Jump to content

NealOnWheels

Members
  • Content Count

    467
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

Everything posted by NealOnWheels

  1. A bag of popcorn - buttered even better. Smelly but gets the job done. Birch bark - from fallen limbs of course. Has a natural wax that keeps it from getting wet. Although I don't recomend it around scouts my favorite is gun powder. It will start wet wood everytime. A little goes a long way.
  2. "Call me cynical...I'm not willing to trust my entire estate to some lawyer, whose only interest is to find a way to get the BSA and their insurance carrier off the hook. For a couple of hundred dollars a year, I can sleep at night, and am also protected for non-BSA incidents. Where did I hear this before..."BE PREPARED"???" If you want to be cynical consider this... You purchase an umbrella policy. You file a claim. You get a lawyer hired by the insurance company. That lawyer has represents the interests of the insurance company. No different than Scouting's insurance. No different
  3. Here is California's Good Samaritan Law as it applies to non-professionals: 1799.102. No person who in good faith, and not for compensation, renders emergency care at the scene of an emergency shall be liable for any civil damages resulting from any act or omission. The scene of an emergency shall not include emergency departments and other places where medical care is usually offered. From what I have read the courts are saying the phrase "emergency care" really means "emergency medical care" so this law does not apply to this case.
  4. Bob White, Where does it say a Scoutmaster can be present a board of review. I don't have a copy of the Advancement Committee Guide Policies and Procedures handy but this statement is in the Board Of Review Training... "The Scoutmaster can introduce the Scout to the board members and may sit with him to hear the board's decision, but should not be present during the actual board of review." In any case the members of an Eagle board of review is at the discretion of the local council and the CR may or maynot have that privelege.
  5. You would need to ask your local council who may makeup the board of review. From the Board Of Review Training.... "The Eagle Scout board of review is chosen by the local council based on its experience and tradition. Councils may constitute Eagle boards of review from among the Scout's troop committee members, but only if at least one member a district or council Eagle advancement representative. The board can be constituted of district or council Eagle representatives only. Or it can be constituted with members of the community who are not registered Scouters, but then only if they
  6. I think it would still be possible to earn the advancements. The certainly can earn the Bobcat badge. Even if the don't earn their badges their is a lot more to Cub Scouting than earning advancements. I would not let that be a reason to wait to Fall to start a Pack.
  7. "I've never been impressed with the burn-through-a-string-fastest contest, as it doesn't test any Scout skills. When we build fires, they're for a purpose - cooking or emergency heat or camp fire camaraderie, not burn rate." I am not impressed either. The fastest string burns I have seen are those that scouts do nothing but gather a pile of leaves and set it on fire. They have something that burns hot and fast for a few seconds but serves no useful purpose other than burning strings and making a lot of smoke.
  8. I have found that asking for volunteers at a parent meeting generally does not yield good results. It will be a good orientation for new parents and an opportunity for you to meet them. My best successes are approaching people and as Anarchist says "ask point blank". Ask them to fill a specific job. You need to let them know exactly what would be expected of them and what sort of time committment is required. Let them know how important their commitment would be to the Troop. Leave them with the job description and allow them an opportunity to think about it. Follow up in a couple d
  9. Sarge, I looked over the Wolf Book and could not find any reference to earning electives more than once either. The Cub Scout Leader Book, however, does say that both Wolfs and Bears may earn electives more than once. It goes on to say to get credit the next time the Scout needs to do a "better job on the new project than on the previous project". The Cub Scout Leader Book also says "There is no limit to the number of Arrow Points a boy may earn". Imagine a uniform with 20 or more Arrow Points! It also says "Only designated elective requirements may be repeated to earn Ar
  10. "Are you still married to her? :-)" Yes, still hapilly married for 12 years. She still rolls her eyes about scouting from time to time. She does have more appreciation for it now that our two sons are in scouts.
  11. In another thread I posted this but it fits here just as well: "At your wedding reception your best man leads a round of the Gilwell song and half the groom's side joins in while the bride's side looks on in complete confusion."
  12. "ROFL! One of our troop's Eagle is in his mid 30s is soon to be married for the first time. He is a district scouter, WB ASM, Lodge Advisor, COR and much more. I will forward that to him (as a warning!). Brilliant!" Go for it! We had all the Woodbadgers including me lined up front with their tux pants hiked up to simulate shorts. It was the most enthusiastic rendition I have ever heard. Perhaps aided with a few adult beverages. The best part was seeing the look on my bride's face. She had some exposure to scouting but I could tell she had a sudden reallization of what our futu
