Trevorum

OurWebelos II's would wear the tan uniform and the red felt vest. At the end of year ceremonies, we'd present each Webelos I with the red vest.

Me, I'd be more concerned with how Lynda's couple treated their son and the other youths in the troop than whether 15 years ago they had said their vows before a judge, a rabbi, or just each other.

Yep, the "Black Death", which wiped out 30% of Europe in the 14th century is flourishing in our American Southwest. The good news is that the fatality rate is fairly low (15%). Unlike rabies, which is always 100% fatal if untreated. A young fellow in our troop is currently undergoing rabies shots (ouch!) due to exposure to a bat. Unbelievably, his science teacher brought a dead bat into the classroom last week for examination. Colossally bad idea. And this was while a teenager in Houston was hospitalized for exposure to a bat (tragically, he did not get treatment soon enough and died last Friday). Our Scout (who is doing fine, although sore from all the shots) spoke to the troop on Monday night and reminded them NEVER to touch or approach a dead bat. Please tell your scouts the same.

scoutldr, I suppose we'll have to start demanding copies of marraige certificates along with driver insurance information. The G2SS clearly says, while camping, adult coed couples must be married, and we surely wouldn't want to violate that important clause... I wonder if they've delegated enforcement to the Uniform Police ...

I recall a case where, several months out from the OA election, a couple of fellows realized that they would not have the required number of nights camping by the date of the election. As I recall, they had band concerts on the calendar that conflicted with the troop's planned campouts. Did that stop them? Of course not! They went camping as a patrol on another weekend! I was pretty impressed with their planning ahead and thinking outside the box!

We have always made this an option for parents and have rarely had a problem. We make it a point that all adults in camp be uniformed (and we assign them real responsibilities for the days they will be in camp) so that it does not end up being a family outing. The few problems we have had have been cases of a parent wanting to shadow little Johnny all day instead of helping the troop as a whole. We leaned to have a meeting of all adultt leaders including the short-timers well in advance of camp to lay some common understandings. We insist on a minimum of 3 adults for any long term camp and usually have many more than that for a ratio of 5 scouts per adult.

dhendron, welcome to the forums! A very strange situation, to be sure. You didn't say what documentation the fellow has from National (I assume a letter) but make sure he knows to keep that - and ALL relevant paperwork - in a safe place. When/if his eagle application is recieved at National, the dates of his remaining MBs will raise a red flag and his application will be kicked back unless he has some kind of paper trail attached. The situation confirms my impression that virtually ANY appeal to National will be upheld (unless of course the candidate in question admits he is an atheist or gay, which are certain dealbreakers). Unfortunately, the lesson he has learned here is that (after years of being told that his Eagle must be earned BEFORE he turns 18) there are no hard-and fast deadlines and that wheedlingand complaining will get you special treatment. I just hope he never decides to join the military....

Oak Tree, you are correct. According to the G2SS, and assuming appropriate quarters are available, newlywed 18 year olds could share a tent at a BSA camp while a mom and dad, who have been a couple for 15 years but have never felt the need to get married, could not. Go figure.

IMHO, use of the term "shack up" is somewhat perjorative, and brings with it the connotation of lascivious behavior. When accompanying scouts, no hint of sexual behavior be attached to any adult, married or otherwise. If a couple's behavior is appropriate for a scout setting, their choice to marry or not should be no ones business.

I'm not sure this needs to be an issue either in a BSA or GSUSA camp as long as the couple's behavior is otherwise acceptable. Certainly if the youth regards the other adult as a parent, it's no one elses business.

"Think of the three men that you respect the most... do they curse?" Well, Dick Cheney sure isn't in my top three!

Dan, thanks for the corrections and clarifications.

For ffunscouts and others who may not "know much about Wicca". ----------------------------------------- WICCA Wicca is not a single organized religion like Christianity or Islam, but is an umbrella term for modern revivals of a variety of ancient European traditional religions. These are pre-Christian and usually polytheistic. Today, there are about one million Wiccans and other "NeoPagans" in the USA and Canada. Origins of NeoPaganism A Neopagan religion is a modern faith which has been recently reconstructed from the beliefs, deities, and practices of an ancient religion. For example, the Druidic religion, popular in Great Britain and northern Europe, is based on the faith and practices of the ancient Celts. Followers of Asatru adhere to the pre-Christian Norse religion and worship several gods including Odin. Wiccans also trace their roots back to the pre-Celtic era in Europe but are more nature-based. Other Neo-pagans follow Roman, Greek, Egyptian or other ancient traditions. Wicca Sacred Texts Wiccans have no sacred texts. Each individual is responsible for discovering his or her own true nature and developing it fully, in harmony with the outer world. Behavior is guided by the Pagan Ethic: "Do what thou wilt, but harm none". This saying emphasizes personal freedoms, as long as one does not harm themselves or anyone else. The "Law of Return" is similar to the Golden Rule and states that "All good that a person does to another returns three fold in this life; harm is also returned three fold." This belief strongly motivates each Wiccan to avoid harming or controlling another person. Wiccan Beliefs Some people confuse Wicca with Satanism, but Wiccans do not worship the devil they do not even believe in such a being. Although Wicca is pre-Christian, it is not anti-Christian. Wiccans are considered to be pagans because some of them worship several nature gods instead of a single supreme god. Most Wiccans believe that a creative force exists in the universe, which is sometimes called "The One" or "The All". Most regard the Goddess and the God as representing the female and male aspects of the All. These deities envelop all the world. Wicca is non-centralized, non-hierarchical, and doesnt posses a strict set of dogma. NeoPagans believe in love for and kinship with Nature. Rather than trying to dominate over Nature; NeoPagans revere the life force and its ever-renewing cycles of life and death. Wicca is a natural religion, grounded in the earth. All things (including stars, planets, humans, animals, plants, rocks) are regarded as having a spirit. Many Wiccan rituals deal with bringing harmony and healing to nature. Wiccans tend to share a great concern for the environment. ---------------------------------------------- From "A Guide to the Faiths of Other Scouts" http://www.inquiry.net/ideals/faiths/index.htm

