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t158sm

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Posts posted by t158sm

  1. I still have several donor awareness BSA patches from the early 90''s. At the time we didn''t really cover this in the troop. I wish now that we had. In 1998 I went into renal (kidney) failure. In 2000 I was blessed to receive a kidney from a teenage boy who was killed in an accident. Dialysis takes a terrible toll on one''s body and I wouldn''t have been around much longer.

    PLEASE consider being an organ donor - you CAN save lives.

  2. We went to the Yorktown in Charleston S.C. last summer. Great trip. They even offer several off ship excursions as part of the program. We took the trip out to Fort Sumter. I've often toyed with the idea of going to the Lexington in Galveston, TX. Never materialized though.

    The following is a link to the historic naval ships website. It lists all ships offering overnight programs.

     

    http://www.hnsa.org/edprog.htm

     

    Here is a link to the Gerald I. Lawhorn Canoe base at Camp Thunder. Just across the state line in Georgia. Went there several years ago. River, ropes and rocks - loved it.

     

    http://www.thunderbsa.org/yearround.htm

     

    Whatever you're looking for - someone around here has done it. Just ask around.(This message has been edited by t158sm)

  3. IMHO - four days would be too little time to spend on a trip to the Grand Canyon. We're looking at several options for 2009. The Grand Canyon and Washington D.C. being among those mentioned. Planning for a minimum of 7 days though. Might be a few more even. Also working with a budget that will be several hundred per person.

    Check with Troop 97 they went out west last year. Would be able to give you some good advise on trip planning.

    If you're going to limit yourself to four days I'd suggest something closer to home. Trips where you're always in a rush don't make for much fun.

     

    Say hello to Miki, Larry and the gang.

    Your neighbor two towns up the road.

  4. I like the idea of having a set date for camporees. Ours have ranged from September until early December for fall camp and from March to May for spring. Often dates are not known when we have the yearly program preview conference . We've often had to shuffle our schedule around to accomodate the event.

     

    We have 16 troops in the district that covers two counties. Sadly 3 - 4 troops never attend camporees or other events.

     

    Location has varied from cow pastures, fairgrounds, airports, local and state parks, any of the several council camps, private land beside the river (not cow pasture) to a local water park.

     

    AvidSM - Camporee: weekend camping experience involving troops (always) Crews (usually) OA (usually) and sometimes packs (more likely in the spring.) Units compete against each other in events such as orienteering, string burn, water boil, pioneering, Scout Jeopardy, tug of war, fire by friction, knot relay, scavenger hunt and a variety of others. Ribbons are awarded for units finishing in the top three.

     

    Event budgets are handled between the event chair and the DE. The ones I've ran had very little overhead and yes my unit (me) did cover some of the small costs of the event. We set down and estimate how many we think will attend based on previous years and other factors. Figure up patch cost, insurance, cracker barrel and any other costs we believe we will incur. My unit has ran two camporees for the district and I ran a tri-district camp once. After the budget has been made up my role in finances ended for all three events. Same thing for the district and council training I've directed. A 20% or so contigency plan is planned into the budget.

     

    There are not usually many costs beyond the above mentioned associated with our camporees. portajohns (occasionally) HQ tent (none) but for the large council camporees (Scout-O-Ramas, encampments, and jamborees they have called them) the military provides as many GP mediums as needed at no cost. Camp guides (mine have been handled by me - only a few dollars cover this) Very few other materials are needed beyond what a troop might usually already possess.

     

     

     

     

     

  5. In all the districts that I'm aware of units take turns hosting and running the camporees. It could be an individual unit or a combination of troop/pack/post who runs the show. The host selects the date, location, as well as the events and theme for the camporee. They are also responsible for submitting the patch design.

    The camporee chairman and the DE get together on the costs and budget, but things stay pretty informal. Lately a camporee costs about $7 per person to attend. Events are run by members of the host unit and Scouters from other units that have been asked to help out or have volunteered.

    I've been involved in Scouting for almost 30 years and this has always been the norm for us.

  6. John:

    My reply to that would be no.

    I have already stated my intention for this post.

    My battles in the district and the council are in the past. There are many in the district who have been in Scouting a far shorter time than myself that think they can do the better job. I let them.

    I limit my place to within my troop by choice.

     

    Once upon a time I was everywhere - Wood Badge staff, JLT staff, SLD staff, train the trainer, OA, helping other units, you name it. Then something happened - I got sick, very sick and almost lost my life. That was 10 years ago. I haven't been on a training course since.

