OldGreyEagle

thanks for the quick reply, what does your troop consider a full uniform?

I find it interesting your troop bans cotton clothes on winter campouts, I have to ask, who checks the packs? What do you do if you find an offending item and what does you troop consider a full "dress" uniform? I understand the arguments against cotton.

Define close? http://www.scoutingmuseum.org/ Manchester, New Hampshire http://www.worldofscoutingmuseum.org/ Valley Forge, PA

Opem with the pledge and the Oath, close with the Law and Scoutmaster's Benediction.

this is the offending link http://www.inandaroundayrshire.com/fe/location.asp?id=8 read the second to last paragraph, so they are wrong, oh well, can't beleive everything you read on the net then can you?

What do you know about Lord Rowallen/Rowallan (SP?) A family member claims that B-P was once a Lord Rowallen, anybody know something on this?

well of course there is the saga of Lemuel Siddons and the friendly folks of Hickory Then instead of going the usual route, what about the Magnificent Seven and the way they taught the village to defend itself. The Bridge Over the River Kwai and how Col Nicholson gave the prisoners pride and a goal. The Great Escape and how the prisoners worked together to accomplish a goal for the community. Then again there is Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich Or Bing Crosby in Going My Way

well, it was for Ventures so the night time activites were night time rappeling on a Cope course, sessions on huting tips, car care and recruiting tips. I could see a night time string burning contest and night time orienterring and a point out as many constellations as you can in 10 minutes

So Ed, a priest raping an altar boy is at the very least hilarious?

anarchist, I feel your pain, I have seen the same thing. An Emergency prep class being taught with boys 3 and 4 rows around around a single instructor who was tying the rescue harness and when he was done, all received credit for it, even those talking in the back row who had no idea of what was going on. A trip to the Camp Director setttled the issue and the next day the class all tied, or at least tried to tie the harness. If you have issues with a Camp's merit badge program, let the program director, camp director, and Council executive know about it and what the specifics flaws are. Dont send a general your merit badge program stinks, but give examples as to what was done and what should have been done. Make it as concrete as possible. We spend a lot of time trying to figure what to do with the scouts who skate by, we should also spend time changing the system that allows skate byes as well. I can understand having delusions of a great float trip with boys just itching to try out new found skills only to learn they didnt know much of anything. In the troop I frequent, 8 boys got the Pioneering merit badge, I was impressed, I also wasnt at camp that year. A few months later I asked a couple of the boys if in preparation for the fall camporee it they could make a tower, utter blank faces was all i got, I asked them if they could splice some rope, utter blank faces, I asked them what they built as their project, answer? One monkey bridge for about 30 scouts. AAARRRRRGGGHHHHH!!! Anyway, I had to vent. While we may ask what can we do with scouts who do not have and were never taught the required skills, we also have to expend energy correcting the system

NorthEast Pennsylvania Council, held at Hamlin, Pa at the Goosepond Scout Camp

Those of you who I met at the NEPA's Insomniac's Revenge Hello! Those who didnt make it missed a lot. The program starts after the 10pm opening Campfire and went until the movie marathon that started about 9pm on Saturday. From rappeling in the dark, to watching pumpkins being chucked at dawn, the program was great. Swing dancing, Car Maintenance, Tips on Hunting, it was GREAT!!!

First, I caution everyone from the aforementioned "Pierre Salinger" syndrome , just becasue you read it on the net, doesnt make it so. If you have BSA Insurance questions, I would ask it of your Council and insist the answers come in writing. If the answers are wrong, at least you can verify you were diligent and have company on the suits being filed. Of course, what I just wrote is as subject to the Pierre Salinger Syndrome as anything else you will read. As far as when the moderators step in, I remember a poster here making the comment that he liked it when an absurd poster posted a lot, it showed the moronic thought process that person held. If people want to play slash each others throat and demean them as much as possible, its tough to control unless we edit every blatant and quesitonable post, and then we get into what is blatant and whats questionable et al. So, go ahead, continue on the scorched earth policy, show everyone who might come across the internet just how small scouters can be

