SSScout

Owasippee...ummm now where have we heard that name before... Oh yes. http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=87008#id_204768 I'm really glad to see that the nations oldest Scout resevation/camp is still in business.

Eamonn: Ethics in the Work Place, and the workplace is a prison? Check out Alternatives to Violence Project: http://avpusa.org/ All volunteer org, nonviolent techniques for conflict resolution, doing the right thing for the right reasons. Much experience in prison workshops , both with inmates and staff. Don't know who is close to you, but very sympathetic folks. YiS

Well, there goes the neighborhood. North of Beckley, WV. near the confluence of the New River and US 19, I77, I64. Bungee Jumping MB? Ecology Studies? Land reclamation? Hard rock mining? Thurmond's a nice take out. (This message has been edited by SSScout)

I love it when the young folks discover the classics and adapt/recycle/rewrite them to suit the modern sensibilities... I saw a Scout camp fire that had an adaptation of Jack Benny's routine in which he is held up by a robber who announces "your money or your life!" and Benny responds "I'm thinking! I'm thinking!" For Abott and Costello to be remembered in a Scout venue is great. Has to make the oldsters smile along with the youngsters who "get it" for the first time. "Oh he's our Manager!" Makes me want to try Bob and Ray's "Slow Talkers of America". Well. Maybe. Not. Out. Doors. Any more?

The responsibility of a Chaplain is complex. It is not merely to help with the observance of their original faith but to assist in encouraging the faith of every Scout. This duty takes a unique individual. For instance, in helping to organize a Budhist or Muslim ceremony, a Christian Chaplain must be willing to acknowledge the validity of a faith foriegn to his or her own. This can be difficult for some, impossible for others. It includes telling folks that one need not be Christian (or Hindu or Lutheran) to be a Scout, but that some Units might insist that you share their particular faith to join their particular group. It means realizing that the Creator's creation is all around us and it is possible to be grateful for it's beauty in many different ways.

Do a little research and find some local centenarians. If it is agreeable to all concerned, get your Cubs and Scouts together with these living archives. Let the boys interview them, talk to them about how things were back in their day. Were they Scouts? Boy or Girl? Camp fire? Woodcrafters? How did they experience the history that our sons and daughters only read about or see in grainy movies. I dare say both the oldsters and the youngsters will enjoy the exchange.

Travel to DC is a favorite subject here. Check out: http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=165809&p=2 and maybe include side trips to the USS Constellation in Baltimore Inner Harbor. Or Fort McHenry. Overnight stays are arrangeable. Harpers Ferry, NW of DC is a favorite spot, Local Hostel at Sandy Hook MD is the place to camp or stay in dorm rooms. Spend some time on line to explore the area "virtually" Good Scouting to you!

fgoodwin: It still is popular, we set up in three weeks in Gburg... However, if the park folks say a PWD is "too long", I dare say a good Rope Bridge will also be "too long", but no harm in asking. Free bags of popcorn are always poular. Ask your local mutiplex for donation... Chances are they use already popped corn and you can get it by the huge bagful. Knot tying, tug o' war, Scout stickers to hand out, mini Boys' Life mags to hand out. Check with your Cub Scout Day Camp folks for local ideas. Don't forget some Cubs to assist the table. Have fun! Make it infectious!

As in all things, there is a spectrum, a gradation of sorts. In our neck of the woods, there is an ongoing debate about BILLING for an ambulance call, and even for a rescue call of any kind. Is it beyond the "usual"? Does the F&R service charge a set fee? Charge by time/use/equipment? How does the Volunteer vs Professional part of the service come in? Most folks seem to think that despite any "negligence" or "recklessness", our tax dollars should be available to help folks in trouble. The debate has included the idea that the insurance company (health. auto, somebody's insurance) could be billed, but what about the soul that has no insurance? Well, that could be forgiven, but someone could be billed...Perhaps guilt would lead the victim to pay up. Perhaps gratefulness makes the receiver of the rescue monetarily responsive. So far, such an "ambulance fee" has been voted down. But this present case is not about recovering expenses, this is punishment. Shame on you, hiker, for not doing what someone else feels is "good judgement". I think it is certainly appropriate to discuss how much efffort is necessary to rescue someone and to discuss what may or may not have been done differently to avoid the problem, but to actively punish, crippling so, is just wrong. Our hiker did not seek to do damage, or intentionally, actively injure anyone, only to do what the area was intended for, namely hiking. User fees, a toll on the trail, mandatory insurance certificate perhaps, but not a FINE It was not his fault that he suffered an accidental injury.

