NWScouter

I received an email from the BSA forwarded to me by my district commissioner. In it says two things 1. There are only about 400 BSA units nationwide that are sponsored by government agencies and 2. They have had and continue to instruct BSA professionals to find other chartered partners for those units.

The national leadership realizes that it is not in the best interests of the BSA to have government entities to charter units. The time, money and effort to fight a losing battle and the requirements that would be made to keep them are not worth it.

What amazes me are the people who see the fact that government does not promote religion is a hindrance to their constructional right to practice religion. My faith is strong enough and needs no such government support.

Beaver, I agree also. Great post.

Interesting that the Fox News article focused on the debate with little on what the resolution contains. The resolution makes no mention of the DOD instructions and or the settlement with the ACLU. It just commends the BSA for it volunteer efforts. I also looked at who voted and included in those that did not vote either way were two representatives from my area, Jim McDermott, a liberal, and Jennifer Dunn a member of the Republican leadership.

Here is the text:

H. Res. 853

In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

November 20, 2004.

Whereas the Boy Scouts of America is one of the leading volunteer youth movements in the United States, serving more than 4,700,000 young people with the support of 1,200,000 volunteer adult leaders;

Whereas the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated on February 8, 1910, and recognized by Federal charter on June 15, 1916, to provide an educational program for youth to build character, train in the responsibilities of participatory citizenship, and develop personal fitness;

Whereas the Boy Scouts of America teaches the core values of duty to God and country, personal honor, respect for the beliefs of others, volunteerism, and the value of service and doing a `good turn' daily, principles which are conducive to good character, citizenship, and health; and

Whereas during the 95-year history of the Boy Scouts of America, the organization has partnered with the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity International, the American Red Cross, and thousands of other community and civic organizations to address critical issues facing communities in the United States, including the problems of hunger, inadequate housing, and poor health and youth obesity: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) recognizes the Boy Scouts of America for the public service the organization performs for neighborhoods and communities across the United States; and

(2) commends the Boy Scouts of America for the Good Turn for America program and the work the organization has accomplished while partnering with the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity International, the American Red Cross, and thousands of other community and civic organizations across the United States to address critical issues facing communities in the United States.

One of the most popular outings, cubs really love, is the Scout night at our local short season single a baseball team. The last few years it has included the chicken. The part the cubs look forward to is camping out overnight on the outfield. We put on a campfire program sans fire after the rest of the fans leave and the tents are up (no tent stakes only free standing domes). The team provides a morning continental breakfast and we're gone by 9 AM. Oh, the scout ticket usually includes a hot dog and drink.

I dont know how fire departments are in other states but in our state other than the city fire departments, they are fire protection districts. The mix of volunteers and professionals is dependent on the size of their budget (district with more people/higher property values have more tax revenue). They and the cities are all government entities as such would not be able to charter Venture Crews, as they would not be able to follow BSA leadership policy. They would have to have LFL Exploring Posts, and they do. I would imagine there are not many fire districts in the country that are not government entities. If you pay taxes to them, then even if they are volunteer they would most likely be unable to charter Venture Crews. Now their auxiliaries would be a different story.

Im concerned because my understanding that many of the private schools formed in southern states came about after desegregation. When the public schools were ordered to integrate the white parents formed private all white schools.

Im getting that feeling, with the use of outsiders verbage.

In other words I think there is an other agenda to the school's wish for a closed unit.

The accident policy is not BSA insurance, as the BSA does not write insurance polices. It is a youth group accident policy issued by a insurance company and marketed to a BSA units. The BSA has no interest in it other than local councils put them in their recharter packets and may as a courtesy to the units have a supply of claim forms. They may themselves have a policy covering their camps.

First we are synods of the larger church of all Christian not a sect but we do have Lutheran coffee:

http://lwr.org/coffee/index.asp

And to some even more important chocolate:

http://lwr.org/chocolate/index.asp

While the two largest Lutheran church bodies, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA 5 million members) and the Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod (LCMS 2.5 million members) charter many Scout units, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS 400,000 members) does not. It reasons comes from the other side of the argument. The BSA is not rigid enough in it religious belief and its members should not join with others who do not believe exactly like them. They will not worship or pray with anyone else including members and clergy of the other Lutheran Churches. Rather than trying to explain their view on scouting here is a link to their web site where they list their answers to their members questions on Scouting.

http://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1519&cuQA_qaID=1&cuTopic_topicID=17

I think the rating stars died, mainly because to create the correct number of stars the server had to compute the ratings, every time a page was created for a viewers computer. It had to touch a lot of records and it slowed the response time to a crawl.

Living near the county line that also is our council border we have troops that draw from both counties. We lose some Webelos to troops south of the border as well as have scouts from south of the border join our troops. My church sits 60 blocks north of the county border but the street in front of the church is the border between the school districts and our scout district. Then if you head 30 blocks east you are in another school district and scout district again. When I was scoutmaster the troop had scouts from 6 different school districts and home schooled, living in two councils and four different scout districts. One scout traveled 40 miles to come to our troop.

In fact we have one troop in our council who meet in a school situated in our council but their charter partner is across the county line in the other council. We have an elementary school in our council that is about 100 yards from the county line and the pack that meets there is in the other council. My understanding is when the school was built 20+ years ago the students came from a school south of the line and they organized the pack in that council because they all were active in that council. Their school district is two councils.

Then we have whole wards of the LDS that cover the area just south of my church whose boys all live in our council but the ward building is across the county line and therefore are in the other council.

All this aside do not hesitate to recruit boys from across the line. The goal is not to win a turf war but to get youth into Scouting.

Also if by any chance the damages were greater than the limits of the person's policty who was towing the trailer, the BSA's liability policy would step up to cover the damages.

The owner of the towing vehicle is always liable for the tow so he cant get out of it.

