scoutldr

I appreciate someone taking the time to scan all this. Unfortunately, those of us who can spell would never find it ... "Woods of Wisedom"?

As a former District training chair, I presented many courses by myself. I always offered a course critique, but most of the comments were critical of the course materials/syllabus which I had no control over. When I did dare to deviate from the syllabus and answer the many questions of the students, we quickly went off schedule. There is just enough time in the schedule to read the materials to the students and play the videos...nothing more. Even in 2004, the materials were outdated. CS training was the worst. The Council office would advertise the course and handle quotas, as "Cub Scout Leader Specific" training. So, I would get the list of registrants the day before (if I was lucky), and would have 2 CMs, 2DLs, 2 WDLs, some committee members and some assistants. Now these are all supposed to be separate courses, but the Council pros refused to advertise it that way, because they wanted the numbers. So I would do the best I could, and suffer the bad comments of the students who, for whatever reason, didn''t have their expectations met. Very frustrating. Also, if I were to present the training as designed, it was up to me to provide all handouts, a laptop, and LCD projector (about $5 grand and $100 for a bulb if it happens to blow). The council office would not do ANY Xeroxing for free, even though they collected $10 for the training from each student. I did inherit a case of BSA books, but they were all obsolete, and there was no training budget to replace them. I woke up one day and realized it was "too hard" and resigned my position, since they weren''t interested in doing a good job...just in increasing the numbers of "TRAINED" leaders.

I would tell the parent that as long as he is already registered, you would be more than happy to form a new Den and install him as the WDL. With 13 boys per den, (ideal is 6-8), there is more than enough to form a new den. But since he acted like an ass, I would not go out of my way to accomodate him. Of course your CO has the final word...not the CM.

I once looked into it, because I figured..."the only thing better would be getting paid for this." The reality is the Pro side is vastly different. It is described as a sales job, with quotas and everything. Your job would be to increase donations, members, and units. If you don''t perform and meet your goals, you''re gone. In your spare time, you''re expected to do all the District committee work that you can''t find volunteers for. When you figure the hours (incl nights and weekends), the pay can be less than minimum wage, with no overtime.

All unit fundraisers MUST be approved in writing by the Council. I trust this was done? http://www.scouting.org/forms/34427.pdf

What about an SE who requires his DEs to call every scout who is "lined thru" on the recharter roster. If the parent says, "yes we still want to belong", he is added back to the roster and the unit sent a bill for the fee. It doesn''t matter if the scout hasn''t been seen in a year.

As an animal lover, I feel your loss deeply. I am a cat person. I seem to connect with cats on an almost telepathic level. Stray cats will let me hold them when no one else can get close. We understand each other, like another human can''t. My first cat, Sydney was an SPCA special. Shortly after getting married (at age 20!), my new bride got the maternal urge. Not being ready financially or mentally, I said, "how about a kitten?"...so off we went to the SPCA. Thirteen years later I had to hold him while the vet administered the injection. It was, to this day, the hardest thing I ever had to do. I missed three days of work. My current buddy, Sam, the black alley cat, is almost 14. He got his name because we found him in the gutter at Sam''s Club on Thanksgiving eve...a frozen furr ball all of five weeks old. I know the day is coming, but I can''t stand to think about it. He has slowed down, but still wakes me up at 0515 sharp every morning to go to work, and when we are sick, he''s there by our side in the bed like a faithful watchdog. We have conversations regularly, and he talks back in a language that only we understand, but the meanings of the meows are unmistakable. My wife swears that when he goes, there will be "no more animals" in her house. I hope she''ll be happy living alone. It seems the "new lady in your life" was sent for a reason. God will fill the void if you accept the gift.

So, if I send Johnny an e-mail once in a while, or "regularly", and he still doesn''t respond or show up, he''s considered "active"? So, it is really just about the numbers. Horsehockey.

As a health professional who deals in this stuff, I have to say the risk is minimal. As long as the boys are not chewing on the things, there is little chance that the lead will enter the body. Keep them away from little ones, who put everything in their mouths. This recall is just a CYA move to make the lawyers happy.

As I tell others in my profession, "if you hold yourself out to be an expert, you have a duty to be one."

What, has the BSA hired someone in Irving to think up ways to alienate the volunteers? They''re sure doing a good job of it. Just another factoid to reinforce my decision to retire beadless. What a crock.

So, the older scouts are willing to forego any further advancement (no POR)?

In response to the original question...I think several units would fold, including my own. Not because training is a bad idea...but because as volunteers, we don''t respond well to threats and ultimatums. We get enough of that at work, and I''ll be durned if I''ll put up with it in my "free time". I resigned my seat on the District Committee for this very reason.

As a practical matter, awards should be presented at the monthly Pack meetings. With 150 cubs, if we had held them all until the B/G, no one would have gotten home until 1 am. At the troop level, we present the pin the same night as the BOR. Patch and card are presented at the quarterly COH.

Amen, Eamonn. It seems like yesterday that my boys were Wolves. I can''t believe that they "aged out" at 18 over 11 years ago. I''m still plugging along, wondering what the scout''s dads have to do that''s more important than spending quality time with their sons. We (my fellow SCouters whose sons have aged out) have decided to get this group to Eagle and then pull the plug. As of last Monday night, they are all Life, no thanks to the "drive by" parents.

I wasn''t aware that amoebae formed spores and could survive dessiccation.

Haven''t heard of any revisions. Our UC sat down with us at recharter time almost a year ago to set goals. She hasn''t been back to tell us the requirements have changed. BTW, our unit probably will NOT be quality unit for the first time in 15 years.

Welcome, ScoutDadof5. Whew...makes me tired just to think about it! http://www.scouting.org/awards/centennial/14-190.pdf Likewise, there are Commitment forms for District and COuncil. Your Council should have these on line, or in the office.

Have to agree that the red berets were "dorky", especially with the mop hairstyles of the 70s and today. We have an elderly Scouter in our council, who has to be 85 if he''s a day. He proudly wears his vintage green uniform complete with original 1937 Jamboree patch that he earned as a young scout participant. He personally met BP, James E. West, Dan Beard, and Green Bar Bill. I would never tell this veteran Scouter that he''s "inappropriate" or a "dork." We do have some Scouters in our council who reside in the neighboring state, but are nonetheless in our council. They refused to adopt the new CSP, and instead continue to wear the red and white strips for their city and state on the ODLR uniforms. Now, that''s inappropriate...but nonetheless none of my business.

Water temp. It sounds like Lake Wobegon is safe.

Incidence rate of rare and fatal brain infection from amoebas in lake water is increasing. http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/10/04/amoeba.lake/index.html PS: the article erroneously calls it a "virus". As we all know from high school biology, an amoeba is a single celled microscopic animal that lives in water.(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

How strongly do we feel about it? Just refuse to put anything "made in China" on your uniform. I have started "boycotting"...I regularly pass up clothing now, especially at Costco, marked "made in Vietnam". In the mall on Sunday, waiting for a dinner reservation, I was looking at a new SAAB suv on display. It looked suspiciously like a Chevy Trailblazer, and upon inspecting the sticker, only 14% of the car was made in Sweden. Engine was from Australia, tranny from Japan, etc. And it was "assembled" in Ohio, I think. "Buy American"? It''s impossible.

Jayne, welcome to the forums! I like your style!

info is correct...it''s Council-dependent.

No offense intended, but is this MB being done under the guidance of a qualified, registered MB counsellor? If so, he/she is the one who should be answering these questions for you.