CSDC s are very individual to the District. What's that saying, the work is done by whoever shows up? The activities are honestly dependant on who becomes the leader there. A CSDC D can only encourage and inspire so much. Finding your Staff and EMPOWERING them is the real key to a successful camp. Ask around.... who knows someone who is a Nature person? Knots? Map and Compass? Chat them up...If you find a willing volunteer for a given activity but they know zilch about it, what ya gonna do? GET'EM TRAINED, QUICK! *Scouts can usually handle Field Sports with a little guidance, but have an adult handy...Phys Ed Teacher? *Yes, you gotta have a Range Officer or two for Archery and/or BBs. *Tap the District/Council Training Committee for some Scout Skills people. They do IOLS and they could (should?) be able to teach Square Knot and Map and Compass BL, Leave No Trace, Flag Etiquette... *Don't try to include too much rank advancement, that's not what CSDC is about. At the end of camp, we always issue a page listing the "POSSIBLE" requirements that MAY have been PRACTICED at camp, but that it is up to the Pack Leaders to decide if the Cub has PASSED that requirement. "Talk to the Cub" . We also mention that the Camp may be used toward the Summer Activity Award and the Conservation Award that the Pack and Cub may earn. * Somebody on Staff MUST be a cheer leader. At Opening and Closing ceremonies, at least one silly Staff skit or Cheer. As the Dens gather and line up for Flag raising, someone should lead "On Top Of Spaghetti" or play "Scouter Says". *Always include some "specials". Make them appropriate to the theme, if possible, but look for the "WOW" factor. A visit from the Fire and Rescue Tower Truck may have nothing to do with "Space", but the Cubs love to talk to these local heroes. Theme is "Wheels"? Ask the local contractor to bring in a BIG dump truck and talk about that. Can the Cubs crawl around in the cargo bed? Ooooo... "Wings"? We had a local R/C modelers club come in and fly models. Jet Powered! Found a Racing Pigeon Club who came and took over one of our pavilions for the day to talk about birds! And at the end of the day, a mass release of birds. WOW! *So "specials" can be either day long (Army Corps of Engineers take over Scout Skills and talk about structure, Cubs take home a Construction) or it can be a Lunch time thing (gaither 'round the Fire Truck and eat lunch) or a walk around thing (local Star Wars club comes in "uniform" and "inspects" all the stations "for the Empire"). Get your Program Director or the First Assistant Everything Else (my title) to do the calling around. *Make sure the Cub Packs understand your Den Walker requirements, and publish your Camp Regs early. Insist on their understanding and following them. See Camp School. They should know that "Den Chiefs" do not preclude Den Walkers. *** Make sure the Council, or whoever takes care of the Cub registrations, understands your DEADLINE.(Establish One!) And stick to it. It does no one any good to allow Monday Morning sign-ups. You can't plan and buy supplies. ""ABSOLUTELY No Registrations allowed after xxday, except by Camp Director's expressed permission, and you better have a REALLY good reason." " Council Program Directors want maximum sign-ups and this can lead to 8 Cubs arriving on Monday Morning with mom and check in hand.(happened!)"well Ms Soandso said we could sign up here today". Very embarrassing for all concerned. Do you say no? Shift Den populations? Insist that the moms become Den Walkers to allow their boys to attend? Where to get those 8 more bug boxes for Crafts? 8 more compasses? Enough stuff to attend to on opening day without this. *Make the last day a different day. We do a Water Faire, with slides and burst balloons at archery and maybe a Grande Melee. Perhaps a Den Competition, a scavenger hunt or Obstacle Course or such. After lunch, Campfire (real or simulated) with songs and skits at the end of the day. * If it seems appropriate, teach a "password" to the boys. You'll be pleasently surprised where you'll hear it used. "Take offs are optional!">>" Landings are mandatory!" "The fifty mile bike ride...">>" Makes you Wheely, Wheely tired!" Make it corny... * Oh it's getting late... Have you some fun. Oh, One last thing... avoid calling your Cubs anything except that. Make'm proud of being a Scout, call'em boys, Campers, Scouts, Cubs .but not... ? eh? YiS

