Armymutt

That's the thing. There's so much light, it's perfect for meeting. We meet in the dead of winter when it's dark before we arrive. Why not enjoy the sunshine?

I just found out that our pack doesn't meet in the summer. I'm not sure why. Seems like a great way to lose members. I seem to remember Scouting being a year-round activity. We've overcome so much sluggishness to start building the pack, and then we're going to waste it?

We're a year-round Pack - at least we are now. We've had some scouts join us as late as two weeks ago. I'd like to give them every opportunity to earn their badge for their grade. How do we manage the transition? On Saturday, we award the completed rank badges and they start working on the next rank. Do we keep them with their cohort and they can work toward their current goal, or do we move them into the den working toward the same rank and move them back after they complete it or the next school year begins?

Anyone got one to share? Google is pulling up nothing but stuff from the time of individual advancement, beads, and mixed Dens.

That's cool. Probably a bit much for our 8-Cub pack, but probably a good one for older kids. Wonder if we could do the same thing with pine straw here in NC.

Tell us more. This probably beats popcorn

Just to follow up in case someone else gets in a jam. I had the kids play Ga Ga ball as a gathering activity. We then came together and I had 1 den lead the Pledge and the other lead the Scout Oath and Law. I then asked who enjoyed the Cuboree, favorite activities, and pumped them up for future camping trips. After that, I had them play sharks and minnows as a team-building game. We had a family join a few weeks ago, so I'm trying to help their Tiger and Bear get as many requirements knocked out as possible. After a couple of rounds, the kids were tired - possible ulterior motive from a parent standpoint - so we came back to the gathering spot. We discussed team work and how it was easier to catch the minnows when there were more sharks, and what other activities are made easier with teams. Finally, we awarded belt loops. The 2 new Scouts were supposed to be awarded their Bobcat, but their dad had to work and I knew he wanted to be there for it. I'm pretty sure he flew over us, because 5 minutes after he was supposed to take off, a couple of UH-60s flew over at the minimum allowed altitude, and fairly slow. Once we were done, I released them to go play until their parents were ready to leave.

They aren't part of my unit yet. That was a different unit down the road and around the corner. He can't join our unit, but he's buddy buddy with the Scouting mafia families in this district.

Cubmaster had an emergency pop up with his move and hasn't had time to plan. I'm the assistant. Need some idea for a Pack Meeting tomorrow night (Thursday). We have a very small pack - 2 Tigers, 2 Bears, and maybe 1 Webelos. One of my tasks is to have an annual plan by July, but for now, I need some ideas. We usually open with GaGa ball as a gathering activity. No time for dens to plan skits. We have some awards to give out, including 2 Bobcats. We can review our recent campout, and maybe discuss our next one, but beyond that, I have no ideas. I'm rusty on the Cub Scout thing - much more comfortable as a Scouts BSA leader.

That's the hard part - never took place to my knowledge because the women were creeped out and left the unit.

It apparently was reported to the district exec and the council exec. Nothing was done. The guy is pretty popular in the district. This literally is why we have YPT now and are looking at significant damage to the movement.

I got a bit more detail on the situation. The committee chair noticed that a lot of Scouts with single moms started dropping out. She contacted them and found out that they were having the same experience she was. The individual, who is married, was proposing a three-some with the consent of his wife on camping trips.

I'm guessing the non-supervised stick fights we had as kids are a non-go. Used to be fun. You find a stick and smack it against someone else. If yours breaks, you retire and find another. on second thought, technically, you aren't striking other participants. You are striking their stick. Maybe we were following the guide even in the 80s.

He's a volunteer.

The CO apparently didn't care - good ol' boy thing. The issue to me is that if this is happening, in light of BSA's current issues, why is this individual still on the district staff?

As a Scout who was shy around girls, I would not have wanted a co-ed troop. It would have been high school extended into Tuesday nights. I got a taste of it at Kandersteg when there were female Scouts there. Guys who were friends turned into total d-bags trying to impress the Norwegian and Italian girls. With the added sexual pressure from the presence of girls, we would not have had a night of running around the "Pioneer Stampede" camporee in our underwear. While we got in trouble, it built a huge amount of esprit de corps and brought us closer together. Almost 30 years on, I only talk to the guys from HS who were in my troop.

We're trying to recruit members of a pack that is not rechartering. One of the parents said she was done with Scouting because an adult leader was sexually harassing her and other mothers. Our committee chair knows her from another organization and has convinced her to come to our pack. The issue is that the adult leader in question is on the district staff and is the parent of a Scout in the presumably defunct pack. There is concern that he might try to join us. So, what do we do? The harassment was reported to the District Scouting Exec, but nothing came of it.

If the COR signs it, then the CO is approving it. If the COR is not doing their due diligence and exposes the CO to liability, then maybe the CO will do a better job at filling the COR position. There's a parent who has apparently sexually harassed several mothers in a unit that is not rechartering due to a lack of volunteers. We may be absorbing some of them and our committee chair flat out told me that this parent will not be allowed in our unit. We don't want to expose our CO to the liability.

I don't know if national even does background checks. I know that my references were not called. Is there a person at national tasked with reviewing and approving every single adult application? I doubt it. My bet is that this is conducted at the council level.

That's where the judge should come in and focus the action where it would be most beneficial to society. We had a guy sue our county in Indiana about 25 years ago over the condition of the jail. The judge ordered the county to spend the money to build a new jail. Far more beneficial to the greater number of people than giving one person a bunch of money. It would be more beneficial to require BSA to spend the money to conduct better background checks.

I see this is the real issue. Scouting isn't some large corporation where every adult involved is an employee of the national head quarters. It has more in common with a guerilla army than the US Army. I don't know how one can reasonably hold the national office responsible for the actions of volunteers, especially in the pre-internet days. COs approve adult membership. National's role would be in checking records to see if an applicant has been reported as an offender, but beyond that, I don't buy responsibility. This is truly a case where the primary responsibility is at the lowest level. I realize there is more money at the top and it's far easier to sue a single entity than it is to go after a thousand individual organizations, especially when they may no longer exist. I don't think there will ever be enough money to compensate the victims. How do you put a dollar figure on a life altering injury? I certainly know that a paltry amount of money from insurance (my insurance company, no less) for a drunk driver destroying my foot will not fix it. I'd rather the perpetrator be permanently removed from society so he can't hurt anyone else, and that the rules be changed to prevent it from occurring again. To me, that harms the least number of innocents as possible.

He joined the troop in 1933, became the SM in 1945 and died in 2011 at age 89, still the SM.

I noticed that too. I was in a troop with a known abuser - I've seen the police report and the newspaper story. Troop 510 in Okaw Valley Council, just east of St. Louis, Don White. That case does not show up on the tracker. Interestingly, my old troop does, which is really odd. It had the same SM since around '44 until '11 and I haven't heard any reports from guys who have been associated with that troop since '55.

I guess it kind of depends on your level of commitment. The training isn't exactly difficult and could be easily knocked out in a couple of evenings worth of TV shows. I was amazed to find out that it was all available online - we last did it in '92 and it was an all day event.

Some of my Cub Scout leaders have not completed all the training to be considered "trained". How big of a deal is that from the stand point of the district/council/national? Our YPT is 100%, which is a non-negotiable for me. I'm not sure about the other.