CalicoPenn

does thrifty = paying your own way?

   no way....

thrifty means thriving, prosperous, successful.... being careful and wise with your money.... and I can see extending that to equipment and other stuff. I can see a stretch using the modern twist to the meaning, for it to also mean something like not wasteful, doing a lot with a little.

 

I can't get to paying your own way in any of that.

Here's how the BSA defines it in Boy's Life magazine:

A Scout works to pay his way and to help others. He saves for unforeseen needs. He protects and conserves natural resources. He carefully uses time and property.

That's pretty much the way I remember it from back in the dim ages.

It doesn't say thriving, prosperous or successful (though it's one of the tools that can lead to being thriving, prosperous and/or successful).  I does include the concept that Scouts carefully use property (I include equipment as property). 

Thrifty is a multifaceted concept, but the BSA uses payoing one's own way as the very first definition

I don't see a conflict between Stosh's statement and the Scout Law.  A Scout is Thrifty talks about a Scout working to pay their own way - not planning and managing fundraisers.  Unless you have some older Scouts with little to do, I have no problem with the parents planning chili or spaghetti dinners, pancake breakfasts, etc. as long as the Scouts work it.

That being said, an opportunity like those available at the Green Bay games might be too good to miss, even with the age restriction - so I would try to find some kind of opportunity for the boys to "earn" what the parents raised - some service projects that don't count towards advancement perhaps - and in that particular example, I might try to hook the Scouts up with a service project that benefits one (or more) of the local charities that the Green Bay Packers support through their charitable foundation (and most sport's teams have them).  A smart Troop would choose one or two local groups before hand and if the Packers would allow it, advertise that because the BSA believes that the Scouts should help earn their own way, and because age restrictions prevent the Scouts from helping at the concession stand, the Scouts will be doing service projects for Green Bay Packer Foundation grant recipients "Food Bank", "Public Library" and "Public Museum" this year.

I'm not to sure about Clarke's suggestion.  I like that parents are involved in the fundraising - I think it's important for the parents to have some sort of connection to the activities of the Troop - but as Stosh suggested, it's important for the boys to have skin in the game as well.

So according to that study, it's a better process to switch 2 and 3 around so that the sanitizing solution is used before the final rinse.    This not only gets the dishes cleaner but also rinses off the sanitizer

Your 17-year old son would hate my rendezvous tripod - no wrapping and frapping for me - I set up the tripod poles (fallen branches from local trees - you would collect them and break them up for kindling), then tie them together.  I had a Boy Scout call me out on it once - my answer was that I doubted that a mountain man was going to take the time to do all that wrapping and frapping for something that he's going to use for less than a day.

More manufactured outrage from social media outrage-a-holics (did anyone else notice that the Boys Life is a subscription copy and not a newstand copy?  You can see the printed address on the cover).  My response to those who are outraged?  Suck it up and get over yourselves.

Girl's Life magazine follows the same grand tradition as Seventeen, Teen, and other classic magazines for girls.  It does so because it sells.  It sells because, like it or not Mom and Dad, your precious little snowflake who you've been telling all her life can aspire to be anything they want, is interested in these things.  Demanding that the magazine change its covers and focus is a Don Quixote move.  No publisher with a successful magazine is going to completely change its focus without knowing that there is, in fact, a market for the kind of "empowering girls" magazine you want them to be.  The fact that there isn't such a magazine should tell you something about the market for it.  Sure, maybe you'll buy it and give it to your daughters, but how do you know your daughter wlil actually read it?  A publisher isn't going to publish a magazine aimed at teen (and tween) girls that isn't going to be mostly purchased by the girls themselves - and they don't make decisions about what kinds of magazines to publish without doing extensive market research.

Go ahead and write letters to the editor and publisher all you want - it's not going to actually change anything.  For the vast majority of you letter writers, they know this is just the "cause of the day" for you and you will completely forget about it in a week.  For those who really want to see a magazine for girls that is more like Boys Life, stop demanding that other people do it for you and publish it yourself - but don't take a mortgage out on your home to fund it, and make sure one of you keeps your day job, so that when it fails, as it is likely to do (the success rate of new magazines is very poor), you don't become a burden on society by becoming homeless and jobless.

