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CNYScouter

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  1. The only thing I got from my council was from a DE requesting money to buy banners (2' x 3') for recruiting. The DE wanted to buy one banner for each division (Cubs, Boy Scouts, Venturing, Sea Scouts, Explorers) and enough sets for every district. FYI - They got enough money donated to buy the banners (~$600)
  2. I am in the Longhouse Council in NY. They have instituted a policy that if you are going to teach a Merit Badge for more than 6 Scouts or hold any type of MB day or fair you need to fill out a form and get approval from the Council Advancement Committee. The issue wasn’t just the “do an 1 hour class and get the badge†but these were being done with MBC’s that were not registered/not taken YPT. I think a lot of this had to do with our local APO fraternity’s Merit Badge Day. It was really poorly run and not organized very well. At the last one (it was a couple of years ago) many
  3. Here's a link to an article that compares White Gas to Propane to Batteries http://www.campinglife.com/camping-gear/camping-lantern-shootout/
  4. Krampus - Can you give some more details on this? What percentages are you using? Who in the Troop came up with them? If a scout becomes inactive how long does it take before he is considered active again?
  5. My's son's troop bought tents from Alps through hikerdirect.com last spring (March/April) I think they were asked change the name to take Scout out of it. The hiker direct page just lists the discount prices and you need to go to the Alps Mountaineering web site to get descriptions and specs.
  6. A couple of years ago our council considered holding multiple Scouting University's I suggested to do an outdoor oriented version at our Scout Camp it never got passed the rough draft stage but here was what I wanted to do 4 - 2 hour session on a Saturday there would be a basic class and an advanced class in 4 subjects Topics might be Basic Fire building - Advanced Fire Building (flint and Steel, campfire layouts) Basic Map and Compass - Advanced GPS Basic Knots - Advanced Lashing (pioneering projects) Basic Outdoor Cooking - Advanced outdoor cooking (utensils-less cooking)
  7. From my understanding there is nothing wrong with the way a Council's popcorn prizes are done. Incentives for a fundraiser are considered as a cost of doing fundraising if you look at the popcorn prizes, for example, in my council you get a $40 gift card for $1100 in sales. This is 3.6% personal benefit and in the allowable range set by the IRS Most of the prizes are valued in the range of 4% As to the Disneyland trip; if this is valued at $10k and the council sells $200k in popcorn it is 5% Add the total of prizes given comes in at about 9% which in the allowable range for insubstantial
  8. Lots of good info here and gives us a starting point of things to look at and what to ask about Just because a BSA unit hasn't been audited yet doesn't mean it is not going to happen in the future None of us have any idea what could trigger an audit of your CO and/or unit Many years ago I also had to deal with the IRS. I had someone prepare my taxes. 4 or 5 years later I got a letter from the IRS saying I had under paid my taxes for that year and they were due plus fines The fines were as much as the back taxes owed I would hate to have my son's troop account wiped out because of
  9. It was a pretty heated Committee meeting over the weekend when this topic was brought up. One question brought up was we have 2 or 3 families who have come out and said they don't want to participate in fundraising and just want to write a check for any of their son's expenses. How do they fit into this? Currently we have one fundraiser that all proceeds go to the Troop in which they do participate but that's it. I would think that a point system could become a nightmare to track and cause more complaints than it's worth here's an example Scout A went on outings, did service projects
  10. From further reading it looks like the only way to be safe is to just not use ISA's I also see that way we run some of our fundraisers just won't fly under these rules For can & bottle drives not only do scouts get credit but parents and siblings time count towards how much a Scout earns. Also, our CO is a church. Due to low membership it is combining with another church. I don't know if this would trigger any type of audit but I would think that our books would be at least looked over when this happens
  11. As a MBC I received an email today from my councils advancement committee with the following attachment: MERIT BADGE GROUP INSTRUCTION EVENT – Application Form This is a form I need to fill out and get approval if I am going to have a Merit Badge class that has more than 5 Scouts in it. I need to attach a Draft copy of the event flyer or information sheet at a minimum of 2 weeks prior. Along with the form there are 2 pages of policy on Do any other council's have this? Have Merit Badge days, fairs, midways, clinics, workshops gotten so prevalent that this is needed?
