SSScout

Signs UP !! Before we dismiss the class for summer recess, let's review the summer reading assignments: Of course, the DoI and the C, all umpteen pages... Common Sense Speeches and Letters from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (choose two for report) Federalist Papers * * * Movies to watch: Day of the Jackal Z Gandhi The 49th Parrallel Follow Me Boys (don't forget to review the GtSS) Judgement at Nuremberg Soylent Green King of Hearts It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World And don't forget your assignment is to d

Neckerchiefs.... When my Boy moved up to Scouts, he chose the Troop in which I had been a Scout, lo those many years ago... They presented him with a "custom" made N, blue, with the T number and town embroidered in color on it. Pretty. Cotton/polyester, shirt weight I would judge. I compared this with the N that I had worn as a Scout, ironed and folded up neat in the bottom of the bureau. My old one was a heavier cotton,"sanforized", red, with a seperate embroidered patch (3inches square) sewn on it's tip end. My well worn one was a full 4 inches longer, on the long diagonal, than my

After a funfilled CSDC, and sending the Boy off to summer camp (both church sponsored and Scout), and after reading about "favorite camps" and "Huh?????"' I find myself wondering.... ...And what is the news from Chicago and Owasippe? Hello?

Amen, Gonzo. Let's see if I have all this straight... Public school charters a BSA "club" for the purpose of organizing a free "safe ride" home for people/students who need a "safe ride" home because they are too drunk/hung over/high/lost their ride from after school activities/etc. School authorities see a vauable program that will benefit the community. BUT...they do not realize that the students participating (the "drivers") in the program will be required to JOIN the "club". The only requirement to MAKE USE of the program is to raise one's hand and say "I NEEDA RIDE HOME", but

A good blank calendar (and I mean Blank), with inspirational stuff to read: Friends Tract Association www.tractassociation.org You can download in adobe or frames, or order paper copies.

I am unsure about what the SafeRides is about. Were the Scouts providing a service to the school, or sponsoring a "club" for boys and girls to join? If the former, how can the Scouts deny any student use of the service? If the later, how did they get away for so long with such a requirement for any students membership? No other "club" in a public school can deny membership because of religious affiliation or lack thereof, can it? It wasn't a religiously based school (read "private") was it? BSAs motives are admirable, and I agree with them, but the means often leaves alot to be desi

Baltimore has a real estate policy called "Land Rent". The original owner of the land can essentially ask for rent from subsequent owners seemingly forever (if the arrangement was set up that way). The land and the structures are considered SEPERATE, as absurd as that might seem. This land rent thing can also be bought and sold, and often the land purchaser can lose track of who his land rent owner is, and without knowing it become 'in arrears' in the land rent, and end up in court, losing his property. (he is always free to move his building, eh, eh, eh). Not that Philly has that arrangemen

When I attended Purdue University way back when, I worked in the campus newspaper, "The Exponent". Being the muck raking rag it was, we were always on the look out for campus scandals. We turned up, in the budget reports, the fact that the campus commisery bought three grades of coffee. The most expensive went to the faculty club ("University Club") in the student union. The second most expensive went to the student union restaurants, where parents went for lunch with the kid. The third order ( price: fully one fifth the price of the faculty club brand) went to the student dorm cafeterias. I a

Scoutingagain: Maybe I didn't understand correctly. Are you saying the Methodist Church your Troop is sponsored by does NOT allow certain types of people to join? This thread is about a restrictive policy of a CO,yes? Our CO, again, a Methodist Church, has never, to my knowledge, restricted our membership or activities or who we can invite to what activity. Our Troop Chaplains Aide is from a Jewish family. We have families of at least 4 different flavors of faith in the Troop,including members of the church. Our only problem was when the new minister came in and 6 months later expressed

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Peace, now my brothers and sisters. God's will can be discerned by any with the ears willing to listen. (ask St. Francis.). Whether Catholic, Hutterite, Wiccan, or Zoroastrian, ultimately sin is not to be JUDGED by you or me ( I don't think). Religion, is, after all, a human invention. Vote with your feet if the local provider of dogma does not find agreement in your heart of hearts. There seem to be, if I believe what I see in the papers, many other mechanisms of God connection. The desire to reconnect with God is pervasive in humankind. More want it than not, it's

Our county Board of Education saw the leaves on the trees (?hand writing on the wall?) and established an "outdoor education program" with the local parks authority many years ago, built a dorm in a nature center, established a jr. COPE type course, and nature trail system and they were off. All 5th graders go, on rotation, for a 3 day two night long weekend. It is always an eagerly anticipated thing, many of the kids never get any other similar time away from home. The OEP folks keep alot of 'loaner' sleeping bags just for the occasion. They do a campfire, lots of games, too. Not sure about

Any Troop Vehicle? Alla Time Vigilant? Almost Terrible Vindication! Atsa Toomany Violations... Anyway Too Verbose. YiS....

Greetings TBM: Ain't it nice to have a place to vent where ya won't ruffle any feathers and you're bound to get a sympathetic ear? Well, it happens that your story is not all that unusual. I would suggest going to your DE and having a sit down with him/her. Well meaning volunteers not withstanding, a CSDC can be either a real turnoff or a real recruiting tool. Be forewarned! you may end up like my significant other! She came into CSing wearing a large sceptic hat . She ended up going to Camp School (on the Councils bill!) and has been the CSDC Director lo these past years! Makes me ...

