RememberSchiff

I am interested in a pointer to any official blanket-waiver info. If it is BSA policy, I would like the waiver to be prominently displayed on the bsalicensing.org homepage and in the FAQ. My local shop informed me about the problem. He had read an article about non-profit trademarks in a trade publication. It was mostly about the Red Cross but mentioned BSA, etc. Neither I nor my Council was aware of the issue.

Glad to see your "farewell" was shorter than Sinatra's..."I did it MY WAAAAY...." Welcome back.

Some questions 1. What are your den rules? You and your scouts should have developed a rules list. These rules should be prominently displayed in LARGE BOLD FONT during the den meeting. 2. When a scout is not following a rule, does den activity stop? If too much time is wasted do they miss out on the game activity? 3. Do you use a timer (some use a lighted candle, some an hourglass) to measure duration of good behavior and then say if we go 5 or 10 minutes more the next time, then we will have some reward? 4. What help do you have? Parents, den chief, denner.

The license fee is passed on to his customers, so Troop XXX would have paid the $250 + $100 job cost for a total of $350. Still less than the "licensed" shop, but why should we pay the BSA for the "privilege" of embroidering BSA on our BSA Troop XXX camp shirts? Your trademark is your corporate identity, your "good name"; you register a trademark to protect your "good name" so that others cannot malign it or profit from it. You then may or may not choose to license it use to third parties. Here, the BSA is protecting it's trademark from itself (Troop XXX). Troop XXX is using the tradema

Here is another example of too much HASSLE in Scouting, a.k.a., Scouting Trademark Protection Gone Wild. It's all about $$$. I wanted a local shop, that I have done business for years, to embroider a dozen camp t-shirts (Made in USA) for my scouts. I supplied the shirts and the added embroidery came to just under $100. So a small order, no setup charge, and he allows me to supply the shirts, gotta love this shop. The words were simply Troop XXX BSA Camp YYYY But the shop was not licensed by the BSA (cost $250) and a "licensed" shop would not embroider any shirts that I suppli

evmori, Long ago, as a scout, my SM gave me a counselor list and told me to pick three and see who was available. He did want me to call all three BTW. As far as my SM was concerned, all mb counselors were equal so the choice was mine. Today. It does seem the SM chooses the mb counselor up front but the SM also signs the mb cards for summer camp and Merit Badge colleges, not knowing who the counselor will be. I too have been looking for a policy statement just out of curiousity.

I used the American Red Cross BAT (Basic Aid Training for Grades 2-6) for my Bears/Web I. Each student gets a workbook with first aid instruction, games, things to color. You might be able to finagle a Red Cross instructor, local fireman, or EMT to help you. Hope this helps.

I am interested in feedback from units that self-charter. In particular, info and comments about the following: unit type your reasons for self-chartering how long have you been self-chartered changes in your scout program and membership size and membership of your unit committee your council's assistance relationship with sponsor advantages/disadvantages ...whatever useful information that you could share would be appreciated. Thanks

Well there's the BSA MB policy and then there is our Council/District policy (real world) on advancement. Here the Council has said the Scoutmaster is in charge of advancement. He may go along with the loosy-goosy BSA MB policy or enforce his own more restrictive policy - his/her call. I am familiar with 3 troops Troop A: Parents cannot be mb counselors for their sons. Scoutmaster selects mb counselor for scout, sometimes he will not sign card for certain summer camp merit badges - "You do that badge with us". All Eagle-required mb's done within troop. Troop B: Parents can be a mb

My point is that the BSA-Charter Organization model is not working. It needs to be reconsidered. I am proud to be with this Charter Organization and I think their concerns and perspective are well considered. Our scout program is quite excellent, but the CO has little if anything to do with that other than providing a meeting place. Our CO suggested moving to a simpler "sponsor" model like Little League (his analogy) as an improvement. Their statements I quoted are feedback from our CO. Now if you want an example of a Character Org that I want nothing to do with, consider this visi

This is a good example of too much HASSLE in the program. Look at your data, if 25% willingly (grudgingly) come why is that? We should be grateful for the free meeting space and drop the attitude "what's one more meeting" with our volunteers and benefactors. In our unit, we currently ask our CO to attend 10 Troop Committee meetings + 1 Saturday Recharter + 1 ECOH + various troop meetings +... Not surprisingly, our CO, a good guy, is feeling stressed. He showed us a folder with about two dozen worthy groups (most are local, non-franchised youth groups) who made a request this past August

SMORES. Actually smores are considered a requirement by Cub Scouts. Launching bottle rockets is cool too.

