BadenP

Fuzzy Hindsight is great! The question here was Is the Eagle Prep a disservice to the boys? I think most people here feel that mentality in many scouting units is pushing the boys too fast and too soon and resulting in not really being qualified to receive the Eagle Award, the system is broken and how do we fix it? The Eagle Award is not a right but a privilege. I do not want to see roadblocks put on the scouts, but I do expect them to give their work 100% in effort and quality. Sloppy work does not ever deserve to be rewarded, but that is what is happenning in too many units. Like I state

As far as the Catholic emblem is concerned every parish should have on staff someone who can serve as a qualified facilitator, such as the priest, youth minister, etc. Our archdiocese requires a facilitator to have a degree in religion or theology so they can give a candidate a competent understanding of their faith. As was already mentioned this is an award given by the Church not the BSA so each bishop decides the policy in his diocese. The Catholic Committee on Scouting in your area can give you local policy.

OGE I disagree with your analogy of a 95% failure rate. The Eagle award should take a great deal of scouting knowledge and action and should be an honor that only those really dedicated should receive. Instead the whole process has degraded to the point of absurdity. Unit leaders and BOR's are passing inferior Eagle projects and minimally prepared scouts. So in a sense the Eagle is almost given away with mediocre and substandard preparation just to quiet over zealous parents of a 12 or 13 yr old scout. As a corporate executive having an Eagle no longer carries the same status it once did

Good points mentioned here, there is no official rule as to age limit for eagle. However, in my experience I have found very few 13 yr old scouts really prepared to receive their eagle rank, they are the exception not the rule. I have seen 13 yr old scouts who were not prepared, as I sat on the District BOR for four years, who were being pushed through by mom and dad. Many of these cases were sadly from LDS troops, and more than half were denied as they were not prepared. It would be nice to see the BSA set some minimum standards, such as not having summer camps that are nothing more than meri

Jhkny you are so very wrong , it is as Eisley stated a Scout Exec has the power to remove anyone from scouting or deny a charter as the local rep. of the National office that is in the National bylaws. I know this because as a DE i once had to stand in for the SE and remove a volunteer who had physically abused some boys in his troop. It was done on a council and district level, and he was blackballed from scouting forever. A CO can only dismiss someone from that unit alone. The BSA maintains tight and total control on local scouting in case of legal problems that could involve a lawsuit

Hops is right, an SE has total control in the council, he has the right to remove a leader, revoke a charter and overide a charter organization or district committee. It may not seem fair but it is the way BSA set it up. The only appeal you can try is to the Regional office, but you need to have clear evidence of wrongdoing by the SE or they will not even listen to you. If your SE is as unpopular as you say and he fails to make FOS and unit goals over time eventually Regional will replace him.

Remember the reason that BP started Scouting in the first place, the boys in London were running wild with nothing to do but get in trouble. Things sure have changed since then now extra curricular activities in schools, sports, church youth groups are all out there pulling the kids in all directions. Society today is in a "fast food" mentality of thinking, they want it now and fast and do as little as possible to get it. Losing kids is inevitable and for all the lame reasons you guys have given by the parents and kids. Even with the best program possible you are going to lose some.

Our council is switching to Campmasters as well. It didn't taste any better, and the samples we saw were not even in tins just microwave boxes. Oh well another scouting tradition bites the dust. I just wonder as you do why the switch? They might just as well sell Orville Redenbacher.

FOG Please feel free to do whatever you like, the only one babbling here has been you. You just don't want to listen to anyone but yourself, please go ahead and use the ignore button on me then I won't have to listen to your negativity again, Amen. By the way I now run my own business and my time is my own. Your new moniker should be GOG (Grumpy Old Guy), take care.

Fog It seems all you want to do is debate and argue. I will not respond to you being so surly. You either just don't get it or don't want to. If you want verification for anything I told you call the IRS and ask them yourself. If you understood business law and management you would not keep asking such inane and redundant questions. As far as the council and large unit donations ask your Scout Exec. Maybe after all that you will understand the proper methods of handling big donations and quit being so bitter. Peace.

I am surprised that your DE didnt do more for you. When I was a DE we had a similiar problem with an Eagle candidate going to the World Jamboree, and his new SM, after verifying all the work had been done and then I talked to his SM who refused to sign him off. So I called the Key 3, Dist. Adv. Chair together and we held the review with the SM present. The boy was a model candidate with wonderful letters of recommendation. This new SM just did not like him for some personal reason. One of the reviewers was a SM himself and invited that boy to transfer to his troop, the offer was accepted, and

FOG,FOG, FOG I am not here to argue tax law. If that company writes something off as a marketing expense they have to have a paper trail for the expense if that trail shows they donated a new car to FOG of Troop 001 the IRS will expect to see that value declared somewhere or they go out and assess it to you personally. I already answered your other question about mixing officers of a corporation with the troop committee members, treasurer or other. Its called conflict of interest, especially with the handling of donations and accounts, talk to a corporation lawyer for more details.

