scoutldr

Lincoln's Declaration of Amnesty required that the "rebels" repent and renew their allegiance to the United States and swear a written loyalty oath before God. If Mr. Hamdi is willing to do that, we can reconsider.::: Whereas it is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United States and to reinaugurate loyal State governments within and for their respective States: Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons who have, directly or by implicati

More about the statue at Mr. Boyce's grave: "THE BOY SCOUT" by famed sculptor, Dr. R. Tait McKenzie. He was a surgeon, physical educator, artist, and sculptor. A personal friend of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of Scouting, Dr. McKenzie was a member of the Philadelphia Council Executive Board from 1911 to his death in 1938. When asked in 1914 to create something tangible "that would stand as a symbol of what Scouting stood for," Dr. McKenzie sculpted his beloved statue portraying the "Ideal Boy Scout." The sculptor portrayed in his statue the grand traits of character he knew the movement

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2572&pt=William%20Boyce This is a cool website where you can search for the graves of famous (and infamous!) people. Includes photos of Mr. Boyce and of the grave site. Location is Ottawa Ave Cemetery, Ottawa, LaSalle County, IL

Anyone who moves to a foreign country and takes up arms against the United States, has voluntarily relinquished any rights he had as a citizen. In response to the question in the subject line...who cares?

Varsity, Venturing, Exploring, Learning for Life, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Order of the Arrow, Mic-O-Say, etc. Seems to me we are trying too hard to fill every perceived gap in a youth's (and volunteer's) time. Like many corporations, it is my opinion that BSA needs to re-examine it's mission and return to it's core business. As the Department of Defense is realizing, by devoting infrastructure and resources to activities that do little to advance the core mission (warfighting), it dilutes the ability to complete that mission. Many councils are being forced to sell their council camps in or

Professionals who "take over" and do the jobs of the volunteers, because it's not being done "their way" or at the rate they think it should be done. Volunteers who think "the Professionals work for us." Council Executive Boards who let the SE dictate to them. Old Scouters who are still in it for the "social club", sit around with a coffee cup, getting in the way, and doing nothing to help the boys.

Thanks, Eammon. We're not "scouting" we are "creating memories". You and the youth will never forget that trip.

Hire the best and brightest camp staff you can find. This will mean paying them more than they can make by working 1/3 the hours at McDonalds. At staff week, tell them that the Scouts and Scouters are CUSTOMERS, and their evaluations and bonuses (yes, Bonuses!) will depend on how happy their customers are at the end of the week. Fire the "smile police" (those whose job it is to find a scout having fun and then finding a rule that says he can't). Have enough rules to ensure safety, but eliminate those whose only purpose is to aggravate people and encourage them to camp elsewhere next year.

I feel this thread is coming unravelled. Darn it!

Thanks for the discussion, although it is slightly off track now. I saw one of my fellow Training Chairs from another District at the scout shop this morning, and she said that the new "draft policy" was discussed at the Commissioner's meeting as a "done deal". In this Council we have a high turnover of leaders due to military transfers. We are lucky to keep a leader for a year, due to deployments, much less their whole 3 year tour. We have a few SMs with 20-30 year tenure, but they are rare. The cub side is even worse. Most packs and dens change leadership every year. Our training stat

My wife is a nurse, and she taught me a trick. Always carry a tube of cake frosting...in the squeeze tube. Someone who is unconscious cannot swallow liquids or take a glucose tablet. Squeeze the frosting "between the cheek and gum" and massage it in. The sugar will absorb through the mucous membranes. Keep it in your Troop first aid kit and another in your pack. The advice to teach others the signs and symptoms of hyper- and hypoglycemia, so that they will know how to react is valuable. And wear a Medic-Alert bracelet or necklace.

