scoutldr

The advice about calling home is good, however very difficult to enforce when every kid or their tent-mate has their own cell phone. It took us years to get the pay phone removed from the trading post because kids were lined up all day long to call mommy collect (or girlfriends)...and now this. If you are at a camp with no reception, consider yourself lucky!

One of my concerns with LDS scouting is the quality. Do they have a high percentage of very young Eagles because the scouts are highly motivated and exceptional, or are they being spoon-fed by a program where "showing up" is the only thing the scout has to do to advance? And even attendance is not optional, from what I read. I honestly don't know the answer...but it's a concern. The term "Eagle Scout" should mean the same things regardless of a scout's faith. Is there a difference between an Eagle Scout and an "LDS Eagle"?

Scout on, Kaji!

The subject line is really misleading. There are only 3 possibilities for assigning responsibility...the Army, the Contractor, and the BSA. The Council is part of the BSA. Finding the BSA "responsible" really has no meaning, since OSHA does not have jurisdiction over personnel working in a volunteer capacity. OSHA could "cite" the BSA (i.e., issue citations) only if BSA employees were found to have violated a regulation. The only one with employees on the site was the Contractor which has paid his fine and closed up shop. What it does, however, is open the gate for civil suits from family members against the BSA.

On the advice of my financial planner, I purchased a $2 million umbrella liability policy from State Farm. Cost was less than $300 per year. If something should happen (God forbid), I am not counting on BSA to be in my camp (no pun intended). You may not need that much, but with the escalating value of homes and 401(k) funds, it's not that much any more.

Unfortunately, this is one of those "undefined" requirements that's left up to the unit leadership to interpret. I have seen interpretations anywhere from "name shows up on the charter" to "must attend 100% of all meetings and outings unless excused in advance", and all variations in between. If you do not agree with the SM's interpretation, you can politely appeal to the unit committee, and then to the District Advancement Committee. In my own troop, we do not penalize scouts for being actively involved in jobs, school or sports activities. But we do expect regular communication, attend what you can, and not to just "disappear" for a year. Of course, if the scout is elected SPL, the criteria may be a little different. You can't lead in absentia. I will say that in my troop, your son would be a LONG way from being considered "inactive".

My council's policy is to provide half. The scout is expected to earn the other half, e.g., popcorn sales, odd jobs, etc.

If you post which years you need, perhaps we can help (provided you only need one or two of each). I have boxes full of patches and probably have some dupes. Another source would be ebay. I am also looking for a 2004 Quality District patch...we earned it, but my DE never came through for us, even though I offered to pay for them. Just need one to throw in the box.

I believe your initial premise is incorrect. The CO "owns" the unit and can select it's members any way they want, as long as the members meet the membership requirements of the BSA. The answer to the rest of your questions, I believe, is "yes". If a member does not agree with a Troop's religious customs, they are free to join other troops.

And I'm sure the NFL made a nice FOS donation to the local council in honor of the scouts' service?

There are several "misconceptions" in the above posts, I think. The DE's job is not to "help the unit"...that is the job description of the Commissioner Corps. In a typical council, most of the budget goes to overhead, not to direct benefit of the unit (some will argue it's the same thing). Things like salaries, utilities, rent, property maintenance, camp maintenance, paper, xerox machine rental, DE's vehicle lease (or mileage for POVs), travel expenses for Professional meetings and training, etc. I have no idea what the LFL program costs in this council...it's never mentioned and it doesn't seem to be a big presence in the schools (nobody I know has ever heard of it, and my wife is a school system employee). When we plan district or council events, the council has a budget planning sheet that we use to determine the cost. It always includes fees for "insurance" and "council administrative fee", even if the event is held in a school or church and even if we never use any council resources, such as copy paper (when I was doing training, I paid for all handouts myself). All event fees are paid to directly to the council, and all expenses must be reimbursed from the council. The volunteers must pay all expenses out of pocket, and then submit receipts and get reimbursement after the event....sometimes 6 or 8 months later. Exception would be a contract which can only be signed by the SE. I would have thought that the Council operating budgets were developed by the Council finance committee, with input from the SE (staff and office needs) and input from all the committees for program needs. Why do we have an Executive Board, if the SE is allowed to have unlimited authority?? Yes, I have seen DE's do all of those things...from meeting with prospective CO's to being the "staff advisor" to district committees, to helping a Tiger hold a bow for the first time, to splitting wood at a camp work day. Near as I can figure, my DE averages 11-12 bucks an hour considering all of the hours he puts in. Contrast this to the $128,000+ that the SE makes (2004 IRS form 900)...a guy we never see unless he pops into a district or council level committee meeting to read us volunteers the riot act and threaten us. Real nice chap. Things are way out of whack, and it's no wonder councils are floundering.