Boleta, Like you said a troop is a non legal entity, small items and services like your artist example would be non taxable and non deductible contributions. If you are talking about something large like a van or boat or property your local council will get involved real fast about how to handle it because of potential tax liabilities for them, even though the item is given to the troop. The council is the only legally recognized BSA entity in your area.

Ok FOG It is as Eisley put so well, if you are soliciting donations for your troop and telling people or they assume are tax deductible as a contribution to the BSA that is fraud and that is illegal. The BSA is the only one who has that right and the councils are part of the BSA corporation. If any group is using the Boy Scout name in any fashion to solicit direct tax deductible contributions to units that is an infringement of BSA copyright. If National finds out their legal department will file suit against the corporation and have the charter permanently revoked. People who contri

FOG, Non profit means loosely that all money coming in goes out, minus any expenses, and that you are not manufacturing or selling an item or services for a profit that you use to build up your business. The car club is an association of hobbyists who share a common interest, they do not produce or sell services to the public. Friends of Troop xyz could also qualify as a nonprofit if their interests and officers are not the same as the troops. If they tried to buy items tax exempt for the troop or the same people who handle the money in the troop handled the money in the corporation

You both are right you can form a nonprofit corp., but the trick is that it can not be affiliated with or related to the troop or pack in any way. Get the IRS publication on 501c3 corporations for more details, it is a little more complicated than people think.

Sorry FOG, A scout unit does not and can not qualify as a nonprofit or as a regular corporation, the BSA is the only legal entity with rights to the name. Besides even if you could form a regular corporation, which a scout unit can not do, you would be subject to corporate taxes and filings that would not be of any help to a unit and be quite costly. This is from my six years at the IRS as a corporate consultant.

I do not believe there is anything wrong with gambling if you can control it, the problem most people can't stop when they should. I will tell you one thing though I lived in Las Vegas (sin city) for a while, there is a whole other side to that city no one ever hears about. For example the friends of scouting community campaign there lasts one week and always comes in at least 200% of goal thanks in large part to those casinos. It is amazing how the council there is in fat city and pays their professionals accordingly. They offer one of the best scouting programs I have ever seen. There are ma

The campaign hat exsisted well before the BSA did. Has anyone ever accused the BSA for stealing from the US Army uniform, I think not. As well meaning as you Eamonn and F Scouter are trying to be your argument is not a valid one, because the old Explorer scouts of days gone by used the campaign hat as an optional part of their uniform. There is nothing officially in print stating that it is forbidden to wear the campaign hat in Venturing if the teens are in the official uniform for Venture, the forest green shirt, et al. My local council DE has even checked with National and they had no object

LPC I agree with you 100% about the expo hat. I wear it with the Adult pin and a small Venture pin underneath and all the senior scouters in my district have never said a word. Uniform hats and options for adult scouters are ambiguious at best. The guidelines in the literature are just that guidelines. I know of a poor troop and pack in my area who can not afford uniforms so we donated some used uniform shirts to them and they came to the next camporee so proud of them. We have never made anyone feel out of place for not having a complete uniform and no scouter ever should. This is the BS

FOG is right on. The Venture uniform is totally up to the crew, even if its a t shirt, sweatshirt, or polo shirt. My crew chose a hooded sweatshirt with the crew id and the Venture logo embroidered on the front. These were done by BSA Supply and they look great, they wear them to all official functions and have gotten a lot of compliments on them. The Venture uniform is so outrageously expensive with all the parts it is impractical and most of my teens won't wear them. I have a uniform shirt and belt I wear to Venture adult council functions, otherwise I wear the sweatshirt like the rest. Vent

Great advice given so far. It is not hard to get a charter if you have a charter org. and at least 5 adults to be advisors and committee. Every district has Venture Leader Training divided into Fast Start, Venture Leader Specific, and New Leader Essentials which are usually given together in a one day course. Fast Start and Essentials are also available on line and cd. The one day training though builds cooperation and teamwork for your adults. Venture Leader Skills Course is for the teen officers and crew. It is usually given at district training or the adult advisors can do it after they hav

In the past we used the Norman Rockwell scouting prints, framed them and added a small engraved strip with their name, the year and the line "A true friend of Scouting". They went over big time, and portrayed Scouting in a great way. Each cost about $20 with everything, and now have become a district tradition.

All I can say is if its true that BSA owns Trails End then they could control the quality and the price, in actuality though I was told TE is just another brandname for a major popcorn company who packages part of its line for fundraisers with groups like the BSA, my friend works there. So I dont see any reason why the BSA could not hookup with another company, not popcorn, and offer a gift item that people would be anxious to buy. It would only increase council funds as many units boycott popcorn sales as was mentioned in here earlier.

It has always been my feeling that there are more desirable and more profitable items out there that BSA could use for fundraisers other than popcorn. I think each council could come up with an item that would be more readily identifiable with the BSA, after all the people who buy want to support scouting not collect popcorn tins. The new company my council is going to use only produces microwave packages, which are dirt cheap in the stores already, so I don't think this will be any better than Trails End. At another council one year they sold auto first aid kits with the council CSP pri