    John you have stated before that you are a Diabetic. Diabetes and the complications that I live with daily will one day all too soon end my time as Scoutmaster. I prefer to spend my time as I do, working with the boys. The people in the district have all changed. (except thankfully for some old and dear friends who think as I do.) Let the newer ones think I'm a loner. I've already been to where most of them will never travel.

     

  7. Yes the district chairman "messed up." The date should not have been scheduled for the camporee but it was, back in June. Why wait two months and then decide there's an issue?

     

    It appears that neither event will change dates, but the district may force one of them to cancel.

     

    An extremely successful camporee in the district is one that has 100 Scouts attending, Cubs not counting. Sorry I don't keep up with the Cubs. There are 16 Scout troops in the district, half with less than 10 members. We are the smallest district in the council.

     

    A troop, troop/pack, troop/crew has always hosted our camporees. This is simply the way its been done in my 29 years in Scouting.

     

    "If this happened to me, it would be a cold day in Irving before I ever volunteered to do anything for the district or council again."

     

    Just what I fear will be the end result.

     

    "Any unit that can't attend a Camporee because one or two of its adults is attending WB is a unit in trouble."

     

    So far no one has spoken up and said that their unit will be unable to attend because of the WB course. A few Cubs may not be able to spend the night because their parents are not available, but they will still be able to spend the day at the camporee with their pack.

     

    We teach the Scouts to adapt, use initiative and to make choices, can't those in the district do the same.

  8. John:

    This is simply my view as an outsider. Neither myself nor my troop has any part in this except as a potential attendee at the camporee.

    We have hosted camporees in the past (1994 and 2004) and I know what was involved in setting up and the running of those camporees as well as others where I assisted.)

    For the most part my active role in either the district or council has been over for quite a few years.

    I played my full part on both fronts for several years.

    The point of my post wasn't to find a solution to this mess but only to express my displeasure over the pettiness and selfishness I witnessed by some in our district.

  9. Perhaps a little clarification is needed.

    There is no set weekend for camporees in our district. The host selects the date and it's either approved or not. Other units have virtually no say in the process. Many (like mine) adjust their schedule around the camporee.

     

    Other than the 13 affected no other conflict has been memtioned by any other unit in the district.

     

    The fall camporee usually is geared much more towards troops rather than packs.

     

    There is no such thing as program or administration support in our district. If help is needed it's pretty much asked for on an individual basis. (SM Bob would you mind running an orienteering course at the camporee.)

     

    The training course, well you see it happens to be Wood Badge. However it happened this was not available to the apppropriate people involved in this district process, It's date will not change.

     

    Of the 13 people, less than half are on the troop level. Most of these in positions other than SM or ASM.

     

    If this troop does not hold the camporee, there will be no camporee or any alternative at all.

     

     

  10. In June the troop volunteering to host the fall camporee had the date they selected approved by the district chairman. At that time there were no known conflicts in either the district or council schedules. As I have heard via the grapevine, this date was the only one that fit in with the members of that troops schedule. Now it seems that a council training course is also slated to be held the same weekend and an estimated 13 members of the district from several units will be involved in the training course. The issue of the conflict was brought before the district committee. The troop hosting has said there is no way they can move the date for the camporee. A vote was taken by the committee who decided to leave the camporee and the date as is. But, certain members in the district can't seem to leave things alone. Last night we had our annual program preview conference and they managed to call a "special" committee meeting at the end of the ppc. Once again the issue of the conflict was reopened this time with a certain whine from those several members piercing the air. Somehow it was determined that the activities committee would meet with that troop to discuss the matter yet again. meanwhile no plan whatsoever has even been mentioned if this troop does not host the camporee. These members seem to think that if they can't go to the camporee then no one will. Perhaps that would be fair?

    I've had conflicts in the past too. Sometimes I went one way and my troop another, no big deal. I made a decision and went with it. Sometimes you have to sacrafice for the good of the whole. It saddens me but a few of my fellow Scouters seem to have yet to learn what Scouting really means.

  11. This story is quite a few years old, so the terms are a bit outdated. To me though is always answered the question of Scouting being cool or not.

     

    BTW Lewis Grizzard died in 1994. Part of his ashes rest in Moreland, Ga where in his youth he was a Cub Scout.

     

     

    When Chuck joined the Boy Scouts at age fourteen, the kids

    at school gave him at lot of grief about it.It wasn't exactly a cool

    thing to do, joining the Scouts, especially at that mature age.

