MrBob

So AOL Scouts sell popcorn in the Fall to raise funds for activities in the Spring after which they will have crossed over into Boy Scouts. 

And these AOL Scouts took advantage of prior year's AOL Scouts who raised funds for the Pack.

Is some parent concerned that Little Johnny isn't getting his mom's perceived "fair share" of the Pack's bank account?

But then it seems to me that the Scouts are not doing the work "as Scouts", they are doing it as employees, which may raise other issues depending on their age, state law, etc.

Depending on your lawyer's interpretation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, if the Landscaping Co. is having the Scouts do work for free that the company normally pays employees to do, those Scouts will be considered employees and are due a wage.

The example presented was that a man who maintains lawns, as a business, asked for Scouts to help him out.  I don't think that request should even be passed along to the Scouts as an option for earning service hours, or for doing community service just for the sake of doing community service.  As I said before, I assume this is NOT for an Eagle project.

Not a service project, but might be a decent fundraiser opportunity if the landscaper pays the Scouts a fair wage.

Got a photo of the damages?

Great... one more thing to terrify helicopter parents into caging their children indoors this summer.

I take a book or two to read instead. 

I'm taking 500' of various colors of paracord.  Found a cool weave pattern I want to try on the handle of a bullwhip.  I figure 6 days 'ought to be enough time to plait a 4-belly whip.

What I dont get is if the writer of the artcile has such a problem with the Boy Scouts, why doenst he work to start an organization he would like?

 

There is a group called Spiral Scouts which has the values he likes. Why not push them instead of fighting the Boy Scouts?

Spock: I was not attempting to evaluate its moral implications, Doctor. As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create.

Proof again BSA does not plan well, react well or adjust well.

Maybe National should be forced to continue to use Tour Permits until they figure out the planning aspect of the program?

Anything run by your District has to be authorized by your Council since the District is an administrative sub-unit of the Council.  I cannot see how a District event would not count.

Dead horses are the glue that keeps this forum together!

I guess guys couldn't teach girls how to set up tents because that would be sexist too.

 

 

Don't want commit the mortal sin of "mansplaining"!

 (because if girls come in that's what comes next)?

Cooking will be dropped as an Eagle requirement, because it'd be sexist to force a female to cook for her male patrol members.

I know this is late,  but i have my Cubs, and new to camping parents, use this product found at home depot / lowes.  It is basically bubble wrap with the thin silver space blanket material on both sides.And it reflects like 90% of your heat back at you,  and 90% of the cold ground back at the ground.

 

Reflectix 50-sq ft Reflective Roll Insulation (24-in W x 25-ft L)  About $25

 

 Cut a length and slip it into their sleeping bag.  Or sleep on top of it.  Put some on your camp chair and make a "hot seat". Even make a pancho out of it and duct tape.  The only down side, is it is slightly loud in the middle of the night as you roll over.  But we have used this in our beds in the north east when snow storms have cut power for days.  It is like sleeping on a full length heating pad.  

Genius!

The patch itself would look like all possible patches, until you stop looking at it.

That sounds similar to the Quantum Mechanics merit badge, which appears as all possible patches until someone actually DOES look at it, thus collapsing its wavefunction.

So our pack just went on its campout. I had 2 of my wolfs that couldn't make it. 

Sounds like a reason to have a Den Campout in someone's back yard.

 

Oh but there is:

 

 

1. Describe the first aid for blisters, trench foot, splinters, and the common cold.

 

2. Describe the origins of the word "necromancy."

 

3. Is viewing old episodes of I Love Luck "necromancy"?  Discuss.

 

4.  Show your mastery of essential technique by digging a hole 3' x 7' x 6' deep in soil typical for your area in not more than seven hours (which need not be continuous) using hand tools.

 

5. Compare and contrast "necromancy" and "beating a dead horse in 100 words of less in legible cursive script.

 

. . .

After doing #4, I might just NEED said hole!  The alleged "soil" in my area is basically hard-pack clay and rocks the size of your head.

If there was a merit badge for Necromancy...

The Objectives of Wood Badge

 

Wood Badge has four specific objectives: As a result of attending Wood Badge, participants will be able to:

 

x Recognize the contemporary leadership concepts utilized in corporate America and leading government organizations that are relevant to our values-based movement.

So, how to run a fiscally-irresponsible debt-driven Troop program that focuses on quarterly JTE metrics, outsource Troop leadership a consulting company, and back-fill shrinking patrols with H1-B visa holders?  

I can't wait for the rank-advancement kiosks to start popping up.

I think Scouters should leave their PDAs in their pockets, and focus more on the Scouts than their social/work life.

On that note, what would be a good merit badge to start out with? 

Metalworking, if the Troop can find a counselor that does the blacksmithing variant.  Fire, loud noises, banging on things with hammers, threat of bodily injury - all the things boys like.  

Your major criticism is not the case in our council, so your observation is local. 

 

Pot, kettle.

FWIW, in the units that I'm in, adults pay for their own application out of their own dues.

We don't charge our volunteers a fee to let them volunteer.

It does, however, demonstrate a fundamental understanding of how to game a poorly-designed system.

Please review the below quote from the OP:

Last week I got an email saying that BSA couldn't process my adult leadership application because not enough funds had been deposited into our unit account. I contacted the treasurer, who is also the spouse of the pack master to let her know. She said she would fix the problem. One week later, the funds have still not been added.

 

OP is not the Committee Chairperson.  Even though she may very well have been performing the tasks of a committee chair, she isn't one.  She isn't a registered adult leader.  She can still walk away.  

RMI2.0 - you need to make a decision, and quickly, on what you want to do:  a) take your son and go to a properly functioning Pack, or b) attempt to right a sinking ship who's crew is either ignorant or uncaring of the fact that its taking on water.  If you go the b) route, expect a lot of personal confrontation, as I expect you're going to have to remove the Cubmaster, Treasurer, and several Den Leaders from their positions, with the assistance of your Unit Commissioner, District Executive, and Chartered Organization Representative / Institution Head.  Then you're going to have to create a new Committee and appoint/recruit a new Cubmaster and Den Leaders -- all without scaring off all of the existing cubs and parents ( though if they're as sick of the status quo as you are, perhaps they'll pitch in? )

If you really want to tackle a coup d'etat, the first thing you'll need to do is go to your council office and plonk down a check for $24 USD to get your membership application taken care of.  Hopefully its been signed by your Chartered Organization Representative, and not pencil-whipped by the prior Chair on his/her way out the door.