SctDad

We have two types of resident camps this summer. First all of the districts in our council are having a twilight camp. Most are running monday through friday, 1800 - 2100. There are a few Districts that are doing a weekend and I think one is doing a weeklong/all day. The other is a Cub Encampment that they are doing. There is two types. Cub Scout Encampment (Wolves and Bears) and then there is Webelos Encampment. THey are both 4 days and three nights at the local summer camp. Hope these ideas help.

There are a lot of good points here. But I think that the major issue I would have is being able to read it. Ask her to fill out a PDF. She may understand. Why does it matter how long she has been out of practice when she is filling out her sons medical form. It is a basic physical exam. OGE had a good point. Has anyone looked to see if there is any help needed at the Camp Health Lodge. Maybe they could use a phhysician on staff.

I can see some issues that are coming up with this scout and his mother. 1. Cannot read the form. In the 12 years I have spent in the medical field I have realized one thing. You can never read a dr's handwriting without a degree in ancient hyrogliphics (sp). But time and exp. not to mention knowing key points to look for helps. FOr this, I would simply ask that she fill out the PDF version. Not to mention it will be easier for her to update in the future. 2. Medical License: If there is a genuine concern about the validity of the statment that she is a physician, put it to her this way. The camp staff will probably flag his record seeing the matching signatures. Could you please include either a copy of your MD card or at least you license number. That way we are not forced to bring him back. As a physician she should understand this and there should be no issue. 3. Check on the custody issue. Just to cover your bases. You do not want to take the boy to camp and have an angry parent bringing up charges. There is just too much that can go wrong. If there is no custody issue, just have dad sign the parent part and her sign the physician. And most of all explain to her that this is not a witch hunt against her (if she is being honest), that you are just trying make sure that there are not problems when you get to camp. Any reasonable parent should understand this.

I know that you are looking for Western NC, but here are some Eastern NC thoughts. Have you ever thought about going on a high advaenture trip. There is a camp in eastern NC that offers traditional Summer Camp right next to a High adventure Base. Your older scouts can kayak the outerbanks for a week while the new scouts complete some meritbadges and First year scouter skills back at camp. There are also other types of high adventure programs there too Just in case you were wondering, you can walk from one to another in about 10-15 minutes depending on your pace. Here are some links for you. http://www.campbonner.org/ http://www.pamlicoseabase.org/main.html Hope these Help

Here are some links to some websites that are about the food. Maybe this can help. http://touregypt.net/recipes/ http://egyptianfood.org/ http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,egyptian_food,FF.html I have not looked around on them so surf at your own discretion. A quick search on Priental trading (you may want to copy and paste. http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/search/processRequest.do?Ntt=Egypt&requestURI=searchMain&Ntk=all&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchallpartial&N=0 Hope this helps.

Actually if you look into the YP training, you will see where it is noted that skinny-dipping is not authorized. take it as you will. Just remember that you are held accountable for your actions. We can if the topic to death, but we know the rules. As a sidce note, I will try to find where it mentions the no skinny dipping rule when I have a little more time to search the net.

EA I have a question. Do you have den leaders for you tiger dens. If so I think that it can still be a great program. I think that if you have 3 or 4 boys in the den then it may be easier for a TDL to run. He will have a few boiys that he is able to plan for and they can grow together and make the best of it. I hope that you are able to find another Tiger Coach. They can make all the difference to a new TDL. Good luck with your recruiting and have a good year.

I guess this would be apples to oranges, but I have heard about dens meeting on sunday afternoons. The DL stated that it convienant. They met about 2:30 (after church and after sunday lunch) and they ended before 4:00. So the boys could go home and eat before sunday night church activities. Works for them. I also tell my DL's that I do not care what night they have the den meetings, as long as we know about it and it is in a safe place.

