Reasonable Rascal

The news clip I saw said they were at the park on a 'church' camping event. If that is/was the case perhaps the Scouts were occupied elsewhere, or someone from the TV station equated church group with Scouts. RR

Yes, Bob did Jamboree West that year. RR

The place to get him recognized would be the Danish American Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa. Bill was after all a Danish immigrant. National would have zero say in the matter. RR

The ceremony is one of the password protected pages. No dice. I'd like to know also. My troop has as our AC a Vigil member who has asked the troop to be a part of his final honors. He suffered a significant fall and head injury last year and now he is planning ahead. I would hate to disappoint his memory when the time does come. RR

Israel had a problem with terrorist attacks on schools once upon a time. So they armed the teachers and the problem basically went away. Guess what, the teachers haven't been shooting up the schools either. RR

I was able to assist a non-Scout group of English boys secure 2 nights lodging at Kirtland AFB in Albuqueque. They have a troop that meets there and they interacted with the English lads, even provided a local to act as tour guide for visits to are points of interest. They stayed there early this week, touring Route 66 from Chicago to LA. The same group is pending two nights with my troop this week as well. We are taking them camping over in CA on Friday. I should also add that we have never camped on an Army base, but we have found that AF bases tend to be accommodating. usually a gym or some such place to spread your bags. RR(This message has been edited by Reasonable Rascal)

I have begged, pleaded and downright (almost) threatened and in the past 4 years have received precisely 1 (one) letter from home for a Scout. This year I have 4 boys staffing at 2 different camps - that is to say 2 boys each of two camps. Since I know how parents are I am the one sending letters and packages. One camp - Levi Levi, by Kingman, AZ - has limited if any mail service, so I was proactive and wrote letters to be left with the camp director to be handed out on Saturday, Monday, Wed. and Fri. Also sent a package to be delivered on Wed. The 2 boys are CITs for the first time so I did what I could to make them feel appreciated. The letters and package were handed over when the boys arrived so I know they were delivered to the camp any way. I try every year to get boys to write home as well, with limited results. If I have 10 kids I might get 6 letters by Thursday. Last year I had my old Scoutmaster (Dad), my Den Mother (Mom) and Scout dad (Brother) send letters to the boys at camp, addressed to the troop in general. That was the only mail any received all week, and they actually fought over who got to read them next. They did write a letter in return. RR

No where do the requirements say anything about "the water conditions he will face." That would be akin to saying if a troop is going white water rafting the participants must do their swim test in a Class 4 rapids because they will pass through one or more during the course of the trip. The Scout was right to be upset: you added to the requirements. Unless the swim test was long enough ago that his physical conditioning or medical status may have changed for the worse than it should be valid, assuming it was done this year. "Not a strong swimmer" doesn't say passed by the skin of his teeth, and a little leeway on the part of the instructor, or a lap and a half behind the other kids. RR

Yes! RR

One part of Mid-Iowa's problems was Eli Brewer, the Council Exec. There was a trust originating from Mahaska County that was stipulated for the support of local (calling Mahaska County 'home') scout programs. He chose to interpret that as providing a DE and other support services as "support" and thus to allow the Council to claim the annual funds to the general coffers. Long story short it was only after losing every single appeal to the original lawsuit that he finally informed the Executive Committee what had been going on. I wish i had even a clue how much money was spent on defending against the original suit and the various appeals but it had to be considerable. It was finally settled less than 10 years ago in any case. RR

The decision has been made to treat the signed BC's as indications of beginning the MB's. After that each one is going to be examined to see where the shortcomings are and to correct them rather than trash the efforts or scream fraud. Future MB clinics are going to be treated with a very jaundiced eye as well. If they offer more than 1 MB for a 4-6 hour session that will seen as an indication that they are not up to par. I expect boys to come back from summer camp with the occasional incomplete even after a week of sessions. As such I do not expect a boy to be able to honorably and truly complete a MB such as chess, along with another couple/three in a 2-1/2 hour time period with no prerequisite work done ahead of time, much less never cracking the MB book. RR

You could do a members-only regalia building workshop. Assuming your lodge or chapter hasn't chosen an esoteric tribe to base their regalia on - they do the White Mountain Apache here which is difficult because their wore loin clothes and body paint only - tips and hints and helps at constructing headdresses and the like could put some life into your ceremonial team. RR

We use Scoutlander and love it. We have both a public site and a password-protected members-only area. The public area is used for recruiting purposes, and the private area for specific info such as what to pack for summer camp, OA info for affected members, the membership lists, etc. We also keep a private photo album there vs. the smaller public photo area. The calendar feature is also nice. Auto-emailings can be limited so as not to be annoying in volume. We haven't made a donation for the site yet but the Committee has agreed to it. RR

BMD, between meetings so no action yet. Have to get past 4 nights in a row of 12+ hour shifts before the next meeting. RR

I remember green Acres but not the generator reference. RR