NJCubScouter

Good luck with that. The rangers probably WOULD get paid, probably for just long enough to make sure everybody else is out of the park. Or maybe all the way through, to make sure nobody sneaks back into the park to hold an unauthorized OA ordeal. They would call it "essential services".

Um. Ok, I'll take your word for all that, whatever it means. If I interpret it correctly it seems to suggest that there is NOT necessarily a problem at the "host site" as an earlier poster suggested. Is that correct?

Apparently the government will not shut down this weekend but could still shut down NEXT weekend. So it looks like you picked the right weekend. Best of luck with your event.

Back Pack, actually I have tried it 3 times due to the results I got the first time: 1st time: 25% loss for Google, zero for scouter.com. In other words the opposite of yours, which is why I tried it 2 more times. 2nd time: Zero for both. 3rd time (about a half hour later): Zero for both. Go figure, huh?

I have actually never seen or heard of these things. Or, now that I have looked them up, I guess I have seen one but it was not "in use" so I did not know what it was for. Do they make noise when they are being used?

I had an intermittent problem signing on, I believe it was Weds. or maybe yesterday morning but it has been ok since then.

I don't want to send this off on a tangent, but that's something that drove me crazy when my son was in the troop. He and a few of his friends in the troop were really big readers. I told all of them that they were so close to fulfilling the requirements for Reading MB with what they were already doing that it would be ridiculous if they didn't get it. Then my son actually completed the last requirement for the badge, which is to do some volunteer work in a library for X number of hours (I forget how many, it wasn't very many.) He still didn't get the badge. None of them got it. Now, my son and the other kids I am thinking about all made Eagle anyway, but even so... Reading is the easiest merit badge in the world if you like to read, and I think even most of the kids who didn't really like to read would still be able to get it from the stuff they HAVE to read in high school English classes, plus a few hours shelving books in a library.

Exactly.

Our troop does have a rule against open-toed footwear on camping trips. Obviously there are exceptions. They used to camp at Sandy Hook, and spend a couple of hours on the beach. We did not have to wear boots on the beach. But most of the campsites the troop goes to are so rocky, it's just a matter of common sense.

I think a book is different. There is always some "free time" and if a kid wants to spend some of it reading a book, I have never seen anyone ban that. I am not even talking about a merit badge pamphlet, it would be pretty ridiculous to prohibit a Scout from reading a MB pamphlet on a Scout activity, assuming there isn't something else he is supposed to be doing. But I have seen all kinds of books on camping trips, or being packed up for summer camp. We had a kid who once brought (and I will never forget the title) "C++ for Dummies" on a camping trip. What can you say to that? There were also a couple of years in a row where the troop was heading to summer camp within 24-48 hours after the latest Harry Potter book reached the bookstores. (This was awhile ago obviously. My son was prime Harry Potter-reading age when the books were coming out.) This was a huge deal to my son and his similarly-aged friends in the troop. I actually forget whether they crammed in reading it before they left for camp (and some of these were 700+ page books as I recall) or whether they brought the book to camp, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the after-dinner free time was taken up by reading Harry Potter books.

In our high school, the kids can have the phones with them, but they are not supposed to use them in the buildings. They can use them outside, before or after school or during lunch. At one time the policy (which I helped write when I was on the school board) said any phones spotted in use inside the buildings would be confiscated, but it seems they gave up on that after awhile and now give any violators detention instead.

It sounds like the problem was not really that the Scout used a cell phone, but that he cut out early and left his patrol members in the lurch. The cell phone was just how he arranged for a ride. If he had arranged for the ride in advance and didn't even have the phone, it would have been the same problem. Right? I also have a question about this part: "This recommendation is not required according to the National requirements, so I just sat on it." Would you have written the letter if it WAS required by National?

I think bear, rabbit, deer and clam all qualify as a "kind" when viewed from an 11-year-old viewpoint, and I believe our troop would accept those. Same for coyote and wolf, without the regional variants. I think "bird" is too general, but "robin" or "hawk" is fine. Similarly, I think "fish" is too general but "bass" or "trout" are fine, even though there are a number of different species of each. So I don't think "species" is the key. I don't think "kind", as used in the requirement, necessarily means any particular level on the taxonomic scale. I think it will usually be somewhere in the genus/family range, maybe sometimes a species, as Wikipedia is telling me that all coyotes are the same species.