well, I had actually thought of the Accredited Troop idea as being voluntary and run by volunteers so there would be no cost, only the time investment, but WTH, if charging money would make it happen, I could be bought

that idea of mine to have an "accredited troop" program looks better evey day. As was metioned on another thread, a troop had a tradition of holding BORs for merit badges, this is another troop tradition most properly blown up. There is no provision in the BSA program for youth running the BOR process at any level, there was years ago, but that time has passed. I wonder what else they are doing improperly? Any yes, relatives are not to be on BOR's, so the brother shouldnt have been there as well, but to say the brother shouldnt have been in attednance that shouldnt have happened in the first place is mind numbing. Bottom line, Fred, you are right, the BOR process in the troop is whacked.

I was the District's Advancement Chair for awhile a few years back. I had a Scoutmaster ask me if I could do an Eagle BoR "next Thursday", seeing as it was Tuesday, I assumed he meant a week from this coming Thursday. Well, you know what happens when you assume! So, two days later I get a phone call at 7:15PM from the scoutmaster asking if I had forgotten and I said I thought it was next week. Well, no, it wasn't. They had the hall open and the rest of the Board assembled. So mumbling some uncoutlike words I threw on my uniform and sped (but not over any limits mind you) off to the BOR. It wasn't that far and I got there in 5-7 minutes. I walked in, we all laughed and we got started. About 30 minutes later as I was ready to wrap things up, I asked my pet question, which is a two parter, the first part is, "What point of the scout law do you think we could drop", Usually most scouts say something like Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, or Cheerful because they say its hard to be one without the others. I have forgotten his answer. Then I got to the second part, if you throw out one, what would you replace it with? Most scouts stumble around that one, one even said "Boy I didnt see that one coming" and really struggle and usually need some coaching. But not this guy, I say what would you replace it with and be says "Punctual" almost as soon as I asked the question. The whole room goes silent as a tomb. You could hear a pin drop. I felt warm and the room was beginning to spin, I must have flushed quite deeply as the whole group (save scout) burst out in a roar that is stilled talked about today. The only person redder than I was the scout, who I honestly don't think was trying to be "funny"; he just answered the query as well as he could. After composure was restored, the BOR went on for about 3 minutes more whereupon he was excused. Yes he got his Eagle, though the scoutmaster and I only talked about "dates" when scheduling future Eagle BOR's. (This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)

what requirements specifically do you mean?

From the BSA publication "Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures" Jugs, consider this "The review should take approximately fifteen minutes. At the conclusion of the review, the board should know whether a boy is qualified for the rank or Palm." then this as well "If the board decides that the Scout is not ready to advance, the candidate should be informed and told what he has not done satisfactorily. Most Scouts accept responsibility for not completing the requirements properly. The members of the board of review should specify what must be done to rework the candidate's weaknesses and schedule another board of review for him. A follow-up letter must be sent to a Scout who is turned down for rank advancement, confirming the agreements reached on the actions necessary for advancement. Should the Scout disagree with the decision, the appeal procedures should be explained to him." Is this being done? The letter, the action plan and the appeal process?

Peruse this: http://www.eaglescout.org/finale/bor.html

Its the Pierre Salinger Syndrome, just because you read it on the net doesnt make it so, but you do want to verify as well...

So, as a survivior of sexual abuse, the advice is to just get over it, see the humor in the situation and move on?

Standing Ovation for BSA for showing campassion and good sense, a trait not normally attributed to them, leastwise not here

It would not be that hard to have a revision page and list the old text and the new text so it would be obvious what was changed. At this point all publications are in a magnetic format, even WORD keeps track of changes in "edit mode". It wouldnt be that hard

Do you have a local college nearby or a high school botany bay teacher?

Freshening up