Mike Long

BSA166 in North Florida this "fast track" mentality is the norm. I DESPISE IT. I have scouts that joined in late February and finally earned Tenderfoot by summer camp. At summer camp they attended a "Buckskin" program designed to sign off all the requierments up to First Class. Then they come home and expect(as do their parents) to have the board of reviews for Second Class and First Class on the same night. I was taught that First Class meant that one was an accomplished scout. He knew the skills not only be book learning but by experience using them in the field and in ever

I would like to make one addendum to my post. I do feel that it is completely inappropiate for a Scouter to color a Scout's preceptions negativly of another Scouter. "A Scout is a friend to all and a brother to every other Scout." -BP. We may not agree with our brothers actions, views or lifestyle but we love them just the same. If the issue is truly a major concern then it should be addressed between adults and never with children, but I think we are all aware of that point.

If the rules and policies of the BSA does not address a particular moral issue I deferr to the rules and policies of the Chartering Organization. When I was a Scout my troop was chartered to a U.S. Navy Base. If BSA didn't have a policy we defaulted to the code of military conduct (which covered both active duty personell and their dependents) Now the troop I am now involved with is chartered to a Methodist Church and the same things applies. If the BSA doesn't have a policy then we default to Church doctrine. (although I put more weight on the Church's wishes than the BSA's.)

Glad to help. Y'all might want to check out www.thebackpacker.com There are a large amount of folks there that have online trip reports that can be of HUGE help to any troop interested in good locations for high adventure trips. Go to the "trail talk" section many folks post trip reports as they happen. If you don't see much then click on the "trail talk today" link. When you get that page down on the lower left hand side is a link to "Phil's photo page of trail talk regulars" on that page there are links to many of the users personal sites and most of them contain great info.

That eisely, he's quick! Good one.

I personally have not hiked Isle Royale but I plan to in the next year or so. I did find a site of a fellow who has hiked it a few times and offers to answer questions others might have. His online trip report journal can be found at: http://showcase.netins.net/web/ladagephoto/scrapindex.html Hope this helps.

JM you kill me! (err.....make that laugh real hard.) We wouldn't be able to use the name PETA though, copyright violation. PETA just got finished sueing PETA.com out of existence (A parody site for People Eating Tasty Animals pretty funny) OldGreyEagle I was hoping to be there but instead I'll be at work rolling out a major revision to a web site. If not for that I'd hop in the car and blaze up there. (Of course I'd be doing the speed limit...) Hey, maybe something will change. (This message has been edited by Mike Long)

Rooster, what you describe is actually a brainwashing technique used by cults and other lunatic fringe groups to gain and retain members. The term used by law enforcement (FBI) and physcologist to describe that technique is "Love Bombing." Hey I love the idea of a fish fry! I wonder how feasable it would be to hold a Scouter.com forum user fish fry? Travel would be a beast though.

You guys need to understand that we are not dealing with reasonable people here that are trying to understand us and work with us to come to an equitable solution to a percieved problem. We are dealing with narrow minded, narrow viewed people who spew dogma to "prove" their point. They pick an aspect of the program and harp on it without even bothering to look at the totality of our program. These people aren't even aware of the huge amount of public service we perform or the scope of the education we provide to our boys. The facts do not matter to these people and any facts that they use t

Wait up! I'll bring the worms.

OK Paul, I did some digging and here is what I found. These guys have a very professional site and have an inventory of used and new vans including full size models. They also have an excellent delivery system. Either they will send a technician to DRIVE the van to you or they will pay to get you to Minnesota to drive the van home yourself. http://www.rollxvans.com/ These appears to be more of a community than just a commercial site. They do have classified ads of vans for sale and nice selection of links that might be of help to you. They also list locations of dealerships lo

Their server is probably down for maintenance. Very few noncommercial websites pay for guaranteed 24-7 access for thier users. If they did, they would not be able to operate for very long. Usually when you see a "Cannot find server or DNS Error" message it just means that the server is down for whatever reason. Don't worry about it, servers are down more often that you would think. Just try back later.

Mark Morford must live in a very sad, ugly and bitter little world. His glass isn't just half empty, it's shattered beyond recognition. Over here, the sun is out, the birds are singing, my family and friends are healthy and my wife loves me. I feel bad for him.