As for the Girl Scouts not publishing a magazine, they stopped publishing American Girl because despite having a "built-in market" for it, the market actually didn't want it.  Both the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts included their magazines as part of annual dues - and did not separate the subscription from dues untl the late 70's - and when American Girl got separated from dues, there weren't enough people who kept the subscription to keep the magazine viable.  The BSA keeps the subscription price cheap - that's the only reason it still exists - ask your boys if they would buy it from the newstand if they weren't getting it in the mail - and the answer is probably not - it's stereotypical but boys don't tend to buy magazines as much as girls do.

Hershey,

Welcome to the forum,

I don't see any real delays here.  1-2 weeks for a Life SMC I suspect is the norm, except small Troops that might handle on demand. 

It's not 1-2 weeks of delay - it's now September, his son has been ready since May - that's 4 months - and that is unreasonable.  His SMC and BOR should have been done in May - there is no excuse for not getting it done.

Hershey,

Your son is in a Troop that is doing it wrong - they have strayed from True North.  Requiring a presentation to show Scout Spirit is not part of the requirements - that is this Troop and it's adult leaders playing the "we know better than National and 100+ years of their experience" game.   As for the ASM refusing to sign off on the SMC because your son couldn't tie a knot?  He needs to be re-trained - by people who actually understand and know and follow the Boy Scout program.  A SM Conference is just that - a meeting - it's a chance for the SM to sit with each boy individually and chat - see how things are going, find out about the lad's experience in the Troop - the good and the bad.  It is NOT a time for someone to "retest" a Scout on his skills.  More to the point - an SMC can NOT be failed - the SM (or his ASM designee) sits down and chats with the Scout and that's it - the SMC is done  - it gets signed off on - right then and there - no retesting, no failing.  It doesn't even have to be some formal meeting (and in fact, I really hate the idea of "scheduling an appointment" for an SMC - they don't have to take long and can (and should be) quite informal.  A really good SM will already know who needs an SMC and will take whatever opportunity he can.  On a 10-mile hike with the lads?  There is nothing preventing a Scoutmaster from chatting with a Scout needing an SMC for a bit during the hike and calling it done.  Heck, I knew a Scoutmaster who would sometimes, usually with older Scouts he had known for a while, and for ranks like Star and Life, ask a Scout how things were going, getting the "Everything's just great" answer, and calling that 30-second interaction a SMC (I wouldn't recommend taking it that minimal, but yes, that counts too).

The question is what to do about it?  First, understand that it's unlikely you can change this Troop - unless you become the Scoutmaster, the Committee Chair, the Chartered Org Rep or are the head of the chartered organization, all you can really do is complain - and these leaders may or may not listen to you.  So the first thing I would do is ask your son what he wants to do.  Unless this Troop is so far off True North that it poses a danger to your son, I think your son needs to have a major say in what the next step is.  If your son decides to stay with this Troop and strive for Eagle, once he has his Life rank, he should sit down with the Scoutmaster, with the requirements for Eagle Scout in front of them both, and ask point-by-point what the Scoutmaster's/Troop's expectations are for each step along the way.  Hopefully this will prevent any surprises (like some obscure Troop requirement that your son gives a presentation to a Court-of-Honor about his Eagle Scout project) and will help you all decide whether you can continue to live with this Troop's quirks.

Lisa,

Welcome to the forum!

Based on a quick look at the National website, here's what I take away from it.  National is changing the Roundtable formula to provide more supplemental training for Cub Scout Leaders - training in areas that are often part of the Cub Scout program but aren't necessarily part of the monthly Pack Meeting Theme.  Instead of spending time in September giving people ideas for October's Pack Meeting Theme (ideas which are often taken directly from the program helps that Cubmasters and Den Leaders can read for themselves), Roundtable would now spend time giving ideas for Pack camping and hiking trips, etc. etc.  So when you look at the material and are wondering how Cub Cooking fits in, instead of thinking about the monthly theme, think about how it fits in to the overall Pack program - do Pack's have campouts planned (family? Webelos?)? - That's where this fits.  I think that's the point now - top provide supplemental training that benefits the overall Pack program, not just what the flavor of the month is.

Of course, you could always carve out some time to talk about the monthly themes, but in looking this over, I can't help but think that this could be a real boon to Cub Scouts in hindsight I'm wondering what took us so long to get here.