I would wager that T164Scouter has forgotten more about scouting than the WB21 staff knows and that T164Scouter has not forgotten much.

Belayer_StLouis is correct. I did some research http://www.usflag.org/uscode36.html http://www.flagsbay.com/flag/brief-history-of-the-united-states-flag-code/ The statute numbering seems to have changed some but here is the summary Congress passed Public Law 77-826; chapter 806 the U.S. Flag in Dec 22, 1942. It has be amended three times since. In 1976, Section 176 which deals with Respect to Flag, part (j) was amended. "However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations. The flag represents a l

"Could a patrol forget to showup with food on your campouts?" So far no patrol has forgotten their food or water, now tent poles, stove fuel, grills, and lanterns are often forgotten - time to improvise. We ask our SPL have patrols completed their checklists (this task is on his checklist). If yes, off we go. After the campout, we debrief and often ask "Was that on your checklist?" "Did you use checklists"...fun Helicopter ASM's? Hmmm, when there is a safety issue I guess you can say we are hovering above. I don't mean to infer that our approach is perfect, but a small group 2

My unit is fortunate to have a group of competent, experienced ASMs. Some trained at US Armed Forces, AMC, NOLS, Outward Bound, BSA... but more importantly, they have allot of "field" experience. Also, being a diverse group, our scouts learn different camping styles taught by different adults. We have never cancelled an outing for lack of adults. When an activity is planned, it is designated a scout outing or family outing. For example, the first campout for new scouts and an overnighter on the USS New Jersey would be family outings. On family outings, adults form cooking groups or not.

Good question. I believe it is OPTIONAL for the reasons you state but I cannot find any official documentation for you. I doubt that the uniform inspection sheets will reflect this, but I always make my own inspection sheet. My scout uniform from the 60's just had a patrol medallion on right sleeve and my fine Boy Scout Handbook from that time has a Norman Rockwell scout on cover in proper uniform with no U.S. flag emblem (no silly shoulder flaps either). Frankly, I cannot recall that a U.S. flag emblem was an add-on option, as it would have been considered disrespectful to "wear" the fl

I have a corollary that I have found very annoying. Parents rarely, if ever, read e-mail or website updates done days in advance of my den or troop meeting. So I could expect this interruption: Parent: "I didn't have time to read you e-mail. {CAN YOU STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR SCOUT MEETING AND} Tell me what you wrote." Me: Sorry, no. { I have more important things to do }

See things from the boy's point of view. BP The scout who did not earn his AOL, sees his patrol leaving for Boy Scouts without him just because he did not earn a patch. Rejection is pretty tough at that age. Think of the boy, change the rules, and let him enter a Boy Scout troop together at the same time with his buddies. From my Webelos Den Leader experience, this "tough love" policy has always been applied in my unit and always with the same result. Webs that did not earn their AOL and did not crossover at the same time, did not join Boy Scouts. Not one.

This is an opportunity to show that there are many paths to Scouting and that you can join at anytime. Also, advancement is just one method to achieve the aims of Scouting. (The "aims" are character development, citizenship training, and personal fitness. Advancement is just one method used to achieve these aims. The other methods are Ideals, Patrols (a.k.a patrol method), Outdoor Programs, Personal Growth, Leadership Development, and Uniform) At the crossover ceremony, I would recognize the non-AOL scout's accomplishments, respect his decision, and let him know he can join scouting anyti

My son's troop chose a baseball cap over a neckerchief for their class A. I asked how can a baseball cap be used to make an arm sling or cravat or signal flag or hankerchief (what's that?)...well you get the idea. Baseball caps are cool and cool wins over all. Now, my old BSA neckerchief dates back to when usefulness was more important. Usefulness was cool then. It is a large square (approx 30" x 30", it was probably larger when new), single color with BSA logo. You folded along diagonal and rolled then draped OVER the collar to protect your neck from sunburn, etc. This was worn or carrie

Good question. Here's a quick answer - Read and Practice. 1. Borrow or buy the Boy Scout Handbook and read Second Class Scout requirement 2c.(page 77-79 of the edition I have). Better yet, buy the Wood Carving Merit Badge. 2. Ask advice and questions of local scout leaders "Say could you show me how to do this?", "How should I teach...", "Could you recommend..." Be prepared for different opinions on knives, sharpening, wood. There may be a training class at Roundtable or University of Scouting. A woodcarver or Woodcarving Merit Badge counselor, and maybe your den chief or another Boy Sc

Be Prepared. Advance notice would be nice, but this is Boy Scouts. Expect that you will be suddenly asked to help and then just do your best. Now if they asked you to sing, you would have my sympathy.