RememberSchiff

or go Donald Duck

It amazes me how much people on the “pro†side just can’t seem to understand this—I would stop because it is no longer the program that I signed up for and it won’t accomplish the things that are the reasons I joined. If I had wanted to be in some coed variant of BSA I would be in Venturing. I am not. It’s just not the same program and Boy Scouts won’t be the same program after they introduce girls. 

Please many of us understand the frustration and disappointment . Let's see how many times the BSA program has become not the program I signed up for and ...

1972 - The Improved Scouting Program

Alternate rank requirements - I still hate that.

1988 -  Female troop leaders .  This opened the door to coed scouting.

Instant recognition - The Gimme, gimme change. What stupidity!

FCFY

Summit - the financially sustainable money-pit that 90% will never attend.

Adults required on patrol outings

Family Scouting

...

But here I am and other scouters too, because of our scouts.

My $0.02

But, more specifically on camp crews, our Area VOA did a presentation at the last area NCAP training in short they:

• Encouraged council outdoor programs to utilize the existing camp staff registered position.
• Reminded councils that camp crews are not strictly prohibited but should remain active year-round, like any other unit.
• Recommended that camp crews should be phased out for Exploring posts due to Exploring's job-emphasis and and less-restrictive membership criteria.

Just food for the thought.

That is an interesting idea. I am seeing more colleges offer  bachelor degrees in Outdoor Recreation.

"Horses Healing Hearts," program at Trinity Circles Ranch in Newton, MO

http://www.fourstateshomepage.com/news/horses-healing-hearts-and-the-boy-scouts/794125434

Camp Bell (NH) has a Horsemanship MB and it is remarkable the effect a horse can have, especially calming those with anxiety disorders.

I thought Councils did this with their non-member camp staffs, e.g. create a Crew 1 so that all are now uniformed members?

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2017/08/18/boy-scouts-list-former-hill-country-camp-for.html

2,348 acre  scout camp sold for nearly $25million.  They (Sam Houston Council?) will use the proceeds for the development of the new Camp Strake in the Houston area.

I thought the sale of the old Camp Strake covered that expense and then some?

farewell...

http://republicranches.com/landlisting/el-rancho-cima/

The Eagle Project should be about demonstrating leadership delivering a service not perseverance processing our own paperwork.  I grant the real world is more the latter which they soon abundantly see with college applications.

The new 5P's:  Perseverance Processing Paperwork Pleases Proceduralists    

My $0.01,

Scout Troop 521 will head to Wyoming to catch a glimpse of the rare event.

Eight years ago, Boy Scout Sam Kimpton and his father, Peter Kimpton, were reading an astronomy book and learned that the United State was due for a solar eclipse.

Peter Kimpton promised his son that they would make the trip to see the eclipse.

"The prospect that I even thought as a kid, like, 'Oh, hey, look. It's a good idea,'" Sam Kimpton said. "But now, thinking of it, it's possible. Why shouldn't we do it?"

The two are heading to Yellowstone National Park, but they're not going alone. Seven boys and 11 adults from Troop 521 are also taking the trek west.

"We've aligned the eclipse trip along with a backpacking adventure through Yellowstone National Park," Peter Kimpton said.

Check video

http://www.wmur.com/article/londonderry-boy-scouts-head-west-to-watch-eclipse/12034272

His project signed completed by beneficiary, my younger son has since spent over 12 hours over two weeks filling out that $@%#^$% redundant workbook and he still has more work to do, We estimate when completed with attachments it will be longer than my older son's patent application + college thesis + our state and federal tax returns.

His answer to What was most challenging...?

Filling out the Project Workbook.   

Somehow I don't think flush toilets and  hot showers will be a problem.

We found it was cheaper for us to rent vans in Denver and drive down to Philmont than using a commercial shuttle services. In the past our troop has driven to Philmont from Maryland but that was a no go for most of us advisors who where burning leave to go.

