SSScout

*sigh*

Once upon a time auto rally courses were popular. The idea is to drive at a certain speed for a certain distance, following directions along a prescribed course. The driver who came closest to the "ideal" calculated time for the course without going over it was the winner. I remember one course I drove with my buddy as navigator, we came in , I think 35th out of 50 some contestants. There was one direction that I remember: "Take second right after 138 mail boxes." What??? Well, we passed a trailer park with over a hundred mailboxes all in a row! And if you took the FIRST right, it

And that's how you earn your consultant's fee. You want that chocolate cake donut? Just askin'....

Well, maybe. If the folks that "play the game well" might pay more , the folks that can't "play the game" might pay less. Perhaps time for another thread with very little to do about Scouting.... Nah, not today.

Yeah. It's like the state lotteries. Why not just make our taxes fair and equitable , and not make "school funding" (for instance) dependent on folks' greed and desire to beat out others?

My original "Handbook" is/was titled "Handbook for Boys". The Scout part was inside.....

Hornaday did much good. However..... Read thru William Temple Hornaday - Wikipedia but pay attention to "Racism at the zoo" section.

If it wasn't before, it certainly is now. The Troop of my yoooth did just about everything to make things cheap and affordable. We made our tents (plastic grommeted tarps), some cook sets (#10 cans etc.) . Now, of course, us kids had very little idea what the parents/adults did for us other than drive the car and help with other stuff (money?, How to hold a saw or hatchet? ) I never HEARD of a "District Executive" or "Charter" until I started getting called "Mr. SSScout". by my Scoutson's buddies. MBCounselor? My Music/Bugling was my school Band teacher. I had to call the Cou

Well let's see what the score board shows. Categories: US Constitution: All men created equal . . . Equal treatment before the Law . . . 3/5ths compromise? Sermon on the Mount: "Christianity" actually following Jesus' example? Even He did not have a "golden rule" that was called that. Q'ran: All are brothers (and sisters?) under God/Allah, if I read things right.... Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Adopted by ALL the United Nations in 1948 : All people, young or old, no matter the place or circumstance of birth, should be treated ,? how? The Scout

1) Check with your Troop's Charter Org and Charter Org Representative. If you don't know who that is, contact your District Executive (available thru the Council Website). I will assume the Adult Leaders you speak of are "trained"? and "registered"? and probably on the Troop Committee? Not much use then, in talking to them? 2) Talk to the other Scout parents. Any others of like opinion? There is safety and value in numbers. 3) Collect your evidence (sounds very persuasive to me) , include past years stuff as appropriate, and contact your Council Scout Executive directly,

Well whose fault is that? If one is "in person," that would seem to indicate that a hand can be raised and a question or clarification asked . The Instructor has three choices: "Here is the answer...", OR "That's a good question, but I don't know, I'll find out and get back to you". OR ... " Well, what do you all think? How would you handle this?" EDGE and all that. Make your "In Person" instructor earn her/his pay.

Possibly because it would benefit a private concern, not a public one? Improving the fishing on a privately owned lake might be seen differently than a public park one? Doesn't the city/county collect such? Ours does. No charge, part of the normal recycling service, trash pick-up. Several scheduled pick-ups after the turn of the new year. And, how many trees can you deal with? How big is the neighborhood you would draw from? What would you do with the trees that don't "fit" in your lake? Our county and several incorporated towns hereabouts cooperate and grind up many TONS o

Delay the Board. "Extenuating circumstances require we postpone the Board of Review until . . ." No board, no need to approve/disaprove. No need for appeal. Yet.

