yknot

It depends on who is taking the picture, where, and why. If you are taking photos of your friends' kids and post on your own facebook page, there is little someone can do. If, however, you take a picture of your friends' kids and then put it on an organization site, like a troop or pack site, that's a different matter. It also matters whether the photo was taken in public -- such as at a Main Street parade -- or in private, such as a privately owned scout camp or someone's backyard.

Would it be, or is it just forestalling the inevitable? I've seen little in the plan that constitutes any kind of a real restructuring of the organization. The only strategies for future success are lasered in on yet more marketing and reliance on membership increases. There is a lack any kind of independent, outside or even introspective review of how scouting is going to survive beyond the 2020s. The CO and volunteer issues are huge. Would it be better for the survivors for BSA to fail and take their chances with LCs and COs? Or, if BSA goes through Ch. 11 only to wind up in Ch. 7 a few yea

I can't add much to this other than to say make sure you read A Walk in the Woods if you haven't already.

That is a whole unclear area that was a subject of at least one contentious thread a year or so ago. Mandatory reporting varies by state. It would seem the BSA policy ought to be report to police first, BSA second, but in some places it was BSA first. Hopefully new YP guidelines will clarify that if it still needs clarifying but more importantly publicize it. It's not clear, or at least it wasn't the last time I went through YPT.

I've read through this once and my initial reaction is that there are some good elements to it and I like some of the additional oversight and transparency. Some of the specifics I'm interested in I assume would be addressed later as part of the general statements about reviewing procedures and policies with other best practices and experts. At this point, we also kind of don't know where we've been without access to data (other than the claims and anecdotal reports) so it hard to be sure we are targeting the right things. Certainly the addition of SWG individuals to the process will be extra

At this point, I don't think you should be lashing out at me. You would have to be a cult member not to question this drumbeat of poor decision making and lack of oversight. You can be bright and lack common sense. You can be hard working, but be working at the wrong things. You can be both honorable and incompetent. I can no longer buy into the idea that hundreds of people in National leadership have been completely vicitimized and outwitted over the years by chartering organizations and insurance companies and wiley predators and uncooperative parents and police officers and pesky donors wit

They were commissioned early and used on the cover of Boys' Life first to help promote the calendar. They are linked. It's possible BSA didn't know, but the incompetency of that would be beyond belief.

Brown & Bigelow published the boy scout calendar and were the ones who hired Rockwell to paint them. It's interesting that in some places, some paintings appear with a copyright line to Brown & Bigelow. It's possible that people that gifted them were unaware that some of them had encumbrances.

Chainsaws will be next.

Whatever survivors want is what I support. As long as the YPT piece is also addressed.

Yes as in G2SS. I'm curious though how many COs allow even adults to do so. Ours doesn't. Chainsaws yes; wood chippers no. We do it at council camp properties simply because they have no idea but it's not allowed on any of their church properties or campgrounds where we do service projects. It's a huge liability risk.

The other thing I would suggest based on your other posts is for everyone involved in the unit to get the latest version of Guide to Safe Scouting and review it. It is available online. I think this is the latest version: https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/gss/toc/ A lot of the turmoil with Chartering Orgs is over liability issues. Make sure everything you are doing follows current BSA policy. A lot of things have changed, even in the past few years. You mentioned that you allow older scouts to chip wood using a wood chipper for a fundraiser, which is not allowed by BSA. Tho

This was recently reported. Not an SE, a DE, but it's still in the same dark category. https://www.newsweek.com/boy-scouts-executive-arrested-sexual-battery-molestation-charges-police-1669814 Earlier I had read through some of the abuse cases both in the media and in some of the letters. I had to stop because it was just too awful but these people did do the unimaginable. I think that's again yet another unique weakness in scouting. It attracts some of the most honorable people who can't even envision such things are possible . But that sadly only seemed to make it easier for the wo

Stay safe and prayers for the wellbeing of you, your family, community, and the parts of our country affected by this storm.

I'm not so sure about COs. Some, yes, but a lot of the historical church sponsors include plenty of failing congregations. What do you need assets for if you're about three warm bodies away from shutting the doors? Many churches and church councils have assets like parsonages, rental properties, and campgrounds of their own. As far as other COs, there are a number of Elks lodges by me, for example, that have picnic groves and recreational facilities. Not really essential to their operations and many rarely used in these different times. There are possibly more assets than are obvious.

You can do that. I've never had a problem with them getting so hot they burned through layers though. You don't put them in the fire but near it. You can stick them in an oversized oven mitt for more padding. Before central heating, this was common.

You don't warm them in the fire you put them on the edge. Pizza stones work great too.

I am also a thrasher but if I unzip my bag I get cold. I bought a cheap two person bag and stuck my unzipped low temp bag in it. Since I am a thrasher I do not trust water bottles but have used warmed rocks twisted up in a towel. They also last longer. Also, one of my jobs as a kid was barn nightwatchman. I spent a lot of time on hay and straw. It's itchy and dusty plus there are often a lot of dead things in it. I wouldn't use it for insulation unless you have a tarp over it

This is a lot of great advice and I can't add much. I have not camped out a whole lot in cold weather but I have had to be out in it for long stretches sometimes overnight. Pay attention to your feet. For hiking and warm weather I generally liked snug footwear but in cold weather some room, especially around the toes, keeps you warmer. I'm allergic to wool so I have had to go with fleece but since I will sweat in those I used sock liners as the first layer. I use glove liners as well. I like a hat with a visor because there is nothing worse than not being able to see where you are going in sno

That's my experience too. They will run an event that will get a handful of kids, sometimes more, but it's generally people who have already been recruited and are attending to get their free rocket or fishing pole or hot dog or whatever they are handing out. I don't want to come off as anti council because I know these are peoples' jobs we are talking about. However, the reality is that structure is built around a much higher membership level and it is also built around a dysfunctional structure that no longer works present day. Something different, something more efficient and more eff

I don't think that's at all usual. I've never seen cub pack recruitment done by a professional in the several councils I am familiar with around here. It's possible that professionals may run a council recruitment event in the spring or the fall but any significant cub recruitment is usually handled by the units around here. Council provides you with brochures and lawn signs. Frankly, I don't think that would be a good use of professional time because the relationships that drive recruitment at the cub level are local -- friends, friends' parents, school contacts, community involvement, etc.

Most of those tasks don't require a council. Summer camps could easily fall under some kind of regional oversight entity. Camporees to me have little to do with scouting. It's a bunch of people in a big field doing the opposite of leave no trace. The recruiting support we've gotten from council have been brochures and lawn signs. Those can easily be shipped out from a central location. I think we've gotten to the point where we have to look at what is really essential to keeping some form of scouting alive. We don't need scout stores. We don't need some of these council events. I think

I'm just not seeing the need for a council office.

You have apparently not met my council's administrative assistant who actually does run the council, not the SE.

I think a lot of BSA's Youth Protection program is just words on paper, because there is no real oversight and it is inconsistently applied. Yes, things have gotten better but there are still problems and BSA seems to take decades to adapt to emerging issues that should instead trigger immediate investigation and response. Some things off the top of my head, not necessarily in order, that need to be addressed in my opinion: 1) Lack of oversight of units by dysfunctional systems and structures. BSA knew for decades the CO model was problematic. It may work in places, but it doesn't work a