Thanks. Probably worth a second look. We found  round trip flights from Northeast were cheaper into ABQ than Denver or Colorado Springs.

With our luck, Route 25 would be shutdown in Colorado due to brush  fire at a marijuana farm. 

More about the Scouting connection along with photos in this link.

http://gazette.com/behind-a-wwii-internment-camps-barbed-wire-two-scouts-forged-a-bond.-it-endured-when-they-both-entered-congress./article/1609398

Some excerpts:. I definitely recommend reading above link.

When they are together, it's not hard to see the Boy Scouts they were when they met seven decades ago, in the barbed-wire Japanese internment camp that sprawled over desolate fields. One was imprisoned here; one belonged to the only troop that agreed to a jamboree on the inside.

....

Two months after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed an order ordering all Japanese Americans away from the Pacific Coast.

Mineta and his family were among 120,000 who were "relocated" inland to one of 10 internment camps that opened amid the wartime hysteria. The majority were citizens, forced to leave behind their homes, jobs, belongings and crops. Families lost everything. Mineta remembers tears streaming down his father's face as they left San Jose and headed first for a way station at the Santa Anita Racetrack, then to the Heart Mountain camp, 15 miles outside of Simpson's home town of Cody.

Simpson remembered how the rows of tar-paper barracks appeared almost overnight on a sagebrush flat. There was nothing near the camp but the railroad tracks that transported the internees. With more than 10,000 usually there, the camp dwarfed the population of Cody, then at just more than 2,500.

"The townspeople in Cody were not thrilled," Simpson said. "We didn't know who was in there except it must have been a pretty bad group with all that activity."

"I remember the day we got there in November [1942]," Mineta said. "The wind was blowing, all this silt was hitting our faces, cold as blazes. . . . The restrooms were quite a ways away, so when it would get cold and either raining or the snow, you had to go to the bathroom at 11 or 12 at night and trudge through all that mud and muck and mire.

"And then each of the units had one single globe in the middle of the room and a potbelly stove in the middle. My job was to get the coal from the bin and then bring it - and that's what kept us warm."

He was 11.

No schools had been built for the thousands of children who were among the internees, so to keep the children occupied, camp elders decided to form Boy Scout troops.

Long before internment, scouting had deep roots in the Japanese community. Immigrant parents viewed it as a very American tradition and admired the organization's values of good citizenship, loyalty and service. When Mineta's family left their house for the train ride to the assembly center in Southern California, young Norman wore his Cub Scout uniform.

So Heart Mountain troop leaders wrote to troops in nearby towns, inviting them to participate in Boy Scout jamborees. All refused. They were afraid of the armed guards and uneasy about the unfamiliar faces inside.

"It was a confusing time," Simpson said. As a young boy, "You were sorting out your world when nobody was there to teach you what the hell was going on, but you knew it was mess."

But his troop's leader, Glenn Livingston, was "a scoutmaster ahead of his time," Simpson said. He told his young scouts that the boys behind the barbed-wire fence were just like them, and he was right: The Heart Mountain scouts, Simpson said, read the same comics and earned the same merit badges.

Even as a young kid, Simpson said: "You knew these were Americans, especially when you met the Scouts. They didn't even know where Japan was."

By chance, he was matched up with Mineta, who remembers Simpson as a "roly-poly kid with lots of hair."

Among their tasks that day was pitching a tent.

There is some dispute between the two, as usual, as they recount what happened next. Mineta claimed that when it came time to build a small moat around the tent, Simpson suggested routing it so that it would flow toward the tent of another Scout - one known as a bully.

"It was no skin off my nose, so I said 'Sure,' " Mineta recalled. By chance it rained, and the moat worked perfectly to flood the kid's tent.

"Oh, he laughed, 'hee hee hee, haw haw haw, hee hee hee,' " Mineta said. "I had to say, 'Alan, stop laughing so we can get some rest.' "

Said Simpson: "He said I laughed hideously at the event. I don't recall any cackling, but it was fun."