I like his answer, "...I could get it anytime". But, I gotta say, there's the Mile Swim and there's another Mile Swim... My boy did it in a lake in PA. cold water! Round a triangle of bouys. But when we compared notes, I told him about my MS many moon ago in the Chesapeake Bay, jump into the water from a pier, follow a row boat out to a bouy and back, fighting jelly fish ("Sea Nettles") along the way. My buddy, Don, and I had the old Red Leg desease for a few days after, and got to try all the favorite remedies: alcohol, vaseline, calamine, plain soap and cold water. Mostly, we had to just wait it out.

Are you sure it's "instead of" and not really "and"? Most Councils do both, at opposite ends of the year.

I once worked at a hospital that had a very diverse workforce. It was informally known that the Jewish folks worked over the Christmas holiday and the Christian folk worked thru Roshasanna and Hannikah. We even had a few Hindus that fit in their festivals here and there. The trade offs were done in good humor, with the supervisors blessing. 'Course, that might not work in a Scout Camp, but I'm sure some accomodation could be made with some advance knowledge, if not taken advantage of. I was not aware of the Chaplain requirement and training alternative. Thank you for that note. I agree that A Scout Is Reverent can not be totally dependant on ONLY attending ones House of Worship. The idea that ones faith should be practiced and 'visible' in everyday life is inherent in evey faith that I know of, not just mine. I would encourage the Camp Director to see the benefit of making it easier (?) for his staff to atttend the faith of their choice at least on accasion, if not "on site". Father Mulcahy, where are you?

Lots of good ideas. Does your Council sponsor a Scout University? Try not to duplicate that, encourage Cub Leaders to attend that. Howzabout a workshop on Cub Day Camp?

Hear about the kid that studied ancient egyptian plumbing? He was a pharoah faucet major.

Monday... flag ettiquette. Folding the triangles in the US flag was the biggest hurdle. "Thumb Under" was the motto... Seemed like the younger Cubs always had to have their palm UP for some reason, and grasping the flag palm DOWN so as to flip the fold over correctly was the stumbling point. Once that was mastered, ("thumb under"), the folding went easier. Tuesday... knots and rope. We used the rare, double ended, bi-colored rope (red on one end, white on the other), picked high in the Peruvian mountains just for us. (not all ropes have two ends, you know! Suuurrre, Mr Scouter....) Only attempted the Square Knot and Bowline. I was surprised by the number of boys that would TWIST the rope in a vertical manner, rather than follow the example, right next to them, of crossing the ropes ("right over left, left over right"). It took some more than a few minutes to master it. And the bowline was a challenge to all, including the DWs. But most mastered it, and knew the rabbit-hole story by heart. I tried exampling it on the wall, and told everyone to do the same on their table. Surprise! alot of the boys held up the rope in the air, rather than on the table, trying to follow me. Wednesday... map and compass. Fun playing with magnetizism and the steel framed tables and the compasses we gave them ("we can KEEP these?"). Took a vote: "on the count of three, everybody point NORTH!" Ran thru some gradation of maps, from a National Geo Map of the Universe, to the solar system, to the Globe, to a world map, to the US of A, to MD, to the County, to the Park, to a topo of our camp site. "we can KEEP this map?" Roads, creeks, buildings, orient the map. "cool" Then the Civil Air Patrol led them thru a search and rescue drill, pretend you're a helicopter looking for the (toy)truck lost in the (tall grass)forest, radio ranging and stuff. Thursday... Leave No Trace. Talked 'em thru the LNT card, stories about problems and how to do it. And not do it. Fire safety. Rescue roping... "Reach, Throw, Row, Go" ...give each pair of Cubs a 15' rope, taught how to coil it loose in right hand, ("I don't know. I think I'm left handed"), hold knot in left hand, throw rope to buddy to save him! He takes rope, coils it up and throw back....Again, the younger boys (and the older ones) had trouble coiling, keeping the hand either palm up or palm down. And each tried to do it opposite from the ScoutStaff right next to him. Some insisted in throwing a jumble of rope, all mashed up in the hand. This naturally tangled and missed the mark. Some threw with BOTH hands! We could laugh at this, 'cause Mr. Scouter had done the same thing ("Throw me a rope!") as a joke. Friday... Water slides created with plastic sheets on the ground and soap and water. Throw the rope to your partner at the bottom of the slide, and pull him up! Great fun. trade places. Everybody had a chance to do it several times, practice coiling and throwing ("big loops!") Didn't have enough time, want to do it alot. No, you may not keep the rope, sorry. Multi tasking: Wash clothes, face, hands, learn a skill, exercise, have fun all at the same time. But still, why is it so hard for the most of these boys to turn the palm down or cross things horizontally?