Whoah... there is no such thing as "useless" information. One cannot tell when any piece of knowledge might be of use. Crossword puzzles, impressing girl friends, finding folks of common derivation at a party, preventing wife from hurting herself by repairing "something" . . . My freshman class in dynamics did not come useful until I started investigating traffic accidents 35 years later. The laws of physics cannot be denied, it turns out. But yes, indeed , we do thrive on such esoteria. Such is very useful. If the shape of an axe head is the "Michigan" pattern, or the shape o

There's a SM Minute in that. Once upon a time, Scoutson would roll his eyes when I would start off "back when I was a Scout..." Now he wants to hear the stories. Sometimes it is hard for the young to understand that yes, the world existed BEFORE they existed. There is a continuum. My dad drove a horse drawn milk wagon when he was 16.... and he confirmed the story that the horse often knew the route better than he did ! ((?? milk delivered to your house? Really?)) My favorite tale of this genre: We were doing history homework and Scoutson speaks up, "dad.... you had i

The odds of being eaten by a Bengal tiger in the middle of Main Street may be a million to one, but once is enough. One can be sued by anyone at any time for any perceived problem. Ask any doctor. Or EMT. Or school sidewalk owner. Or Busdriver. I was driving my transit bus in the curb lane, approaching a red light. A Pinto (!) dashed in front of me such that I slammed on my brakes and still hit the Pinto's right door and pushed it straight. I set my parking brake, jumped out of my bus, ran around to the driver's side and asked "Are you alright?" His first words to me were: "It's

Aha... Something from the Faith and Chaplaincy forum. Oh, wait....

Yep. Search Owasippe here in Scouter dot com. It was an adventure to read, for sure. The CORs managed to wake alot of people up. The local county zoning board managed to take control of their county and by refusing to rezone the property in essence prevented the camp from becoming a lake resort. But Chicago Council still managed to sell off two of their three camp properties before National pulled the strings. I forget, who got the profits there? The CORs are the voting corporate board of a council.

My wife's first husband had nothing good to say about Scouting. Don't know why, of no consequence now. Wife had been a Brownie for a short while growing up, but her father was a researcher for the Fish and Wildlife service, so her family had a good lot of experience in the "great outdoors". When we met and married, my Scout experience became hers (Eagle, OA, many summer camps). My newly enlisted stepsons were a little old for Scouts, and daughter had no use for GIrlscouts (too fashionista and tea partyish) so when youngest Scoutson came along, and he SAID he wanted to be a Cub Scout, we jump

Case in point. Scoutmaster sitting with newly elected PLC and new SPL. The discussion is about next year's activities. Where to go? What to do? None of these Scouts is new to the camp and hike and tie knots stuff, but.... eventually, the SPL spurts out "you mean I can make that decision?" the SM exclaims "DUH ! ! !" It is the same in many of the Middle School classes I sub taught. Those 11, 12 and 13 year olds WAIT to be told what they should say, how they should react to questions. It was more often than not the case that I had to "pull teeth " to have any kind of real discussio

From 6 to 21 ? Mustn't forget our Little Brothers and Sisters.

Just saw this on another Scout Facebook page: Walkathon to unveil new McMorris Lodge in memory of late Boy Scout - Riverhead News Review (timesreview.com)

The question then becomes, admission of what guilt, exactly? BSA did not, organizationally, abuse children. BSA, thru it's bad decisions, (leaders are people?) allowed pedophiles to go on their merry way without the legal, criminal, consequences they deserved. The "Secret List" did not do what it was intended to do: protect the children. It didn't even protect the BSA. Merely removing BSA leaders from PoR (!) did not, ultimately, prevent them from going someplace else, and doing it again. In another Scout Troop, in another church Youth Ministry, to their nephew and niece. That is wha

It hits the same fan . . . Opinion | After a jaw-dropping abuse scandal, should the Boy Scouts survive? - The Washington Post "" It is notable that the alleged abuse spans the better part of a century: One claim was filed by an 8-year-old boy; another by a 93-year-old man. Most of the claims arose from cases alleged to have occurred decades ago.""

*sigh* Yes. The BSA slash ScoutsUSA is/are in a bad way. Caught for not dealing with sexual predators, it is (we are ) reaping that harvest. By making the membership requirement effectively "Be a breathing human being between the ages of .... " I think we (they) have done the right thing. By tightening up the YP requirements, I think they (we ) have done the right thing. By complicating things by ADDING to our Promise and Law with this alledged Merit Badge, and the Churchill study ,it is being claimed that the Scouting Movement CANNOT accept the membership changes and must