Untrained/weak leadership by the troop committee and Scoutmaster. It looks to me like it was the troop committee, not the CO which met and voted to revoke unit membership of the two Scouts. And then the SM went meekly along. Once the CO got involved (after the pastor returned to town), they voted to delay action pending further infor from National and from their own parent organization. By that time though, the damage was done.

Rick, I've always considered the capitalized, singular word "God" to be a kind of title rather than a name. Sort of like the way we use the capitalized word "President", or "King". The actual name of this diety can variously be Yahweh, Adonai, Jehovah, or Allah (just to list a few). In the general case, the English word "God" can refer to any of many supreme beings, not just the one which originated with ancient near eastern shepards. Thus, some Native Americans pray to the "God" named Wakantanka. The lower-case, plural word "gods" refers collectively to any pantheon of supreme dieties.

Excellent point Kahuna, and absolutely correct. However, fully comparable to the legal injustices that were suffered upon Blacks in the early part of this century are similar injustices that are still suffered upon other minorities in this country, and with the loud approval from some quarters. The sad fact is, many Americans are still legally prevented from entering into a marriage contract with the person they love. These Americans work, pay taxes, buy homes, go to church, and in many cases raise families, but they are unjustly discriminated against and are not allowed to marry. As with Blacks, moving to a state or countrye where they CAN legally marry is generally not an option. It's not right.

Wow, I guess our council is behind the curve on this one. I suppose your councils must build the cost of badges into the annual dues structure (probably one rank badge per year per scout?). I wonder why our council doesn't do this ... hmm ... Our advancement chair told me that badges just increased in price (again). MBs are now $1.65 (can that be right??) At this rate, awards for our fall CoH will have a price tag of $500 or more!

(but wait, there's more!) In perusing the website for the Great Alaska Council, looking for some info on their new CSP (they're voting on some great designs!) I discovered that this council is offering free badges of rank for an entire year to any unit that satisfies certain criteria. Units must participate in the FOS compaign, sell popcorn and also sell tickets to their Scout-o-rama event. This is a great idea! Does any one elses council do this? How does it work out? goto http://www.bsawac.org/ (click on "More on the merger", see page 7)

scoutldr, when we have to get out of bed at that time of the night/morning, we call it, "Oh-stupid-thirty" I remember when I was (as Eamonn would say) a lad. Learning to tell time was tough for me because one teacher would tell me that there are 25 cents in a quarter-dollar, and another teacher would tell me that there were 15 minutes in a quarter-hour. For a long time, I was convinced that one of them was mistaken. I've never understood why the ancient Babylonians used a base 12 system, dividing the day into 12 parts and the night into 12 parts. And dividing each part into five twelves, and each smaller part also into five twelves. And then there is the year divided into 12 parts, and the circle divided into 30 twelves. And the length of a Roman foot divided into 12 parts. Give me the metric system anyday! Thank goodness our founding fathers had the sense not to inherit the British pound sterling! (must have been Fanklin - he was a reasonable guy).

A very wise man, who greatly respected Francis of Assisi, once told me, Grant me the strength to obey the rules which are just, the courage to disobey those which are not, and the wisdom to know the difference."

I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! {Your winnings, sir. } Oh, thank you very much.

The Normans are famously free-thinkers. What the Academe' prigs in Paris say doesn't hold much weight in Normandy. I'd like to think that if the fellow next to me at the ball game was singing the Star Spangled Banner in Spanish, no one would really care. After all, it's the thought that counts, right?

LOL, no, far from it. As a matter of fact I presented him with his Ad Altare Dei last year ... He's truly a future leader of our community.

We'll always have Paris...

OK, we all know that playing paintball is against the G2SS. Whether or not we agree with the prohibition is besides the point. It's not allowed; end of story. BUT ... At last night's PLC one of the PL's proposed a program on paintball. I pointed out that playing paintball was not allowed as a Scouting activity, and this fellow (an Eagle and ex-SPL) replied, "Oh, Mr. T., we're not going to PLAY paintball at all. We are going to have a program on different kinds of equipment, proper use of the equipment, safety, and things like that." hmmm... thought I. Clever kid. "But it's still against the G2SS." "Right," he replied, "but think of it like this. Parachuting is also against the G2SS and we would never have a troop activity that involved it. But we could have a program that demonstrated the equipment, how to fold a 'chute, how to land and roll, and other safety stuff for parachuting." hmmm... thought I. Clever kid. Probably going to be a lawyer. "OK," says I, "but absolutely no pointing guns at anyone, loaded OR unloaded." Good call? Or was I backed in to a corner by a 15 year old way smarter than his old SM?