Nike

A boss of mine had a mantra "bring me solutions, not problems." I dont think he would have been happy if my solution was to fire everyone and shut down the company.

There's no doubt these guys are idiots and they are lying through their teeth to rationalize what they did. At the same time the death threats and the media attention is solely because they are associated with the Boy Scouts. I've been to this park and it's just a giant play ground. The kids absolutely love playing there and it shows. There are paths worn everywhere. People carve their names into the sandstone. There is not much of nature left to enjoy. The idea that these yokels destroyed some pristine natural area is a farce.

According to the LA Times story, the three "Scout" leaders were out there with eight Boy Scouts, who had spent the afternoon playing hot lava on the goblins.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-utah-boy-scout-leader-toppling-rock-safety-concerns-20131018,0,334713.story

And, how many think these yobs were "Trained?"

Are there any universities or ball parks that would allow your pack/troop to come in and clean up the day after games? Maybe even after events at county fairgrounds? My university did that, and student organizations got paid for it. It took about hundred people to clean up a 40,000 seat stadium in a couple hours. Just the trash.

Do you have a county fair or some other community event where you could sell bottled water and sodas? Or even just staff a booth for the event organizers, that way you aren't providing money to buy the beverages and ice?

And, is any troop over on the rich side of town open to the possibility of your kids, maybe just a few at a time, coming over and working a fundraiser for an equal portion of the profits? Yes, the other troop would be giving up some money, but there's something about being kind, helpful, and friendly in the Scout Law. Do the SMs over there have any idea what your budget struggles are, and how open would you want to be about that?

BD, we don't always agree but vent on brother. My situation isn't inner city but rural town. Getting access to the big stores in the surrounding communities has been tough. That said, we did get access to a Wal-Mart and Jewel one year and the sales were terrible. We do better at the little gas station in our community than we ever did at the big store. Best part is we get some suburbanite tourist money when they head through town to spend the weekend in the country but need to stop for gas and beer.

Only if they meet right after school do I know of any youth group that routinely offers up some kind of organized snack. Snack takes up time, creates trash, leaves crumbs, etc. No. Just no.

Girl Scout camp was where I first heard the phrase "Once an Eagle, Always an Eagle"!

 

The Scoutmaster of my first Boy Scout Troop as an adult volunteer was an Eagle Scout. He did not allow boys to tent in weather under forty (40) degrees, so he rented cabins from early fall to late spring.

 

Girl Scout cabins were his absolute favorite because the central heating meant that he did not have to assign a fire watch to insure against a chilly cabin at night.

 

Without stuffed furniture, wall to wall carpeting, twin microwaves, and cable TV, it will take much longer for his future Eagle role models to log those important twenty nights of camping!

I think you can find other ways to identify yourselves. Hats, neckers, wobbles, goggles.

This has always mystified me. One GS troop in my community is extremely active, great organizers, girls I've repeatedly invited to my crew (either directly or through their friends who were venturers). Problem is: plumbing. They know outings with us may be closer to latrine than shower-house. Home to me is where cellphones show zero bars, and I try to get back there as often as I can. Could I dumb things down? Yes, but that would do a disservice to the girls who were brought up in troops (like my co-advisor's) who learned to tough it out.

Watch TV and write down what you think the message is of most H&BA products aimed at women and teen girls.

Another thing which you'd think GSUSA could deal with but doesn't.

Many, many GS leaders now were never GS as girls. Many have never been camping, and the unfamiliarity of it inhibits them. They don't want to do something that will result in girls being injured, or even uncomfortable. So, they don't camp. Councils have had to consolidate due to enourmous financial liabilities. The surviving councils are too large and impersonal.. GSUSA's pension liabilities are staggering. Under utilized camps and camps that will cost millions to bring up to standard are tempting low-hanging fruit.

GS got hit hard by the '80s when suddenly so many extra-curricular opportunities were suddenly presented to girls and so many parents became dual income at all socio-economic levels. They floundered in the 90s, and then the "reimagining" that occurred in the early 00s has turned things upside down and inside out.

Honestly, being an adult volunteer for GS State-side is not nearly as rewarding as working with the girls in overseas units. We're on our own and make things happen, whereas back home, the office drones seem to specialized in thwarting you.

