RememberSchiff

Don't know about Little League, Cal Ripken, Pop Warner, soccer, etc., but Boy & Girls and 4-H are larger and growing. 2007 - Boy's & Girls Club 4.6 million youth, coed, 2007 - 4H, 6.5 million members, coed

Thank you for working through this with the scout. I hope he and his family thanks you at some point. What would I have done? I would have added to the drama, spelled out the situation, and had scout plan his next steps during BOR. Maybe you did this. Hold the BOR in a room where the wall clock has been set 10-15 minutes ahead. Start later or run the meeting longer (that was a Friday night) and ask scout to develop HIS plan to be a leader in troop and work towards Eagle in the next 6 months (I would provide calendar and other reference material). This would be reviewed by an openly s

Hmmm size, I have been curious about the number of employees in councils, especially as I read that councils now have spokespersons, marketing specialists, media liaisons,... I remember when far fewer "employees" served a greater number of scouts. My old council office staff (two) back then was part-time and handled all the badges (Scout stores did not exist yet, families shopped at local dept stores for uniforms and other scout stuff.)

Well I am thankful that there are still American-made motorcycles

I have been a scout leader in four different units and webmaster for three, here's my $0.02 1. Do not upload to Youtube, Facebook, MySpace, etc. unless you have no issue with scouts navigating those sites. Alot of easily accessible, inappropriate material there. Even stop-motion, LEGO animation on Youtube looks fine but then surprise, the soundtrack includes vulgarity. These sites typically ask "registered users" to flag inappropriate content, yeah that works - NOT. I know the BSA, councils, and units have leaped onto posting to these very popular sites but I don't think they gave i

"See you at camp on Sunday at noon". Let parents work out the transportation details themselves.

Yeah, you will annoy some either way. What I decided in past, if the scout is in the full camp uniform (even if it's just a Camp t-shirt) then scout salute, otherwise out-of-uniform then hand over heart. Also, in your situation with ball caps, there are fewer problems with Cubs if they keep their caps on their heads for a flag ceremony as taking caps off is asking for trouble.

Camp Augustine near Grand Island, Nebraska has tornado shelters. They were built back in the 80's in the aftermath of tornado destruction. The nearby Girl Scout Camp Cosmopolitan does as well. Both camps have shelters built into hillsides.

The Omaha World Herald http://www.omaha.com/ has detailed coverage including several eyewitness text accounts, a log of update reports from yesterday, and a gripping 14 sec video of tornado - you hear the warning siren and 'There ain't no scouts up there.'

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25107608/ LITTLE SIOUX, Iowa - An apparent tornado struck a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa on Wednesday, and local media reported four deaths at the camp, as well as many injuries. A dispatch operator with the Harrison County Sheriff's Office said first responders were at the camp site and more were en route to the camp, located about one hour north of Omaha. Arli Hasbrouck, a spokeswoman for the Boy Scouts of America's Mid-American Council in Omaha, confirmed for the Des Moines Register that four Scouts were killed in the tornado, but she had no numb

Hi AhoyDave. Here are some changes I would like to see, I would be interested in your take. Make scout advancement and leadership tracks separate again (as they used to be!). It's great that scouting teaching leadership skills but not all scouts will be or can be leaders. This can be particularly hard for autistic scouts who have difficulty staying on task and making eye contact, but it can also be hard for neuro-typicals too. "But Leaderhip Development is a method of Scouting", yeah so is Uniform and uniforms are optional. As you note, require that a parent of a special need sc

Odd that John Glenn was never a Scout.

If you feel your Pack will not deliver the scouting program, then it would not hurt to look at other Packs. Attend other Pack meetings and outings with your son/den. You and the Mrs. should attend a Committee Meeting or two see if the Tiger, Wolf, and Bear parents are actively and cooperatively involved in delivering a scouting program. Look at their pack by-laws, budget. fundraising, and program calendar. Talk to members. Relay your findings to your den parents. If things do not improve with your current Pack and you find a better Pack, transfer over and take as many of your den that wan

Good questions Wilton125, maybe you can appreciate the irony...Back in the 70's, the Natick Army Labs asked me to evaluate some new cold weather gear even though I have never been a member or employee of the military, just an outdoor guy. Now I have been a member of the BSA for a longer than that, but the BSA seems uninterested in my letters. Luckily, there are a number of outdoor websites and magazine, interested in feedback from novice and expert alike, so we can pass on what we've learned. Neckerchiefs are part of our scout heritage and universally identify us as scouts, why even those