  13. At your wedding reception your best man leads a round of the Gilwell song and half the groom's side joins in while the bride's side looks on in complete confusion.
  14. "So, the new recruit must know this before he joins a unit? He will have a Scoutmaster conference before joining? I believe the badge shows he has completed the initial process showing he understands the commons symbols of Scouting, not that he has completed the application." Yes, the application lists three things needed for joining - the third is completing the Joining Requirements found in the Boy Scout Handbook. In the handbook the Joining Requirements is the Scout Badge. Online the application can be found at http://old.scouting.org/forms/28-406.pdf and the Joining Requirements
  15. The Scout Badge requirements are "joining requirements". They are to be completed before one becomes a Boy Scout. It is not supposed to be earned after joining. The badge should be given as soon as a boy joins. To that extent I guess that one could argue that it is not advancement. The Bobcat Badge is earned after joining. Although unlikely, a Cub Scout could go all five years without ever earning the badge. Using statistics to measure quality is problematic. Much of what makes a quality unit cannot be measured with statics. Without statistics it becomes rather subjective judg
  16. I hope they had a spot free rinse.
  17. You don't need anyone certified as a lifegaurd. The safe swim defense allows the use of "capable swimmers" and a lifeline.
  18. What kind of pool is it? How deep is it? Have the scouts been tested for swimming abilities? If the pool is no deeper than 3.5 feet then it would be considered ok for non-swimmers and would not need to be divided. Scouts not tested for swimming ability would be considered non-swimmers. see http://www.scouting.org/HealthandSafety/GSS/gss02.aspx I don't see anything preventing the adult supervisors as being lifegaurds (or capbable swimmers).
  19. SE and DE "owning" the unit seems scary to me. Professional scouters performance is often based on various numbers. Which is ok for evaluating job performance but does not fully evaluate the quality of a unit's performance. I would fear that with pressure to meet the numbers they would loose sight of the intagibles that make a good unit. With that in mind I don't feel it a waste of time to recruit charted partners.
  20. I was an adult leader in my 20's without any children of my own. There was more concern from other adult leaders when I volunteered than any of the parents. After contacting the references on my application they accepted me. A few years down the road I was respected enough by parents and the troop leadership I was asked to be the Scoutmaster. I highly recomend doing this if you have the ambition. I had more time to devote to scouting back then than I do now that I have a family. And the rewards are too numerous to mention here.
  21. FScouter, Look at the latest "Tour Permit Application": http://scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34426.pdf It defines a long term camp as "longer than 72 hrs". So according to that a four day campout would be a long term camp. Don't you love the inconsistancy. Of course the merit badge requirements do not define long term camp at all. Most merit badge counselors would not have any knowledge of either of these definitions and would rely on their own interpretation.
  22. The original question is what is considered a "long term camp". This is not defined in the requirements. I searched through many pieces of scouting literature and found only one definition. The current Tour Permit Application (http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34426.pdf) defines a long term camp as longer than 72 hours. The former Local Tour Permit Application (pre Dec 2007) had no such definition. I would imagine that there is a lot of variation on interpretation amongst merit badge counselors. This is yet another case where scouting literature could benefit having a clar
  23. Ahh, I bet your right Beavah. When I read "Eagle Book" I was imagining an "Eagle Scrapbook" that many scouts make for their Court of Honors. And your right. ChingKao should not worry too much about the length - just make it accurate. With the application, project workbook, letters of reference, ambitions and life purpose, etc. I can see why ChingKao called it a "book".
  24. I have counseled over 20 scouts on the Eagle process. Not one of them brought an "Eagle Book" to the Board of Review. I would not be too worried about it. There is no requirement for an "Eagle Book". The Board of Review cannot base its decision on such a book. I do like the idea as it would make a good conversation starter but it should only be optional.
  25. See http://www.scouting.org/CubScouts/Leaders/Training.aspx Take Fast Start and Youth Protection online now. Find out when your council or district is holding New Leader Essentials and Cub Scout Leader Specific Training and get signed up. If you know your unit commisioner ask him or her. Once you get those done you can wear the Trained patch. Attend roundtables and network with others in the same boat as you. Watch for other training opportunities as they come up.
×
×
  • Create New...