Read the Poughkeepsie article - keeping in mind that I really dislike the media, a prime example of why I dislike the media can be found here - the reporter quotes the policy from the website but gets it wrong - she uses the term Law Enforcement - the policy uses the term Local Authorities.   So she's using quotes on something she has paraphrased.  Granted, that's not the point of the story but it's sloppy and should be pointed out. 

That brings up an important point though - changing those words from local authorities to law enforcement changes the meaning of the sentence.  Something to consider before we get all righteous and start calling for the SM's (or whomever the other leader was that the boy talked too) head and for the SE's head - what does the term "local authority" actually mean?  Not what do we think it means (ie law enforcement) but what does it mean?  Depending on context, it could mean the mayor and/or city council.  It could mean the fire department,  It could mean the park district (if you see a fallen tree in the park, report it to the local authorities - are you going to report it to the police or to the park district?).  It could be the head librarian.  In this case, it could mean report it to the local BSA council (and not to National).  If you're in a state where BSA volunteers aren't mandatory reporters, it's not unusual to hear from Council staff that reporting should be to them. 

This adult leader reported to the local council authority.  Council reported it up the chain and the BSA removed the guy from Scouting.  Like it or not, that is exactly how the BSA system is designed to work.  But, it does remind us once again of the flaws in the BSA's processes.  I think we can all agree that if there is cause to remove a Scouter for this, then there is cause for the BSA to report to law enforcement, even in states where they aren't mandatory reporters.

NJ,

I could be way off base here (and perhaps some legal beaver, errr eagle can chime in) but I think there is a principle in the law that posits that a restriction doesn't necessarily serve to keep others out but rather to make sure certain classes/activites are in. 

In this case, it would mean that just because the charter uses the term boys, it doesn't neccessarily mean "only" boys - that the BSA could include girls and adults, and the restriction here would be it must always include boys.  If the BSA were to stop serving boys and serve only girls, then that would be the violation of the charter.

Cubmaster 35,

I have a couple of questions:

First- who did this pastor send this letter to, and do you have a copy of it?  While it's nice that you're trying to find a way to rescue this Pack, the first thing I would be doing is protecting my reputation.  The three of you that are the target of that letter should be talking to a lawyer and demanding, through that lawyer, that the Pastor back up his accusations.

Second - hve you spoken to the families and told them you and your leadership team are no longer involved (because as of that letter, you aren't) and are they willing to follow you to a new Pack?

This is something that the unit folks in the district can kill - fast - if they have the will to do it - but it will take most of the units agreeing to stick to their guns to be effective - simply refuse.  When they hand you the re-worked forms, you hand them right back and tell them calmly and plainly that you will not be presenting this to your unit and that all adult leadership of the unit will resign immediately leaving no unit at all, if they don't go back immediately to the national registration scheme - multiply that by all the units in the district and "poof" - this idea will die.

Use the same rules as you would any camping trip - adults and youth don't share rooms, etc.  Just think of the rooms as indoor tents.

That being said - you might want to put together a few internal rules of behavior - few things are more annoying than a bunch of teens running up and down hotel hallways room hopping and hollering at each other for other hotel guests.  It wouldn't be out of line to gather in the parking lot before everyone gets their room keys to recite the Scout Law together and place a bit of special emphasis on A Scout is Courteous, reminding them that this means more than opening doors for people or helping little old ladies cross the street.

Oh, and though the hotels may frown on it, I think the Boy Scouts allows you to bring in your own tropical plants and deem lobby fireplaces or outdoor fire pits acceptable substitutes for in room fireplaces.

So, calico, "design" is just "art" in disguise for the tech world?

More and more art museums are showcasing product design (as well as crafts) as art. 

Turning STEM into STEAM is an idea that RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) developed back in 2012.  They are really trying to tap in to the non-scientific zeitgeist of inspiration and imagination that is just as important and the hard sciences to innovation and technology - whether that inspiration and imagination is internal to scientists or whether it comes from outside influences, especially certain disciplines of the arts like film.

How much more exciting and inspiring to youth were the space launches with Walter Cronkite's play-by-play announcing.  It's a shame that after the first few launches of the space shuttle, it became so routine that they were shown - if they were shown - as direct NASA feeds without someone enthusing about the launch or even explaining what's going on.

On one level, you have the arts directly involved - in design for instance.  Without design, would the i-Pod have been as iconic and sold as well as it did or would it have just been a a plain little box?   