I may be repeating what someone has said but I sill still say it anyway. This is not the same with all troops. Some troops welcome ALL adults that are intereseted in helping. If your current troop is not what you are looking for, or does not fit your family values, look around for another troop. Just don't give up on the program by seeing a few bad examples.

I am sitting here laughing as the thought process goes through my mind of having the scouts earn merit badges by completing our honey-do lists. I knoww that there is some legitimate work that can be done but I just thought it was funny. On that note does that mean that I can have a scout balance my checkbook while working on his personal mgt. Maybe do my gardening Fix the electrical in my house (Electricity MB or Electronics MB) Maybe designing my new house (Drafting and Engineering) I'm sorry I couldn't resist.

You have recieved a lot of suggestions here, mostly about buying lightweight equipment. I do not see why everyone os so against trailer camping. It can be beneficial and just as fun. Now I have no problem with lightweight camping and hiking to campsites, but that is not the only camping. DewASM Find out what your boys want to do. They may want to start with camping where they have options of getting the extra gear out of the trailer. Maybe the older ones want to go through doe the light weight camping and go out further. You have a great list that has been presented to you. Take this and figure out what your boys want. As for the discussion of fires. You can have a fire for camping and still follow the LNT principles. I do not know about the new Scout HB, But look in some of the older ones, they show you how to do that. Of course this is all dependant on you local area and what they will let you do. Here in NC, as long as there is no burn ban then we can pretty much have a campfire anytime. Hope this helps.

Update on the Camp Daniel Boone. (Just so that my numbers are current. 8 Boys have tested positive. Staff also said that they are in the process of cleaning all facilities before the next session of camp to reduce chances of infection. They are not closing camp and still expect to have another 5000 scouts come through. One scout was quoted as saying "You always get sicks at camp" But them he added, "this time it is a little scary"

With the rank issues, what is next, earn the AOL, Get your Eagle. So what if a boy goes over skills twice. OH NO, they might actually be proficient at something. Cooking for eagle is a great idea. As for the girls in the Cub Scouts and Boyi Scouts. NO. If you are upset that your program is not doing things like camping and outdoor stuff, then volunteer to change it. I have a hard enough time with all of my boys in the pack. The last thing that I need is girls making this harder. I know that someone is going to think that I am being a pig, but what part of BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA does everyone have a problem with. they have gone through a lot to make the programs like venturing and exploring, but why do we have to do this for all ranks. If your GSUSA troop does not provide the program you are looking for, help to change it, that is what we tell other scouters to do when they end up in a troop that does not fit their needs.

Schiff I think that your numbers are off. We just got a press release sent to us from our council and district through our newsgroups. There were two that had tested positive and 1 was still out. Now there were some that were kept in quarentine if they had a fever of 99 or higher, and ALL people in camp had their temp checked. After 24 hours of being seperated, only 4 still had a fever. The ones that did still have a fever were brought food and monitored. According to the e-mail they have tested only 7 for the swine flu. The ones that tested positive were from out of state, they were up from Florida. They were brought their food and made to feel comfortable, while things were being checked out. They also put out that if a scout has a fever, then they need to stay home. Secondly, if a scout comes to camp and has a fever, then the whole troop will be isolated from the rest of the campers or have the option to go home. This is to prevent spreading the disease. if you have any questions call your camp before leaving home and ask them what their policies are.(This message has been edited by SctDad)

My career field has me dealing with HIPPA issues all day and every person that I take to the Emergency Department. HIPPA does apply mainly to Medical providers. But it also applies to anyone who has a need to see the records of medical treatment and history. (Examples are insurance and incident investigators) So does this apply to leaders. Maybe. How do we prevent running into problems? Basically the rules are set like this. You must make an attempt to protect the PROTECTED INFORMATION. Meaning, use envelopes or binders that can keep information covered and out of sight of prying eyes. If you are going to use the method of making sure every vehicle has copies, put them in an envelope and seal it. That should suffice. Put it under the seats of the vehicle when you get out to go and eat. That is making an effort to protect the information. Here is another suggestion. Have one copy of all the records in one vehicle. Also have one parent that is not going have a copy in case of an enroute emergency. Also make sure that they have access to a fax. That way if needed you can fax it directly to the Doctor that is requesting it. No extra copies laying around and you have copies as you need them. I hope that this information helps you with what you need. As for how long do you keep them. I think that they are good for a year. After that I would feed them to the shredder. Or use them as kindling