They spent a day together. Then Simpson went back to a comfortable life as the son of a prominent family in Cody. Mineta stayed behind the barbed wire for a year.

...

Much more in source link above.

@@Wood Badge Jim welcome to scouter.com

http://www.mountain-news.com/news/article_2e81ade8-837a-11e7-b9c2-4be226327bf8.html

The Hubert Eaton Scout Reservation (formerly Forest Lawn Scout Reservation) near Lake Arrowhead has received a historic $10 million endowment from longtime supporter, the AS&F Foundation. The Boy Scouts of America Greater Los Angeles Area Council (GLAAC) announced on July 29 receipt of the donation, which will benefit the GLAAC’s Boy Scouts’ adventure camp.

John Llewellyn, a Distinguished Eagle Scout and past council president for the GLAAC, presented the multi-million-dollar gift on behalf of his great-uncle, Hubert Eaton, who established the foundation. The $10 million gift and renaming of the camp were done in honor of Eaton’s legacy and the impact that he had on youth.

“There is a lot of money going into this area now, which is great,†said Chairman of the Board and GLAAC President Gerry Morton. “With this money, we can ensure that the camp will run forever for the benefit of the kids who utilize it.â€

...

Morton explained that the money is a permanent endowment for the camp, and five percent will be taken from it annually to ensure that the camp is running under high standards.

“When the 2003 fire ripped through Arrowhead, we invested $17 million in rebuilding everything,†Morton explained, adding that this money will help the camp make up for the large amount it lost after the fire.

“This is what is great about the gift,†Morton stated. “We will ensure that deferred maintenance gets covered and the camp gets quality and first-rate conditions.â€

Aside from the deferred maintenance, the importance to the GLAAC and Morton himself is to ensure that the mission of the camp is delivered, and that the youth utilizing the camp get the most out of their experience while they are there.

“We offer this service to kids as a nonprofit, and now we will be able to really rely on this money,†Morton concluded.

Here we go again....

http://www.wlox.com/story/36152296/police-boy-scout-camp-burglarized-guns-stolen

A dozen guns stolen from a Boy Scout camp in Hancock County are missing following a burglary that landed two men in jail. 

Hancock County Chief Deputy Glenn Grannan says scout leaders reported 24 guns stolen from Camp Salmon Scout Reservation on V Bar Road after the cafeteria and shop at the camp were burglarized Aug. 5. A truck was also stolen from the camp.

Jeremy Perkins, 30, and Dameon Cuevas, 34, - both of the Kiln - were arrested Aug. 11. Each faces two counts of commercial burglary, and one count of probation violation in connection with the break-in.

Half of the missing guns were discovered in the woods on property in the Kiln. Grannan says the guns that remain missing include shotguns and rifles used to teach scouts about proper gun use and safety. The stolen truck was found in Pearl River County. 

A third person is expected to be charged with possession of stolen property in the theft of the truck.

Perkins is being held on $10,000 bond. Bond for Cuevas has been set at $15,000.

Some past  firearm thefts from other scout camps:

2017 WV:  http://scouter.com/index.php/topic/29096-wv-council-asks-help-14-rifles-stolen-from-camp-mountaineer/?hl=%2Bshotguns+%2Bstolen&do=findComment&comment=456388

2016 NC:  http://scouter.com/index.php/topic/26813-shotguns-stolen-public-youth-shooting-program-and-bsa-at-risk/?hl=%2Bshotguns+%2Bstolen

We aren't actually meeting quite yet, we are waiting for the school years to start. If I had had enough warning, I might have tried to do something with it.  But thanks for posting, perhaps next time we can look for it earlier.

"...the next total eclipse for North America will come on April 8, 2024. "

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/whens-the-next-total-solar-eclipse-in-the-us

... and then the extraction

great story and photo, read the rest

http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/corvallis-boy-scouts-help-injured-troop-leader-to-safety-during/article_f8b85029-22ac-5c9e-bd35-236817a4f89a.html

Scout salute and speedy recovery.

