PeteM

CONGRESS shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution The First Amendment doesn't say public schools or people who work for the government or groups that are run by the government, groups that own government property, but the CONGRESS shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. Why can't people simply READ

Sounds like ustbeeowl's post on video game addiction could also be used for cell phones: http://tinyurl.com/26cjnk Pete

Any concern about the zinc in the can?

For those that are interested, here is a link to the 14th amendment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution quote >>>>>>>Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor d

Quote [Merlyn_LeRoy]: >>>> Teachers can't indoctrinate students in a religion, of course.

I keep hearing a lot about "Trashcan Turkey" or "Garbage can Turkey" Can anyone give me any info on this? Thanks Pete

In my experience, the excuse that the Scouts give is:" What if there is an emergency? What about then? I could use it to call for help and save the day", So I tried an experiment. Toward the end of a campout, I asked the SPL to find one of the Scouts that have used the above excuse to bring me both him and the phone. I asked the scout to show me how much signal AND how much charge there was left on the phone's battery. He couldn't, BECAUSE he and his buddies had depleted the charge over the course of the campout by PLAYING GAMES that were built into the phone. I asked him, "What if there w

It is in BOTH states. See http://maps.google.com/maps?tab=wl Pete

You can also try and contact the MFG. of the product and watch their removal videos and / or contact them on what they recommend. http://www.badgemagic.com/info_pages/index.cfm?fuseaction=instructions

I find it amazing that people are denying the video game addiction on the premise that since they (the games) cost money, then the parents should be able to control their kids. How many people are out there that have gambling addictions (kids, too)? They need to get the money from somewhere, most likely from grandparents or even from parents themselves in the means of birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, etc. I have seen and heard of kids sneaking into their family rooms in the middle of the night, donning headphones and playing throughout the night only because they "have to beat this o

My question to you all is "Have any of you read that letter to your troops/packs yet? That is what owl asked you to do, to get the scouts input on the subject, NOT to go off and talk about is the scout trustworthy, etc. Some of the scouts in my troop were amazed when they heard the letter this past weekend, that they "might" be addicted to them. A couple of them even stated that they sneak down to their family room after mom + dad go to bed, so they can continue to play their games. It doesn't matter if you believe in the games being addicting or not. It seems to be a query abou

My question to you all is "Have any of you read that letter to your troops/packs yet? That is what owl asked you to do, to get the scouts input on the subject, NOT to go off and talk about is the scout trustworthy, etc. Some of the scouts in my troop were amazed when they heard the letter this past weekend, that they "might" be addicted to them. A couple of them even stated that they sneak down to their family room after mom + dad go to bed, so they can continue to play their games.

What do you do when a scout comes along and says that he has lost his blue cards and his COH cards for some of his merit badges? Same question, COH rank cards. I have a few scouts that cannot seem to find their cards that I give to them at the COH, they only have the cloth badges. How do you do the replacements? Thanks. Pete

How about we change the last post from video games to drugs? Where do they shoot these drugs? Who gives them the money for the drugs/joints? A common cry in our home for the past 14 or 15 years has been stop using drugs!! Surely if as a parent you notice that your kid is stuck in the family room 23 hours a day doing dope-You have to notice? The problem isn't drugs -The problem is just poor parenting!! You could edit this and insert just about ANYTHING, like booze, gambling, SEX, etc. Just to make this thread a little more interesting....NOT to get on anyone's case.

I came across this site while doing some reasearch on the subject last night. http://www.family.org/entertainment/A000000993.cfm They seem to have had a program on this very thing. Before any jumps to conclusions, check out that site. I guess that if your scout programs are interesting enough, that the boys won't want to bring their toys with them. Pete

I've seen a LOT of scouts become addicted to these things, the complain when the games are removed from them or if they "have" to go away for a weekend campout. Heaven forbid that they have to give up their "My Precious" for a whole week at summer camp. It's like drug addicts going through withdraw.

UPDATE The scout that started it all got into trouble a few times at school for fighting, one time even pushing another student down the stairs. He was suspended for that one. He got into a fight on a campout (He started it this time by cutting the lines on another Scout's tent (that he considered a "baby"), but unknown to him, the boy's father was in the tent at the and caught him cutting the other side of the tent), and is now on the highest form of disipline that our troop can do, which is take HIS Totin' Chip away, and the PLC has decided that if he does things against the Scout L

You can also check out the following thread: http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=137149&p=1 It happend in the troop my son goes to over the summer of 2006. Pete

Well, Here's the results of our committee meeting: The scout that started the problem was given 1 month off from all scouting and scout related programs with an additional 1 month probation. The other scout was given 2 months off from all scouting and scout related programs with a year probation. If he does anything that solicts the action of the committee, he will be told to leave the troop as well as the scouting program with no chance for reinstatement. I feel that these are rather harsh punishments for both boys, considering that no where in the troop by-laws does it even

You don't have Broad Creek, MD in your list. This is the camp that we use for the most part, and it have a great program for just about everyone. Check them out at: http://www.baltimorebsa.org/ and click on camping and then on Broad Creek. Pete

Yep, he reached over and fliped my son's chair over, dumping him onto the ground. That's when he took off running. My son got up and went to his tent. The other boy came by, went to my son's tent (he said to see his friend), and my son said for him to leave. The other boy did not, stating that it was a free country and he could go where he wanted to. Pete

WOW!!! All of this great help for this problem. Thanks. Question for Aquila calva: "That helps with what I should do with my son (BTW, in the latest version of the SM Handbook, the section on Inapropriate Behavior" is now found on page 133. That being said, do you have any suggestions for the scout that apparently started this whole affair? It seems that most of the postings, except for those from Lisabob and ScoutNut, all zero in on my son's behavior (not that he is in the clear, not by a long shot), any advice on how to deal with him? Also, since the incident involved my so

Well, His walking stick is gone for one month. (I let my SPL decide on this). As to the ADHD, how do you handle this sort of thing? There are at least 3 other scouts on medication in my troop and sometimes they get rather disrespectful to everyone that tells them "NO", so what do you do? Do you have policy set up n your troop on the methods to deal with this problem, or do you say "I don't buy this ADHD condiction as an excuse"? Thanks

No, I was NOT using the ADHD medication as an excuse, but as more info into the possible reasons for the behavior. When he (and others that are severly ADHD reach the end of their medication day, they could have some unusual behavior problems. Thanks for your input, and I will consider your and all responses to this problem Pete

Greetings, I have finaly found a site that I think can help me. Last week at summer camp, while I and another leader was out of our site attending a meeting, my son (I'm the SM), was being a bit on the annoying side(he was pounding his walking sitck against a tree, making a lot of noise, and another scout told him to stop. My son didn't stop and kept on doing it. The other scout then kicked my son out of his camp chair and took off running with my son gaing ground in chasing him. They ended up at my son's tent where some words were exchanged and my son, (for reasons that he says he does