On another level, you have media inspiring people to become scientists.  Neil deGrasse Tyson became inspired to become an astrophysicist by watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos.  How many youngsters are being inspired to become scientists by Neil deGrasse Tyson's version of Cosmos (and would there be a Neil deGrasse Tyson version without a filmmaker/actor like Seth McFarlane pushing for it)?.  You have Mae C. Jemison, the first African American female astronaut inspired by Nichelle Nichols and her character Uhura on Star Trek.  How many people are being inspired to become scientists and engineers by The Big Bang Theory??

On yet another level, you have scientists and engineers being inspired by things they've seen in film and television.  Cell Phones - Star Trek Communicators.  i-Pads = Star Trek Pads.  There are advancements being made in medical equipment such as nascent diagnostic beds that are inspired by Star Trek.  There are even some specialty diagnostic equipment being used by different industries that could be said to be inspired by the Star Trek tricorder.  There are people working on developing matter transporters and surely someone is trying to develop a working light saber (Star Wars) or a working hoverboard (Back to the Future).

That's a little more to the point for A - it's not really about the fine arts, or music, or craft.

 

For example: in my childhood (pre Vatican II) there were Catholics, Lutherans and Protestants.  Today (post-Vatican II) there are only Catholics and Protestants.  Where did the Lutherans go?  

They got Garrison Keillor to tell tales about Lutherans from Lake Woebegon and tell Lutheran jokes on Public Radio, declared victory, and are quietly enjoying hot dish and lutefisk fundraising suppers.

 

 

As to the the camping 50 nights. I think that was the requirement in the original Camping MB along with 2 maybe 3 other requirements.

Let's keep in mind that the original merit badges weren't also part of rank requirements - you didn't need to earn so many, or certain, merit badges to advance in rank - these were all extras beyond rank.  For those unfamiliar, back then in 1911, the top rank was First Class.  Star, Life and Eagle, when first intorduced were NOT ranks - in fact, they were much more like Palms - they were awards for earning a certain number of Merit Badges - there were no required merit badges - if you earned 5 Merit Badges, you were given a Star award.  Your rank was still First Class.

There has to be counselors for these badges.

Archeology professors, county agricultural agents, forest rangers, Native American leaders ...

 

Where did all these people go?

They whithered away when Councils and Districts, with the wink and nudge of National, started accepting Troop-only Merit Badge Counselors as acceptable practice - once that gate was open, there was no way to stop the practice from becoming Only-Troop Merit Badge Counselors.

I though I felt a disturbance in the force - and sure enough a post by Beavah agreeing with my position on the CA, and certainly written better than mine, I think.

Then I see all the titter-tatter, back-and-forth arguments about Christianity, Catholocism, Protestants, Lutherans and what is a denomination and what is not and realized that was the true distubance in the force.

If someone wants to believe that the Catholic Church is not a denomination of the Christian religion, that's fine with me, provided they are Catholic and talking about their own faith.  Unless they've come right out and said that the Protestant faiths aren't Christian, I'll accept at face value that no such meaning was implied.  It's much different than a Methodist (by means of an identifiable denomination, not meaning that Methodists say this) saying that Mormons aren't Christian, Catholics aren't Christian, or Lutherans aren't Christian. Yes, it's a form of holding out their faith as separate from others, but I do not believe it was written as if it were a superior faith, just different.

Of course, the concept that Catholics aren't a Christian denomination is hard for the vast majority to understand since it goes against thousands of years of our understanding of what a religion is and what a faith (aka denomination) is.  I will still, after this thread, maintain that Catholicism is a denomination of Christianity, and that there are different denominations of Catholicism just as there are different denominations of Protestantism (or does one want to ignore the Eastern Orthodox church?).

Theological differences?  Really depends on which part of Theology one thinks is most important I suppose.  If the study of the nature of God is most important, than there really is very little difference between Catholic and Protestant theology.  If what is most important is the study of how people express their devotion to God, then yes, the theology is different in some respects - the biggies being Protestants believe the grace of God is granted through living, Catholics that the grace of God is granted through works and Protestants having the ability to talk directly to God and Catholics using the intercession of Saints to talk to God.  Beyond those two major differences, everything else is really just a matter of style - a matter of expressing one's faith.  The fact is that a Lutheran can attend a Catholic service, and vice-versa, and other than the trappings and style, most of the service will still be recognizable.  The Lords Prayer sounds the same in a Catholic Church as it does in a Lutheran church.

