Twocubdad

Page 4 of the Insignia Guide -- "Districts are operational arms of the local council. Individuals are not identified as residents of a district, but of the local council and the Boy Scouts of America. For this reason district insignia is not authorized for wear on the uniform." Does this make me a uniform cop?

I'm committee chairman of a pack. I'm assuming that up until now your sponsor or Chartered Organization has been financing the Troop. I don't think it unreasonable that if they were providing the money that they should want to control it. But now, as they say, there is a new sheriff in town. I think now is the time to set the expectation with the CO that the troop will be largely self-supporting AND will manage it's own finances. Don't wait until next year when the Troop has built up a nest egg and there is some conflict over an expense. This is a good conversation to have with t

Welcome aboard! The kit should have come with a sheet of basic rules and instructions. Check with the pack or scout shop where you got the kit to get a copy. You also need to check with your pack to see if they have any house rules you need to know about. Beyond that, just search "Pinewood Derby" on any search engine and you'll get a ton of hits. Some are commercial sites trying to sell you their book or video, but many are sites by other scouters just offering advice.

Slightly off the subject (so what else is new?), but the link It's Trail Day gave to the Foxnews story about banning religious groups from college campuses contained yet another link which many of you may find interesting. The site, at www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/home.html is maintained by the Univ. of Missouri Law School. The site has several dozen pages featuring different Constitutional issues, like right to privacy, abortion, gun control, first amendment issues, etc. Each page has a short summary of the pertinent cases and then links to the actual Supreme Court or a

Kinda ran out of time last night, so let me add a couple more things --I always turn Whitlin' Chip into a two-meeting program. The first, we do knife safety, care and sharpening and first aid. The second meeting we review the first and then carve something. With the older boys, I let them carve real wood, usually a neckerchief slide. Use something soft with even grain like poplar, basswood or fir. White or sugar pine us okay and cheap, but stay away from yellow or southern pine as it is very difficult to carve. I come up with two or three designs (we've made boots, christmas trees, PW

Cheap soap! Actually I've always used Ivory. I don't know of any patterns you can copy, but look in the BSA catalog at the selection of neckerchief slide kits for some ideas. Our pack has a Whittlin' Chip box that we pass from den to den. The box has a bunch of wooden knives a dad made in his shop. (I've seen tounge depressors used for the same thing.) It also has a bunch of wooden blocks wrapped in sandpaper used as whetstones for the wooden knives. Using that to teaching boys how to sharpen sure saves resharpening the real knives after they wreck the edge. After they've mastere

Kittle, it sounds like you've provided the proverbial horse plenty of opportunities, it's up to him to take a drink. Ultimately, boys and their parents will either "get it" or not. Unfortunately, my experience is that the ones who don't get it eventually drop out. Cub Scouts is a family-based program. If the family's involvement is limited to dropping their son off at meetings, he's not going to make it. We try to make that clear during our orientation talk in Sepeteber. If you are trained, running a good program, and occasionally going the extra mile when needed, you've done your

There is a great deal of variation in how packs do Blue & Golds. Originally, B&Gs started as a "birthday party" for Scouting, celebrating the anniversary of Scouting. Some packs treat the B&G as a big party and just do fun, entertaining stuff. Our pack uses the B&G as the graduation and crossover banquet for the Webelos IIs. Most of the WIIs receive their Arrow of Light awards, then we do the crossover ceremony with representatives of the Boy Scout Troop(s) participating. But it's also a regular pack meeting, so any boy who has earned an advancement receives it. (Althoug

A slightly different problem, but each year as we got into late winter, I always had a few of my Wolf or Bear Cubs who were falling behind. I sent each boy in the den an "Akela Says" letter summarizing what they needed to do complete their rank advancement. The letter usually said something like "here's what you need to do to complete your Wolf badge by the March Pack meeting" and listed the achievements they had outstanding. I started doing is as simply a record-keeping function, but I was amazed at how it motivated the boys. I suppose it not only gave them a clear picture of what they

Once upon a time, I was big into Pioneer life or folklore. I spent the better part of a summer in college camping and trying to build a log cabin by hand. I discovered the same thing the people on the show did, that this lifestyle requires one heck of a lot of work. One thing about these shows (1900 House -- I think that's the right year -- was a BBC show with the same premise about a British family)which I think is inaccurate is that these people don't have the knowledge or skills to survive in this period. These shows aren't a historically accurate protrayal of life in the period, r

It won't help for the period prior to 1910, but have you tried writing National? In the early years of Scouting, before the local councils were formed, all units were chartered directly through National. So it's possible that they had the records, at one point, at least. I have no clue who or where to ask. Maybe the new Scout museum?

