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sandspur

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Everything posted by sandspur

  1. He may not be required to invite anyone other than committee members, but is there a reason not disclosed that he did not do so? Since that was past practice, I am left to wonder if this was just an oversight (unlikely if the above quote was his response) or if a sensitive discussion was held and the committee did not want certain folks there.
  2. Agree with Beavah it is not the CC's call unless the name is really not scout appropriate which is not the case here.
  3. Other thoughts for bus use: 1. Insurance is not as bad as you might think. We own two former school busses and our insurance is about $2,000/year total if you shop around. It was much more expensive through the CO so we went on our own. Works out to about $35 per scout/year for us. 2. Repairs can be big ticket, but the worst we have seen is $2,500 for a single item. That is over a period of several years so we have had good luck there. 3. No need to pull a trailer (and dangerous!). You can store all the packs for 30 passengers if you remove the last couple of seat rows and bui
  4. We use TroopMaster.net The scouts signed handbooks and blue cards for records are the core records, as are forms we have designed for BOR sign off, and the advancement chair enters these results into TM to help us keep track of things. We use TM to generate paper advancement reports to send to the council office to update council records. If there is a difference between the paper records and TM, we go with the paper. One good thing about the .net version of TM is that the files are kept on a server, and are accessible to anyone with the correct passwords and permissions. So t
  5. Well, maybe notDoes say you can drop a scout after six months of nonresponse or non-scout initiated contact. But at recharter. So is the nonresponsive scout active until recharter?
  6. So let me see if I understand. A scout is active if he pays his dues at the start of the year, never shows up for any meetings or activities, including campouts, but the scoutmaster e-mails every few months. If the SM mass e-mails a troop newsletter, I guess that is contact as long as the message did not bounce back as undeliverable. Why do I suspect national is really interested in keeping numbers as high as possible?
  7. Well, arguments like this never convince anybody but for what it is worth, my $0.02: Full disclosure, I am a scientist, but not a climatologist. There are really three intertwined debates that are related, but not the same: 1. Is there a general climate warming trend (are glaciers melting, sea ice receding etc)? 2. If so, is this related to CO2? 3. If it exists, is the trend man-made? Question one: Hard to say with certainty in the mid-term, since temperature records past a hundred years or so ago must be inferred from secondary sources (tree rings etc) but most eviden
  8. Had a SM in a former troop who decided the scouts should know how to do laundry, iron clothes and sew on a patch or repair a button. He devoted one meeting to it. Seemed a good idea, but did not become a troop tradition. Ironically, my Dad (a Kings scout from Canada many years ago) showed me a badge he earned for that very thing.
  9. Do you leave your troop equipment in the trailer? Better make sure your insurance covers the contents and not just the trailer. Also, check if it covers depreciated or replacement cost. Invest in a good hitch lock and park in a garage or fenced area. Unfortunately, I know of several troops that have had trailers stolen.
  10. Beavah: I have had the opposite experience. Rangers have been very cooperative and we have never had a bad experience. Not only do we leave a campsite cleaner than we found it, we have a troop policy of performing a service project as part of any high adventure trip. So, if we go to a national park, we coordinate with the rangers in advance to perform a project they select and supervise, giving them the labor of 30+ scouts and scouters for 4 hours or so. Since most parks are cash-strapped and under-staffed, we have found the rangers not only supportive but grateful. On our
  11. Equipment capacity and evacuation explanations are not valid explanations for what the policy is doing. The restriction in on height/weight ratio, not weight. As pointed out, the 510 guy who is 234 is banned, while the guy 2 taller who weighs the same is OK to go. The scouts/stretchers and job of carrying out the weight is the same, regardless of the height. National is trying to enforce a physical fitness standard without actually testing fitness. For those who think this is great, will we bar smokers? Insulin-dependent diabetics? Scouts on anti-seizure meds? Rig
  12. I agree with Beavah. Wens seems to be asking (several times) how the troop can ask this scout to go back and do more work when the troop has accepted POR with little or no effort in the past? Wens: Yep, that is the question. Now that you are hip deep in the swamp, how to you get out? Yeh, there are troops out there where a POR is just a formality. After six months, it is signed off even if the scout did not do a thing. My experience is the scouts dont like it, if anyone bothers to ask them. They feel it is unfair to those who put forth effort in a POR to give credit to a sc
  13. SMT 224 wrote: Bottom Line: Dont ever be alone with a scout SMT: I agree totally. But I also maintain the ASM in this case was not alone with a scout as he was in a public area with, we are told, hundreds of other people around.