In other words - Catholics, Mormons, Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians, Baptists, etc. etc. all do have a commonality - they are all Christian - and how can they not be?  All of them can trace their roots to the same beginning and we all are familiar with the initial divergence point. 

More to the point though - they are all - as are all other religions - globally major and regionally major - and even the minor ones - they are all equally nuts.  Not one religion or denomination out shines any other religion or denomination in general nuttiness.

Define "Classic"

I graduated high school in 1979.  The only books I would consider "classics" that I read for school were Julius Caesar (Shakespeare) and Romeo & Juliet (again, Shakespeare).  In college, the only book I read that might be considered a classic was Walden.

Everything else I read would probably be considered "Contemporary" (though some might now be considered classics like Elie Weisel's Night.) or short stories.

By 1976, literature classes in a lot of the "top tier" hgh school districts (read well-supported by taxpayers in white big-city suburbs) were following the latest teaching trends including a heavier use of short stories in class to cover a greater ground of styles. 

In college, I experienced the same - lit classes were dominated by short stories and contemporary stories - and were starting to become more diverse in choices as well (less dead white guys, more women and minorities).  I read Walden because I took a class titled "Thoreau and other Transcendentalists".  Of course we were doing to read Walden.  At the small, private college I went too, many of our "textbooks" weren't textbooks at all - they were just books.  Sure, we had text books for mathematics and some of the science classics but most classes used just plain old books for a lot of the curriculum.  For Geology for the Naturalist, we spent more time dissecting On Basin and Range by John McPhee then we spent on the text book.  (I think some would consider John McPhee's books to be classics these days). 

Other memorable authors I read in college were John Muir, Rachel Carson, Sigurd Oleson, Aldo Leopold and Edwin Way Teale.  All non-fiction - and I would argue all classics.

I didn't read my first Hemingway book until this year when I read The Old Man and the Sea.  I've not read Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Chaucer, Melville, or a lot of other folks that people would label classics.    But I don't think I've missed out.  Most of the folks I know who had to read these authors in high school or college could only say it was a long slog to get through most of these books.  Most of them are also no longer readers - they may read a couple of books a month but they aren't likely to choose sitting and reading over watching television. 

I didn't read "the classics" and maybe because I was spared from slogging through them, I read an average of 250 books a year (last year I read 325).  Maybe "the classics" aren't all they cracked up to be.

Oh - and I remember reading a number of those Boy Scout books when I was in 6th and 7th grade - they were fun to read but just didn't hold a candle to The Hardy Boys and My Side of the Mountain.

Talk to the District Advancement Chair and start the process to file under disputed circumstances - if your son feels he has completed his POR and the SM is refusing to sign off on the POR, his SMC, etc., do NOT go to a new Troop and have Scoutson work a POR for another 6 months - that could, and likely will, be seen as an admission that perhaps the Scoutmaster was correct in refusing to sign off and if things go sour in the new Troop (and that sometimes happens) you've closed the door to a disputed circumstances BOR.  Definitely meet with the new SM and explain the situation but make it clear that Scoutson is filing for an EBOR under disputed circumstances.

Your son has, it appears, already completed all of the requirements he needs to earn the Eagle Scout rank - he should not have to wait for another 6 months and do another part of the rank requirements again just "because it will look good".  I'll tell you now - no, it won't look good - it will look like Scoutson is admitting that he didn't do the work at his old troop and that could open the door to some unpleasant questions at a future BOR.

You've already told us that the DAC is familiar with this - it shouldn't come as a surprise to him that this is the route that needs to be taken.  If your husband is a Unit Commissioner and in touch with the District Commissioner, you would have heard by now that the DAC would find your son's applying for an Eagle Scout BOR under disputed circumstances was problematic. 

This is it - time to stop thinking about it, or waffling about it - just do it - and the next post should be "My son passed his EBOR".

I know I earned my first Merit Bade - Dog Care - before I earned my Tenderfoot Rank.  The Scout rank was new when I became a Boy Scout - my Scoutmaster just handed the badge to me as soon as I crossed over - he figured any Webelos coming in to his Troop that had earned the Arrow of Light already knew the stuff and he didn't want to waste time.

The answer though is that yes, a Scout can earn merit badges before he earns his Scout rank - but even with the "enhanced" requirements, it shouldn;t be dificult to earn the Scout rank in under a month.