I have used the trax programs and have had good success. They are pretty easy to use and I think they are well made. Not to mention they are usually updated pretty fairly. I need to go in and get thigns updated for the year, but I use the trax for our training.

Thnk about it this way. He is being held back in school. Do you really want to hold him back in scouts also. I thought we were going to have this problem, but our DE told me to move the boys up in scouting so he can stay with his den mates. You trainer is wrong. If you are still having problems contact your commissioner or your DE.

I was looking at some of the things that were listed by the insane scouter. I just had a question about cookbooks. Has anyone had success with these. I was thinking about doing this and wondered if things went over well for your unit. I was thinking that we would have our parents and leaders contribute recipes and then publish the books and sell them at local shops. What are your success stories.

I think that the NCLBA is a joke and that it is holding back many of our students. Here in NC from the day that kids enter the 3rd grade, the teachers are pushing the End of Grade Testing. They tell the kids that they have to pass or they will be held back. Then when it comes time for the test the kids are SOOOOO stressed out and scared that they are failing. These are kids that have been straight A students, Honor Roll, and such that are being told that they are now going to be held back because they failed ONE test. As for the rest, I think that we should have some of the true life skills brought back into the school system. We ahve gotten away from the life skills and now focus only on the books. We are having people go to college and move into the real world without the simple skills of Cooking and balancing checkbooks.

I read this poem and I just have to say that my son almost made me cry on the way home tonight. We were talking about what group he would be in when his little brother joins. We also got to talking about how they bothe will be in the boy scout troop together. Then out of the blue he started talking how long it would take to get his Eagle. The thing that he said that made me feel good and want to cry was that he said "I hope that when I get my Eagle you are standing next to me." That boy just gets me sometimes.

Pack212 HOLY SMOKES It has been a while since I have heard about a pack that large. I guess that you do have some things good going for you. I can see where you are coming from with the rising cost. I would have to say that if you pay membership fees and stuff I guess you do some killer fundraisers. Personally, if we had weven half of that in our membership then I would be bald, but at least you have the leaders to back it up.

click I know what you mean about the survey that they had us complete. I took it. I rememebr one of the questions that they had was would you still be interested in the Scouting Mag. if it was no longer provided for free. Would you pay for the subscription if you had to. Of course I marked NO. I already put a lot into scouting, why are they asking me to pay more. I think that a simple magazine for all of the registered leaders is a small cost for their time and dedication. On the matter of the program helps, I think that you are all right, there is a lot of things that they are leaving out and the fact that the fast tracks is dedicated to advancement. I have been looking over some of the things but I am still up in the air about it. I have all the files downloaded and I am waiting to get a chamce to print them out.

I think htat everyone here is hitting it on the head. Scouting is not as well known as it used to be because we are not as visible. And I am talking both BSA and GSUSA. I think that with the 100th Anniversary of BSA we have a great chance to bring scouting back into the light. I think that maybe service projects should be more than just working on the churches back flower garden. I think that if we get out where the public can see us, in uniform, doing something that is onbviously for the good of the community, then people may start seeing scouting for what it really is again. I also see that scouting is not what it used to be. I personally try to keep the boys in my pack active and having fun. Although it is not always easy to do, I keep trying. Lets all get things rolling and bring back helping little old ladies across the street.

Sounds like you got what you needed. Something to remind you why we do this. Glad it worked out for you and I hope this keeps that scouting flame burning inside of you

Were they fudge brownies??? Good story though