Is there a game on today or something? I hadn't noticed.

The Chaplain's role in Youth Protection Dealing with the agnostic or atheist scout

That would be fine...and a lot better than many voters, especially the youngest (MTV set) and many of the oldest ones (there should at least be a test for dementia before a ballot is issued, regardless of age). If they "like his personality and trust him", that tells me they at least know who's running and why. To get a flavor for what I mean, tune in to the Sean Hannity radio show when he does his "man on the street" interviews in downtown Manhattan. These are the clueless people who are cancelling out your votes. They've NEVER HEARD of Cheney, Condoleeza, Colin Powell, or even Kerry, but they can quote the names and lyrics of 25 Rap songs. And most of them are recent high school graduates. Scary.

Second what Beavah said. This illustrates a disadvantage of having "multiple" EBORs, but it's not a show-stopper. One solution would be to have a 30 minute "buffer" betweeen them to give the scout and his parents time to leave before the next one comes in. I also participate as the District rep on EBORs, and they are handled much like any other BOR. The decision must be unanimous, and the Scout must be told the reasons why and what he needs to do to close the gap, if indeed it's possible. I also have had one "deferral" in which one of the troop committee members thought the "offense" was an egregious violation of the Scout Oath and Law (morally straight), there was no repentance, and there was no acknowledged effort to change the situation. The Scout appealed to district, got a new EBOR and is now an Eagle Scout. I still don't know in my own mind if the right thing was done.

Feb 3, 6:20 AM EST MySpace.com subject of sex assault probe HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Police are investigating whether as many as seven teenage girls have been sexually assaulted by men they met through the popular Web site MySpace.com. The girls, ages 12 to 16, are from Middletown and say they were fondled or had consensual sex with men who turned out to be older than they claimed. None of the incidents appeared to be violent, said Middletown Police Sgt. Bill McKenna. He said it was difficult to determine the exact number of victims because some girls have been reluctant to disclose that they met their assailants online. The social networking Web site allows users to create profiles that can include photos, personal information and even cell phone numbers. In a statement Thursday, MySpace.com said it was committed to providing a safe environment for its users. The site, which includes safety tips, also prohibits use by anyone younger than 14, though a disclaimer says the people who run the site can't always tell if users are lying about their ages.

Finally, would you want your kids reading your email? Then why do you need to be in theirs? Because I'm the parent and you are the child living under my roof. I am legally responsible for your care, feeding, safety and well-being until you are 18 and then you are free to move out of my house and do what you want. Simple as that. If more parents took this responsibility seriously, there would be fewer delinquents, teenage pregnancies, pedophile victims and drug abuse. One day you will understand. My parents told me the same thing and they were right...I do understand...now.

Parents are responsible for knowing what their children are doing and with whom, until they are 18. Period. My son, who is 27, let us know that our niece and nephew (age 12 and 11), have "MySpace" pages, and sent us the link. He also notified his cousins that he would be monitoring their space and would tell their mom and dad if anything inappropriate showed up. They e-mailed him 3 times in one day BEGGING him not to tell, so they must know that their parents would not approve. I took a look, and they are listing themselves as 18 year old high school students, a photo in a provocative (though not obscene) pose, and some profanity not becoming a young lady of proper upbringing. When Dateline NBC had a piece on MySpace last Sunday night, my wife called her sister to tell her she needed to watch. Her response, "yeah I guess I should, I really don't have a clue what they do on the computer." I suspect she didn't watch and doesn't really care. Of course if the parents squash their computer activity, they'll just go to a friend's house whose parents are equally clueless and too busy to notice what their kids do after school. Parents are not parenting any more...that's just the way it is, and our society is suffering. Suggestion for SirScoutalot...how about just deleting AIM from your computer? End of problem. What's reasonable? See my opening statement.

