SemperParatus

NewCubDad, In preparation of your upcoming meeting with the other pack, consider making a list of the top ten things you would like to see happening in the prospective new pack. This would give you focused talking points during your time with the CM. I think sharing it on this forum may be very helpful to others who are facing a similar situation.

For Eagle projects, our District has a 'policy' that scouts are strongly discouraged from soliciting donations to help fund a project, but it is okay to seek grants. I have a scout whose Eagle project has a budget of $3,000, about half of which he intends to earn through fundraising efforts - the remainder through 'grants'. Anybody want to venture a guess as to the difference between a donation and a grant? So far, the District has not been able to explain. I am advising the scout that a grant would be monies contributed by nonprofit organizations/government agencies that would have an interest in the project's completion. Am I wrong? Anybody ever run into this before?

I agree...the whistle has to go. This should be brought up at the next committee meeting. He will be doing the scouts a greater service teaching the silent response to the scout sign. I found that one of the best attention devices is do nothing...stand there with your sign in the air and wait. Nothing proceeds until there is complete quiet. And, please don't get in the habit of shouting SIGNS UP - that's almost as bad as a whistle.

Nice one!! Do beavers have vision too? I have seen some beaver lodges that put our council camp's dining hall to shame.

If you would ask the units that have sponsor names on the trailer, I think you will find that in the majority of the cases the donation was made because the business owner already has a relation to the troop (son in the troop, an alumni, etc.) and that they were not 'solicited' out of the blue, but merely trying to help their own unit and get a little advertising too. In most cases, the sponsor is probably not giving to or being approached by FOS anyway.

How about this argument from the Guide to Safe Scouting. The age-appropriate chart http://www.scouting.org/pubs/gss/ageguides.pdf lists flag football as appropriate for Tiger Cubs - With their Adult Partner. So, if Tiger Cubs can play flag football with an adult why can't boy scouts?

TySim I did find the following relating to a scout that was injured playing touch football (Cascade Pacific Council) and sued the unit leaders for failure to properly supervise - earning the paralyzed scout $4 million in damages. It does not say how the scout was injured, it could have been that it was only scouts playing touch football at the time. STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS (Senate - April 07, 1997) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Page: S2787] By Mr. ASHCROFT: S. 514. A bill to provide uniform standards for the awarding of compensatory and punitive damages in a civil action against a volunteer or volunteer service organization, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary. THE LIABILITY REFORM FOR VOLUNTEER SERVICES ACT [Page: S2788] Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, in his `Democracy in America,' Alexis de Tocqueville observed `Americans of all ages, all stations in life * * * are forever forming associations.' Be it to repair a public thoroughfare or to promote temperance, de Tocqueville noted volunteer associations were Americans' best response to community needs and to cultural pathologies. This observation, made over 150 years ago, certainly has been the case until a little over a decade ago. Volunteers have nurtured the elderly, they have coached generations of children, they have cleaned up our communities, they have supported and counseled those in need throughout American history. I look back at my time as Governor of the State of Missouri when we started the Clean the Highways Program using volunteers. We had 5,000 groups of volunteers--5,000 groups, not 5,000 volunteers--who accepted responsibility. It is a sort of fulfillment of de Tocqueville's observation about America, that Americans of all ages, of all stations in life are forming associations to do good things. These groups have been catalysts that interact with all elements of our culture. It is to volunteers that we owe a great deal of gratitude for our social cohesion--our sense of community in America. When things are done from the perspective of government, people view them as entitlements. When things are done by individuals because they volunteer, people know that we love one another. Basically, it is in our care and regard for each other--expressed when we do things on a voluntary basis--that is the real glue that binds us together as communities and holds us together as a culture. It was in 1982 that the first warning signs went out that our intricate system of volunteers fulfilling social work was under attack. In Runnemede, NJ, a Little League coach volunteer was sued because he repositioned his Little League shortstop to the outfield, and in the outfield the Little League shortstop then misjudged a flyball and sustained an eye injury. A suit was filed on the allegation that the 10-year-old youngster was a born shortstop, but not an outfielder, and the courts found the volunteer coach negligent. Over the next 5 years, liability rates for Little League baseball short up from $75 to $795 forcing many leagues to stop playing. In another example, a boy in a Scouting unit with the Boy Scouts of the Cascade Pacific Council suffered a paralyzing injury in a game of touch football. Several adults volunteered to supervise the trip. The youth filed a personal injury suit alleging that the Boy Scouts and the volunteers were negligent for failing to supervise him adequately. I remember playing aggressive games as a Boy Scout. I remember playing a game we called fox over the hill. One group was supposed to run from one line to the other line without getting tackled, pummeled, and roughed up. That is the way boys operate. That is part of boyhood. But the jury found that the volunteers were personally liable for some $7 million. Oregon law caused the judgment to be reduced to around $4 million, but few Boy Scout volunteers can afford that kind of a judgment. The jury held the volunteers to a heightened standard of care, charging them with a meticulous constant supervision level of care in their supervision over activities that routinely have been permitted without oversight. Such a standard is impossible to uphold. Anyone who has been a Boy Scout or certainly tried to supervise Boy Scouts knows that such a standard would be very difficult, and such an impossible standard has basically caused a marked drop off in voluntarism across the country.

