saltheart

I'll second "dsteele's" suggestion. It's the best way to go, for all. Get your committee to put together that list of potential candidates, and start at the top. Call the candidate and make an appointment for a couple of committee members to go and visit with him for the purpose of inviting him/her to be the new SM. Don't overwhlem the candidiate, only go visit with 2 or maybe 3 folks. The face to face thing is powerful. It's powerful in that it's personal and it sends the message that..."You are the person we think best suited for the challenge. And we'd really like to see you take the job."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that when I was a Scout, (when we were evolving out of the Neanderthal period...), testing of a Scout and all his Scouting knowledge was a rite of passage, almost ritualistic, when it came to Scoutmaster Conferences and Boards of Review. Somewhere along the way it seems to me that the "testing" was dropped and disallowed by the National Council. I seem to remember the reasoning being that once a Scout is "passed" on this or that piece of gained and learned knowledge in the the rank process, he's deemed to have learned it and been tested on it, no fur

Mrs. Saltheart and I counted ourselves among the throngs trying to be as near as possible, at both of those funerals, even though we knew neither family. One was only around the corner for us. The other a 5 hour drive. Why? Because...that's why. Because I, too, remember coming home from 'Nam to an emptiness. One day fighting and struggling through the jungle to stay alive, and seemingly the next day sent home to a country at odds with itself, and no time or desire to welcome the boys home. Boys who were still growing and trying to reason with the conflict within. Finding the path back hom

Let's see now, what do I do for a living? Well, I'm a registered architect, and a registered landscape architect. But the profession that pays the bills is what I do as a registered engineer. I was a professional student for what seemed an eternity...

Competition is good. Winning is good. Sometimes it's the greatest. But... ...when the competition devolves into merely the desire to win (as said above) at any cost, by any means, then the point of the competition is lost. All one needs to do is take a step back and close look at the world around us today, and it's not all that hard to see that this very philosophy is ingrained in much of our business and professional worlds. We, as a species, have learned that winning is everything, and losing is.., well, for losers. But competition is, indeed, good. And winning is good. But only as

OK, this thread probably didn't need rescusitation (sp?), but I can hardly contain myself. Reports today indicate the the heavy combat is coming to an end...or so they say. And, we heard from our son tonight that he's finally heard from our grandson...the Eagle Scout...the Marine...in Iraq. He's doing well, and expects that he'll be there for a while, but has been able to keep his head down when necessary, and up when called for. He has one very proud father (Marine) and one very proud grandfather (Airborne Ranger) waiting for his return. Here's a not so subtle "HURRAH" for the men and wo

I doubt that there are many places in this country that don't experience this to some degree. In my years around scouting, I've witnessed much of it, as have many here. My perception is that a lot of it has to do with where one is from, and what is referred to as "street smarts" or being "street wise". Being such is a real embedded part of life is some places, and while not intended to be malicious in nature, those who practice it see it as gaining the greatest advantage in a life where one might otherwise be trod upon by playing strictly by the rules. For sure, there are some out there who kn

I'll defer to the many venerable expert authorities hereabouts for specific tactics, but I'd venture a guess that no matter what your Eagle Board has stated, if they can not produce a BSA publication that states the same thing and backs up what they seem to feel is the law (according to them), then your candidate and troop is not subject to their whims of authority. I'll share one thought, though, regarding the where from and how this notion of no-power-tools-for-Scouts may have come about. Insurance liability. If it's not published in black and white on paper in a BSA publication, then i

Ah...one of those issues that could be found in the "Common Misunderstandings" thread, eh? For many years, we followed what we had been told by the old timers. Scouts were not to use power tools in Scouting activities unless, and only unless they were under the direct supervision of their own Mom & Dad (usually Dad way back then). Perhaps it was one of those common misundertandings...one of those things we took for granted for it seemed to make a lot of sense. Even today, 30 some odd years later, we still follow that rule. And that being said, we seem to have a lot more Dad's poking t

Just a suggestion on how and where to obtain "climbing" type ropes. If you have tree companies in your area (those folks who climb the trees to do maintenance and takedowns) you might try to make contact with them regarding their old unusable ropes. The better companies replace their climbing ropes after a certain period of time as a safety concern. Ropes get worn and questionable for climbing use, and need to be replaced. An old climbing rope with an original length of 120-180 feet will still have sufficient length to cut into teaching ropes.

While agreeing that the more one uses something, like knots, the more they become second nature, I've always found that the "visual" thing right up front in the teaching process can be a huge stumbling block. We used two things that we found helped in this effort. First, we went to our local "big box" home improvement store and purchased enough of the half inch nylon briaded rope so that each Scout would have two pieces...one green, and one red, each at least six feet long. Learning to tie knots with the different colored ropes seemd to provide a good threshold over that stumbling block a