DanKroh

Thanks guys! Now I just gotta make it through the CoH in June without getting all misty eyed

My son, who has Asperger's, ADHD and OCD, as well as some physical limitations, passed his Board of Review last night for First Class. It's taken him just over 3 years, but I couldn't be prouder. One of the big hurdles was passing the swim test. Because of coordination problems and a pretty bad fear of water, we weren't sure he'd ever be able to pass an unmodified swim test. But this past summer, we visited the pool a couple times a week to work past the fear. Then, he went every day of his week at summer camp to the instructional swim time, and by the end of the week, passed the swim tes

Our pack presents the boys with their new neckerchief, slide, and handbook when they graduate ranks. For the Webelos going into their second year, we present them with their new Den emblem patch that they have chosen before the ceremony. As our boys have a tendancy lately to come up with... er... creative den names, we have had to order or create custom patches. Last year's Webelos were the "Flying Pigs". I can't wait to see what they come up with this year. I think Webelos I and II are perfectly fine shorthand, fwiw.

Oops, thanks Gern for the correction. The atheist symbol is an A within a set of three electron orbitals (it's #16 on the chart): http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/funeral_information/authorized_emblems.html

Packsaddle asks, "Dan, curiosity is about to kill me again, what's the atheist symbol?" It's an A with a circle around it, I believe. (Darned close to a pentagram, if you think about it)

hey pack, where does that leave us UU/Pagans? I guess we have a double whammy on us....

BobWhite asks: "While the church of scientology might be a chartering institution you will note that they do not have a BSA recognized religious award either. But I am unaware or any belief held by the scientologists that would prohibit them from having a Scout unit, can you." Yes, I can think of several beliefs I would consider inconsistent with scouting. However, I don't wish to turn the discussion here into one about the beliefs of the CoS, but of the inconsistency the BSA in treating non-mainstream religions (which is already enough of a hijack, and I apologize to the OP for that). Le

Thanks, Pack and Trev, for dispelling the "must have a national organization" whooey. Never mind that CoG *is* a national organization. So, the BSA then had to make up a new bogus rule, the 25 unit rule. Now I'm curious, are there *really* more than 25 unit chartered to Buddhist temples, to Hindu temples, to Zoroastorian organizations, by the followers of Meher Baba? "To date there are no scout units chartered by a wiccan or pagan organization." No, there aren't, but not for lack of trying by Wiccan/Pagan organizations. And if the BSA has its way, there never will be. I wish I c

"Religious award requirements must be submitted to the BSA by the religions official national or international orgnaization." Except that the BSA has already violated this rule by recognizing the UU award put forth by the UUSO, which is NOT the religion's offical organization (that would be the UUA), and which is not even "recognized" by the UUA as an official UU organization. A little consistency by the BSA might be too much to ask for, but would be nice. "Wiccans/pagans have no such national organization." Covenant of the Goddess is as close to a national organization as Wicca

Lisabob asks: "Just out of curiosity why are you awarding trophies (presumably paid for by the pack, perhaps from pack dues or fundraisers) to non-pack members?" It is one trophy, to be passed to the new winner each year. It's not like the pack is laying out a bunch of money each year to buy a bunch of trophies for parents and sibling Boy Scouts. We also award trophies to the younger siblings, even though technically, they are not pack members, either. If by "non-pack member", you mean someone who doesn't have a family member in the pack, that's not what's happening here. The adult

DYB-Mike, I think I would also be inclined to let a Cub run a car without being present if there were extenuating circumstances, but what do you think about this case, where the person running in absentia is not a Cub, but a Boy Scout in the adult division. Especially in that case, where this is only one trophy to be won, and he won it. I have gotten a sense from a couple of the other adults who ran (and my own Boy Scout son, who had a car in the division as well), that they didn't feel it was right. Just to make it clear, the Boy Scout knew about the conflict well in advance (i.e.

