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Torchwood

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Everything posted by Torchwood

  1. No, you do not need two adults in the car if you have more than 1 Scout. The trip to the airport is not a violation of YPT. The no one on one rule is covered by the presence of the 2nd Scout- it would be the same as meeting with a Merit Badge Counselor. Don't overthink it.
  2. How does the Pack track Advancement? That should give you your source data. My son's Pack used beads on leather laces- 2 laces looped around for 4 strands- Tiger, Wolf, Bear and Webelos. Colored beads for achievements- matched color to necker for rank, silver and gold for arrows, other colors for loops and pins, etc...
  3. Fair use does NOT apply to the viewing of an entire movie, or copying an entire book for classroom use. It would be fine for excerpts of either (having worked in the A/V field in higher ed and govt facilities, I have run into this issue many times). It also has nothing to do with any profit motives, so that is a strawman with regard to copyright law. Using a DVD that is released in a different region is a gray area. When I worked in higher ed, we did get pre-release DVDs from Swank and occasionally directly from the studios, so there are legal ways to get movies before their retail release, an
  4. Probably, but the agencies that are used to obtain clearances are highly unlikely to share information, and it isn't like we get a card with our clearance level printed on it that we could show the Council Office.
  5. Anything worth doing is worth doing correctly, and that includes grammar and spelling. Since the schools don't seem to be overly concerned about turning out kids who can write a decent paper anymore, I think it should fall to us to at least give them the opportunity. You never know when that skill may come in handy for them down the road. It might even make the difference on a college or job application.
  6. Just as an addendum to my previous comment- How in the world do you complete the recharter paperwork properly if there is no committee? Do you have any contact with your CO? Do they know that they have a Troop in dire straits? There is so much going on here that is just wrong. You are pretty much not running a BSA program.
  7. Camping trips are an opportunity to work on t-2-1 skills and get some advancement done that way- including that EDGE skill requirement. They can be an opportunity to work on Camping and Cooking Merit Badges, even Wilderness Survival, Pioneering, etc. But that should be with some coordination with the MBC- even asking him/her to attend the trip. Other than that, camping trips should also be about the boys being together away from home, school, siblings, parents, electronics, etc and just being allowed to be boys- probably the one thing that is sorely lacking in today's busy and distracted world
  8. We always do 2 per tent, unless there is an odd number of Scouts. The PLC is pretty good about picking the group of 3 that is the least likely to disturb the rest of the Troop
  9. Then isn't it up to the youth in your District to do something about that? You can complain, or you can find a solution. If the OA means something to the youth who have been elected as Arrowmen in your son's Troop, they should step up and do something about it. If the Ordeal was just a checklist item, then it may be better to let that Lodge fail until young men of true Servant Leadership emerge to bring it back.
  10. Yes, we can "blame" it on the Constitution. Or, at least on a plethora of court decisions based on the Constitution (which is how the legal system works, btw). These decisions (in a nutshell) state that we are free to believe and exercise those beliefs, but we CANNOT impose them on others. That is why, as posted earlier, a student or group of students in a public school can pray together, but the administration and faculty cannot lead the entire class in prayer. You are incorrectly interpreting "current government policy" that is providing some measure of equality to those of us who are not Ch
  11. Shame on parents who would rather pull their son, rather than spend a couple of hours doing a little work and a lot of good. Unfortunately, those kids won't get the benefits of Scouting so they don't wind up being as selfish and lazy as their parents.