I expect you will not find a 'silver bullet' written in BSA literature that says adults can or cannot play touch/flag football with scouts. My opinion is that the CC is overacting big time. When our scoutmasters play touch football with the scouts, it is usually the adults that get hurt. Last year at summercamp, we had a game. One ASM got run over by a scout (the scout is 6'3"", 245 pounds and runs a 4.8 40-yd dash) and his shoulder was numb for hours. Another ASM broke his toe. I was sore for three days afterward. The scouts just had a blast, while us old guys learned a very valuable lesson...we are old. Of course, we make sure that both teams have scouts and adults, that way the adults don't have to suffer an humiliating defeat. As long as its all in fun and no one is getting injured (too much) it should not be a problem.

Maybe contact PRAY to see if they can help - http://www.praypub.org/main_frameset.htm

Sean, Thank you. I vote your PROJECT BAG as this forum's best practical idea for 2004! You da' man!

For each Christian family to read together the first two chapters of Luke on Christmas morning, so that the miracle of our Savior's birth can be on their hearts.

Thank you for sharing such a nice story.

No Aarvark - you are just asking for some good ol' fashioned common respect. Respect for a flag as a symbol of our country, and respect for a uniform as a symbol of scouting.

Is this it? http://www.creighton.edu/~bsteph/pack114/library/xmas-r-l.html

So, if I am tracking with you on this...If in the future O.J. decides to (i) wear his scout pants pulled down so that half of his undies are showing, (ii) wears his scout cap pulled down over his eyes with that sideways tilt, (iii) adds some cool black shades, a couple of pounds of gold chains, a ring on each finger, and a very cool slouch to the look...you would say 'atta boy' and suggest he is more than presentable for his Eagle BOR.

Ah yes...the All-American ACLU...upholder of our nation's rights and liberties... So, what does Roger Baldwin, founder and the guiding light of the ACLU for its first thirty years of existence have to say... In an article written for Soviet Russia Today (September 1934), "When the power of the working class is once achieved, as it has been only in the Soviet Union, I am for maintaining it by any means whatsoever." "The class struggle is the central conflict of the world, all others are coincidental." Entry of Roger Baldwin in the Harvard reunion book on the occasion of the 30th anniversary reunion of his class of 1905 (1935), "I seek social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and sole control of those who produced the wealth: communism is the goal." Doesn't much sound like a proponent of the American form of government to me.

The language "any form of support" would encompass charter org sponsorship. The 'including' section referring only to meetings, events, etc. is intended as a clarifier of possible forms of support and not as a prohibition against other forms of support (i.e., sponsorship).

This appears to be the entire text of the bill. 108th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3026 To support the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the United States of America. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES November 20, 2004 Mr. FRIST (for himself and Mr. ENSIGN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A BILL To support the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the United States of America. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SUPPORT OUR SCOUTS. (a) DEFINITION- In this section the term `Federal agency' means each department, agency, instrumentality, or other entity of the United States Government. (b) IN GENERAL- No Federal law (including any rule, regulation, directive, instruction, or order) shall be construed to limit any Federal agency from providing any form of support to the Boy Scouts of America or the Girls Scouts of the United States of America (or any organization chartered by the Boy Scouts of America or the Girl Scouts of the United States of America), including-- (1) holding meetings, jamborees, camporees, or other scouting activities on Federal property if such organization has received permission from the appropriate Federal official responsible for such property; or (2) hosting or sponsoring any official event of such organization. END

Hope this helps: 1930 song hits - http://www.musicweb.uk.net/classrev/2002/Sept02/1930.htm http://www.popculturemadness.com/Music/Top54-Back/1930.html Fads of the 1930s - http://www.crazyfads.com/30s.htm

Scouting is about creating memories that young people can look back on with fondness. Anyone want to share their oldest scouting memory? For me, I think I was about 5 years old and I remember tagging along with my father (cubmaster) and older brother (who I believe was a Lion rank at the time - predecessor to Webelos) on what looking back must have been some kind of camporee. Anyway, the memory that haunts me to this day was seeing a boy scout (who must have been 10 feet tall if he was an inch) do the old flat hand through the flame trick. For some odd reason that is seared into my brain and from that point on I was hooked on scoutin'.

Hey Back! The LONGER the BETTER! Are your boys twins or one year apart?

To stay with the 'float' theme. How about giving each an ice cream float (freshly made). Or maybe a blow-up inflatable pool toy (they float). Or a bouquet of helium balloons (they float too).

advancement chair

It's been awhile since Cubs for me, but... I take it you are talking about a unit that has both orange and blue shirted Tigers and that there is some basis that 'both are kind of right' because of the recruitment schedule. My common sense tells me not to make a big deal about it during a pack inspection. Mark them both off as okay (telling a 7-year old who is just proud to be a scout and wearing his orange shirt that he is technically wearing the wrong shirt would probably not go over too well no matter how nice you are about it). If asked about it, address it by saying that because of the uniform transition both are acceptable for this unit for this year. However, you look forward to coming back next year and seeing everybody in cub scout blue.

Wawangundowapn from Nentico. Attendance (or lack thereof) is always a good topic. For the number of new Ordeal members we induct each year (300 - 500) we see only a small percentage of new folks at the Lodge fellowships and banquets. I would estimate less than 10% of new members ever make it to a fellowship weekend and only a couple percent to a banquet. Lack of communication and follow-up with new members is one of the drivers of declining attendance figures. I think we need to find a better way to communicate with the newest members (who have not yet developed a deep interest in OA and have not attended chapter meetings) than simply a quarterly newsletter. We should consider driving some OA energy through the units rather than using a shotgun approach aimed at individuals that invariably misses the mark.