Hi Aqua, and welcome to the campfire! Don't get too close and drip on it! I am a Lifeguard Counselor. The BSA Lifeguard Counselor Guide has all the lesson plans in it. You should not deviate from it. My biggest complaint is that Scouts show up with Swimming and Lifesaving MB on their sash, but can't swim the length of the pool with any semblance of a "strong manner". Too many camps are Merit Badge mills and all the scout has to do is show up for a majority of the sessions and he gets the badge, then he's disappointed when he finds that BSALG is not a "gimme". There was another threa

An interesting historical tidbit: The Delaware tribe were indigenous to the southeastern Pennsylvania area (home of Treasure Island Scout Reservation where OA was founded). The German settlers of Pennsylvania (my ancestors) were the first to write down the language of the Delaware, or "Lenni Lenape", and they spelled the words phonetically...in German. If you have a scout taking German, ask him to pronounce the Lenni Lenape word as if it were a German word...and it will be pretty close. FWIW

I didn't say "opt out" of IOLS. I just said there's now an alternate way of completing the requirement rather than going to a scheduled, formal course. Our professional advisor to the Training Committee initiated it, and there was, predictably, lots of grousing from the "silverbacks."...but we're doing it and it's apparently "legal". Further clarification: the "mandatory requirement" has been clarified to apply to "Unit Leaders", but it was emphasized that the meaning is "anyone whose primary registration is with a Unit." This excludes MB counsellors, Commissioners, etc. ONe thing I

We are doing that now, sort of. The new Intro to Outdoor Leader Skills allows for an experienced person to "test out" of the course by demonstrating to (or learning from) a "Mentor" that they have an adequate knowledge of Scoutcraft (requirements through First Class level) to train their Junior Leaders. The formal weekend outdoor course is no longer required. I had planned to introduce this as a new thread, but I am curious if others are using this method? Do you accept the signed check off list from anyone, or do you have lists of approved "Mentors" at the District level (a la the MB C

OGE, I agree with the concept...as a goal, not a requirement. If a leader is functioning adequately, but hasn't earned the "Trained" strip for some reason, are you going to strip him/her of membership anyway? Some will quit, rather than comply simply because they don't like being dictated to by Council. Some trainers may quit, simply because they are already maxed out on the amount of time their spouse or job will abide. "Ready, fire, aim."

I frequently serve as the District rep at Eagle Boards. Your BOR should have been 24 hours ago. We're all waiting ... what did you think?

In another thread, someone (I can't find it now) alluded to their Council's new policy of making Leader training mandatory in the coming year. The council in which I serve has also drafted a policy which we are now discussing in the Training Committee. In essence, the draft states that any "Leader" (not further defined) who was on the rolls prior to November 1, 2004 will NOT be eligible to continue their membership if they have not been basic trained in their registered position. All of our units recharter in December. To facilitate this, training fees will not be charged. It's been facto

Dave, if you know a member of NESA, the quarterly Eagletter always has order forms for replacement Eagle "credentials". They now have plastic wallet cards, too. I think you'll have to settle for current signatures, tho.

Control of rank patches is to prevent "stockpiling" by units. The Councils want to make sure the advancement reports get filed properly, thus preventing embarrassing problems when a scout files his Eagle application. If anyone wants to impersonate an Eagle Scout, by wearing a medal, rank patch or square knot, he can get whatever he needs on Ebay.

As I post this, there are 757 active users. I have seen twice that number. I would hope that some of those are professionals (other than Dave and commando), and those who work in Irving. I know of nowhere else where you can get honest opinions and guage the climate of the program nationwide. I also hope that some good potential Scouters, both volunteer and pro, are not put off by the childish bickering.

Stretch goal: if you make it, you can claim credit for it. If you don't make it, it must not have been realistic, and it's not your fault.

A good indicator might come from the supply division. How many AOL patches get sold each year?

Yep...I could buy the knots without question. Rank patches are more controlled...they won't sell any without an advancement report...but I think it depends on who is behind the counter.

Go to the Scout Shop and buy one. I just did this to "decorate" a new shirt I got on eBay. Bought an Eagle knot, too, among others, ... no questions asked, other than "cash or charge?"