Krampus

Nor should a home-owner or head of household. But that's our government for you. I wonder how many kids' parents are claiming those popcorn prizes -- especially those gift cards -- given by council as untaxed income.

Retired active duty.

Depends. Will be doing more hiking or more plop camping?

Oddly enough my cousin's unit had tax attorney, who is a former IRS agent, approve the approach they took. We copied it. As I understand the IRS rule (as told to me by this ex IRS attorny) it has to do with what constitutes private benefit and the potential existence of any inurement. Any inurement happens when the distribution of income benefits private individuals. Here's the rub, "private individuals" is defined as "having a personal and private interest in the activities of the organization." There is no definition or guidance as to how this relates to members of the same organizat

The satisfaction of helping his crew further. Bragging rights. But at least he knows that the other guys are also forced to pull a minimum weight and not just lay around and do nothing.

Really? Not where I live. We have one troop that does a great job at it, but it is in conjunction with the ARC. BSA had nothing to do with the training. The next most visible group is REI, but their program costs upwards of $200. Outside of our area, NOLS is seen as the big dog in this space. I'm not sure the average Scout or Scouter thinks "BSA" when they think advanced first aid training. Does BSA actually design, develop and deliver advanced first aid programs in your area (beyond troops offering CPR/AED or MB colleges offering the MB)? We can barely get leader training more than once a

I will preface this by saying that my cousin's unit did the leg work to work with an tax attorney and their council to make sure they were compliant all around. Scout A, Scout B and Scout C are going to Philmont. Scouts A&B sell candy, Scout C does not. The quota is to sell $200 worth. Scout A sells $200, he can continue to sell if he wants to. Scout B sells $150. Since Scout B did not make the quota he has to make up the $50 by writing a check. When the funds are applied to those going to Philmont, only Scout A and Scout B get assistance funding having participated in the fund rai

Wasn't Outdoor Ethics created with the LNT Center for Outdoor Ethics and the Tread Lightly group? I don't think it was purely a BSA course.

Is this opinion or policy? Have you ever had scouts that refuse to sell anything yet reap the benefit of such efforts? We tried this a long time ago. We started with 90% participation. The kids got wise real quick that Billy and the 9% were playing PS4 at home while everyone else was out selling. Guess what? The next sale less than 20% of the kids sold anything. The year after that we had less than 8% sell anything. Actually lost money on the fund raiser. When people expect that "free lunch" it is on the backs on someone. When the hard workers get ticked off they either leave your troo

When we send troop communications I always address it to "Dear Scouts (& Parents)". We have a parents list for those items strictly for parents attention. Everything else is scout-to-scout. At the meeting last night I had a parent come up and say, "Sorry we're late, but I went to the church and you weren't there. My son then told me we where here tonight. I guess you guys (adult leaders) forgot to send a location change?" My response was, "We sent notes. One to scouts and one to adults. Sounds like your scout read his."

You can have fundraisers where Billy Scout sells stuff and the money is ear-marked for his trip to Philmont, as long as everyone who participated in the fund raiser sells an equal amount and has an equal share allocated to them. Those who don't sell don't get the money. In our unit we require the guys participating in the fund raiser to sell an equal amount, that way the money can be allocated evenly to those who participated without running afoul of the tax man and without participating in income redistribution to those who did not participate. It is a bit Marxian, but that's the worl

Hardly inappropriate. Satan has many forms. Didn't you see Omen III? Satan was an English school boy.

@@NJCubScouter BSA not only prefers it, but they prohibit suppliers from using BSA logos and artwork flat out. Just last fall we had troop gear made up by a large online retailer (think commercials on TV). When the artwork was uploaded they initially took the order. Within an hour I received a phone call that they cannot do the work due to copyright violations. They were not an approved retailer. Later this spring I believe they were added to the BSA short list.

Asked my District yesterday. They looked at me like this... ...when I asked them if they were making WFA mandatory for all activities. Their direct quote I cannot post here, but their follow up response was, "Ah....no. No way." So at least my District is not doing it.

Are you oppressing my heritage? Krampus is a germanic (mostly Austrian or Tyrolian) figure that accompanied St. Nikolaus during their visit to children on Nikolaustag every December 6th. He's a horned figured that gives children switches and coal and reminds them to be good.

I spend a great deal of time in the back country, whether it is scouting, hunting or just off on my own (okay, the hounds come with so really not alone). A lot of the places I go are in very rural areas in west Texas, New Mexico, etc. We are miles away from any help. Air ambulance service is the only way out to live. If you've never been to west Texas or southwest Texas, you might as well be on Mars given how lousy mobile phone reception is. You want to make it out if there's a problem you need the gear. And let's face it, this stuff is my hobby so I drop the extra cash there (boys with toys).

Or....wear whatever you want....right next to your mentor pin. Right @@Stosh?

Another member posted a while back a way around the ISA issue but still remain complaint with the IRS guidelines. In short, consult a tax attorney. We followed that member's advice and developed a method to do fund raising and still comply with IRS guidelines.

All this is good info. What bothers me most is the rainfall totals throughout Texas and the southwest were well above normal during the spring and winter. The onset of the summer monsoons were also historically higher than normal. This should have been a fair warning to the professionals in charge. These were historic conditions; meaning historic high water marks would be in danger of being overtaken. If you look at the camp map and the video of where the camp sites were in relation to the cabin, they were camping well below the high water mark.

ROFL...well that may be true. But it has been my experience that the adults forget nearly as often as the scouts do. I find a high correlation between the parents who manage email/communications well and the kids who manage email/communications well. Most of my problem kids have parents that are no better in managing their email/communications than the kids. Most parents don't suffer consequences well either. Some how they missed the three emails, 2-3 postings on the website, the flier on the bulletin board, the announcement at the COH, and the weekly reminder at the end of the scout meeti

If he finds me, cool. I can erase my tracks later.

I thought he was talking about a half a donkey.

In my pack on every back country outing: Personal locator beacon (at 406 MHz [low power transmit to 121.5MHz], Iridium, COMSAT and Globalstar) EG18 high output smoke grenades. Rhino 655t GPS unit with WX radio to NOAA (SAME codes for multiple areas). 800# for the local care flight. Sat phone (Iridium 9575). Some redundant gear but you never know what's going to happen two weeks in the back country. Phone goes out, have the Rhino as back up. Stick to itinerary so that if we are no-shows they can see on the Rhino where we are and come get us if needed. Smoke for easy finding and PLB as a last

Looking at that footage and the map of the camp sites it would appear they were camped too close to the creek bed, on flat land without much elevation relief. Given how wet the spring had been across the southwest, and the weather present that whole week, it would seem (in my opinion) that Philmont staff should have been advising crews to camp higher up from the creek bed.

@@fred johnson, I have to laugh because of the "today is not 1979" comment...and then noting your unit does things face-to-face and using newsletters. Talk about 1979 communication methods. You only missed phone trees and physical bulletin boards. I am not sure I followed your point.