  12. ASM should NEVER be in charge of the financial operations of a Troop, That is the job of the CC and Troop Committee. If a parent has a complaint, they need to step up and sign on to do something. If a Scout doesn't want to go camping, he needs to tell his PL and SM himself. This is Boy Scouts- the boys are supposed to be doing this stuff with counsel from the leaders. If the parents won't help- the boys need to do some of the outreach to get their support. They need to tell their parents that without proper support, the Troop can't function. It is a more convincing argument coming from their o
  13. cbowe- You have an exceptional son, and he certainly deserves the Eagle pinned to his uniform. My son just turned 13, and at the end of January will be sitting for his Star BOR. I have never had to push him to work on anything Scouting related- it is all his drive. He is also a straight-A student and voracious reader, member of the school chorus, plays piano and is teaching himself to play guitar and ukelele, is the Troop Quartermaster, earned the Scoutstrong PALA Fitness Challenge Award, is almost finished with Ner Tamid (Jewish religious award), has volunteered at the local afterschool
  14. Lots of good advice here- especially about Roundtable and Leader Training. But the one thing I will add is to separate the B&G from Rank advancement. That is NOT what the B&G is for. It is a celebration of the birthday of Cub Scouting- period. You may do some awards- when I was CM we handed out the PWD trophies and any earned awards like we would at a normal Pack Meeting. But PLEASE don't dwell on Rank Advancement as a central theme of the banquet- that is NOT how the program is designed. Cubs move up at the end of the school year, with or without Rank. Give them the full year to earn
  15. Jason- Why does your B&G have anything to do with Rank Advancement? The B&G is Cub Scouting's birthday party, not the end of the Scouting year. I'm not trying to single you out- this timeline seems to be present in several of the active threads right now. Rank advancement is NOT a Den activity either- if someone is working faster than the rest of the Den, he gets his badge sooner- at the next Pack Meeting. Tiger is hard to get faster than the rest of the Den, since 2/3 of the requirements are Den-based, but Wolf, Bear (more than Wolf) and especially Webelos are more individual (as a pr
  16. Thanks for the insight- a lot of us don't know the ins and outs of the LDS program. But it seems like the Leaders who are being called out should be expected to get trained so that they can actually do their job according to BSA (and LDS) standards.
  17. Jason- It isn't OUR issue with ISAs, it is the IRS and National Council. ISAs are a violation of the tax code, and I think your CO would also take issue, since they are ultimately responsible for the financial affairs of the Units that they charter. Sorry to keep chiming in about this, but Scout Law...
  18. So the SM is running his own program? He certainly isn't running any BSA program that I would be a part of. If you never ask the boys to be responsible for their own advancement, you will get exactly that- a Troop of boys who don't take any responsibility for their own advancement. LDS program or not, this SM is doing his boys no favors. As for doing Family Life in a Pow Wow or Merit Badge University, around here it is an automatic partial, since requirement 3 has a 90-day reporting requirement and the family meeting in requirement 6 is likely to turn into multiple meetings, if the subjects ar
  19. From the 2013 Guide to Advancement (see text in bold): 7.0.0.2 About the Application for Merit Badge (“Blue Cardâ€Â) It is important to note the “blue card†is the nationally recognized merit badge record. It has been updated from time to time and carries the information needed for proper posting and for evidence and reference as needed later. The card has three parts: the actual “Application for Merit Badge†portion, the “Applicant’s Record,†and the “Counselor’s Record.†It requires a total of four s
  20. My son had just the opposite experience with his Town government (I live a couple of towns away). He went to a special Town Meeting, and the next morning, he e-mailed one of the selectmen to talk about the issue on the warrant for the meeting. He met my son at a local coffee shop (his mother was sitting nearby, but not a party to the conversation). He was so impressed with my son's prepared questions, that he sent me a note afterwards commenting that my son was a credit to his Troop and his family. Yes- I am bragging (just a little)...
  21. Jason- here is a link to the last pertinent discussion on the topic: http://www.scouter.com/forum/unit-fundraising/403237-individual-scout-accounts-part-trois
  22. SP- Scout Accounts are NOT ALLOWED under IRS rules, so that is not an option even if it is a good one. The PLC planned this evening, and in the great scheme of things, is not much money for the activities involved. If one or two families are having financial difficulties, that is a whole different conversation. But other than that, the parents need to figure out a better way to complain if they think that the Troop is spending excessively, and beating up the SM is not the right answer.
  23. I just bought a pair of those flannel lined jeans at Eddie Bauer yesterday- but more for walks around the block. I have a pair of nylon EB pants with fleece lining for actually doing stuff outdoors in non-uniformed situations.
  24. Our committee chair attends camping trips, and is a great resource for the other adult leaders. However, he always stays out of direct contact roles. He leaves that to the PLC, as do the direct contact leaders (SM and ASMs). First line is always the PL, then the SPL or ASPL. We only get involved if it escalates beyond that, or if there is a serious safety issue at hand.
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