I think I have only seen one Scout in our troop who was strongly focused on Eagle from the moment he joined, and in fact while he was still a Cub Scout. I remember him saying he wanted to make Eagle before his 14th birthday. Nobody told him he couldn't, or shouldn't, but in fact he did not make Eagle before his 14th birthday, I think he made it around his 16th birthday. But in my opinion he was the "best" Scout our troop has had in the almost 15 years I have been involved, measured both by "accomplishments" and Scout Spirit, particularly service to the troop and others. I won't give all of his statistics, but he is the kid I was referring to a few weeks ago in an advancement discussion, that his Eagle project was really 2.5 to 3 Eagle projects and he knew he could do a lot less, but it was for his church's camp for disadvantaged children and he wanted to do "the whole thing." He has also continued to give back to the troop, is now in his mid-20s and is registered as an ASM although we rarely see him since he lives a few states away, but he did organize and run a camping trip for the troop about a year ago. He's a great kid. This of course does not mean that a Scout whose primary focus is on Eagle at the time of crossover will necessarily turn out to be an exemplary Scout, but in this case he did.

As the advancement coordinator in our troop, I am glad our council does NOT do it that way. Actually, nobody "checks" the references. The Scout asks each referer (referent? referee?) to send a letter to the Scoutmaster. I think there is also a form but the writers generally write a real letter. The SM either brings the letters to the EBOR or, if he cannot be there, he gives them to one of the committee members who will be serving on the EBOR. The letters remain sealed until they are opened by the board members at the EBOR.

Well, here's a funny coincidence, in light of what I wrote earlier this afternoon: https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/04/25/supreme-court-justices-phone-goes-off-in-court/22055276/ It used to be that if your phone audibly rang in court, it would be confiscated. That will still happen in most courtrooms if the judge is "on the bench." But not if you're the judge, though I have never seen that happen. Well, now I guess I have read about it happening. In the U.S. Supreme Court, no less. But it sort of supports my point. If you think about it, why does a Supreme Court justice need to have a phone with him all the time? Particularly when he is "in the office"? And yet, this one does, and they probably all do, he just forgot to turn it off or put it on silent.

Well, it's also certainly true for the "legal world" and, I think, the world of business in general. I am not one of those who ever "mused" that technology in general, and certainly not cell/smartphones in particular, would lead to greater free time and shorter work weeks. Well, there are many for whom technology has resulted in all the free time they can use, because they are unemployed. I don't think that was the goal. As for me, it has definitely had the "unintended consequences" you mention, though I'm not sure how "unintended" they are. The "work day" is now potentially 24/7/365 because I have a device in my pocket at all times on which people can reach me (by three different methods), and they know I have it. The idea of having time to think about something before responding is a relic of the past. "I wasn't home" or "I was in court" or "I was in the car" no longer works. (You still cannot speak on the phone while you are in a courtroom, and most courtrooms still have a rule that your phone is supposed to be turned off, but most of the officers will now look the other way if you have your phone on silent and are quietly and discreetly texting or emailing while waiting for your case to be called. There is still one courthouse in the greater NY metropolitan area that I am aware of where you have to give your phone to the guard at the front security gate, but only one.) The expectation in the world of business and law today is that you have a smartphone, you have it with you, and its's all charged up and ready to go. Anything else and you aren't taking care of your clients or your colleagues. I actually held out from having a cell phone, and then a smartphone, for as long as I could. But today it is part of being in business. I'm not complaining. Well, maybe I'm complaining a little. But nobody can tell me that because I have to have a phone with me at all times, that a sixth grader has to have one too. My son, who is now 25, did not have a phone until he was 18. Of course, he was the last 18 year old in the entire Universe to have one, but I have to give him credit, he did not really complain about it before we decided to bow to the inevitable.

The last date I could find was October 17, 2013 - which was after the policy change on youth members was announced but before it went into effect. When compared with the 2008 version that I had linked to previously, it appears that by October 2013 they had done some dismantling of the site but it was still there. I am not sure whether there is any way to tell when it was removed completely.