Anyone have a good idea for a skit with a Pinewood Derby theme?

Aw, come on, pfann! You know no Issues and Politics thread can go past five posts and remain on topic. I think it's in the fine print of the users agreement. NJ -- I'm curious as to this policy change from "known or avowed" to just "avowed." That's a HUGE difference. Where do you find the actual policy?

Rooster, you are exactly right. Homosexuals were targeted for exclusion en bloc because they are a highly visibly and easily distinguishable group. In other words, as I noted in my first post, it was a political decision. Look at it this way, if you were going to write a policy which would ensure that Scout leaders are of high moral character (or at least providing guidance to local units), wouldn't you include more in that policy than just a ban on homosexuals?

Rooster -- If a new leader walks in and says, Yes, I lie. Theres nothing wrong with it," I think they should be denied membership on account of being incredibly stupid, any questions of character aside. Reality is always a little more grey that the stark examples you cite. More likely is someone who says, "I always tell the truth. It just depends on what your definition of 'is' is," to use a example near and dear to your heart. Or a guy I know -- true story -- who constantly cheated on his wife and bragged about it. He always had some excuse as to why it was okay. He was eithe

I usually stay out of these threads on homosexuality. In fact, when a thread degenerates into the same old discussion on gays and Scouting, I'd like to see Scouter.com mark the thread so those of us not interested can avoid it. Maybe a little lavender triangle in the subject line..... But although Rooster and I come to different conclusion on the subject, he has very eloquently stated my main objection to the BSA policy. "In the end, I agree sin is sin. All sin separates us from God," Rooster very accurately writes. My objection is that BSA is shopping its sins. Being homosexu

Thanks for the cite, OGE. Note, however, what it does and does not say and compare that to what the BSA spokesman said in the original post. It does NOT require disclosure of communicable diseases, but it DOES allow local units/charter organizations a local option to determine the "desirability" of allowing individuals with communicable diseases to join their unit. Of course, there may another policy somewhere to which we mere volunteers aren't privy. NJ, I agree with you completely that the medical info is handled in a far-too cavalier manner. At Webelos camp this summer, the medical

This seems to be an area where national needs to provide a little more guidance -- AND another example of how poorly BSA communicates policy to the volunteers. Had anyone else heard of the policy requiring notification of deadly communicable diseases? I generally agree that in the cases of communicable diseases, severe allergies or similar situations, there is a need to know among leaders. I'm not sure that this extends to everyone in the troop. HIV is an extreme example. There are many other situations where the adults need to be aware of things in the case of an emergency, but the in

I'd like to know what your regular rules are. Thanks.

Based on the article, judges are already banned from membership in country clubs and other "groups that discriminate against women and minorities." Thus far, they've been allowed BSA membership only because of an exception to that rule.

While I can't cite chapter and verse from the Insignia Guide, it has been often stated here and elsewhere that once a uniform part is issued, it is always considered official, even if it is no longer offered for sale by the supply division. Thus, the red barets, field or "envelop" caps, even the canvas leggings are still considered official BSA uniform elements.(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

Are the red & white community and state strips not covered under the "once official, always official" policy? Or are they considered "District Insignia", thus prohibited in the Insignia Guide? If they are allowed under the "once/always" policy, is a new, reproduction patch allowed or do they have to be original BSA issue from they '70s or before? Hmmmmm..... Where are all our Scout lawyers, taking an early Christmas/winter solstice break?

I'd like to second an earlier post relating to a parka with a zip-out liner. Scouts in cold weather look like a bunch of homeless people (sorry if that's not PC). I recently bought a really nice Columbia parka with a breathable shell and a nice liner for $135. I know that's steep for kids, but if you could buy each half for half price, that may be more doable. And kid certainly don't need the quality of a Columbia parka. I've always loved my Woolrich jac-shirt, but at almost $100, it's no steal, either. It's great for cool, but not cold weather and you don't want to wear it in the rai

A Boy Scout may wear a square knot for a religious emblem earned as a Cub Scout? That's a new one on me. I thought the AOL was the only Cub Scout award that may be transferred to the Boy Scout uniform. Do you have a cite for that? By the way, always wear my palms on my Eagle knot.

I just ordered a copy, too. I think this was the second movie I ever saw at a theater (Sword and the Stone was first) when I was about four or five. I'm looking forward to watching it with my two cubs. It appears that these people are buying the videos in Europe and Asia (apparently it's PC over there), reformatting them in to US video standards, then selling them with the original packaging. Sounds like gray market, but Disney's getting their cut up front, so the heck with them.`