I am against having party affiliations listed on the ballot. Just list the name. Then the morons who insist on voting even though their only knowledge of "current events" is Britney Spears' sex life would at least have to pick at random. This is a hot button for me...does it show? Sometimes Democracy can be dangerous, as we are finding out.(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

Voting along party lines means you don't have to think about, understand or even know about the individual issues or the candidates. My MIL is a died in the wool liberal democrat and votes a straight ticket by absentee....if it was good enough for FDR, it's good enough for her. Thinking people are independents and vote the issues, not the party.(This message has been edited by scoutldr)

Youth protection experts recommend against having your child's name on their clothing. A stranger could approach them and call them by name, making them think that the adult knows them.

Make sure you give them a template to go by for proper placement. One of our adults "outsourced" the job and it came back looking worse than if he had done it himself.

Back then, "Den Mother" was the only position a female could hold. Every Wednesday afternoon we would ride our bikes over to Mrs. W's house right after school for our den meeting. This was after wearing our uniforms to school all day (every week!).

Welcome to your new hobby! First bit of advice is to pick a "segment" of the hobby and focus on it...CSP's, Lodge flaps, Philmont, etc. You can't do it all (I tried, but my wife objected to the space requirement!). I have focused on the council, lodge and council camp where I have spent 30 years scouting. In the scouting environment, there are a few unwritten rules to observe. Patch trading should generally be "one for one". No money should change hands. Adults do not trade with youth. Seal the deal with a handshake and both parties should go away friends. If you want to know the "worth" of your patches, there are several sources...the OA "Blue Book", and the "Guide to Scouting Collectibles" by George Cuhaj. Also watch ebay for an idea of what things are going for. Older felt or chenille patches and "first flaps" (the first flap issued by an OA lodge)can go for $1000 or more.

"Who expected a heat index of 100?" he said, adding, "There's a lot of other things that could be done in the future, and I'm sure they're going to rewrite the book. "They were ready, but they weren't ready for that level [of heat]. What community is? New York wasn't ready for 9/11." As a lifelong resident of Eastern Virginia, just a few observations: 1. We expected it. Heat indices of 100 or above happen EVERY summer in July and August. Typical summertime highs above 90 with dewpoints above 70 are the norm. Anyone in Virginia who doesn't know this must live in a cave. 2. Our council camp, located an hour south of Richmond, has been suffering in attendance in the past few years, and the most common complaint is heat. It's really no hotter than when I first attended the camp in 1966, or when the settlers came in 1607. The only variable is the physical condition and tolerance of those attending. 3. Heat illness can be minimized by proper hydration, rest, shade, nutrition (electrolytes), and acclimatization. Acclimitization means "training" your body to cope with the heat, much like you would "train" for a Philmont trek or high altitude hiking. Those who work/play in the heat every day are usually not affected by it. 4. Could it be that we have become "soft"? Taking someone from an air conditioned office, or an air conditioned chair in front of a Playstation, and then transporting them the next day to an outdoor sauna-like environment with a much higher level of physical exertion is a recipe for heat illness. Units from a milder climate planning to travel to Virginia, should plan and train for it, just like you would doing "Philmont work-ups". I wouldn't dream of taking my Virginia troop to Alaska for a winter campout without proper training and preparation...that would be dangerous and irresponsible. 5. This is not to minimize the responsibility of the Jambo staff...who should have recognized and planned for the above factors...we call it "Operational Risk Management" in the military. Predict and plan. Having unacclimatized people hike 5 miles and then sit in an open field under a hot sun for hours is just stupid.