ScoutersMom

Just lettin' Everyone know.....

We went on our trip and had a BLAST!!! Park Ranger Mike gave my boys a private Black Powder demonstration and took them on a hike through a trail that had been forgotten for well over 20 years. He said even his supervisor had never been down it. While hiking, the boys came across some huckleberry patches and picked some. Boys went fishing. To top it all off, Ranger Mike took us star gazing.

No one got hurt. Got our bellies full. Got a few sceeter bites. Perfect!

It was a very pleasant weekend!

ALL SCOUTS, Boys Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Leaders....ANY SCOUTS!!!!!

Show up in uniform (or activity shirts), OR show your scout membership

card And Gain FREE Entry!!!

CLOSE TO ANDERSONVILLE!!!

May 24th-25th Practice begins at 5pm Saturday

After placing flags at Andersonville, stop by Gabby's Super Speedway

in Ellaville, GA.

southernoutlawracing.us

Mr. Streetman, the track owner, has invited the Scouts and Scout Leaders to watch the races. It's a 2 day event starting Saturday May 24-25 .

Free admission for all scouts and leaders wearing uniform shirt, pack activity

shirt or membership card with a paying adult.

There will be a concession stand for food, drinks and snacks.

You can bring your own coolers, food and drinks. Bathrooms and

electricity are on site

I am in the process of getting the site approved for Cub Scout

camping. Should know something by tomorrow. SSOOOO Break out the

camping gear and check back with me tomorrow.

DIRECTIONS!!! 2134 SR 26 West Ellaville, GA 31806-8306

From I75:

Take exit 127 (GA SR 26)

Go West on SR 26

Stay on SR 26 for about 37 miles.

Race track is on Left hand side

(If you use MapQuest... directions take you to Minter Rd. Track is

BEFORE Minter)

FROM Andersonville

Leaving Andersonville, Take Cemetery Rd

Turn Left onto 49.

Turn Right onto 228

Turn Right on S. Broadstreet

Turn Left on Sr 26

Go through town.

Race track will be on Left hand side

PLEASE PLEASE email me with any questions.

Scout&Mom...

What camp are you talking about? I would love to get more information about it. The only BSA camps we've been to since I've been involved is Camp Ben Hawkins and Camp Oglethorpe. We try to stay away from CBH as much as possible because that's where our pack attends Cub O Ree each year and Day Camp after school's out. We had a blast at Oglethorpe. Our pack parents were very impressed with the facilities there. We will definitely go again probably sometime in the late fall like we did this past year.

Thanks

First of all... since when did atheists become pagans?

Excerpt taken from BSA website:

++++Faith Traditions

Young people need faith. There is abundant evidence that children benefit from the moral compass provided by religious tradition. We acknowledge that faith can become an important part of a child's identity. Each of the major faiths breeds hope, optimism, compassion, and a belief in a better tomorrow. Scouting encourages each young person to begin a spiritual journey through the practice of his or her faith tradition. One of the key tenets of Scouting is "duty to God". While Scouting does not define religious belief for its members, it has been adopted by and works with youth programs of all major faiths.+++++

BSA has been adopted by all major faiths... not the other way around. It is the 'faiths' that are supposed to adapt to BSA.. not the other way around. They need to find a way to fit the BSA into their lives... The BSA shouldn't have to find a way to fit into religion.

BSA requires FAITH... didn't say in which aspect of God you want to argue... Atheists have NO FAITH... therefore it is inherently impossible for them to adhere to BSA principles

I believe this supports my previous post. BSA does not define any aspect of 'God'. BSA allows each scout to practice what he is taught at home as long as it supports BSA principles. Who says being 'reverent' only pertains to Christianity? God can be different to many people.

Isn't it enough that the boys are in scouting? Learning ethics and morals and spirituality? Why can't it just be enough?

She was under the impression (don't know why) that we had to have electricity, flushable toilets (i know they must be sanitary) and sinks with running water (as far as i knew we needed an acceptable source for drinkable water.. a spigot would suffice). I don't know where she got her information from, but I think she'll be happy to know that she doesn't have to do the 'pampered camping thing'

She said I must be lucky that I have my parents 'trained' that they would accept these conditions. (I laugh inside).

And to answer the concern about showers.. there are showers nearby.

Discounts? I WISH. Trust me I asked LOL. From what I can have gathered so far, none of the state parks offer a discount to scouts. (at least none of the ones I've contacted thus far)

Anyway.. now that the weather is looking better today, I went to get my Balloo training paperwork.. and I have spoken with our scout exec. I am in compliance with all requirements thus far.

Thank you all for helping ease my mind in the meantime.

SM

From my understanding, BSA requires 'duty to god'. I think pretty much everyone can agree with that. But where is 'god' defined? Where does it mandate that god must be singular? Where does it stipulate that 'god' must be male?

I know, in my pack, there are a couple of children being raised Wiccan in their home. When it came to the 'duty to god' achievement I had a little sit down with the parents and addressed the different parts of the achievement with them. While looking at the pages I see that the BSA does allow for alternate religions. I believe the BSA supports Faith. Belief in something, anything, is good enough. To quote some of the books.. "Practice your faith as you are taught in your home, church, synagogue, mosque, or religious fellowship". The parents were OK with my interpretation and were more than happy to adapt this section to fit their lives.