WHAT?? GIRLSCOUT-ISH!!!!! Our Troop always ends each meeting by "circling up" We all (scouts, parents and visitors) stand in a circle and hold hands with out arms crossed (right over left.) When in the circle it is as if the Scout sign is up and only the Scoutmaster is permitted to speak. At that point I deliver my Scoutmaster's minute for the week. When I am done I recognise all visitors and any Scout who has earned an award that week. The Chaplain's aide then performs a short prayer and we close out the meeting by repeating the Scout benediction together. "And now, may the great

As to finding meaningful roles for Eagles there are plenty. How about Instructor? Junior Assistant Scoutmaster is another good role but I only utilize it with very mature Scouts. If you have a very young Eagle why not use him as a Den Chief? I use my older scouts to carry out the program, the PLC plans it and the older boys under the direction of the SPL make it happen. (at least it happens in theory) Look folks, at this point Eagles are supposed to still be displaying leadership. Just because he made Eagle does not mean that he is "done." Any Eagle that truly understands what it i

I debated making that statement but decided to say it anyway. Yes, I do believe that walkie-talkies and cell phones provide a very unwelcome(In my opinion)distraction when on the trail. We usually have at least one adult who packs in his cell phone, but it never leaves the pack and boys are prohibited from bringing them. Walkie-talkies have always degenerated into noisey toys that serve no real purpose other than to annoy. I have tried using them on several trips and that has always been the end result wether they were used by scouts, select scouts or adults. Those of you who made it w

First off the buddy system is always in use. Two hikers are paired and two canoes are paired when in the water. We keep one adult with the Scouts on point and one with the scouts in the rear as a sweeper We require all Scouts to stop at all trail intersections and water crossings. When canoeing we stop at all intersections and every hour. When we meet back up the last scout to catch up to the group tells the group when they can move on. Heckling, intimidating or otherwise giving the sweeper a hard time about being slow instantly disqualifies the heckler from all high adve

The bill is not dead, in fact a version of it just passed the House of Representatives. The article can be found at FoxNews.com. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,25615,00.html

Kdhoogland, ALL situations can be turned around wether for good or evil. All it takes is for concerned, thoughtful people to take ownership of the issue and good things start happening. As to why a trained Scoutmaster doesn't follow the program. In my experience most of the time it is from not understanding the program (usually from a lack of training as an adult or experience with a well run program as a boy) or just old fashioned burn-out. Sometimes good people just get tired and need help getting motivated again. Most of us struggle with burnout at one time or another. Like I s

kdhoogland, in one word, RIGHT! If your boys are not running the program, quite simply, your troop is broken and needs to be fixed. From the confused stares you got I would assume that your adult leadership is unaware of fact the properly running troops are boy run. Sounds like the entire leadership needs to attend a Junior Leader Training session for the boys and Scoutmaster fundamentals for your adults. Check to see if your district or council has one coming up so you can all get trained by people that know and understand how the program should work. I went through what you are

How have they discouraged patrol competition? Is this just a word of mouth thing or is this being taught to leaders at training events or even worse, in a BSA publication? I really don't want to believe that this is true on a national level, I just thought that my district was full of "Buffet Boys" and lamers. The last few camporees I went to seemed to NOT encourage the patrol method and any activities that should have had a recognized winner did not. For those reasons my Troop is organizing our own Camporee and inviting all like minded troops to attend. Wow, the BSA discouragin

Who was that masked Scouter?

Trewm, could you please give us an update on the Scout's progress? It would be a great help to your fellow Scouters if any of us ran into this situation (God Forbid.) Thanks.

Many moons ago our troop had that problem and I wrote up a set of troop bylaws. In effect it said that the Scout Oath and Law was indeed the ruling force in the troop and in the conduct expected of scouts. It also stated that highly disruptive scouts would be sent home IMMEDIATELY from ANY scout event if the behaviour was so bad that the Adult leaders felt that it was necessary. Parents were expected to come and get their boy immediately regardless of where we were or the time of day(or night). However, I would like to go on the record as saying that I hate troop bylaws. Frequently by

Ummmm...yes. Eisely have you met my wife? It sounds like you know her already.