  12. I have read the topics about Fundraising for the Good of the Whole Troop and the BSA policy about this At out COH last night I was talking with our Treasurer. He read the article in Scouting magazine about ISA’s and is concerned about how we conduct fundraising. The troop constantly has multiple fundraisers going, mostly of the “go sell this†type. Our Treasurer wants to bring this up at the next committee meeting and knows there is going to be some upset parents. So, how do you move away from ISA’s? We have scouts with accounts that have a balance that run anywhere fro
  13. This is from meritbadge.org http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Den_meeting The Den Meeting AgendaDen meetings typically have the following parts: Before the Meeting. Leaders gather to make preparations and handle last-minute details. Denners and Assitant Denner set up. Gathering Activity. As the Cub Scouts begin to arrive, they join in an informal activity or game, often conducted by the den chief to keep the boys interested and active until the entire group has arrived. Opening. The opening is the official start of the den meeting. The Denner and Assistant Denner lead the flag ceremo
  14. On the Scouting web site there is a supplemental training module on Selecting Quality Leaders There is a link at the top to download a .pdf copy of the training This can be used to select any adult leader position at any level http://www.scouting.org/Training/Adult/Supplemental/SelectingQualityLeaders.aspx
  15. Hueymungus - I know those are the current rules but she was told these rule changes are being worked on and will be put in place in the near future. I don't know who exactly told her this but it came from someone higher up and outside our council. My councils shooting sports committee didn't know anything about this upcoming change. As I usually hear about these changes from this forum way before I heard about chnages from my council I thought I would check here
  16. The Mom of one of the Scouts in my son's Troop works at our Scout store. She had heard that they are changing the rules that BB Guns and Archery can only be done at council events (Day Camp or Resident Camp) and Districts can no longer do these at one of their events. This is partly due to eliminating the belt loop program. Has anyone else out there heard this? I usually read about these changes here but haven't seen any post about this
  17. I wish I could say that my son's troop is doing something exciting this summer. They are going OOC for Summer Camp - Camp Yawgoog in RI. It's about a 6 hour bus ride. I tried to get a bike trip together for t this summer but can't get enough adults to commit to a weekend to do it. I also have to say that for the first time since we joined there was an overnight activity in June. The troop did a backpacking trip into the Adirondack mountains. The only down side was only 5 boys signed up to go. It turned into a quite an adventure. Because of poorly marked trails we couldn't find the lean-
  18. I have to say in my experiance most ASM's can't do the T-FC skills. A couple years ago I was on our council training committee. They were talking about doing multiple Scouting Universities in a year. I suggested that one be held at the council camp only doing outdoor classes. I was thinking that at IOLS we show partisipants how to tie knots and lash things together but there is just not enough time to teach someone from scratch in this and run training with longer classes that there is actually time to teach a skill. the BSA is an outdoor program but we (as in the BSA) have very little in
  19. In my council we have a registar who can get a list of MBC's in this type of situation I don't see one listed for your council but maybe the Director of Support Service is the person? Also this is something your Unit Commissioner can help with If you don't know who that is try your District Commissioner
  20. One big thing I see in my son's troop is that nothing in written down and everything is done "by the seat of the pants" According to the SM these scouts were given expectations of what was needed to fulfill the POR. It was just not written down. My big issue is that I directed both of these Scouts to the SM to get these signed off but they went to another adults instead. PL's and the SPL (SM and ASM's too) can sign off on anything under First Class. the SM likes to have one of the ASM's do the Scout sprit requirement to get another view on how the Scout is doing One thing we have
  21. 3 weeks ago at Troop meeting 2 Scouts asked me to sign off on their POR requirements. One I wasn’t sure he was even holding the POR he said he was (Chaplin’s Aid for Life) and for the 2nd one I wasn't sure what he had done for his POR (Historian for Star) I told both that they needed to see the SM about getting these signed off. We had a week off for Spring Break and last week both of these Scouts approached me again asking if I could sign off the Scout Sprit requirement. I saw that both had gotten one of our new ASM’s to sign off on the POR requirement. I told both
  22. The only things banned are Soda, Energy drinks and bottled water. Soda is sometimes given as a patrol competition prize. The issue with bottled water is it generates too much trash and bottles tend to be left all over the campsite The scouts can make what ever they want but they can not repeat a meal the rest of the year We started holding an "Iron Chef" contest on campouts. The patrol gets a "golden" frying pan to hold on to until the next completion The Scouts really like this and are asking to do them on every campout. Meals have become much more adventurous and the Scouts are us
  23. I can't take the credit for" doing my homework" as I was just asked my opinion about the route and going through the locks It doesn't look like the planned route is going to work. This was going to be a 5 or 6 mile trip down the canal, visit Fort Stanwix in Rome, NY and canoe back It's more like 15 or 16 miles each way with the Fort being well over a mile inland from the takeout point. The closest points on the canal we can put in at are 9+ miles away in either direction These locks are both a 25' drop and a pretty long portage around
  24. A change in our monthly activity is needed for May and a canoe trip is being considered One of the routes being looked at is on the Erie (Barge) canal. It is flat water with an extremely small current. There are 2 Locks on the proposed route. They do allow canoes/kayaks (and with no costs) to go through the locks. Commercial traffic is allowed on the canal but it is very rarely seen on this part of it. One concern is that Scouts in the troop are very inexperienced at canoeing. I am not sure if any of them have canoeing Merit Badge and most of them have never been in a canoe be
  25. I think there are two reasons why this Scout was 1st class before he became QM The SM feels that the Quartermaster position needs to be held by an older Scout I also know the SM didn’t think this boy was a good fit for the Quartermaster position. The Scout is lucky if he makes half of the Troop meeting and outings. He is not very responsible and was pretty immature. The Troop uses E-mail and Facebook for its primary mode of communication – his family has neither. I know the Patrol Leaders should be calling each patrol member but it has been really tough to g
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