qwazse

Thanks for your service to our boys. IMHO the district should never be involved in tracking cub advancement. It's just not that important that someone two towns over knows which boys in a distant pack have earned a given cub rank. But, where you can really help is with training sessions at roundtable. Make sure leaders talk to one another about how they manage awards, etc ... Find out from them what boys like/don't like about the advancement program. Work on training sessions about upcoming changes, how to make it fun, etc ... Bring in speakers on Cubs with Disabilities, Local H

" ... When using a catapult or other shooting device, use a soft object no larger than the opening of a small juice can. The use of pumpkins is not approved." Time to get out the watermelons! Truth be told, lofting large projectiles require lots of engineering experience, and boys should be discouraged from doing that until they've had years of practice. But burying these recommendations in "shooting sports" reaches the wrong audience. My involvement in pioneering was precisely because I was not very good with rifles until I was an adult.

Sometimes packing it in tight is the way to go. Others, not. If you keep interacting with the boys about the design, and how this "tool" should be used, it will be a great experience for the lot of you.

So, I guess you don't teach your kids about Boston Harbor? It's only been a year since this policy was written. It may require an entire generation of scouts to graduate before troops in large numbers adopt more communal approaches to fundraising.

A variety of reasons: "Always done it that way before." "The cost the IRS would incurr in persuing units would not be worth the taxes that could be garnered from every ISA" "Educating boys in commerce and incentives is consistent with our mission." "ISA's are merely troop funds put under stewardship of each boy, according to their particular fundraiser. Purchases made using them improve the life of the troop."

The tough part is making it clear to a boy (and in this case the parent) that it's a good project but his chance of Eagle even if he completes it are slim. The hard part about a BOR giving the go-ahead is that the main reason is to ensure the project is appropriate for rank advancement and that nothing is overlooked that might prevent the boy from completing the project for the purposes of rank advancement. If the board now has project plan, but advancement is effectively off the table, why does the boy need their approval? Age 18 is a tough time. It's hard to finish what you start becaus

All I'm saying is it's hard to build something that large without needing to climb it -- in which case it's helmet and safety harness time. Hard, but not impossible. And if you build something that big, and it is truly an efficient engine (capable of lofting projectiles 1000' high and a mile downrange), one must understand that some municipalities have "fly-over" ordinances. In other words, at certain levels of grandeur, common sense and courtesy is going to be more comprehensive than the G2SS.

Thanks, never got my cue from those pronghorns last time, so ... ... I used to be a crow and ... ... a good 'ol crow too, And now i'm finished crowing, ... ... I don't know what to do. I'm growing old and feeble and ... ... I can crow no more, So I'm gonna work my ticket if ... ... ooooh shiney!

Can't tell you if the guy was just spoutin' off or if it was a local restriction. He might have been thinking of the 16 foot tall "pumpkin chuckers" (which violate height restrictions and may require filing a flight plan in some municipalities). It's on you to chase this squirrel to ground. As long as you see nothing in writing (and you take the precautions you describe), fire away! P.S. - the stuff in parentheses is fanciful speculation on my part and based on common sense -- not spelled out in the G2SS. As I've mentioned in other threads, there are ways to build massive siege engines

Sounds like many parents in your community have opted for the next big thing. Has Trail Life or some other group in your area been advertising heavily? The best you can do, IMHO, is rebuild from the bottom. Recruit those tigers (and one or two parents) or bust.

Given that the OP has enabled over the years, this might not be as easy as it sounds. Asking other scouters in the unit to handle this allows the the OP to move on (and donate his $200 bailout to someone who won't take him for granted).

Sounds like you almost got sucked into the perfect storm! Talking to the SM was the best move you could make. Have fun talking to your friend (if you haven't already).

Oh, how to describe the situation? "Stringing the pack along ..."

Tell the other leaders to handle this one because you're too close to the situation to make a fair judgement. That way, it's up to them if and how they want to collect. I would recommend that they boy be denied awards and participation in pack activities until accounts are settled. If monetary compensation is not likely, the committee might settle for some sweat equity, like hand made gifts for the leaders and the boys leaving the pack. Or, maybe there's a donor who will match whatever the family can pay back, up to $100. But it has to be a committee decision. Clearly, in the future

Of late there have been several profoundly inarticulate posts from spammers. They link to pages for irrelevant products. How to handle these?

That's much different than our units. Most I find are lead by blue-collar folks ... sometimes the college grad who still lives with his/her folks and never found a career track. The most efficient of those tend to be ex-military. Regardless, very few have experience with non-profits. Partly this has to do with religion. Because of reduced participation in organized religion. Fewer adults have sat on church boards. My wife and I did right out of college. That enabled us to volunteer "side-by-side" with older folks who knew a thing or two about half-million dollar budgets long before we w

Isn't that an individual decision?

Yep, the 5 MBs should have been cleared at the previous delay.

That's how our council operates. Other councils don't want to entrust that responsibility to any single adult.

Oh, we have the "bought and paid for" summer camp staff fires. Usually they are held three nights of the week, our troop prefers to only attend the opening one.

I think you have the right idea. I would choose one a flexible set-up mode where you just slide the ribbons over the end of the bar. Use a piece of trim (anchored by a screw to one end of the bar and a rubber band or hose clamp at the other end, maybe another in the middle) to keep the ribbons in their place. Add a drapery chord to hang the bar (and hide the clamps at either end), tie a loop in the middle, place over a nail or vertical pole notched at the top to hang your display. Depending on the length, it might hang easily over the end of a table. (To reduce slippage you may want to use

Just one poor beggar telling another where to find food ...

Also, those pesky electronic devices? Have the boys use them to scout out the best knot guide. Or maybe, if the one boy who has the skill is absent, have them give him a call and see if he can talk them through it. The point is that teaching/learning is about servant leadership. The teacher is actually at his best when he starts out with a little humility, "I'm a little rusty, but maybe between the two of us, we can figure it out."

"Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Cheerful" That's what all conversations among scouters should be. As far as the cyberstuff goes, personally, I'll only regard what one has to say after we've hiked 4 miles into the wilderness.

Then let them use the book! Throw away EDGE, which presumes that the instructor is the font of all knowledge, and let them teach using the method it took to bring the West out of the dark ages ... find a reference, read the reference, do the reference.