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Narraticong

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Everything posted by Narraticong

  1. Yes Lisa, we will be huge. But I think there are some good opportunities to be taken advantage of. Detroit Area Council has great resources and facilities, but it's my opinion our staff is somewhat inefficient. Latest example was turning in an Eagle Application for verification last week and having it go lost for a week. Little things like that are quite common at DAC. On the other hand, I hear good things about how well Clinton Valley is run. So, maybe the consolidation will be a good thing. As to Chief Okemos and Great Saulk, I have heard for some time that Okemos is in trouble. G
  2. If you made the trek, wear it with pride! Congratulations and best of luck on your BOR. Ken
  3. Why does a 12 year old need a cell phone? I guess that is a decision best left to the boy and his parents. In my case I give my 12 year old much more freedom than many other parents. You see it's all about teaching responsibility. By giving him freedom and letting him make choices and decisions, he learns how to take care of himself. A cell phone is no more and no less than a tool. His does not have internet access or any of the other cool stuff. He mostly uses it as a clock and an alarm. It reminds him where he needs to be. If he needs to reach me for some reason, or I need to r
  4. A new Council Scout Exectuive has been named for the merged Council. He is John E. Reesor. He currently serves at the BSA Western Region Office as Deputy Region Director / Operations. Welcome to Detroit, John! Ken
  5. Electronics are here to stay. May as well get used to it. My 12 year old First Class son carries his cell phone just about all the time, by my request. But he won't wear the watch I got for him. When I started to get on him about not having a watch at camp, I was reminded that he uses his cell phone for both a watch and an alarm. I know for a fact he hardly uses it as a phone and almost always has it on vibrate. For my son, it is a tool. We also must remember that being in Scouting is a "choice". If electronics use is a large problem in a troop rather than a particular couple of bo
  6. OK all you softies out there. Time to pony up... The Scouts in my troop are really swell, keen guys and they could really use the popcorn sales. Or they would gladly accept the donations in lieu of the tooth busting kernals. In any case (emphasis on the word "case"), let's see just how soft everyone is and send your orders in today. We can even take internet orders now. If you order from us, those squeeky clean, mother lovin', old lady helpin', Good Turn Doers will gratefully express their thanks with the most cherubic smile you ever saw! Ken
  7. Showing my age, I recall that as a Scout in the '70s, BOYS did most of the trading (and trading it was), mostly on a small scale and our collections were meager. I remember trading for camporee patches just because they looked cool. No "value" at all. My current observation is that there few BOYS doing the trading today, but a bunch of old guys doing the hoarding. It's really a shame. Patch trading used to be a fun way to meet other Scouts. At our summer camp there was no trading going on at all. I'll admit to being an Ebay collector. It has helped me fill my interests. I stil
  8. I hope we at least get a creative name for our new council. If it is decided to call us "Southeast Michigan Council" then I think I will just puke. There must be some boys out there with fertile minds. I hope a contest is held to name the new council. Ken
  9. I would agree there can be a bit of "clubbiness". I found this when I got back to Scouting after a long absence. Some folks seemd reluctant to accept anyone new, especially if that new guy had some different ideas. In other words, don't rock the boat! Well, I'm a canoe tipper from way back and have been known to swamp a few on purpose. So, on I went with my new ideas. Still a few guys who pretty much ignore me. But I've found that in general, they don't have much to offer, anyway. Mostly grumpy old men. On the other hand there are lots of folks in Scouting who greet you with a smil
  10. Earned my Eagle in 1976. My card was signed by President Ford during the Bicentennial Year. Pretty cool. I Don't know anything about Gold Cards except American Expres never gave me one. My paper Eagle card is tucked away and I have no reason to carry it. My NESA card is in my wallet and usually works if I need to purchase Eagle items. I have not seen the new card mentioned, but I guess I would agree thata NESA ad might be inappropriate. The again the old handbooks were filled with ads. I agree with other posters that making Eagle doesn't make us any better. There are many f
  11. This happened just a few blocks away from me. I know the troop which owns the trailer. It was a pretty big story in the news when it happened and I think a lot of folks had their eye out for the missing trailer. Good for the neighbor who noticed the outline of the troop lettering through the quick paint job! Our troop recently gave away an old trailer somebody had given us. It was an eyesore sitting outside the church. I almost hoped somebody would steal it! If I hear more on the outcome of this story I'll post. Ken
  12. Is "Greenbar Bill" in there anywhere? Ken
  13. If my beloved BSA were to ever merge with GSUSA, I am afraid I would leave the organization. Whether others agree or not, my opinion is that boys benefit greatly from being in the company of male role models. In my little troop alone, there are quite a few boys with no male role model in their family, or at least not a good one. I won't claim the adult leaders in our troop are perfect. But we all recognize our shortcomings and often use them as teaching points for the boys. The boys see my struggle with weight and begin to understand why it is important to stay "physically fit". Mixin
  14. I found your points perfectly clear Eamonn. We had 14 boys attending camp this summer and 6 or 7 leaders wanting to attend. I know several were going just to babysit. As is my privilege as Scoutmaster, I invited those adults I thought would be the most benefit to the boys. Two of us in camp all week and three others spent partial weeks. Each was selected for the role they could play. Only one is particularly experienced, but all of them "get it". They understand that everything we do is about the boys. Our troop will soon celebrate our First Eagle Scout. He will also leave for coll
  15. My apologies for the previous post! My fingers were obviously typing faster than my mind was working. The number of spelling and grammar errors is awful! That's what happens at 4:30 in the morning... Ken
  16. I agree their are at least two valid ways to look at this. At least in Michigan there is great competition among Scout Camps for attendance. There is little difference between in-council and out of council cost, so troops attend whichever camp appeals to them most for what they want to achieve. That may include the Citizenship and other "indoor" badges. So most camps offer them. On the other hand, I learned another "new Scoutmaster" lesson this year. As the boys planned their merit badge schedules for this years camp, I was disappointed that my son had only scheduled three merit badg
  17. Personally own Taurus 4, Glacier, and Mystique 1.5. All great tents, especially for the price. The Mystique 1.5 is a great 1 man backpack tent. Not freestanding, but many of that size and weight are not. First Class son uses a Zephyr 2 man as his personal tent. Great ventilation and does well in weather. I especially like the full coverage Flys on all of these tents. Our troop has used Taurus 2 man tents for weekend tents for 2 1/2 years with no problems at all. We do tend to use Eureka Timberline 4 tents for summer camp just because they are rommier and we already had them.
