BigDave

I have read it and taken some time to digest it and there is so precious little that I like about it. I thought the old one could use some work and was unwieldy if you had a large ceremony, but I don't like the new one at all. There's symbolism that's wrong and confusing. There's continuity problems. I'm just really not impressed with it. If your fire, which was large enough to be seen from a different mountain, goes out in an ice storm, your problem is a lack of kindling? (I think I know why your fire went out.) And you're going to burn your bow and thus give up your ability to

"Anyway, I'm still trying to understand the reaction in which someone decides to leave scouting, not because their CO has lost its ability to discriminate, but because OTHERS have gained the freedom to choose NOT to discriminate. I just don't get it. Why does one person NOT want another to have the same freedom that THEY have?" It isn't as simple as that. Troops don't exist in isolation. Removing the ban means the possibility of gay leaders at summer camp, district events, OA events, etc. If a parent doesn't want their precious darling camping out in the woods with a gay leader,

Something that hasn't been mentioned here is that there is a difference between a parent wanting to attend because they have a genuine concern about the conduct of the ceremony / religious implications of it / their son's health / etc. vs a parent wanting to attend because they regard it as just somewhere they would normally attend analogous to graduation, courts of honor, etc. I would venture to say in 99.9% of cases, the situation is the latter. Any legitimate concern about the ceremony should be raised in advance of the event, not by simply showing up the night of the Ordeal ceremony.

I should clarify that I don't particularly care one way or another whether photography is permitted at the ceremony - I merely want our lodge to be in compliance with the policy. Prior to the advent of digital cameras, we used to ban photography other than our own historian committee, but nobody particularly cared because very few people were interested in burning $20 in film+development at an Ordeal anyway. About six years or so ago, we looked for a basis for that "policy" and couldn't find one, so we wrote it off as one of the "made up rules" and quit enforcing it. We have, si

Seminoles? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Chief_Osceola_on_Renegade_FSU.jpg/450px-Chief_Osceola_on_Renegade_FSU.jpg(This message has been edited by BigDave)

"In units, the selection ratio is 1 adult authorized for selection for every 50 registered youth." Is that a (relatively) new rule? I thought it was one adult period, provided that the election yielded at least one youth elected.

The Guide to inductions says on page 20, when discussing the call-out ceremony, "Unlike the other OA ceremonies, photos and video may be taken at call-out ceremonies". My question is this - where is the rule against photos and video in ceremonies actually stated? The context of this statement seems a rather round about way of establishing a policy.