scoutmomma

Nonprofit fundraiser, with experience ranging from higher education to healthcare, with a little cultural arts, social services, and animal welfare for good measure.

Your comment about the homo-pedophelia connection being baseless is in fact BASELESS. According to whom? Please attempt to back up your statement. The connection is not just everyday reasonable but makes perfect sense to me and most any man I have ever talked to about it.. So, anecdotal evidence is the basis of your contention? What personal experiences of yours and/or research back up the lack of a connection. It's been a little while since I read "Scout's Honor..." by Patrick Boyle, but I recall several real cases in that book that made a clear connection betwe

I have asked the boy to come to the next PLC meeting and the boys can decide how they would like to resolve this issue. I was thinking whatever decision is made it would be more legitimate coming from the entire PLC not just the mean ol scoutmaster. Has anyone come across this issue before? How did you resolve it? Rangersteve, personally I think your solution is a good one, especially given that you're transitioning the troop. Involving the PLC and letting them hash things out is a great way for the scouts to learn problem-solving.

Quoting Hans Zeiger on manliness? With a column in which he baselessly claims a link between homosexuality and pedophilia? Oh, puh-lease.

At a Tenderfoot Board of Review: "Tell us about the Heimlich Maneuver." "Which one?" (Afterward, one of our Assistant Scoutmasters told the BOR members that he couldn't help thinking "African or European?")

So my son, a lean and smallish 13 year old, will be doing a 3 day backpack trip toward late March. It could be snowing and single digits, raining and mid 30s, or sunny and mid 60s (or all three). Of course we'll check the weather more carefully as the time draws near, but help me develop a better sense of what he needs to have or what to skip in terms of clothing. I don't want to be that parent that encourages overpacking (he isn't used to backpacking and I don't want him to carry way more than he needs) but I can't see a single change of clothes working either - he gets wet on night one and h

Raffles are considered gambling and are forbidden by BSA. Raffles are legal in many parts of Pennsylvania under the terms of the state's Local Option Small Games of Chance Act passed in 1988. See http://www.revenue.state.pa.us/revenue/lib/revenue/sgoc_primer.pdf for more information.

How old are Brownies? 6-8 years old.

MODERATORS! Would you please escort ScoutMomma off the forum for suggesting, albeit under the guise of a pot roast recipe, that we as respected scout leaders serve alcohol to our underaged boys. I would assume that she has, by her confession, already caused great harm to her fellow campers at coucil camp, harmed the reputation of others by smuggling in such brown-bagged contraband. Oh the inhumanity of it all! Those poor innocent boys, who only hours before had never been exposed to the demon rum, now, fallen and disgraced for having been served such a fare, and would have partaken in full sco

Classic Beef Pot Roast Cuts of beef that perform well for pot roasting go by many different names: Blade roast, cross-rib roast (or shoulder clod), seven-bone pot roast, arm pot roast, and boneless chuck roast are all acceptable cuts for this traditional recipe. Ingredients: 1 teaspoon olive oil 1 (3-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 cups coarsely chopped onion 1 cup dry red wine 4 thyme sprigs 3 garlic cloves, chopped 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium beef broth 1 bay leaf 4 large carrots

Here's the background info for Scouts to review in order to fulfill the new requirements: http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/resources/32215/rankchanges.html We sent out this information to our Troop's email list and suggested that Scouts below the rank of First Class print it out, fold it and keep it tucked in their handbooks.

I know you said that it was a lot of work, and time-consuming, but since you've asked for feedback...personally I think it would have been preferable to edit the individual posts rather than wipe out entire threads. There was some fascinating discussion going on in those now-deleted threads.

a savvy BSA negotiator could turn this around to the BSA's benefit I can't help thinking that if they'd had a savvy BSA negotiator in the first place, CoL wouldn't be in this pickle now. The way things have played out, the entire situation is lose-lose for everyone. There is no "win" left in it. That's something I really detest -- how BSA & CoL keep trying to paint the City of Philadelphia as the villain in this piece, rather than admit that their actions have played any part in creating this mess. SSScouter suggested CoL note the definition of "A Scout is Obedient." I would add

I don't agree that honoring the original lease constitutes government-supported discrimination. The City of Philadelphia says otherwise, or this never would have come up. As I understand it, their concern is not to violate their own non-discriminatory policy because they don't want to lose federal funding. All the BSA has done is not succumb to creeping normalcy. What do you mean by "creeping normalcy?

gwd, I can't help thinking of something I was told before I became a parent: "Watch out for the paradigm shift!" I didn't know what they meant at the time -- or, I should say, I thought I knew what they meant -- only to learn after my son was born that all the theoretical knowledge I had didn't equate to half of what reality had in store! That said, I'm sure you'll do fine, too!