I wish BSA would fix the org chart that shows the CM reporting to the Committee. I'll leave it to managerial types to figure out how to depict the CC and CM working as a team.

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/CubScouts/Leaders/About/ThePack.aspx

Isn't National the only body that can revoke membership? Unit's can kick you out, but you're still a member unless no one will recharter you?

I was located in Southern Germany for four years and now live in North Africa, still part of TAC.

And, truth is KISC is in the village while you have to hike up to the Chalet. One reason our Girl Scouts went to KISC.

One more great place for Scouts, this one in Germany. Burg Rieneck up by Weisbaden, relatively. http://www.burg-rieneck.de/en/

Our troop in Germany attended both a week long troop run summer camp and Alpine. A good time was always had by all. Alpine was more merit badge focused, but the cool outdoor ones. Many of our European packs, troops, and Girl Scouts visit KISC because it is so well run, clean, and the staff is always helpful.

It would be great if councils in the States could send contingents of older boys to Kandersteg for a week, anytime during the year, with some additional touring on the continent. I don't think the Center ever closes. Kandersteg village has a great little bus system, and Scouts wearing a neckar get free transportation. There are plenty of hostels and places to camp. Trains are a great way to get from one place to another.

Scouts have to be 18 to be on staff, so if you have any college age Scouters who are maybe thinking of a semester off, encourage them to think about Kandersteg.

Our past units have also used various photo storage sites. Invitations were sent out from a private account and interested parents created accounts and passwords to view photos online. If you do have children whose parents do not want their photo disseminated, put a smiley face sticker in an obvious spot on his clothes. If the sticker's in the photo, don't post that one or blur his face.

We don't build character, say "Done." and are good to go for life. Our characters are constantly being challenged, confirmed, rebuilt. A troop's effort to build or re-enforce good character should be relevant to all the members, adult and youth. I dare say there are plenty of adults who should work on building better characters.

Asking at every BoR "What does the Scout Oath and Law mean to you?" is a great idea.

How long is the longest available charging cable?

Usually for "cubs first night out" we tend to do foil wraps in the coals of the fire.

The kids get to cut up, clean all the veggies n stuff themselves, works good with hamburger or minced meat,

I and think that "I wrapped it myself" thingo is pretty cool for the small ones.

 

Another nice thing is "eggs in a bag"

just have a "buffet" with grated cheese, bacon, ham, mushrooms whatever and each kid gets a couple

of eggs, cracked into a ziplock bag raw and mixed with what they want,

then each scout writes their name on their bag and all the bags go in a big pot of boiling water and - voila - scrambled eggs and

you dont even need to do dishes (spoon right out of the bag like an MRE LOL)

 

Oh and I love Dutch Ovens. I need to get myself one. Mmmmh peach cobbler nom nom...

By the Way I season my Cast Iron with Lard...Better than Vegatable Oil..Never use a liguid oil to season with

Because Americans do a better job of taking care of the outdoors and cleaning up our messes than anyone else on the planet? (Hoo boy now I've done it)

As for Germany, visit a German lay-by, not an autohof, but a regular rest area. Filthy, every one of them. I also recall a recycling scandal there in the early 2000's when people discovered that their sorted trash was being exported to China. It was right at the end of our tour, and I admit I didn't pay as much attention as I could have. The minutae of recycling in Germany is almost pathological.

What is their argument for having the pack spend the money for dinner and childcare? If I had to guess, I would say that the pack has a lot of money and they feel that they can afford this luxury.

 

Our pack financial philosophy is to spend as much money on the kids as the budget allows and leave around $1500 in the account by the end of the year as a cushion for the following year (we have about 35 scouts). When you have a large bank balance, that's when trouble occurs: people get tempted to steal or someone decides to go after the deep pockets.

The only people who need to be on a Webelos campout are the Webs and their den leaders. Webs (Wolves and Bears too) are perfectly able to sleep in a tent on their own with some adults across the way.

 

Quite honestly, I'm not going to be asking for the marital status of couples co-parenting kids. If Uncle Bob or Aunt Sue or Cousin Pat is the only one available to bring Cub Scout Johnny for the weekend, I'd smile, collect their YPT certificate and health form, then see if they preferred to supervise dinner prep, camp fire prep, or breakfast prep.