Trevorum

Judy, thanks for the thoughts. I think we'll eventually be rolled into class action and get pennies years downstream. I'm glad no one was hurt and that it was not in a garage at the time. I'm also hoping that the Live Oak it was parked under survives.

Interestingly, all colors EXCEPT green may be worn on the tan shirt; ONLY gren may be worn on the green shirt, and ONLY blue may be worn on a yellow blouse.

Texas is a mighty big state. What grows well in Texarkana will not do to good at all in El Paso and what flourishes in Corpus might not in Amarillo. My suggestion would be to visit your local nursery for advice. And call up an arborist (look under tree trimming in the yellow pages) - they will certainly have some ideas for you. Good luck!

It's an excellent question. I think, with all these rules and guidelines and uniforms and requirements and training (not to mention divisive social issues and lawsuits and such), that it is far too easy for adult Scouters to take ourselves seriously. Especially for those who soberly LIKE rules and regulations and alles in ordnung. The "game with a purpose" is a good mantra to keep in our minds. If we're not having fun, if the BOYS aren't having fun, then what's the point? Personally, I don't think anyone in my troop would accuse me of taking myself too "seriously". I guess what I am is "enthusiastic" about the chance to teach young men and maybe positively affect their lives in some small way. As another poster says from time to time, "I love this Scouting stuff!"

Matt, oops, my bad! I understand - that'd be like someone confusing UCLA with UC Berkeley. I look forward to your thoughts on these forums.

Glad to have you join us, Matt. You'll find us a diverse lot. What are you studying at UNC?

Beav - yes, unit contingents should travel in uniform. (I am staff traveling solo.)

I asked the same question and was told to travel in civies.

whoops, sorry, seed! yes, I meant a new CC. sorry for the typo!

See my opening salvo in this thread ...

Many of us have run across this type of Scouter - dedicated, hands on, passionate about the movement, but still controlling and distrustful of newbies. You've recieved some good advice from Semper ("when Semper speaks, people listen" ), and from OneHour and Mike, but I predict this fellow is not going to go quietly into the night. Once you get some more details from the dissatisfied customers, go to the Unit Comish and the District Commish and casually and unobtrusively get some more background about this fellow. What is his history in the district? Any previous problems? What makes him tick? Maybe then you'll be able to map out a strategy that can save your pack and also maybe save face for this Scouter. It sounds like the CO is going to eventually have to select a new CM. Are you or someone else ready?

Carol, looking at the weather map, I reckon you must be way up somewhar in the panhandle or mebbe near the Red. If'n Texas were as small as some of them eastern states, I'd take you up on that peach ice cream. My favorite!

This is such a strange thread ...

Semper, thanks for the advice. I think the first thing will be to find out exactly WHY our district is not doing it this way. Maybe it's history, maybe personalities. In any event, I suspect it'll be like turning a battleship (as my dad used to say). Good advice too about this NOT being job for a unit Scouter. If this isn't solved by the time I give my SM coffee mug to the next fellow, maybe I'll take it on then. In the meantime I think I'll just snoop around and build my case. Who knows? Maybe someone is already on it.

kahuna, I agree with ScoutingAgain that Juris was suspended not for his beliefs (bizarre though some were) and certainly not for his spelling (annoying as it was). His poor spelling and grammer was certainly a ruse in any event. I believe that he simply violated the rules of the forum and was caught at it by the moderators. FScouter's mention (in a related thread) of his "abuse" of private messaging supports this interpretation. Look at his post on page 3 of the "British Scouting Changes Oath" thread. Here, he appears to have forgotten under which persona he was writing and uses good spelling and (fairly) good construction. He self identifes as a SM, an Eagle, and an ex-professional. Then on the next page of the same thread, he hurriedly denies that post, claiming that someone must have used his screen name without his permission because, among other reasons, the Juris-imposter could spell! Right. To me, that is the smoking gun. I didn't really care if his posts were bizarre in content or style (the same could be said for many of us) or that he called me a "jerk" (many others may privately agree!). However, if my analysis is correct, he was untrustworthy - he was decieving all of us in a systematic manner. I therefore support Terry's decision, even though I don't understand why he blandly attributed it to "unintelligible ... forum noise"

OneHour, I certainly defer to you and Kahuna on this matter. I was merely trying to remind Ed of the wide diversity of belief systems that are under the BSA umbrella. Too often, the majority tends to forget about us minorities: Jews, Buddhists, UUs, Wiccans, etc.

Our committee is not doing this. Several years ago I was on the Cmte for Cub training, but I am no longer there and don't know the Advancement Chair. I think this would be a good objective for next year and am seeking ideas on how to proceed.

OGE, in SM Fundamentals, we were the "Roadkill Patrol" with a squashed 'dillo nicely silkscreened on our neckerchiefs!

Lynda, I pretty much ignored him ever since he called me a "jerk" because my F150 exploded in the middle of the night.

Ron, next council up, home of "Armadillo World Headquarters"! And Beav, in arguing about "God's Country", don't forget, WE have the Ten Commandments at OUR capitol building ...

ScoutNut, It sounds like your council is already there. I'd like to know if there is really better than here, and if so, how the path winds from here to there.

Ronvo, Terry's bland statement about Juris's poor spelling notwithstanding, I suspect that our moderators concluded that Juris was a troll and was either another poster using a dual identity or was a previously banned poster. His spelling and syntax were noticeably inconsistent and were merely camoflage, in my opinion. Who knows who he really was? His ideas were pretty bizarre, and as SR540Beaver has suggested in another thread, not really Scouting at all. But I like your idea! I think I'll show up at our next camporee wearing goggles and a red cape and proclaim myself "Scouterman"!

FS - well, that's what I would think too. But does anyone have a clue as to how to go about shifting from a troop-based model to the district-based model? My spidey-sense sees all sorts of resistance and roadblocks.

In past threads, I've become aware of a variety of ways in which the names of approved MB counselors are made available to Scouts. If I understand correctly, the preferred approach seems to have all counselors registered as such with the district (in addition to and separate from their unit registrations) and a master list is then maintained by the district and distributed to troops. But how common is this really? In our district there is no such list. Each troop finds it's own counselors, generally from parents within the unit, and maintains its own list, with minor overlap (if any) between troops. If a troop is lucky enough to have a parent who is a nuclear physicist (say) then the troop has a counselor for that MB. Other troops have no such counselor and that MB is effectively foreclosed. If a gung-ho scout wants to pursue that MB, then another parent is recruited, maye a high school science teacher. I've thought about volunteering to help our district organize a master list, but I'd like to hear from you folks first. Does this model work or not? Is it better? Is it worth the extra effort? What difficulties may be expected?

I'm envious. This is our 38th day without a drop. The creek has dried up and the pasture is getting mighty crispy!