OXCOPS

FScouter- That is part of the problem. We have been talking to our SE since as early as last summer camp. We gave him a list of "needs" and "wants" with some numbers. He said he would budget for it in the 204 budget, but did not. He said that he needed to spend that money on "more important" issues. le Voyageur- I am a little leary of calling his bluff by telling him that we are closing the course. He is not a big fan of COPE. He has only been on the course one time (during inspection). He has said several times to people he thought was anti-COPE that he could care less i

Thanks Sturgen. Non-scouting group courses make up probably 75% of our program. We have a fee scale set up where we don't charge scouting groups very much for a course. It is a scouting program and we try to make it very affordable for scouts to use. We sell corporate courses for a good bit more. The problem is that the money made for our course is deposited into the council general fund. Then, it is spent on council needs. Usually, those needs are other than COPE. We have tried to establish a custodial account through the council, but the SE won't do it. I guess they like wha

As some of you may remember, I have been looking for various ideas for finding money to replace much needed equipment for our COPE course. The problem is that our council (like many others) is operating on a very tight budget. I have asked and begged for spare change in the Council Office with minimal results. As the COPE Committee Chair for our council, I am betweena rock and a hard place. I have to replace gear per BSA standards, but the SE won't come off the cash to do so. I tried to give them a list of stuff with enough advanced notice to ease the pain, but no luck. So, I am lo

Stay in scouting. You will regret is a great deal if you quit now. Stay with it...it is worth it.

Bob and DS, I was hoping you both would chime in! Thanks for the help. I understand the SE's position on money. I know he must account for every penny and his job rides on that. I have no problem with that. I guess we are looking to head that problem off at the pass. Our intentions were to be able to raise enough money for COPE to be self-supporting so no Council funds would need to be spent on us. Bob's comments had me thinking. We have also talked about getting the council involved in a way. We thought trying to sell them through the council and split the kitty. Bas

I was talking with my COPE Committee at a recent meeting. We are about 18 months away from having to replace a good bit of equipment per BSA standards. As with many councils, getting money for such purchases from the Scout Office is like pulling teeth. We have thought of a pretty decent way to raise funds, if it is possible. We have an idea of creating general BSA license plates for vehicles. Not the state-issued tag, but one for the front of your car. We were thinking of a basic design with the Fleur-de-Lis or "Timeless Values" logo incorporated somehow. Now, we want to have th

hops scout- I will check with the SE. All websites related to council activities (excluding troop sites) must be approved by the council office. I like the idea though. wingnut- That is a very good point. One I had not thought of from that angle. I will pitch that idea and see what happens. Thanks! OX

I understand the costs of mailings. I estimate that we may have 200-250 initial mailers at first. Buffalo- I was in Sam's the other day and found a 50 pack of blank CD-R discs for $12. I am thinking that we would get no more than a 1 in 4 response for more information making that 50 pack enough (for now). In my area, it would be considerably cheaper to make the CDs than pay for a webpage and have someone keep it updated. My targets are going to be corporates, church groups then schools. I recently found out about a company 25 miles from my course that sent 12 staffers to Orego

Well, I am back again requesting the help of the group. My name is OX and I'm an...oh, wait..wrong forum Seriously, as my council's COPE Chairman, I am tasked with overseeing and guiding the council's COPE programs. Part of that job is to "pitch" the program to various groups in an attempt to let them know the benefits of such a course. I am about to try to create an advertising program and need some guidance. Let me tell you my idea and you folks tell me what you think (good, bad, etc.). Keep in mind that money is (always) tight and any plan MUST be as cost effective as possibl

rooster, true. good point. OX

The UPDATE begins! I spoke with our SE yesterday afternoon. It seems that the individuals who reported all this stuff to me are VERY reluctant to speak with the SE formally and make a written statement against the guy in question. The SE is reluctant to completely ax him based solely on the info that was relayed to me. But, now that I still have staffing problems with COPE, I, as the COPE Committee Chairman, am going to have to sit down with him and lay it out for him. Basically, I wil tell him what I have been told (but not by who). I am not that interested in hearing his defens

acco, I noticed that our adult leaders wanted to keep that mindset from ever getting into the heads of boys. The started the moment the wall board went up by pitching it as a tool to congratulate the older scouts for their accomplishments, while at the same time allow the younger scouts to see that it is possible to achieve success. When you tell a tenderfoot that he has to earn "X" number of merit badges, etc. to become an Eagle scout, that number sounds like an impossibility. But, when they can see the awards earned by the star and life scouts in his own troop, ans see just how c

When I was a boy scout about a decade ago, we had an ASM who was BIG into woodwork. He was retired and enjoyed making wooden furniture, etc. He started with a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood (turned sideways). He then took small half-inch strips of wood and made a "grid" on it. Each block that was formed was about a 2 inch square. It was just big enough to hold a merit badge patch. Down the entire left side, were spots to place a strip of wood where he carved the scouters name on it. That way, each scouter has his own row of "blocks" on the board. There were about 50 or so blocks per ro