So, we wind up with boys being taught that form is really important, but they aren't taught how to admit that this is the a form they are obliged to follow, and others are welcome to join him by silently using their form, and we're sure the Almighty will graciously attend to us all.

And they won't learn this lesson if they are barred from participating as a Chaplain's Aid because their form of prayer is a deal breaker for adults who are likely to see it as a much bigger issue than the boys will.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Come Again Another Day

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Little Joey Wants to Play

We've all said or heard this verse, right?  It's pretty inoffensive.  Unless someone recognizes that it is also a form of prayer that isn't part of their tradition - then someone might take offense.

I don't understand what the issue/problem/bother is.  Ok - maybe that's not quite correct - it's probably more accurate to say I don't understand the mindset that would say there is an issue/problem.bother with a CA ending a prayer with "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen"

There are twelve points to the Scout Law.  They aren't in any particular order.  Trustworthy is not more important than Cheerful just because it's listed first.  The 12th point of the Scout Law is Reverent.  Being Reverent doesn't just mean following one's own faith.  It also means being respectful of other people's religions. 

The thing is, that's a two-way street.  A Scout who is Reverent doesn't just respect other people's religions - he has every reason to expect that those other people respect his religion.

A Scout - whether in an "official" capacity such as Chaplain's Aide or not - should be true to his religious upbringing.  If that means that he must end his prayer with that line because that's being true to his religion, then so be it.  If people complain, wouldn't that be a signal that it's time to discuss the 12th Point of the Scout Law and what it means?

Ask yourself this - if this Scout is not the Chaplain's Aide and came to you demanding that the Chaplain's Aide be made to end his prayers with those words, would you capitulate or would you have a discussion about the 12th Point with the Scout?  Hoping you said to yourself that you would have a discussion, if this Scout were the Chaplain's Aide, why would you capitulate to some other Scout making demands about how he conducts his prayers rather than discuss the 12th Point.

Part of developing good citzens is showing by example good manners and not just tolerance but acceptance as well.  As adults, most of us have been to some event - a wedding, a funeral, a meeting, where we held the minority religious view of the people in attendance - I suspect none of us (maybe I'm being hopeful since we're all Scouts) would act in a dispectful manner by playing solitaire on our phone while a prayer is said, or refusing to wear a yarmulke at a friend funeral if custom demanded it, even if it was not demanded by our own religion (or lack thereof).  Most of us will say our own form of prayer in our heads, or may just respecfully stand and reflect.  Isn't a "situation" like this one a great opportunity to display and "teach" those citizenship skills?

Red Cross Water Safety Instructor certification has always been considered "or equivalent" in our council - but check with your own council first to see what their legal eagles (legal beavers?) have to say.

Something struck me as I've been reading all of this - the Scout has said that he is done with Scouting - that he is no longer enthusiastic about it and now just wants to get his Eagle and get out - never to be involved again (and never is an awful long time).

At this point, I agree with the notion that it is time to get out of this unit - but I also agree that it would be unfair for a new unit to be expected to pick up the slack for this unit - At this current unit, this Scout has very good grounds to apply for his Eagle base on disputed circumstances - and this is the route I would now take.  I'd still recommend going to a new unit, but having a discussion with a new SM about why he's leaving his old unit, and that he is not expecting the new unit to sign off on anything as he's already filed under disputed circumstances could go a long way to easing the mind of the new SM that the Scout is just "using" the unit for their own ends.

In all this, I've not seen any mention of the chartered organization, the COR and the head of the chartered organization.  Do they know what's happening in this unit?  Do they accept it?  Most of the time, you can't change a unit - but in this case, you may still be able to influence change a you leave - and that's by having your son (not you, not dad - your son) write a letter (a real, stamped, delivered by a mailman letter) to the head of the chartering organization telling of his struggles with this set of leaders and how this chartering organization's Troop has discouraged him from remaining a Scout, or being part of scouting as an adult.  I would even say that as a former Scout of this unit, I would not only not recommend that anyone join this unit, I would make sure that everyone he talks to about the Boy Scouts know just how poorly this Troop is being run - and here's an important part - in the letter, you don't refer to it as "Troop XX"  You refer to it a "Chartering Organization's Troop XX" - every time.  Drive the point home - it is always, everytime, the "Lion's Club Troop XX" - that will definitely get the organizations attention.