Whew! Hot and Humid, but no rain, lots of smiling Cubs. I was the Scout Skills fella, me and three Good Scouts. And about 20 Cubs every fifty minutes..... Flags, knots, ropes, maps, compasses, Left no Trace, Rescue Roping.... But has anyone else out there noticed that the younger Cubs (Tiger, Wolf, ) have a hard time manipulating things? Left over right, right over left... over and under... holding the hand palm down or palm up.... I mean more than one might think was expected... Almost without exception, they are all eager to accomplish the task (fold the flag, tie the square knot) but find it hard to follow the directions. Sure, some are more adept than others, but in talking with other Scouters here, it just seems that the 7 year old of today is less , what, ?handy? than in days before. The skill does come (will it be remembered next week?) but I marveled at the difficulty some Cubs (alot!) had in following the directions, even when I stood right next to them and modeled it (" does THAT knot look like THIS?") and even when I took their hand and turned it the proper way to hold the rope coil ("palm up, BIG LOOPS...") it was still hard for them to copy the motion. Yeah, some of them were "challenged", I could see that in some cases, and in talking with their Den Walkers, but even so, the "average" young Cub just seemed, un-handy... Thoughts? PS: I did receive many comps from the DWs about how I "connected" with the boys, so it ain't as though I was a task master.

Thank you, very much. YiS

"Walk like an Egyptian" on the PA periodically. Pile up straw bales for pyramids and climbing. (straw is cheaper than hay). "How'd the GS get down the Nile? She Pharoahed, Pharoahed, Pharoahed her boat..." Check out the hyroglyfics (sp) web sites for ancient Egyptian writing projects. Metropolitan Museum had/has kid Egyptian craft ideas (did 3 years ago when we had this theme). Wrap someone up in mucho TP for mummification. Have fun...

Thanks for restarting this thread. Proper uniform is important to me. The WHOLE uni is sometimes overwhelming. I invited an adult non Scout friend of mine to one of our Troop meetings (Troop CoH and picnic), and he reminded me that on a previous occassion I had called his Hawaiian shirt "garish" ( I also told him I liked it), and then he gestured toward my uni and said "now THERE"S garish for you!" I took his good natured jibe and smiled. We talked about the uniform's purpose and he smiled and said he knew all that, but it wasn't for everyday wear, was it? Making the Scout aware of the uni's purpose and importance is important, but as been said, it is only one of the methods. As our society has become more complex, more advanced (?), more rich (?), perhaps fancy clothes tend to become more important than they should be. Remember that 'in the beginning', a Scout was ENCOURAGED if not REQUIRED to earn the money to buy his own uni. In many countries around the world, if the Scout has anything that visually sets him apart, it will be a neckerchief and perhaps a particular Tshirt. It is the activities and skills and attitude that should really set the Scout apart from his peers, not just his clothing. Neatly uniformed Unit? By all means, Encourage pride in dress , but make sure the reason behind that pride matches the symbolism in the uniform.