OOOOHH hum.. snurf.. ah.. Oh hey there.. yes I did have a nice nap. Is it spring already? Each unit's CO has its own "Qualifiers" for joining. Turns out the Brooklyn Jewish Troop that I met at the Jamboree has the same Qualifier as the Catholic Troop from Pittsburgh and the LDS Troops from Utah and the black AME Troop from down the street and the Islamic Center Cub Pack... if you want to ASSOCIATE with THAT type of unit and don't OBJECT to the way THEY do things, then welcome aboard. They are all Scouts. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? Some wear yamulkes. Some only shake hands right to

As a nascent UC, I have been given the assignment of assisting a struggling Cub Pack sponsored by.... an Islamic Community Association. The COR has spoken with me several times, plans are afoot. He is very sure that the basic tenets of Scouting are in no way in conflict with the values of Islam or the Quran. His wife is a Girl Scout leader. We are working toward training all the adult leaders, getting the Cubs involved in CSDC, and other extra-Pack activities. I am learning as much about the cultural differences as he is about the Scouting possibilities. Yes, the Program has to be 'adap

Ditto all the above. High class tent looks like this: Floor: Should look like a plastic tarp. Tough and Crinkly. Walls: Lowers are coated, uppers are screened for ventilation. Rain fly (topcover): Coated: One side looks like a piece of cloth (top) and other side (bottom) looks like a shower curtain, smooth like. Sewn Seams are ALL taped. If not, get the SeamSeal stuff, in a tube, like glue (the spray can stuff may or may not work, depending on the material and construction of the tent). Turn the tent or fly upside down on a table, and work goo in systematically. Smooth

So I announce at the committee meeting that the National Web site has a new training page titled "Committee Challenge" and the boys and girls around the table react "so?" and we discuss the need for training of the Scout leaders in the Troop. Seems the Charter listing notes that certain of the Adult Leaders don't have the 'Y' in the 'Trained?' column . Other than practising our splices on hands and feet, how to convince them to go get "trained"? of the utility of getting "trained"? After all, we've all been 'trained' in the ole school of 'hard knocks'; been Eagles, been to Philmont (twe

On Line Training::: Keep looking. Our Council has both "Quick Start" and "New Leader Essentials" on the Council site. Which leads to anew thread.....

Hey Joe: Always liked your films, especially the one about the model trains... What scottteng said. Maybe a SMminute about loyalty, always being there for each other, "Band of Brothers"? "Sullivan Brothers"? "Momma always liked you best" I bet if you asked either of them if they think dad or mom favors the other, they'd say yes. Share a tent? maybe not. the tent might not survive. But give the both of them a project to complete together, and make sure they do it. Conservation, pioneering, something hands on with an obvious result. Also, if you can, observe the family dynamics.

Sounds like a real benefit to the community! When I first saw the title to this post, I immediately flashed to "Veggie Tales", the cartoon show, but this is even better if one can bring your Cubs to learn about nutrition and the 'other'foods. I love it when big corps like Wegmans put their corporate selves out there for the community. Home Depot will do crafty things for your CSDC, REI will do LNT for your training camps, Trader Joe's will provide materials at a stiff discount or donated depending...Ya just gotta ask far enough ahead for scheduling. Look for these opportunies and make sure t

Being in a semi=urban area, the sites for our WebWeekend and Camporees have no firewood at all, down to pick up or dead to cut down. We have to bring it in, cook over "oil can" grills off the ground or gas stoves. Evening campfires are usually shipping pallets torn up and stacked up. Now these pallets are usually seasoned oak, and boy do they burn pretty, you risk a first degree burn or at least a good instant tan if you sit too close in the front row. " Leave No Trace"? Naturely speaking perhaps, but I'd like to think I'm leaving a little trace in the spirits of the boys I work with.

The boys in our Troop were surprised when I noted that the Troop flag was the same one that the Troop used when I was a Scout in it. That makes the Troop flag at least 45 years old. Now, the American flag we now use is not the one I marched to , as this one has 50 stars on it. And my Scout years flag had 48 to start. (no,no,no, not 13...) Note for your Scouts any history to your flags, meeting places, even flag stands... (my father made two of them. His name was on the bottom...) the boys will get into the history if given a chance. YiS Jim L.

Greetings donert, welcome to the virtual crackerbarrel. Eagle Palms: If the Scout has 26 MBs by the time he racks up his final Eagle required MB, he is eligible for his Bronze Palm to be awarded along with his Eagle rank. I've known Scouts to be awarded Bronze and Silver Palms concurrent with the Eagle. Double posting: Apparently, some connections do it. The topic has come up before and happens to some of us, regardless of how carefully we only hit the button ONCE. Making up the rules: Well, some of us need to read the book, which I do not happen to have at hand at present. Th

I have a car dealer that I MUST go to because the car CANNOT be worked on by my neighborhood garage (okay, a Prius, and no local garage knows beans about'em, yet). In for a usual oil change and repair of a broken piece of trim. Phone call day before, the fella says, "no problem. Gottem in stock. Do it during the oil change." Get there at 7am, first in line. Sign in, be in and out in an hour. 9am, I go to the service writer, where,s my car? "Oh, I'm sorry, we forgot to put you in the computer scheduler. It'll be ready in an hour". 11am, service guy comes to me and says, well, the trim pa

...and the group paid him how much to hear that?? I'm in the wrong career... Then again, I am paid well in my Scout career. My pay just doesn't seem to include money. Maybe I'm just thinking about my other life...