Trevorum

As I said, there are 2 kinds of people in the world: those who make typologies and those who don't.

A professor of mine used to joke that there were 2 kinds of people in the world: those who made typologies and those who didn't. Anyways... In the five years Ive been with our current troop, Ive been lucky enough to know many fine young men. Thinking about their Scouting careers, there seems to be three kinds: (1) Scouts who drop by the wayside for one reason or another. Tenderfoot or Life, I like to think these guys absorbed the Ideals during the time they spent with us. (2) Scouts who participate continuously for a period of some years and eventually earn their Eagle. (3) Scouts who earn Life rank, fulfill their 6-month leadership and tenure requirements, disappear for a while (sports, high school, whatever) but then reappear a year or years later to complete their Eagle project. Have you also experienced #3? Our committee automatically re-registers all Life Scouts to allow a back-door for any fellow who decides he really wants to finish that Eagle after all. In a few cases I haven't known the fellow well enough to assess their Scout spirit and so delegated the SM conference to his old SM (now an SA). Is that kosher?

bbq, don't mind jd. He's a Yankee and doesn't understand Texas.

concerned's list of tragedies is sobering but still anecdotal - it does not include those similar events for non-LDS scouts (and we know there were some) during the same period. I'm saying we need to have comparable nationwide data before attempting to identify a statistical anomaly. Nevertheless, assuming that concerned has indeed indentified a legitimate problem, I agree with Kristi - it might be useful to know to what degree LDS adult unit leaders are BSA "trained" compared to other units. Also, to what degree the professionals in LDS councils and districts are themselves LDS or not and to what degree they emphasize adult training.

Welcome, bbq! ... mmm... that makes me hungry just thinkin' about it ...

ML2, you are clearly concerned more than most of us about the security of personal information. Maybe none of us will ever convince you, but I don't see a problem either. You say that you "would like to volunteer my time as a leader in my pack ...". So just volunteer your time as a parent! There is no requirement for you to formally register or wear a uniform. If you were in our pack, we'd finds LOTS of ways for you to focus your enthusiasm for Scouting without registering! In fact, I'd say more than 75% of the volunteer jobs in the pack would be open.

This is precisely the type of political expression that would be made illegal under the constitutional amendment recently approved by the US Senate. While I disagree with your proposed form of expression - believing that disrespect to Old Glory has a very distant and not immediately obvious connection to the recent SCOTUS decision - I think it should be your political right to do so.

That is a great idea! Several years ago, our troop visited a large military installation to participate in an archeological dig. The post security required photo IDS, so we made our own laminated troop IDS using digital pictures of each scout in full uniform with troop and BSA logos, etc. They were slick. I was skeptical of the security utility of the IDs, but the boys really seemed to like them!

A very interesting idea, but I'll bet not many folks have experience. I haven't even SEEN a drive-in theater in decades! The only way my kids even know about them is from, well, other movies. But, if you have access to one, it could be billed as a retro, feel-good type thing. Maybe show Lucas's American Graffiti or something similar. Good luck!

well, excuuuuuuuuusse me!

Wow. I'm impressed! I don't think even Merlyn could stir things up quite that much!

I think FSCouter must be an avid geocacher and he just wants everyone to share his passion. btw, see my earlier posts about unnecessarily punctuated threads; the use of * and @ and especially ? really got me going...

Gern, we have excellent insurance, but still had a negative equity in the vehicle. I'll have to make double payments for a while I guess. Ouch. There is a lot of inconvenience here. We're not litigious folks and have walked away from other situations which had injury lawyers salivating. I'm not sure yet what his recommendations will be, but I'd like the party at fault to make things right as if the whole thing had never happened.

Gern, excellent point. My understanding is that, to some people, to be stepped upon with shoes is a greater insult than burning. If this become law, would it be OK to hit the flag with ones shoes? How about waving shoes at the flag? Spitting on the flag? Should we jail those people? How about just threatening to burn the flag? Or just saying nasty things about the flag? My opinion is that free speech must be 100% free or else it is not really free. I am even uncomfortable with not being able to say nasty things about our president without getting the FBI involved. But I'll accept that limitation (asterisked fine print to our right to free speech) along with the reasonable limitation of not shouting "fire!" (either in a crowded theatre or on a rifle range!)

I remember my dad saying that he was a flag burner from 'way back. Of course what he was referring to were retirement ceremonies. I fact, the only people I know who burn flags are Boy Scouts. If this passes, what would we do? It's not like Boy Scouts can just toss a tattered Old Glory into the trash. However, I honestly don't think this bill is serious legislation - it is mere political posturing for the masses. As Kahuna points out, we don't really have a problem that needs fixing. Even if passed by the Senate, this issue would never be ratified by the states. (Unlike say, the Equal Rights Ammendment which was for the benefit of fully 50% of Americans. Oh, wait. That didn't pass the states either. Never mind.) Nonetheless, this bill does provide a delicious starting point to examine and debate the issues of free speech in a post 9/11 America. Debate and discussion is always good.

Gern, I am not a lawyer (tho I play one on TV ) but I can tell you that OUR lawyer is pursuing this with gusto - he seems to smell an easy lay-up shot.

A quick update (for those who may be interested). The fire inspector came out and did his CSI magic, determining fire temperature and point of origin, wind speed and direction, etc., etc. It was quite fascinating. He said, "Well, it was clearly the Ford cruise control device. It's a good thing the truck wasn't garaged at the time, or the whole structure would have gone up." So if anyone reading this has a Ford vehicle model year between 1992 and 2002, please take my advice and REPLACE THE CRUISE CONTROL NOW! It's a $21 part and can ignite spontaneously. It can save you a lot of grief and can possibly save your life.

Koda, I agree! Geocaching is the perfect alignment of outdoor skills and high-tech skills and has lots of fun learning opportunities to offer boys of both stripes. This year, instead of our traditional orienteering campout, we added a geocaching event for the older guys (who had already passed basic map and compass skills). We set up our own course in advance. It was lots of fun and I think our PLC will want to do it again next year, this type with more bells and whistles. As an aside, I like UTM coordinate systems much better than lat/long but that is a matter of taste.

I've gotta say that I feel honored to have been called a "jerk" by someone who so clearly knows which are the "useless" parts of the BSA program ...

The new Las Vegas CSPs are now available through the scout shop for $5

Some of my favorite summer reads have been by Tony Hillerman. His mysteries with Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Sgt. Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police are great stories, especially if you love the Southwest I also recommend any of the alternaive histories by Harry Turtledove. Have you ever wondered what things would be like if the South had won the Civil War? If rhe US had allied with Germany in WWI? If the allies and the Axis joined in WWII to battle an even bigger menace?

Ahh, I see ... (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

I miss my digital camera. It burned up.

Acco, at most of the camps we've been to recently, full field uniform is requested only for the evening flag ceremony and for supper. This gives the boys plenty of time to wash their uniform and let it line dry the next day. Unless, of course, it rains. (Which it is apt to do.) Most guys won't get their field uniform shirt dirty enough to need washing. The bigger problem is with the activity uniform tops (troop T-shirts) which become pretty rank if worn 2 days in a row by a sweaty teen-ager. And skivies. Even if the boy has 2 or 3 of these shirts, he'll have to launder a couple on Wednesday to have clean shirts for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Well, after 24 hours I'm recovered from the shock and am working with the insurance company. They are already handling several other similar exploding F150 cases. Sempers' SM minute was great, but I've also come up with my own, as promised. If you're curious, I've posted it under the SM Minutes forum.