A suggestion from personal experience: Go to your local craft store ( or maybe even the CVS or Rite Aid) and look for twisty shoe laces. They come in multi colors and work like a charm. Slip one on the plastic holder. Award the bead then and there by stretching the lace out, slip the bead on, and swoop, the lace twists back and the beads don't fall off! Place the beads on evenly, side to side. Comes time to take them off, stretch the lace out and they slide right off. Good for CSDC beads , too. Oriental Trading has'em, among other places. Don't forget to repeat the Cub Scout Mantra... KIS MIF KIS MIF.... *(keep it simple, make it fun) YiS

Well, the story is , as is obvious in another thread, more complicated. Adult medals seem not to be affected. Some awards, in the larger categories, are being redesigned and recast to comply. But some of us smaller categories are affected. Stay tuned.

Just to let you know how things went, we (the Troop) got mucho kudos for our color guard. A Brownie Troop , historic horse and wagons and other community groups followed. At the museum site, a Scout read a short anouncement, and the bugling went well. Did the short version as the flags were posted in the stands. AND,(we were not expecting this) a community band rode in a farm wagon thru the parade and when they reached the museum grounds, they played the National Anthem. A fun time was had by all. Much watermelon, strawberries and burgers and BBQ were consumed.

Three true stories::: I am working as the "closer" at my transit service. I sign the last drivers in (1am) and put everything away and lock the doors. 10:30pm, I get a call on the "private" line (still don't know how they got it). Lady wants to know some transit travel info, how to get from here to there. I start to oblige, then ask, "Why are you going there?" She says, "Oh, it's not for me, my son is taking a special advanced XYZ class at the college tomorrow, and I'm calling for him". ((!??)) "How old is your son?" "15". "Will you be going with him to the class?" "(laugh) Certainly not!" "Then shouldn't I be speaking with him?" "(silence)" "Ma'am?" "Just a minute (in the back ground) JAKE Come here! This man wants to talk to you!" "Hello?" "Hi. So your taking a class at XYZ tommorrow?" "Yeah" "Do you know how to get there?" "Yeah, I guess so" "Have you been there before?" "No" "Is your mom going with you tomorrow?" "(guffaw) No-o-o-o." " So can I help you with the directions?" "Okay" ...and we had a good conversation after that. Never heard back how the class went. I am a tour guide for American Youth Hostels. We have a teen bike tour leaving to bike around Cape Cod. I get a call about 6pm the night before. Dad wants to know if they can bring the girls bike over to my house and can I check it out. Sure. They arrive, I check it out,adjust this, tighten that, point my finger, speak to the girl (14) and see she really does know a little about biking, but this is the first serious tour she's gone on. Dad asks if she can ride around here to check out my adjustments. I give them directions and the girl rides off, WITH THE DAD FOLLOWING IN HIS CAR. Half an hour later they are back. Dad has a thought, asks, "what happens if it rains?" I say "they get wet". Girl smiles, says she has a poncho. I assure him our tour chaperons are well trained and the tour is well mapped, nice places to stay at night (hold out the brochure). They called a month later and thanked me. About two weeks ago, I announced to the local Scout world that I would counsel a MB. I get a phone call and the lady on the other end announces "my son wants to earn that MB, what's your schedule for classes?" I said it depended on the number of Scouts that want to earn it. Was she going to work on it, or her son? She said "(giggle) no, I don't think I will". "Well then, don't you think your Scout should be calling me? I'll be glad to arrange things with him." That caught her off guard. "I'll tell him, and he will call you." Haven't heard back yet.

We have just been informed that PRAY will no longer administer our religious award medals because the CPSC now requires that all children's jewelry be tested for lead and meet the new lead free (low value) test. They cite real high costs and hassles. This will affect all other faith medals as well, and by implication ANY metallic jewelry like item hung on a child must meet the same requrements. http://www.cpsc.gov/businfo/pbjeweltest.pdf http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml05/05097.html "Child" appears to be defined as age 12 and younger, but even so... Any thing else out there? We may go to (shudder) aluminized Eagle awards?