I am dual registered in multiple units I haven't been around for a year yet so I can't speak for past history, but this says to me that jblake47 is involved in more than one troop, of which at least one is boy-led and at least one adult-led.

I guess I wasn't really addressing the main point of the thread -- I wasn't trying to prove anyone wrong -- just discussing my troop's experience doubling and then doubling again. I have no idea if we'd be able to handle doubling again. We are still dealing with growing pains from getting so big so fast. For instance, we only have one active Scout over the age of 15 -- the vast majority are 13 and 14 years old, so we're not only dealing with the growing pains of the troop size and logistics, but also the growing pains of a bunch of adolescent boys who suddenly don't know what to do with the

Our CO does not provide us with any operating funds, but we do get an annual grant from a local community foundation, with whom we have a very long history, to cover heating and electrical costs at our meeting facility. Otherwise, we pay our own way, raising funds jointly with our pack (chartered with the same CO) by running a nearly 50-year-old annual community fundraising event.

Looking at the date/time column, it appears to me that just an awful lot of threads were being posted to today...er, yesterday...um, the 24th!

100 or more -- 150? -- in a troop boggles my mind! My son's troop was small for quite a few years -- the year before he crossed over, 7 boys crossed over to what would become his troop, and it doubled in size. The following year, my son crossed over with 22 other boys, and the troop suddenly was ENORMOUS. The following year, another 8 crossed over -- with attrition, we were at 45 Scouts. This past year we rechartered with 42. We've been dealing with growing pains for the past three years, and finally feel we're getting a handle on it. I expect we'll be rechartering this year with 35

SSScout asked of Hans Zeiger "he lives in Washington State??" Here you go: From a 2007 op-ed column in the Philadelphia Inquirer: "Hans Zeiger, an Eagle Scout and assistant scoutmaster in Puyallup, Wash., is spokesman for the Scouting Legal Defense Fund, a project of the American Civil Rights Union in Arlington, Va." And from his website: "Hans Zeiger is only a sinner saved by grace. Current Magazine has recognized Hans as one of America's 15 emerging college students, and as the top young religious leader on the nation's campuses. A native of Puyallup, Washington, the 21-year old Eagle

That was a concern of ours as well -- we have one boy up for his 2nd Class Board of Review next week, and another coming up right behind him, who has completed his 2nd and 1st Class requirements EXCEPT for the newly revised/added requirements, another who has completed all Tenderfoot requirements except for the newly revised one... We've informed the Troop and the boys that these new requirements had come down the pike, but needed to give them the "official" answers to study up on... Our conclusion was to inform the Scout up for 2nd Class BOR next week and his parents that we'll need

Thanks for the link -- it's what I've been looking for to pass on to all our Scouts below the rank of Star who will need to fulfill these new requirements. We've been tapdancing on this for a bit, knowing what the requirements stated but not (until now) having the "official" backup information so our Scouts will know how to address these requirements. But now we do, yay!

OGE, I'll have to check Shady Maple out sometime, too. Good eating is always appreciated! So, see what happens when you bust your butt? You lose out on the fun stuff. Ain't it the truth? My nephew who is also going along bruised his elbow playing basketball but he still intends to go boarding. My doctor, on the other hand, told me that I have no activity restrictions since I can't hurt it worse than it already is -- unless I fall on it again! So no snowboarding for me. So I will just stay inside where it's warm and think positive thoughts about healing.

Tea sounds lovely, Eamonn, and I will seek out the old English Shoppe and Tearoom next time I am in Lancaster. Meantime, I am going on the ski trip, just won't be participating in any snow sports. I will plant myself and my doughnut pillow and my industrial-strength ibuprofen in the ski lodge and watch the Scouts frolic in the snow out the picture window.