Good point about the internet being available today as a feedback mechanism. Has me wondering... Was a survey done on scouting.org? Scouting magazine? Was there any postings at council offices? I have not seen any. Has any forum member participated in this evaluation or even know someone who did? I asked around council and have not found anyone. I would think with the summer camps starting, that it would be an opportune time for staff to showcase the new functional, outdoor uniform, but I had heard nothing along those lines. Will the evaluation results and a FAQ be publishe

He's right about the name "Community strip", but the "community" was the location of your unit. So in the 60's, you could be a member of Troop 154 with community strips (two one town and one state) "Pennsauken" and "N.J.". Councils in my area were organized by counties. In this example Camden County Council, no council designation was worn then. With scouting on the decline today, I think it is now the South Jersey Council which covers multiple counties. I think more are interested in what town and state you are from than what council, much better conversation starters. For me, the counci

Yeah and bring back the City/Town and State strips! Too bad they did not take the 60's style and color, use the wicking fabrics, and manufacture in the US. But then I want full size square neckerchief, over the collar, with a scout-carved slide too. Think I will stick with my old uniform. As to the shirt-tail problem, here's a solution, though gender specific I think, that airs next week http://www.nbc.com/Deal_or_No_Deal/video/#mea=257423 Maybe that's a new format for Round Table too?

I don't recall a horse. Probably too big and heavy to fit in his Cessna , besides he didn't seem to need a horse as the bad guys were always a short walk from the airstrip.

What I've read, #2 HDPE plastic (milk bottles) are though to be the safest plastic, while #1 (typical convenience store water bottles) is only recommended for short, single use water storage. I have noticed my area supermarkets are cutting back on those #1 bottles, of course, there is also a green issue does it make sense to truck water bottles when tap water has equal or better quality. Another brief informative article http://trusted.md/blog/vreni_gurd/2007/03/29/plastic_water_bottles I wonder what I did with my old scout aluminum canteen. It held water and I could use it to sign

I think Canada's decision to declare B.P.A a toxic chemical forced the product withdrawal decision. Too bad Canada was not as vigilant about their own Menu Foods dog food, eh? Ok, we share blame too. http://www.backpacker.com/blogs/105 with a followup in June Backpacker magazine. I think it is prudent NOT to heat plastics (hot water, microwave) due to concerns of toxins being released, but then I don't use teflon coated cookware and am a firm believer in glass baby bottles and glass lined thermos. Anyway speaking of bottles, I think we will be left holding ours. I have seen no

So can this be wrapped up? I think Ed wants pie. It has been shown that - Scouts may wear their uniform during their Eagle Scout project which was the original question. - Scouts are not restricted to wearing their uniforms to just scout activities. - An Eagle Scout service project is a scout activity. - Some councils require local tour permits for parts of the Eagle Scout service project. No official BSA documents were presented that explicitly stated that the above practices are incorrect. Many examples were cited that the above have been common practices in the field for a

Well good thing the Eagle service project is a scout activity, otherwise YP, a BSA policy, would not apply.

Not my rules, I cited examples of councils that require local tour permits for Eagle Scout service projects. No one was talking about other scout activities you mentioned - OA or Jamboree. Sounds like you are advising Eagle candidates in those councils to ignore their council rules as they work on their Eagle projects.

As eagle90 mentioned, some councils do require local tour permit for parts of an Eagle service project. Some reasons include documenting that youth protection guidelines are being followed or as a service tracking log as councils did before the National Good Turn website started. Here's one: http://wm.ppbsa.org/Advancement/Eagle_Scout_Elements.pdf " Funding b. Fund raising projects require a tour permit, detailed plan and an approved BSA fund raising permit." " ADULT INVOVEMENT: a. BSA policy requires 2 adults (Youth Protection Trained) to be present at any BSA activity."

NO BSA documents explicitly state that a scout cannot wear his uniform during his Eagle Scout project. There is also no rule explicitly stating that a scout can only wear his uniform at a scout activity. And there is no official policy explicitly stating that an Eagle Scout service project is not a scout activity. If those did exist, then the sources would have been produced by now. These unique interpretations of policy for Eagle service project remains an opinion and is not a fact supported by official documents or policy practices. Eagle candidates may wear their uniform during their E