CA_Scouter

Jumping in here a little late... we did a Yellowstone trip back in 2009. We set a few rules, 14 and/or first class, if not, then an adult would have to accompany the scout. With regard to adults, the best way I found to weed them out is to insist on a non-refundable deposit up front, say $100 or more.... or state that the deposit must be received 3 months prior to the trip... The way we handled fundraisers is that we track hours the scout participates in the fundraiser and he receives an appropriate share to his scout account - use if for anything they want, including the deposit. Best th

We had a scout in similar situation. At that time there was no leadership position for Leave No Trace, so I gave him the job of leading the training and getting the younger scouts through the requirements. I think about six kids and four adults came out of it with our LNT patches/thingys....

The fact that you have brought this to the attention of the forums indicates (IMHO) that its a problem, no matter how benign it may seem. If someone wants to make fun of himself, fine, but once you start poking fun at others its a slippery slope (as others have indicated). Related info: We had a situation some years back where scouts were assigning nicknames to each other so we made a 'rule' that the person being assigned the nickname had to agree to the name, otherwise no go.

In my experience, I'd also say that its a non-issue with the Scouts themselves. They have little, if any, knowledge of the membership requirements of the BSA. I'm not sure they would care much about this change in policy anyway.. its not like they have no exposure to alternative lifestyles in their daily life....

But Merlyn... I understand that you DID belong to the club at one point. Does that mean you were an anti-gay bigot at that time?

I've recently notice a little seepage on my Marmot GoreTex Jacket. No seam problems just a little dampness on the inside after some recent rain. I was browsing the Marmot shop and spoke to one of the salesguys. He told me that I should put the jacket into the dryer at low heat for about 20-30 minutes. He said that will help the Goretext to (for lack of a better term) 'reset' and seal itself back up. Apparently the product is a coating which needs occasional heat treatment to keep it working correctly. This makes sense because whenever I wash the jacket, I line dry it. I always t

Yosemite NP (multiple times) Yellowstone NP Lost Coast (northern California) Trinity Alps Wilderness Emigrant Wilderness Desolation Wilderness

Camp Fees are divided per person, adults included. This is collected by the adult Taskmaster. Patrol food is generally $10/15 per weekend. Patrols handle the menu planning, purchasing the food and collecting money. Adults never handle patrol food money. Scouts are expected to contribute $5 to their driver for gas. More if a longer trip. None for short trips. Adult food is generally breakfast/lunch do your own thing, dinner is divvied up: appetizer, main course, side dishes, dessert. We strongly insist that scouts bring food money to their grubmaster the meeting prior t

Hmmm, in our troop 'two deep and driving' referred to how deep we could stack 'em in the back seat for sharing seat belts. You mean we were doing it wrong all this time??!??

I think you are trying to be too helpful. Its not your responsibility to keep track of other peoples forms, nor to copy them, nor to put them in plastic sleeve, nor to design a notebook, etc. By doing that you are taking the responsibility away from them and putting it upon you, so they are not vested in the process. If you lay down the law and state that people are responsible for providing you with the medical forms (or copies) and that failure to comply will result in non-participation, then you put the responsibility back on them. Our summer camp coordinator does just that, and eve

I'm looking for a "Sheen/Lohan 2012" sticker. I live in a red county and work in a blue county. I keep my opinions to myself. Here is what I hear in the red county: "I can't stand that guy, there is no way I'm voting for him." Here is what I hear in the blue county: "I can't stand that guy, there is no way I'm voting for him." Yes, social networking has replaced bumper stickers and a lot more. Young people rarely use traditional email any longer but rely on instant messaging from their social network providers. Pretty amazing huh? Email is 'old school' no

Congrats Lisabob and LisabobSon!

Echoing Barry's comments about newcomers getting fried, there used to be a time on this forum when that was the rule, not the exception. I stopped posting for a while (and am still pretty careful when I do) because of the tendency for some folks to spin an innocent/ignorant question into personal criticism. Thankfully those persons no longer participate and its a friendlier place. I did think the thread was getting out of hand and morphing into personal criticisms, name calling and not sticking to the original subject. That tends to happen when arguing with the Big M. It also tends to

Hmmm... this is kinda more interesting than the original thread...

In case anyone was wondering, the event went without a hitch and was a great success. Everyone who met us on the trail couldn't be nicer or more supportive of our efforts. Not a negative word was uttered. We live in a red county in a blue state so I'm not too surprised. Incidentally we raised over $2K for our former scoutmaster. He is currently in recovery for the bone marrow transplant but is struggling a bit so prayers and good thoughts are welcome. tks

Our local paper had an article yesterday about a young man who had recently graduated from West Point. He earned Eagle in a local troop and was awarded special recognition from West Point as the cadet who best represented Scouting in his graduating class. Cool beans....

We always had a rule that the nickname had to be approved by the recipient and encouraged that it should be complimentary. I can only think of one nickname in recent memory and that was 'Smiley'. I'm really curious though about 'cloth ears'. That's gotta be a good story.

"Do tall socks stop chiggers?" No, but they certainly stop chicks. ;-)

I'm with Hal. Geez.

Our troop is putting on a HikeAThon as a fundraiser for a former SM who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. We will be holding this event on a public trail through our fine city and will be inviting any and everyone we can to attend. I suspect that we may be challenged by some folk about BSA's recent re-statement of their discriminatory membership policy. I'm looking for suggestions for an appropriate response that is professional and informatory, perhaps with references to BSA literature and such. What suggestions to you have?

I'm with Fuzzy. The patrols have done all the leg work and fundraising and likely announced their intentions well before they had the money raised so its too late to shut 'em down now. Its not a safety issue. They should carry out their plan. How fortunate that these scouts have adults who encourage this manner of self determination and decision making! To address the original question, no, we don't do large tents for any campout. Regardless of whether its a backpack trip or a car trip we treat 'em all as lightweight/minimal gear outings. The only addition to a car camp trip migh

Some creative ones from our troop: Building bat houses for the local animal rescue organization. Assembling and QA/testing of prosthetic hands for an international organization that ships these to third world countries, mostly India/Pakistan. Most of the rest were typical 'construction' type projects - shed for track equipment at the local high school, community message board for the local fire station, bus shelter at the middle school, flag pole/sitting area at the pioneer cemetery, etc. The prosthetic hand project was extremely interesting. The scout is trying to save s

The 4th is the Troop's biggest fundraiser of the year. We run the concessions for our small town parade - food, kiddie games, dunk tank. The parade was about 20 minutes long, featured our famous 'lawn chair brigade', the ladies 'rolling pin review', two perfectly restored Vettes (62 and 65) and a mishmash of kids on bikes, yard tractors, wagons, etc. Incredibly cheesy, hokey and ridiculous but its been done for over 25 years in a row and everyone still has a smile on their face. Only downturn is I wrenched my back picking up my toolbox, um, I mean I had to stop a horse from running over

We have been fortunate in our troop that we have good adult participation, both male and female. All are welcome on outings as long as they stay the heck out of the way of the scouts. We have had predominantly male participation in outings though. Lisa, I guess its a matter of perspective and what you've personally experienced. I know some single moms who were abandoned by their husbands/s-donors (I don't want to say the 's' word) and some are so because of poor choices on their part. My experiences are: Sister1: married an alcoholic, had kid, he left her Sister2: affair with

We have a tradition (??!??) in our troop of the scouts driving the adults crazy by waiting until about 17 1/2 or later to finish up their projects. Last 5ish years, this is our tally: ScoutA Eagle BOR 18 ScoutB Eagle BOR 18 ScoutC Eagle BOR 15