I do not envy you having to make a decision that will affect people outside of your unit based on someone else's predictions of something that has not happened yet and could change. It sounds like you are making the right move by deciding to make the decision 48 hours before the event. It reminds me of something that happened a couple of years ago in our council, actually it was all of the councils in New Jersey. They had decided to have a statewide jamboree at Liberty State Park (hence "Liberty Jamboree"). This thing was in the planning stage for well over a year and I do not know how many people were signed up, but it must have been in the thousands. All kinds of activities were planned, patches were created, there were web sites, Facebook pages, mobile apps, promotional videos, etc. Money was spent, registration fees were paid, etc. It was a huge deal. But it was cancelled, probably two or three days before it would have started. In the days leading up to the Liberty Jamboree, the predictions started of a major Nor'easter for that weekend. The forecast (which turned out to be correct) was so dire that the decision was taken out of the hands of the organizing committee. Since it was in a state park, the state had the right to cancel the event, and they brought the issue to the governor, who made the call and also issued a travel ban in northern NJ for the Saturday of that weekend. They never were able to get the thing rescheduled. I suppose the patches aren't really "collector's items" any more than a patch for an event that DID take place, since most units probably distributed the patched to those who had been registered, but they are something of a conversation piece. Now people can tell the story of how the governor canceled my camping trip.

For those troops that still ban cell phones for the Scouts, I think it is probably fairly common NOT to apply that rule to adults. As someone else pointed out, adults have different responsibilities outside of Scouting, whether it is work, home, etc. Now, it is true that before there were cell phones at all, a Scouter who was at a camping trip and needed to be in touch with work or home had to get in his/her car and go find a pay phone. Somewhere along the way, we all became accustomed to being able to reach into our pocket and make (or accept) a call. I am not even sure what our troop's policy is these days, since I don't go on camping trips anymore. My impression is that it is less restrictive on the Scouts than it used to be.

swilliams, I think that people here are trying to provide you with input, but the situation you are seeking input on is kind of abstract and fluid. The demands on your son's time will be changing constantly as he progresses through middle school and into high school. Everyone's "talent" for time management is different. Some sports coaches and band directors are reasonable and flexible when it comes to scheduling practices and workouts and excusing absences, and some (particularly as you get into high school, and some non-school leagues) are not. Some coaches/band directors view their particular team or activity as all-consuming, as someone gave an example of above. I have seen similar examples. We had a coach/director (I'm being intentionally vague here) in our high school whose reaction to kids seeking some sort of balance between his activity and other activities was so extreme, and he wouldn't change, and he did a few other inappropriate things, that it eventually cost him his job as a teacher. I have seen kids have to make choices between sports and Boy Scouts, or marching band and Boy Scouts or at least take a "season off" from Boy Scouts. I have even seen an SPL take a "season off" from Boy Scouts and remain SPL, which I think is a bad idea, but I wasn't in charge. I have also seen kids just give up and choose one or other other. The marching band seems to be a particularly difficult thing to do at the same time as you are doing something else, and some kids choose one or the other, and other kids manage both. If your son develops an interest in robotics, there is another popular time-conflict-generator. I have seen almost every possible combination of all these things work, and not work.

Not from what I can see, if I am understanding your comment. The Internet Archive links that I posted here about 6-7 weeks ago - http://scouter.com/index.php/topic/28886-bsa-folds-again/?p=452086- still work. For a second I thought maybe the BSA had hired some Russian hackers.

#sorryimentionedit

Well, that's a strange old thread. (And not just because it was from 2009 and the OP's profile says he was last active in the forum in 2007. Sounds like either someone was doing some time-traveling, or it's just another bug in the system.) The OP, who was apparently a brand new SM at the time, told of a Scout who was the subject of FOUR negative letters of reference at his EBOR, and he was not awarded the rank. There was no explanation of why this may have been the case, nor was there any follow-up as to whether the Scout passed an EBOR at a later time or on appeal. There were some other forum members who found this story difficult to believe, as they had never seen even one negative letter at an EBOR. Then there was another poster who said something like "this happens sometimes" but without any specifics. As I said earlier, I have never seen it happen either, but I am sure it does happen, and that old thread seems to support that idea. It does not really shed any light on the kinds of situations in which it might happen. One can only guess at the reasons why that Scout got four negative letters, and I mean that literally: One can only guess.

If I wanted to see hashtags, even fake hashtags, I would have a Twitter account.