  14. SMT224 wrote: this leader should not have gone off alone with one of the youngest Scouts in your unit But read the OP: a very new (3 months), very young (11-13 yo) and pretty small (11 scouts) troop. There ARE no older scouts in this troop. The SMs main beef, normally justified, is that the ASM is having trouble making the mental jump from cubs to scouts. But I still have seen no real discussion of the difficulty doing this in a troop without ANY older, senior, experienced scouts to serve as SPL, ASPL PL etc etc. Maybe I just like being devils advocate but perha
  15. YP does not and cannot protect all scouts all the time from nefarious adults, nor can it protect all adults all the time from false accusations or misunderstandings. It is quite clear if you have taken the training that an adult and youth together is acceptable in a public area in sight of others (door open in a room with others outside, in sight of others at a campout etc.) Think: Scoutmaster conference (do you make an ASM sit in and listen to every word?) Do you insist on two adults in every car transporting scouts to a campout? What if a scout wants to have a private word
  16. It is a frequent misinterpretation that YP required two YP-trained adult scouters to be present at all times with youth. But that is hardly workable. If that is your troops interpretation, then 4 leaders (which you said you considered too many) would be the minimum needed, since you could never go anywhere with the scouts without at least two of you. If it is a public place, in clear sight of others, you are not alone with the youth and there is no YP violation. As others have pointed out, the real issue is the ASMs lack of skills to be an ASM. But in discussing that with hi
  17. As stated, there is no such BSA rule, although there may be a troop policy. That said, I disagree with the troop if it is their policy. While I see why they might not want an SPL, ASPL, PL etc. to be a boy that did not know the others in the troop well (would he even be elected/appointed in that case???) I see no reason to deny someone the chance to serve as QM, Librarian, scribe and so forth. That would probably help him integrate even sooner. Seems especially wrong on a military post where the lads may transfer out every two years.
  18. Well, we may never agree, but I still think a major medical policy is a good idea for those who do not have more comprehensive coverage. 1. Even if you only have a few hundred dollars in the bank, it is better to owe $5,000 than $50,000. 2. It is in the interest of the medical provider to work out a payment schedule. If you declare bankruptcy, they get nothing or pennies on the dollar. If you work out a payment schedule, they get all their money (maybe takes a year or three) and you avoid bankruptcy. Win/win. Most providers will see the logic. 3. I think we encourage scout values
  19. Gern: A $5000 expense will cause bankruptcy? Come on. I will not refer specifically to OJ since I do not know him or his situation. But seems to me that the average young man in an entry level job not living at home (like two of my sons) manages to pay for an apartment (their major expense), car payments (even your average used car costs more than 5,000 these days), car insurance etc. So a $5,000 expense resulting from a major illness need not be paid at once. A payment plan (so much per month) is normal. Pay off a few hundred per month and sure, it hurts, but its no
  20. Seems by medical insurance we are talking two different things. Some of us are old enough to recall what was termed major medical. Essentially like the high-deducible policies suggested here. The purpose was to kick in if something major happened that you couldnt pay for yourself. It was assumed you paid for routine or minor issues. The more recent and now more common definition is medical insurance as the payer of all medical benefits except maybe OTC medications. People want every visit to the doctors office paid for with only a small deductible. The problem with the las
  21. This thread has been fun to read, but I need to pick up my ELCA son to get to Micosay dance practice tonight.At the Catholic church.
  22. Now the case of the Eagle scout in NY is more troubling to me. In that case, If I read the story right, the 2-inch knife was in his locked car and in a survival kit which included MREs and shelter. He had no ready access to it. It was on school property only technically. He disclosed it only when asked by a vice-principal if he even owned a knife. Further, the school policy bans weapons, but apparently they do not consider baseball bats and tire irons (the latter probably in every car in the lot) to be weapons. A school administrator, asked about the bats, said thats different.
  23. Eamonn: I agree your son seems to have a raw deal. And I agree there is a problem nationally. But, as someone who is generally of a libertarian bent, I must point out that your son is not without choices. Is your sons employer the only one around? Even in this economy? If they are the only employer of EMTs in the area, does he have to work in that local or can he get a better deal elsewhere with a better employer? Is there a medical-related field he can get a job in that has a better employer? In other words, your sons employer may be a Grinch, but does your son ha
  24. We have confused two different provisions of the proposals now before congress (as, frankly have some of our economically ignorant congressmen/women) 1. A requirement that insurance companies must cover pre-existing conditions. OK by itself. If rates can be adjusted. 2. A requirement that companies cannot charge different groups/people different rates. Combine the two, and it means if you are an insurer you MUST cover the guy who needs expensive, lifelong care but you CANNOT charge him any more than you do the healthy 20-year-old. Only way that works is if the healthy guy
  25. Well OK: First, it was a knife. It may have a spoon and fork also, but from the photos on the news it is a knife with a real blade. Everyone knows you do not carry a knife to school. It is appropriate for the school to ban such things and enforce their policies. Now, does the punishment fit the crime? 40odd days in reform school? For a first grader, it seems reasonable for the teacher to take the item away and send it home with a note to the parents. At worst, maybe keep the lad after school for a day. The real issue here seems to me that the district admits their policy do
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