  18. As a subscriber to the magazine, I know many backpackers today are not very accepting of large groups of Scouts camping nearby. Sometimes I think it's a bit of snobbery. So, I anticipated this article being in more of a negative light. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was actually very positive in nature. The Scouts were shown as knowledgable, fun loving young men. The author found no need to beat up on BSA. It was a pleasant article and showed the boys had skills comparable to the adult backpackers. With all of the negative publicity BSA tends to get, this is the kind of go
  19. In our troop the BOYS (PLC) decided on how they wanted to handle tenting alone. Their decision was to allow First Class and above Scouts to tent alone. If that means a lower rank boy would be alone, one of the higher rank boys has to double up. Scouts can bring their own personal tent provided they have set it up and used it prior to the outing. No first time setup problems allowed. One boy brought a ten man tent to Summer Camp last week. The SPL took one look at that package and sent it home with the Scouts Mom. We have had no problems with Scouts tenting alone and I don't anti
  20. As I was reading this from the beginning, I was agreeing with many of the posts. Six is very small, unless you are just starting out. Our troop was in that position two years ago and as we leave for our second year of summer camp, we stand at 19 boys strong and about 8 active adults. We are one of the few troops in our district which is prospering. Lauwits post explains a lot. A rural troop explains the small size. But inside the post are many of the tools for growing the troop. A good feeder pack with boys on the way. Leaders who are working toward Patrol Method. Don't consid
  21. I'm proud to say the tour comes from my home council, the Detroit Area Council. Everyone involved is a volunteer and pretty much everyhting was donated by various corporations or individuals. The folks involved are all top notch Scouters. Many are taking several of their vacation weeks to do a tour of duty on the bus. There are numerous teams of crew members and they switch out every couple of weeks. I agree the print does cost a few bucks. But it is really beautiful. I scraped the money together and got one when they first came out. It looks great over my fireplace. The Ce
  22. My son and I had a chance to make a short visit to the Chicago Area Councils Owasippe Scout Camp yesterday. Folks were nice and it seems like a nice facility. They have two summer camps. One is a cook your own meals camp and the other is a dining hall facility. Has anyone attended Owasippe? How was your experience? Ken
  23. Of course, wed have not been bereft of quality leaders for 35 years. But...we have sent leaders to training which totally misses the point of Scouting. Less emphasis on learning through the Patrol Method (Hillcourt) and more on MBA style "management". Anyone who has been in the workforce will tell you there is a great difference between a "Leader" and a "manager". I am afraid the training courses of the past 35 years have steered both Scouts and Scouters in the direction of being "managers". But there are some of us who grew up with Scoutmasters who were old style Woodbadgers and
  24. Faith is a very personal issue. Just because a whole troop attends a religious service together there is no guarantee that any individual will gain anything from it. How many boys are sitting politely through the service but in reality are dreaming of the good Sunday night meal they will have when they get home? There is no requirement or even an encouragement from BSA that we must worship together as Scouts. There are traditions, as we see from the many reports here. To me, it makes much more sense to encourage Scouts to practice their faith on a personal level. Encourage them to attend
  25. Had our SPL attend NYLT at D-Bar-A Scout Ranch this past week. He's the first boy in our troop to attend the program since we started two years ago. I received an email inviting Scoutmasters to come have dinner Friday night and celebrate the week with the boys. There was no way I would miss the opportunity to get up to camp, even for just a few hours. I got there about an hour early so I could watch the boys in action cooking dinner. I was very impressed that the adults were seemingly "standing around doing nothing". Just what I hoped I would see! My SPL saw me first and met me
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