed the new tents that were purchased for the troop. One patrol didn't get their act together for breakfast on Satuday and the Scoutmaster and I shocked the Webelos leader who was visiting with her den when we told her that we weren't going to give them our leftovers and they'd have to go hungry till lunch. She understood though when we told her that they were having sandwiches for lunch so there was little risk of a fou

Don't presume that the boy is picky and can help it. There are other health issues out there that affect a child's eating habits besides allergies. For example, a Nonverbal Learning Disorder (NLD) will have a significant adverse impact on the eating habits of a child. Kids with NLD have a hypersensitivity to the taste ***AND*** texture of food. Check out http://www.nldontheweb.org/ and see if this boy exhibits any of the other traits of NLD. My son has NLD but will eat most breads and pastries (white, wheat, blueberry or cinimon bagels, plain or chocolate chip or blueberry waffles and pan

Beavah said, "Yah, KC, it goes even further than that, in that the instructions from National to the councils are that the list of MBC's is a restricted document..." If true, my council isn't following the instructions. http://www.stlbsa.org/Advancement/Merit+Badge+Counselors+Directory/

In the Introduction to Merit Badges found at http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/resources/32215/mb/index.html it says that, "your Scoutmaster will give you the name of a person from a list of counselors..." It doesn't say who manages that list but the Introductory Guide for Merit Badge Counselors located at http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/resources/mbc/ says that counselors must register through, "[their] BSA local council." If someone knows of a specific policy that says a Scoutmaster must not limit the list of counselors to a subset of those registered through his local council t