    "It was pretty rough on him," Chuck's Scoutmaster told me.

     

    I've forgotten all of the Boy Scout creed, but I remember that

    "kind" was in there somewhere. Chuck's Scoutmaster recalled the time

    his troop was on a camping trip and Chuck found a dead mother

    sguirrel with a lot of hungry babies in the nest. He took the babies

    home and fed them with an eyedropper until they were strong enough

    to tackle the forrest on their own. That sort of thing gets out at

    school and a fellow might never live it down.

     

    Chuck joined a Scouting group called the Leadership Corps,

    where older Scouts teach younger Scouts special skills. Chuck's

    special skills were swimming and canoeing. So not long ago Second

    Class Scout Chuck of the Leadership Corps took off on a trip to a

    nearby lake with some younger Scouts.

     

    The group was joined by a couple of non-Scouts, one a fifteen

    year-old who turned out to be a lousy swimmer. While everyone else

    was having fun, this kid was drowning in fourteen feet of water in

    the middle of the lake. The only person close to him was Chuck, who

    was forty yards away.

     

    The Scoutmaster told me the rest of the story:

     

    "I was on the shore, and I saw the kid go under for the first

    time. Then I saw Chuck turn back toward the middle of the lake to go

    after him. 1 knew for sure I was about'to see a double tragedy. I

    didn't see how Chuck could swim all the way out there and save both

    of them."

     

    "I jumped in my canoe, but I knew there was no way I'd get theri

    in time. I just hoped we could pull them off the bottom of the lake

    and resuscitate them in time to save their lives."

     

    "When Chuck got there, he was immediately pulled under by the

    struggling kid. A drowning swimmer has tremendous strength. Then I

    saw them come up again and Chuck had gotten away, but he wouldn't

    give up. He circled around the kid, talking to him, trying to calm

    him down. Then he went after him a second time. This time he managed

    to grab an arm and dragged the kid to shore. I don't know how, but

    he saved him."

     

    Chuck was hesitant to talk about it, but I persisted until he

    told me what happened. "When we went under, I hit him in the stomach

    and he let go of me. I just couldn't let him drown."

     

    "Chuck never had a lifesaving course," said the Scoutmaster.

    "What he knew, he learned from reading the Scout manual. He's

    dedicated to Scouting. He never thought of the danger. He never

    thought of his own safety."

     

    I remember from the creed that Boy Scouts are also brave.

    Somebody ought to tell the kids at Chuck's school that you can't

    get much cooler than that.

     

    LEWIS GRIZZARD

  12. The patrol emblem is not part of the adult uniform! That being said many Wood Badgers around here wear their emblem under the right pocket flap. Scouts keep asking me about that Owl under mine. I just give em a confused look and reply "What Owl." Nothing wrong with a little fun. Most Scouts figure it out fairly quickly.

    Watch out for the uniform police though.

     

  13. O.K. here's a slightly different twist on the situation.

    This is exactly what happened to us last year while going to Comer. (BTW - Yellow Hammer are you going to Comer, Sequoyah or an out of council camp?)

    At the time there were two assistants in the troop. Assistant #1 was unable to attend camp (This was clear from the beginning.) Assistant #2 had totally committed to going to camp from the beginning.

    On the Thursday night before our Sunday departure, it is learned that Assistant #2 has moved 200 miles away without telling anyone. At such a late time no other adults in the troop are able to attend camp. The troop will be in a site alone, unable to share leadership with another troop. On Saturday morning Assistant #1 calls letting me know he has possibly found someone. That someone is his brother in-law who would be willing to jump up, spur-of-the-moment, and attend with us on one condition. Condition being that his 10 year old Webelos II son be allowed to go also. The CC and I were in agreement to allow him to attend. Things go smoothly at camp with said Scout taking first year camper program with other Scouts in troop. While at camp - said Scout wears Webelos uniform complete with neckerchief and hat, including during check in. No one ever questions. Date of birth and pack ## are plainly visable on paperwork.

    In such a situation, was this wrong? No discussion was ever held regarding any advancement status since the Scout would be crossing over to another troop some 30 miles away from ours. The family was was versed in Scouting. (the mother even being advancement chair for her son's pack.) No one was ever misrepresented at camp - he was advertised as a Webelos Scout and a guest with our troop.

    BTW - I understood that said Scout was attending for fun and experience, not advancement per se.

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