This is part vent, part questioning what you do in your unit. First the vent: This year, we started offering a trophy for the "adult" division, which also includes siblings (mostly Boy Scouts) who are over Cub Scout age. The trophy is going to be one of these where it is passed year to year to the new winner. Anway, the winner of the trophy this year was a Boy Scout who is the older son of the guy who runs the Pinewood (and his younger son was the grand winner in the entire Pack, and has won every year he's been in scouts, but that's another rant, and I digress). My problem with this is,

"As an engineer, first of all I'm appalled that 300 feet got converted to 300 yards and then attributed to a Brit. B-P, in all probability would have stated 100 meters." Acco, the UK didn't undergo metrication until the 1960's and 70's, as I recall. So B-P would definitely have been using English measurements like foot and yard in 1909.

WildernessStudent, if you are looking for information about specific rivers, I suggest taking a look at the American Whitewater website. They have a information of just about every river in the country that can be paddled, including current conditions, suggested put-in and take-out points, and sometimes maps. http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River_view_

One suggestion: If you can, have at least one person come along who is an experienced kayaker. Kayaks are much more maneuverable than canoes, and they can be a great asset in rescuing boys and boats and other gear after a canoe flips. When my son's troop goes canoeing, my friend and I bring our kayaks. We also find them useful for scouting the river ahead, since we can more easily paddle back to the group against the current than a canoe can. One time on a river in Maine, this same friend and I ended up rescuing a canoe of a high school group that happened to be going down the s

"Now, I hope every one of you who has responded to this thread has earned the "Eagle Required" Coffee Drinking Merit Badge" moxieman, does that also come in a beltloop for us Cubbies?

Just be careful leaving those Coleman Drippers out overnight if the temps are going to dip down into freezing. One of the ASMs on my son's last campout did an impressive job of blowing the thing up in the morning because some water froze somewhere that didn't like being rapidly heated up. I second the coffee tea-bags. Just for the love of everything holy, not instant, which is what we had this weekend on our Cub Freeze-out overnight -- bleh! (The person in charge of buying the food is evidently NOT a coffee drinker....)

stevejb, If you truly do believe that the ACLU is trying to "abolish anything to do with religion in this country by using the court system", I suggest that you familiarize yourself with some of the cases they have brought to support freedom of religion "of Those Identifying Themselves as Christian" (these are only a few of the cases you can easily find by googling): The ACLU of Florida (2007) argued in favor of the right of Christians to protest against a gay pride event held in the City of St. Petersburg. The City had proposed limiting opposition speech, including speech motivated

Excellently put, Calico!

Ed, Lambda Legal represents the rights of the GLBT community.

"You guys all sound pretty gay to me, but I won't assume you are homos. And if you were, I wouldnt think any less of you." Pappy, do you have any clue how derogatory this is? Do you often go around calling people "homos"? Personally, I couldn't give a rip what you think about me or my orientation. But you certainly proved my point.

If we are an Order of Ilks, does that mean we get to wear funny hats? Wouldn't be a lodge without funny hats.... Pappy, my momma always said, "Homophobic is as homophobic does". Well, ok, she didn't, but anyone who uses a "slippery slope" argument to use fear of homosexuality being accepted in society as the beginning of the downfall of civilized values (and of course, let's not forget the orgy-filled scout outings) is certainly displaying the qualities of homophobia. Pack, the lack of concern for your tenture seems to be related to the presence of a Y chromosome in your genome.

"And Lisa bob, do you honestly believe that homosexual scouts would be any less inclined to break the ban on sexual activity during campouts than would boys and girls sharing tents in a coed camping situation?" I'm not Lisabob, but I'd like to answer that. No, I don't believe they'd be less inclined. Nor do I believe they would be more inclined, as you seem to, Pappy. Actually, that's not entirely accurate. I do believe they'd be less inclined, for a couple of reasons: 1) statistically speaking, the chances of finding a partner who is of the same orientation, and there being mutual a

"I am not an expert on this issue of transgender. And I found the Wikipedia article very educational. But I do have a problem with identity politics. It lends itself to balkanization. And I have noticed that many groups make their particular sexual orientation the focus of their identity. I think this is troublesome." Then perhaps it is better not to throw transgender around as a buzzword to indicate moral terpitude. BTW, transgender is NOT a sexual orientation. It is a gender issue. "You also mentioned that heterosexuals can exhibit sexual deviance. I agree- sexual deviance is prett

Thanks for the link, Pappy, but you didn't answer my question, which was what you think "transgender relations" are?