While it is unfortunate that there is no emblem for Wiccan scouts to earn, I don't believe that should be the main focus. A scout shouldn't be learning about faith just so they can get recognition for it.

I can certainly understand why this is such a touchy subject, but I see no reason for it to take the focus off the rest BSA has to offer our scouts. Religion/Faith is only 1 achievement of the other dozens they have to complete. Just focus on the others.

Just my opinion.

Hi There!!

First things first.... you need to come up with a theme for the camp. After that, coming up with activity ideas is gravy. Here's a link to our day camp info and registration form. You may get some helpful ideas from it.

http://www.doubleknot.com/openrosters/DocDownload.asp?orgkey=1143&id=40664

I'm also on the committee for another camping event in July. Our theme is Time Traveling through America's History. (a li'l wordy, I know)

Our activities are going to include BB guns(civil war), archery (indians), tie dye shirts(70's), building toolboxes(industrial revolution), building rockets (race to space).. etc. To tie it all in together, we're going to build a quick mock up of the Tardis from Dr. Who so the kids, for opening ceremony, can walk through the tardis and get their Time Passports as they line up for the flag ceremony. As each scout goes through each activity, the staff for each station will stamp the passport and sign it. We will also be doing leather work, will have board games, pinhole planetariums for their downtime activities.

Hope this helps

Best of Luck and Happy Camping!!!

The park is in the list of approved camp grounds. I was just curious about the camp site itself.

The problem I was facing was that the state park's individual camp sites were $21 per site per night. Couldn't pitch tent on grass but you could on the gravel camper pad. I can only put 6 people MAX per camp site. If I get the numbers I'm expecting to go, then it would cost us a li'l over $200 for the weekend and that's before FOOD. The only good thing was that the full bathroom facilities were less than 10 feet away.

At the 'pioneer' site there is a water spigot and a pit toilet within walking distance and I can put almost 50 people there. From my interpretation of the GSS this was acceptable. So now I'm looking at $80 for the 2 nights instead of $200+. Wonderful!!

Well... as I was talking with another leader from another pack she started questioning me as to whether I was sure I was meeting the guidelines for cub scouts.... I was certain I was, but started to 2nd guess myself.. which is why I came to all of you.

(I would have gone back to look through all my training stuff which was outside in the shed with all my cub scout stuff, but with all the storms and tornadoes what went through here yesterday and this morning.. i wanted to stay inside safe and dry)

THANK YOU THANK YOU

For all your answers.

Greetings All!!

I have planned a pack 2 night camping trip to a State Park. I am having a dilemma.

I have been told that Cub Scouts MUST have running water and bathroom facilities (more for the parents than the scouts themselves) HOWEVER, where does Guide for Safe Scouting mandate this? Can someone please point me in the right direction. I have already gone through Baloo Training and I don't recall where the camp site requirements were stipulated.

Thank you for all your help

I just wanted to say how thankful I am that this forum is here.

I have this in the Cub Scout side because I my interests and issues specifically deal with cub scouts, since I am a den leader and my son's a bear.

When I joined the Scouter forums, I was dealing with some issues going on in my pack. I had, what I thought, was a very unorganized cub master. She never knows what's going on with district or council activities far enough in advance for us to do anything. We're a small pack and a few of the den leaders have full time jobs on top of their voluntary commitment to the pack. I am a stay at home mom and was just looking at the things that weren't getting done.

As far as I know, I am the only other leader, besides the CM, that has gone through the formal leader specific training.

For my first post here in the newbie forum, i asked how to deal with an unorganized, uninvolved CM. After that post, I did some pokin' around here. I found a post where it looked as if someone else was dealing with the same issues.

I can't begin to tell you how much of an eye opener that post was. After reading it and all the suggestions given back to the original poster, I felt like such a heel. Since we're such a small pack that means we also have less parents able or willing to give some of their time. So that means that us leaders really have to step up to the plate. We don't have good clear communication between parents/ families and us leaders. We don't have an ASCM and most of us DL's don't have ASDL's. We definitely don't have a pack trainer, events coordinator... you get the point.

I had seriously began debating with myself how best to approach the CM and ask her to step down. Like I said, I felt like such a heel after I read this thread. I started helping the CM out a lot more. I created a yahoo group for our pack to help keep the pack leaders and parents stay informed. I told them that I would keep the calendar updated throughout the summer in case there was something they might be interested. I have pretty much taken over the planning of our pack campouts. I keep the pack informed of more district activites.

I have no problem wearing multiple hats, as long as the boys benefit from it.

Anyway...

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone, for being there even when you didn't know it@!!

Thank you for the warm welcome! I look forward to sharing and getting new ideas!!!

(about the cubmaster thing.... I'll start new thread in Open Discussion)

Thanks!!!

Howdy ya'll!

Gonna be brief.

I'm a Den leader for my son's pack. Love everything about the scouting program. The life skills it teaches are invaluable. Wish more parents had their children involved.

Anywho, enough about me. Glad to be here.

Quick question (while I'm still here)

How do you get your Cub Master to get with the 'program'? Ours hardly ever attends roundtables and never knows what district events are coming up. Always behind the 8-ball, so to speak.

Thanks, in advance for any advice