T2Eagle

They have some really weird traditions there. I'm told that instead of Blue and Gold banquets they have Red and Gray celebrations. My troop has spent weekends at a couple of their camps. They seemed to be well run, and I got the impression that at least superficially the Council is competently run.

I'm in the just go camping camp. We have plenty of trips where we are camping and doing something else: a planned hike, a canoe trip, a couple hours at the rifle range, etc. But some of our trips the agenda is "run around in the woods and have fun." For most of our scouts their normal time is all planned and scheduled, what they most need is an opportunity to get out and be creative. They never end up sitting around and saying "I'm bored", rather they take a spontaneous hike for a couple hours, or take on a pioneering project, or go swimming, or just do a bunch of different made up games (

In a strictly hierarchical sense I suppose the Committee, or at least the Committee Chair, can remove a boy from his post since a SM can dismiss a scout from the POR and the CC can determine who is SM, but really all that is beside the point. As almost everyone here agrees this is not the Committee's proper role. Decisions like these are best made by the SM working with the ASMs, If other folks want to express an opinion that's great, take it under advisement. The real question is whether to have the battle about the by-laws or wait and see if you have the battle about them actually try

Have there been any meaningful changes in the policies recently? What would be the argument for doing it annually?

We like to have scouts crossover early in the spring. Usually they go to B&G and then we do crossover sometime in the weeks following. One of the reasons we advocate using this schedule is that a new scout can get a couple of weekend camping trips in before summer camp so that the first or at best second time away isn't for a week. We usually do a cabin camp in March, there's not enough snow to have a fun winter campout and it's usually too cold and muddy for a really pleasant spring campout, and that's an easy first trip. Then we do a Tenderfoot weekend in April where they're rea

I just checked, and we don't carry theft insurance on the trailer. This is going to prompt me to look at that. Like Packsaddle our CO is a church and well insured; we keep the trailer parked there so I'm sure we share whatever coverage they have. I have no idea what kind of deductibles or limits we might face. You should have a talk with your DE or other professional about how the BSA insurance works. For there to be a liability there has to be negligence on someone's part; an inanimate object cannot be negligent. So for instance if the trailer blows up because of a propane tank unsafely

How does your son like the rest of the program this troop puts on? What I wouldn't like, as either a scout or leader, about this part of their program, makes me doubt I'd like the rest of their program very much. You and/or your son can try to bring some enlightenment to these folks by trying to show them where what they're doing is different from the program materials, but it sounds like they have a strong idea about just what scouts should be. Look around, try another troop; you can find solid boy led programs that are active, develop good scout skills and more importantly good citiz

RS, It's not really that hard as a legal matter to make conditional gifts. In this particular case the tenants speculate that there was some condition placed on the gift, a half hour spent in the Registry of Deeds would provide an answer to that question. On the other hand, as much as no one likes to see camps closed or property sold, the world isn't static. How well do we think we can predict what will be the best course of action for any organization or any individual two generations into the future.

I recently received an e-mail from our DE passing on a request for a help building a wheelchair ramp for an elderly individual. I think it would make a good Eagle project, and one of my scouts may be interested, but generally eagle projects are meant to serve the community rather than an individual. Has anyone ever come across this, is there a way this can be qualified as an Eagle project?

Has anyone ever had knife throwing as an activity? Any suggestions as to what would constitute a safe range, a good target? My PLC came up with the idea, and I was surprised at just how many scouts in the troop had sets of throwing knives. I volunteered to do the initial research on the safety and rules. The GTSS says it's a permitted activity as long as you follow the Sweet Sixteen, but that's all I could find. Any suggestions or experience would be appreciated.

I would go with the loose schedule, lots of free and fun time program. For the skills to practice go with the ones they probably don't get anywhere else -- lots of fire building and sharp objects. I disagree with JBlake, set the hook with this campout, and if it's an annual event it just becomes the best weekend on the calendar for everyone. After all, if you had the chance would you order up perfect weather or a cold dreary weekend as a first campout?