The DE is not part of the decision making process for Heroism medals, other than the staff advisor for the Advancement Committee and he/she just makes sure the paper work is filled out correctly. Anyone may fill out the application and submit it to the Advancement Committee. It will include a narrative of the event and information about the scout. It also asks if there is any press or other coverage plus statements of people who witnessed it and the victim. Typically the unit or a scouter who knows about the event submits the application. Then the Council Advancement Committee reviews it and either decides that a certificate award (council level) be made or that the application is to be submitted to National for the medals. I have had the pleasure of being on the Council Advancement committee and we recommend several scouts to National.

That is two year Webelos program not two Webelos. Sorry about that.

Cub Scouts started out in 1930 with a 9-year-old age requirement. Then Boy Scouts dropped to 11 they went to 8 years old. In the late eighties when the two Webleos program started they changed to grade based joining requirement.

He may be eligible for the Honor Medal, which is the one for using scout skills to save a life. Get the nomination application from the scout office and submit it to the council advancement committee.

Our Council is in five counties and there are four United Ways. The two largest no longer give money to the Scouts out of the general drive, the other two are small and give us a little. They do pass through contributions if you name the Council. The United Way in the larger county to the south of us will give us money if they name our Council but if you just say Boy Scout then the other Council gets it.

There have been times when presenters have been asked if the United Way gives to the Boy Scouts. They said yes but then didnt say you had to name the Boy Scouts. It seems a little underhanded as they leave the impression that they give to Boy Scouts out of the general fund.

A few years back the United Way would set an amount for Boy Scouts say $25,000. When people would designate Boy Scouts, they would still only give $25,000 unless the amount designated is greater than $25, 000.

I think he means Girl Scouts. They do not have charter partners like the Boy Scouts.

There are two types of Council and District Scouters on the volunteer side and then there are professional Scouters most of them have the word executive in their title. The council and district have the same basic top positions called the Key Three the Council has the Council President, Council Commissioner, and the Scout Executive the District has a District Chair, District Commissioner, District Executive.

The Commissioner Corps has direct service to the unit as its goal. The District Commissioner recruits and oversees Assistant District Commissioners, and Unit Commissioners. The Assistant District Commissioners recruits and oversees Unit Commissioners. While Unit Commissioners deliver direct service to units by advising units, keeping an eye on the health of the units, and being a conduit between the district and council with the units. Roundtable Commissioners are appointed by the District Commissioner to run the roundtables. The Council Commissioners advises and directs the District Commissioners and his staff of Assistant Council Commissioners who offer service to the Commissioner Corps by running training of Commissioners, advising of Roundtable staffs, etc.

Both Council and District have a committees. The Council will have Vice Presidents overseeing areas such as Property, Program, Membership, Finance and Advancements. They will also have volunteers to run such things as Popcorn, Auction, Scouting for Food, Council wide Camporee, and other Council wide programs. The Order of the Arrow Advisor also serves on the council board.

The District Committee has chairs for Advancement, Membership, Finance, Program, Training, etc., and then people to head up district camporees, popcorn, Scouting for Food and other district events. The Chapter Advisor of the Order of Arrow also sits on the Committee.

The duty of the Council Board is to oversee all the operations of the Council and the support the Scout program for all the units. While the District Committee supports the unit by overseeing programs at the district level.

The Charter Organization Representatives are voting members of both the Council and the District.

The professional side also has mid-level position, common ones are Field Director -- oversees district executives; Development Directors - - Friends of Scouting, Popcorn , Auction; Camping -- Summer Camps, Day Camps. These are positions depending on the size of the council, its needs and it finances. There are many other names that are used.

You may also have Camp Directors, Camp Rangers, Scout Store Managers and office staff.

I few years ago, a young adult was removed from BSA adult membership due to an issue. I happen to work with his dad and was asked if I could help out with the council, which I could not do.

The interesting thing was while the OA advisor and the SE knew about it there was no formal notification to the my old troop where he was an Assistant Scoutmaster or to me who was the district advancement chair to remove him off the merit badge counselor list. Only by my hearing form his dad was I able to inform the troop and remove him from the list.

The explanation is that the information about is closely held, in order not to put the BSA on the spot for a possible suit.

Just a comment. The requirements for Star and Life says that "These projects must be approved by your scoutmaster. While for Eagle it says: The project idea must be approved before you start. I have always felt that the pre-approval for Star and Life is not required but just a good idea in order to make sure that the work would qualify.

You might want to connect Sunday School/Religious Ed classes in your parish and neighboring ones. There are many Catholic scouts in units not chartered to a Roman Catholic Parish. The man that became Scoutmaster after me at my Lutheran Church's troop is a member at the local Catholic parish. Don't forget the girls, there is a program for them too.

Back when I was a scoutmaser we used this outfit: http://www.chiefneckerchief.com/

They did a good job.

Merwln and other dont bet the PTAa Or PTOs will charter Scout Units either, 15 years ago in Washington State the PTA state wide group advised its local units to not sponsor Boy Scouts due to liability issues.

My kids school district had a policy that only youth groups sponsored by the PTA could use the buildings. It took quite a bit of jaw boning with the school district administrator and directors to show them that they had given control of their buildings to an outside group (PTA). They saw the light and took back control. At this point the schools do not sponsor us any more than the sports leagues, church groups or YMCAs that use their properties and all have to pay a rent.

One of the main reasons that Learning for Life Corporation was formed was to move those groups, Police, Fire Fighting and in school Learning for Life out of the BSA in order to allow government agencies to sponsor them with out running afoul of antidiscrimination statues.

Bobwhite is correct; the only under 21 adult leadership positions in BSA are Assistant Scoutmaster, Assistant Cubmaster, Assistant Den Leader and also Merit Badge Counselor