Can be earned by Cubs, Boy Scouts, Venturers.

More info:  http://www.scouting.org/eclipse2017.aspx#weblinks

Make the most of these years with your son as they will never come again.  It does not have to be Scouting.

Since 2000 we've lost 3% of our membership each year. After the policy change in 2013 it increased to 7%...more than doubled our losses. The change was designed to stop our losses.

Where did National say the 2013 membership change was designed to stop membership losses? 

https://scoutingmagazine.org/2013/08/moving-forward-together-after-the-2013-national-annual-meeting/

https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2013/05/23/bsa-membership-resolution-passes-with-more-than-60-percent-of-vote/

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Awards/JourneyToExcellence/vos_findings.aspx

Thank you both for the feedback.  We're going with a "less-is-more" approach, so shouldn't run into any copyright/trademark issues.  Once we have the final version of the t-shirt mocked up, does BSA need to approve it?

Only if there is BSA trademarks, will the fabricator need approval.

Our class b (no affliation with company) shirts just say Troop NN, Our Town on front and big NN number on back. Less than $8 in a moisture-wicking, quick-dry  synthetic material.

My sad perspective is this was started a long long time ago.  The precursors of this really happened when women became scoutmasters and Boy Scout camps started to be staffed with a large percent of female staff.  IMHO, this is just the natural continuation of those actions.  

 

Not bad or good.  Just what it is.  

BSA history in the last 50 years has many examples of  one exception being made which lead  to more down the road. Sometimes the down the road reasons are fairness, sometimes to increase membership, and sometimes to mitigate legal problems.

You lost me on the first. My expert says that pre puberesent youth (both GIRLS and boy) learn 90% (give or take) of their behavior by watching dominating role models. AND that effect doesn't have near as much impact when the role models are the opposite gender, which is why I'm not in favor of female scoutmaster for a boys patrol.

 

It's no like this stuff is new, there are literally hundreds of studies that support the high impact of girls and boys learning when they aren't in coed groups. I can only conclude that emotion drive adults to act in the against nature.

 

Even worse is the idea that the only way a boy can politely and productively interact with girls is mixing them together on campouts. That makes no sense to me at all.

 

Barry

I agree. A child  who is NOT taught to self-advocate and who does NOT learn to interact with diverse groups will develop more within a group of his/her "own kind".  But f we claim to teach lessons for life, we should be teaching the former.  It sure has worked for my son.

Another $0.02

And your expertise on the subject? Because my child psychologist college professor friend whole heartily disagrees.

 

I think as a culture we are failing miserably because how does a person who lives up to the oath and law at all times not know how to politely and productively interact? Someone else here truly believe that groups who are together for a single interest are dangerous because all they do is conspire against other groups. Is that what Badon Powell  was doing by creating BOY SCOUTS. Our culture is a mess. Do we really believe that boys and girls will learn better behavior simply because they are mixed? Especially with adults who think that being coed inspires better behavior than practicing the oath and law. No wonder National is lost.

 

Barry

That's why he teaches college.   Kids should be taught to self-advocate.  I'm a Dad whose younger son has learning disabilities as confirmed by a full neuro-psych testing (two days) performed every three years.  My son attended a special needs school (coed) and perhaps the most important tool he was given was self-advocacy. So he will politely speak up and ask a teacher to slow down, repeat, help after school, comment,...ditto with everyone else. Who is in the group does not matter to him nor should it.  Four long years later but still on an IEP, he is now in a regular school and doing great.

You lost me in second paragraph.

and yet here we are, Scouters who were Boy Scouts, all successfully interacting in a melting pot in our adult lives.  So the idea that the single-gender character development program that was the Boy Scouts (and Cub Scouts) of America was detrimental to that concept is rather baseless. 

Some days more than others, but never two days in a row on scouter.com