Stick to your guns Evil, as I think everyone here is urging. Your CC's issue seems to be primarily scouts tenting with their parents and to a lesser degree the problem of people bringing low end tents to a campout. On the first he's just flat wrong in his statement. "What is the purpose of scouting? Are we supposed to be challenging young men to expand their horizons, comfort zones, minds, and provide opportunity go grow and learn critical life skills?" The Scouting program has three specific objectives, commonly referred to as the "Aims of Scouting." They are character developm

I think your conflating two things: recruiting and what outings the Troop goes on. If the Camporee isn't fun or adventurous for the Troop what is the benefit of inviting Webelos to attend it? It sounds like the boys have put together a decent plan for the fall so no there's no real reason to intervene and change it. Now the scouts have to be challenged to figure out how best to recruit Webelos into the Troop. A joint outing is a good way, but there are others. The best recruitment, I believe, is having personal connections between the scouts and the webelos. Whatever first connec

I thought I’d weigh in as someone who lives near a border crossing, has been across many times, takes scouts across, and has some legal experience with border issues. Probably the most important thing for anyone to understand about crossing the border is that it is constitutionally different from any other circumstance. Courts have long held, since the 1800s at least, that rules concerning searches, seizures, interrogations, documentation, and identity are different at the border compared to any place else in the country. So all the rules we think we understand about what constitute

I am having a hard time imagining anyone actually coming up to me to talk about how I'm wearing the uniform. Who actually does this? What positions do the hold? My first response would be to laugh and assume they were joking with me. If I found they were serious I think I'd contiue to laugh and just walk away so as not to say something un-scout like.

I slept in one for two weeks, but I didn't buy one because although the design was good -- it kept me dry despite a lot of rain and storms -- the materials were on the very low side and I don't think they were designed to last long. One night, throwing a Frisbee we put a hole in one of the flys with an errant toss.

My Lodge is not great at holding elections. They have an internet sign up process, every year I put in my request, if they show up great, if not I hold my own and notify them of the results. One suggestion I am going to make for my own Lodge, and would suggest to others, is to hold elections the first or second day of summer camp. You have the manpower (staff), troops have the time, and troops that are unsure of the value of OA can get feedback from other scouters.

We have parents/leaders drive. Most of our leaders are also parents so we don't really have that dichotomy. Most of the leaders/parents who drive stay for the trip. This works out OK, one leader for about every five scouts. We do a decent job managing ourselves so that we stay out of the scouts way. For nearby trips some of the the parents, leaders or not, will drop off and then we try to share the work by having a different group pick up. We reimburse for gas and build that into the budget for the trip. Every time I've looked in to renting a large van the economics just didn't work.

I used to feel differently about this, but last summer when I was getting ready for summer camp and Jamboree I pulled out all my uniform shorts at once. I had five pares, between fabric changes, sun bleaching, wear and tear from use, style changes, etc. they were uniformly different. The closest I had to two matching was a pare of the swim/shorts and an additional pare of khaki green shorts from Columbia. So I decided the heck with it and threw the Columbias into the rotation with the five official BSA pants. I would much rather see someone wear a pare of shorts or pants that is very c

I have to disagree with AZMike on two key points. First, the deference that prevented BSA and similar groups, the Catholic Church in particular, to not report these incidents wasn't a deference to the family's interests it was a deference to the institution's reputation. The institutions didn't want people to know that this kind of thing could happen to their children in their organization. They wanted to maintain the myth that Scoutmasters and priests just wouldn't do this type of thing. The institutional response was always to quietly get rid of the offender and then keep quiet. If it wa

Rereading the post, Schiff, are you talking about a bunch of individual pictures of each scout like a school picture or just a quick group shot?

Our camp takes a photo at check-in. It's part of the process and the Troop gets an 8x10 at the end of the week. You can pay them for more if you want, a nominal fee not really a profit maker. They do sell a CD that they try to make a few bucks on. I'm sure we could opt out if we wanted to but I don't think it would get us to the site any faster, maybe a few minutes, it's the last thing that is done before the site guide hikes back with us. I suppose it also provides, if necessary in an emergency, a head shot photo of virtually every scout in camp.

There was nothing that would have prohibited us from doing more in 1986. We should have, we didn't, we should be ashamed of ourselves for not doing more, and we shouldn't excuse ourselves by saying oh it was different then. We're supposed to be the ones who are exemplary citizens, not run of the mill. I was a full fledged adult in 1986, I hope I would have been Brave enough to pick up a phone and call the police and say hey, there's a guy named X who was a scoutmaster for us and he raped a boy named Y. I don't know that I would have been brave enough, but I'd be deeply ashamed today if

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There are other kinds of guardians besides legal ones, and I think that's exactly the distinction that BSA is making. The instance where the poster said a grandfather is fine is exactly that kind of guardian. I've also had 19 year old brothers camp with their little brother when I was a Cubmaster. TAHAWK said his problem with BEAVAH's interpretation was that it ignored the plain meaning of the word, but it didn't. The dictionary definition of guardian is "someone or something that watches or protects something". So yes the definition BSA and the BEAV are using is exactly in line with