King Ding Dong

Well my last attempt at returning didn't last long. The lemons just kept coming and we had to take a break from Scouting, move to a new city, the wife went ahead and I had to stay behind for 5 months as single Dad etc, etc. Kind of left the old units in a crunch considering I was IH, CC of troop, CM and WDL all at the same time but I hear they are surviving somehow. Things have settled down for the most part and my sons joined a new troop (youngest just crossed over). There were some hard choices to make between 3 troops and none are perfect but you know what sold me on this one?

Grapevine has it Horsemanship will soon require a belay. What's shaken' folks?

Thanks guys, I guess my question is more about the local council and its strength. We all know they are not equal. My current one is big, with big properties and I am also in a very strong district. I know 95 percent of scouting is at the unit level so it shouldn't make a huge difference. If I end up relocating there or somewhere else at least we can get into a good troop. My current one is getting better but has a long way to go. Life's lemons, recharter, crazy kids and a few other research projects have kept me from more than the occasional lurk here. Things should calm down in a fe

Well life have been tossing me lemons again. A move may be in our future. How is Scouting in Columbus OH? The Council web site is rather bare.

$60. And recharter will be done by Dec 1. No check, no problem you are dropped.

I wouldn't describe it as more religion-centric, just a bit more age appropriate as the boys grow. I am President of a midwest public school PTO and while religion friendly we take a very hands off approach to the religious requirements and leave those requirements to the family to fulfill. I suspect you will find the same.

I think the better approach is if we cannot get this done as a group non of us will have program next year for our boys. No one will step up to CC for the troop so I have to do it. My next landmine I see on the horizon is a troop mandatory minimum fundraising goal or a mandatory buyout. Everyone on the committee seems to think we can do this, after all they "voted" on it.

I concur with all my friends above. You will be fine as far as National BSA is concerned but things can get murky on a more local level. A lot depends on the organization that charters your unit. If it is a religious institution they do have the authority to impose standards on the members of the unit. Most do not but there are some that have expectations of their members and sometimes leaders do try and mandate earning the religious emblem. On this board we have heard many stories of such actions and even specific religious requirements that come down from the Council level though that

The minimum age is also 14. The instructor POR can be used for those interested in learning.

Another point you can use is the sports and academic program is an optional add on program and is not central to advancement program. We don't budget for them, but it helps that the scout shop just moved to our neighboorhood.

Since Tim Cook came out of the closet today I suspect we will have issues with all the contaminated iPhones.

What did they decide to do to straight boys that were not totally celibate?

Where on the spectrum does the troop lay on passing the T-1 requirements. Complete mastery demonstrated multiple times "tie a bowline blindfolded while chewing gum and balancing on one foot on a 30* slope in the rain" or "once and done" and mastery comes from teaching the skill to other scouts and patrol competitions?

Second on troopwebhost. Not using it for advancement yet, mostly for event signups and email. The goal is to allow the Scouts to be able to work on building the events outside of the troop meetings. The support team is very responsive. I have emailed John a couple of times and he has always responded within a few hours.

I am starting to get the feeling that the answer to your question is: the Troop Committee can appoint a new Scoutmaster.

Really. We just will not be happy until every last one of us gay.

Another approach that we are starting to implement is to just assign certain activities to each Den and it is the Parents (not Den Leaders) job to make it happen.

Have not done this but I just giggle over the thought. The White Board Technicque. Have a mandatory Parent meeting. Write all the Pack activities on the board and then ask for a chair for each activity. When no raises their hand it gets erased off the board. I have heard by the time you get to Pinewood Derby they get the idea and start stepping up.

I never did read much about what that MoU entailed. My recollection is it essentially allowed AHG to use BSA facilities. After the "The Decision" I suppose those facilities are contaminated.

Excellent. Lots to think about. Very Jambo focused, but touches on all the hot button issues that our much of the adults focus but shouldn't be.

You have some pyrotechnics to go along with that?

Can we post?

Look at the positives. You are on the vanguard of Scouting and exactly what Natioanl wants. Play your cards right and that patrol will be featured on the cover of Boys Life in no time. Can they make a robot tie a bowline?

Where is any BSA Literature is a committee vote mentioned?

I will get yelled at for this. Sounds like a STEM troop. No reason you cannot have them form a First Lego League under the Troop umbrella. The structure is really no different than the patrol method. We have a Mindstorms set and it is a blast. My son has not joined a team because the main season is August-October and scouting is just to busy at that time. If you make it to the World Championship in St. Louis you can camp at one of our facilities.