Well, I had to go out to camp yesterday for various reasons. One was that the SE wanted me and the Camp Director to have the same talk I had with the SE. The SE briefed the Camp Dir. prior to my arrival, but wanted me to give him some details. While in that meeting, I had a female barge in and interrupt us. She was IRRATE! She just had an encounter with this guy that she believed to be inappropriate. While I will spare you all the details, the Camp Director has now decided that he feels the best course of action is to remove the guy's membership in the BSA ans sever all ties complete

btps- I am not sure what his job at camp has been. The girls work with administration, trading post, etc. He has been able to have a lot of contact with the girls. The second group of girls, who are my COPE IITs, are not working at summer camp at all. Their interaction with this guy happened back during the spring at a COPE staff training class. OX

UPDATE: Well, after getting off work this morning, I had a chance to get some sleep. Just as soon as I get into that deep sleep stage, the SE calls. (They always seem to have a great sense of timing, don't they.) Anyway, I tell him what I know and he is no real thrilled about the situation. He said that he is going to talk to the Camp Director and let him in on it all. Since I have to be at camp later this morning, he is going to tell the camp director to find me and get the details. My initial impression from the SE is that he is going to err on the side of caution and SEVE

Eagle74 posted my main concern woth Explorer posts in police departments. For those who don't know, I am a police officer. There is no good way to maintain the two deep leadership while a youth is doing a ride along in a patrol car. In order to maintain that two deep, you would have to have at least 3 people in the car, which puts someone in the back. The problem here is that is where those arrested are placed. You really don't want to have people, especially a youth riding in the back of a police car with Joe Crackhead. I personally do not believe kids have any business being on pat

OldGreyEagle, My apologies. I must say that I am pleasantly suprised by all the replies received so far. It really helps me alot. Eagle74 said, "Maybe this thread and the one over in Issues & Politics re: police explorers (see the first sentence of my post there) are more closely related than we would like to think? " For the record, while I am a cop, I have NEVER played the touchy-feely with anyone, especially a minor. I am also proud to say that I am not affiliated with ANY of the agencies of officer involved in that ordeal. OX

Well, I never heard back from the SE today. According to the secretary, he was "in a meeting for the rest of the day". I left a home and cell number for him to call and told the girl that it was a very important Youth Protection matter. Since he didn't call, I may wait and call him at home later tonight....say about 2:00 AM? I'll be at work and should have time then. I bet he wold LOVE to hear from me then! Seriously, I have to go to camp tomorrow so maybe I will get lucky and find him there. But this brings me to another question. While at camp, should I mention all this to t

HOLY CRAP! I go get some sleep this morning and you people take the ball and run with it! Get ready for another one of my marathon posts. I will attempt to address questions/comments by several members individually. nldscout- As posted above, we allow female staff members in several area of camp. There are propbably 6-8 on staff this summer. One of which was the first one who brought this whole thing to my attention. As far as the camp director goes, I am not sure where he has been. I do know that he, as usual, is going in 15 different directions all the time. I would

Gentlemen, I started this thread in an attempt to get some knmowledge about the selection of leaders for a Venturing Crew. There has been a lot of good information discussed so far. But, can we are going to have to agree to disagree and DEBATE the issues rather than ARGUE with personal jabs. Thanks, OX

Dave and others: I think I may have accidentally added some confusion somewhere in the thread. Let me see if I can get this thing straight . OK. I understand that there are two seperate issues here. The BSA side and the legal side. While both may require the help of the other at some point, they are independant of each other. With that said, I have talked unofficially with an investigator here at my department. I wanted to get his advice on the legal side and see if any laws were broken. I informed him that I would be required to report this to the BSA via the council Scou

OK. I have spoken to an investigator here at work. I also did some background investigating, which needs to be done before anything can advance from the law enforcement standpoint. I found that the guy is not 24 as thought. He is 21. I still have not confirmed the girls age, but am almost positive she is 16. Due to my work schedule, I won't be able to get to the Scout Service Office until Friday. The office is a 45 minute one-way trip and will take an afternoon to get over there and back. I could call and relay this stuff over the phone. My thinking is that a conversation like

Thanks for the replies so far. I don't know if this matters, but I am not on staff for camp. The only connection I have with this guy is that he is a COPE Director and I am the COPE Committee Chairman. As far as any investigations, I am going to go talk with an investigator at the ofice in the morning. I believe the guy's apartment is in my jurisdiction. Tha camp is about 20 miles away in the next county. But, since nothing took place at camp, and only in his apartment, it is in my agency's jurisdiction to investigate. Even if no state laws were broken, the Scout Law was. I won't toler

OK. I'm back with another round of questions. This time it is geared towards unsavory conduct by someone. Let me just lay out the details, as I know them. I am the council COPE Committee chairman. I have a new Director, who is 24. He has been on staff for about a month. He was also a staff member at summer camp this year, but not with COPE. I was recently informed that while at summer camp, he began to "get to know" a 16 year old female kitchen staffer. They have been leaving camp at night and driving 20 miles back to his apartment and spending the night. Rumor (yes, I know)