King Ding Dong

I can see it now. OA drops NA culture for Hip Hop culture. Still a bunch of white guys dressing up, dancing and pretending they are something they are not.

If Scouters put the National Outdoor Award on as high or higher pedestal than they do Eagle I think a lot of these problems would take care of themselves. Eagle is a Rank not really different than any of the others except for the project. The NOA, now that is an major accomplishment not just for the Scout but the Program the Scouter provides as well.

I would be more concerned if he had alcohol. It's not OK, but to what standard are we holding these boys to? Is Eagle supposed to signify sainthood? Have absolutely no failings?

In the abstract it all seems rather benign. However what if the candidate is a real nut job? We certainly have plenty of those crawling around. There was one the other day that claimed Islam is not a religion. Is it OK if a candidate prints stuff like that on the same page as them wearing their field uniform?

Remember Al Franken on SNL with that satellite dish on his head? Well you just do the same thing but with solar panels. For cloudy days or night time you get one of those camp stoves that powers a USB port from the heat. Basically go out in the woods armed like a total pinhead.

How does when a scout earned Eagle affect his activity level in a troop? Does holding them back really keep up their interest in scouting? Others obviously have more experience with this than I but I would think a boy who is going to drop out at 14 or 15 is going to drop regardless of the patch or not. I think the problem is putting Eagle on such a high pedestal that the boys can only see it as a destination and not part of the journey.

Scouting is not a religion and Eagle is not a deity it is a rank with specified requirements. Meet the requirements you get the rank. You can make more of it than it is supposed to be but you are just serving yourself not the Scout.

David do you have local Native American tribes/groups/individuals that feel the OA is guilty of cultural appropriation or is it a bunch of white people telling the locals how they should be offended by the OA? I think there is a big difference. My understanding is OA has worked with the NA community and have come to an understanding, but there could certainly still be local groups that are not happy about the OA.

Stosh, if there are no accusations of adult gayness or athiestness, council is not going to touch them.

Dear Parents, we are having a great time at camp! Today two of our scouts yelled obscenities at campers passing by our site telling them to "get the F#%+ out", hit them with a broom and even through rocks at them, not sure if it was the same scouts but they also crushed some left over apples and put them in our water cooler. Later this afternoon our SPL and 4 other scouts decided it would be a great idea to have a sword fight with cot end poles. Inexplicably a 1st year clocked the SPL in the back of the head with one. Fortunately he didn't black out and there was no blood but he cried for a good 20 minutes. I was a bit concerned when he kept complaining that his hands were tingling, but all is well the camp doc checked him out and he is back on his feet now. Another scout came down with strep. NEXT DAY, Dear Parents, we are having such a great time at camp this week. We had our OA elections this morning and one scout who has attended 3 Eagle Projects this year and stayed all day helping repackage scouting for food boxes was not voted in, on the bright side the scout with a broom and a colorful vocabulary received overwhelming support. A great year for our Lodge. 2 scouts taking wilderness survival completely forgot to show up for their overnight last night, so they will be getting partials. We have another case of strep today. They boys have completely given up on cooking and are just eating bread and cheese. Good new though, as the older boys finally settled down before 1AM last night. (I thought it best not to send updates)

What about all the nuts out in the woods ? Walnuts, acorns, etc. Also a peanut is not a nut it is a legume, so a nut or tree nut allergy is very different to a peanut allergy.

I am IH (PTO) and den leader and Cubmaster and play the role of ASM and am now forced to act as CC for the troop. Not good. I have wanted to move my oldest to another troop for almost a year. We have a new SM/ASM team so things may be improving, if they don't I know for sure my Web 1 will not be joining this troop.

Stosh not sure what exactly the study is defining as "gluten allergen" but I can assure you for some people gluten is a major problem, for some like me it is more minor. My wife can handle a small amount very occasionally, but otherwise is in severe pain. I know my bowels very well and they are much happier when I avoid gluten. My 8 year old loves PB&J but does not want it because it always gives him a tummy ache. He tried just having half for awhile but eventually gave up on that.

Find a new troop.

You need to talk to Council about this.

The problem I run into is getting the parents to actually read an email. If they won't do that they are not going to go to a website.

My pack is trying this in August. A couple of dads have the idea of ripping a 6" PVC pipe in half. How does the inflatable one work?

When my boys were about 3 and 5 they started wrestling in the hall after a bath, got lots of great pics. Going to write a program for posting them to Facebook in a few years. "At 11 those photos are posting, better be home by then to exit the program. Have fun, I'm going to bed".

Never heard of this either. Must be those $350+ camps.

And I thought that was just because I am fat. It's been the dang shirt all along. Whew.

The Scout Ranch is no longer safe.

"It was also suggested that swimming nude would build character, in some unexplainable way." I don't know about character, but certainly creates a bit of drag.

One other thing, I believe LDS troops can refuse a female leader.

A local unit can refuse a gay scout. From my understanding it must be done in a consistent manner such as a religous CO only allows members of its congregation in the troop, in order to be a membership the congregation you cannot be gay.

Others have stated elsewhere that it should be the Scouts responsibility to to arrange transport. "Dad can you drive me and my buddies to the campout?" Will likely be more effective than adults asking adults.