WA_Outdoorsman

My daughter troop is going through some rough times. The council is performing an audit of all of the books. Between the two leaders they run 4 troops and several interests groups. They have been leaders for years now and are very good. They have had problems with the neighborhood chair (also a parent in the troop). Today we got a message that the council wants to meet with all of the parents next week when they go over the books. The leaders have stated that they are tired of being harassed by the paid staff and that they will no longer continue and that the troop is dissolved. I though

My daughter is a proud member of GSUSA. She is going all the way from WA to MN this summer for the jamboree. They temporary troop that they set up is quickly dissolving (leaders dropping out, girls dropping out) she really wants to go. It looks like her and another girl will be attending as a Juliette. Speaking of Lady Baden-Powell, I have a copy of her book (1963 edition) that she autographed while at the World Jamboree in Idaho. I also have a picture of her with my wife's aunt that is signed. My wife's aunt was working for the Governor of Idaho at the time and was instrumental in securing

I noticed when looking at the inspection form it gives you two options, visored or campaign. It does not even give you the option of not wearing a hat!! The Insignia Guide talks about the campaign hat and the expedition hat, no mention of a visored cap. As all three are official uniform pieces I would think they are acceptable. With all of that said I usually wear the black BSA ball cap, waterproof and breathable. Alan

Here is the way our council is interpreting the QU. 1) Direct contact leaders (SM/CM/DL) should be minimum 70%. 2) Retention 80% goal 70% minimum. 3) New adults: +10%. For Cub units this is easy as they are recruiting new boys, for Boy Scout units this is very difficult as existing leaders transferring from cubs are not "New" adults they are just transfers. 4) For Cubs should be easy to hit the minimum of 60%, 80% would be more realistic. Boy Scouts may have to engage the older boys a bit to get them motivated. 5) An activity is anything outside of a Den/Troop meeting. If you have an

Here is what I use. It's does not use a ruler, but a piece of adding machine tape instead. The Paper Tape Timeline Demonstration: This talk provides a very visual reminder of how much time we have left to make an impact on our childrens lives. You need an 8-10 foot long piece of adding machine or calculator tape. Mark off the tape in ten-year increments with 0 at the left end and 100 at the right. Use large numbers parents for the audience. Roll the tape back up, so that the 100 is in the center. For the presentation you will need two helpers to hold the tape in front of you so you

I got a chance to see the new pants quite a while ago and have been looking forward to getting my own pair. Well today was to be the day, I went down and grabbed the size that should fit. Unfortunately they were very long. Apparently they do not make them for those of us on the short side. I carefully examined them and could not really determine an easy way to shorten them. When I was talking to the manager there he said that they had a pair professionally shortened for our SE, who is also vertically challenged. It cost $35 to have them altered. I guess that the next question is will BSA s

We encourage parents to participate in our "Outlaw" derby. The rules are simple size and weight are per regulation, the rest is up to the builder. This usually keeps medling hands out of the boys cars. Many of the parents, myself included, put a lot of hours into building the cars. The nice other thing about this is it gives the boys some ideas for next year. Alan

There are prayers for thier families from this side of the country. Has anybody heard where they were from? Alan Cascasde Pacific Council

I just set up the orienteering course at our day camp. I set up two courses, one to tech on and one to practice skills on. The teaching one is a small circle of stakes with letters on them that form codes. All of these can easily be seen. The skills course uses all of the lower meadow. The stakes are also letters, but they form words, all related to scouting or the safari theme of camp. These stakes are not easily visible. I did not use any pacing in the course, just a take a bearing and start walking. We started the boys at a specific stake and then they get a card that gives them the next