walk in the woods

Door stops/dead bolts would also be handy for anybody bent on violence against a particular target. Enter the room, close the door, engage the stop....

Troop, Quartermaster, the Venturing salute, boatswain, Second Class, First Class, Bugler, ...

Not Dubnar's best interview. Some discussion of the GSUSA/BSA law suit. Oh, and talk about cookies. http://freakonomics.com/podcast/girl-scouts/

This was basically "the rule" for our unit at the 2013 NSJ along with a scout t-shirt. We just got some 5 gallon buckets, lids and plungers so we could do laundry during the week.

Depends on the scout, the unit, and the parents. My son has autism but was in a community unit. We did BWCAW and Jamboree together. I was there for the support/expertise when required. My district also has a unit specifically for kids who are more profoundly affected by their autism or have other special needs who aren't as easily accommodated in a community unit.

How about this variant: Never let them smell the fear! Truth. YP doesn't even allow for older boys acting like older brothers anymore.

Bombardier could have completed the parody of himself if he'd only mentioned the dangerous black full semi automatic banana clip hand shot guns in use at the range.... People will die!

That's true in the latrines/showers in the camp sites. I don't know that it's true at the training center.

I chatted with a Swedish Scout(er?) roaming the streets of Chicago last week.

Not exactly true. BSA specifically requires some sort of religious belief of all members. Trail Life USA specfically does not require religious belief of its youth members. They do however require the leaders to be Christian and are unapologetic about the program being faith-based. From their Membership FAQ

To be clear, the initial judge didn't give the boy a "get out of jail free" card or "a pass." The judge was deciding whether to allow the prosecutor to try the boy in an adult court. The judge made one decision, the appeals court overruled. The system worked as designed. It is an interesting time. I hear a lot of talk about the ills of the Clinton-era crime bill taking away judicial discretion, imposing mandatory minimums, three strike laws, etc. And those things deserved to be debated, especially as to how they were applied differently in different communities. The flip side though

Maybe. I went hiking in northern MI a couple years back and ran into multiple youth groups on the trails. Is there value in being able to tell the scouts from the local church youth group or YMCA program? Same story in BWCAW a few years before that. I'm not a fan of the current field uniform in the field but some sort of uniform in the field is nice.

@HashTagScouts, boys can't be discriminated against because they are clearly part of the patriarchy oppressing women.

https://rvdailyreport.com/industry/boy-scouts-to-open-its-facilities-to-high-adventure-family-camping/

I'll second the motion on the Marmot. I have one I've been wearing for years. I particularly like the zippers in the arm pits. It doesn't shed as well as it used to but it's 10 years old now. I also have a Columbia jacket. It has somewhat better coverage but doesn't breath nearly as well.

I don't know. Im hearin the argument on the bag search is we should build trust with scouts. But, the argument in the tent rule is we can't trust the 17 year old scout weve known for 6 years not to abuse a younger scout. The tent rule eliminates the possibility of an older scout acting as mentor and big brother to a younger scout.

The joy of Scoutmastership. You take a bunch of other people's kids into the woods for the experience. You are directly responsible for their well-being and safety. There are hundreds of written pages of contradictory policy and procedures. You know that if, God forbid, something goes wrong, your competence, character, and commitment to the kids will be publicly questioned and if it's bad enough you'll be named in the law suit. But, if you take any action you believe required related to the kids well-being and safety, people come out of the woodwork because you violated the kids trust or h

When it comes to evaluating any particular First Class skill, there's only one relevant question: Do chicks dig it? If the answer is yes, then it's relevant. 😎

The correct answer is none of the above. The Patrol Leaders Council should be discussing, approving, and planning all activities. The SM's job is to guide that process to ensure the activities are feasible and safe. The CC's job is to fund it and monitor against the CO's goals for its youth program.

^^This is the key insight..... FWIW, my lodge does Ordeal Ceremonies at Spring and Fall Fellowships, about 4 months apart. But, we do Brotherhood Ceremonies all the time. Fellowships, camporees, church basements, training events, anywhere we can gather eligible ordeal members and the principles. The 6 month requirement sets up this incentive, election in Jan/Feb, Ordeal in May/June, Brotherhood in December. That way a single scout can count for induction and conversion in the same JTE year......

I see the required FOS donation remains in the new Performance Measurement Program. This is pitiful.

Two interesting concepts in your statement @yknot The BSA's public trust is always at stake. I think we have to separate the public trust of BSA the organization (National, Councils, even Districts to some level) and BSA the local unit, but as my plumber father used to say, s*** rolls downhill. Some would argue BSA the organization lost the public trust 2 decades ago by chasing the Dale case all the way to the SCOTUS. Others might argue BSA the organization lost the public trust by not standing by that decision. Both would be largely correct. The sex abuse charges compound the problem

Sorry but this is absolutely crazy. If our paid public servants with the full support of local, state, and federal tax dollars, in a government mandated monopoly can't ensure child safety how is an all volunteer organization like BSA held to a higher standard?

On my news feed today from time.com tThese Men Say the Boy Scouts’ Sex Abuse Problem Is Worse Than Anyone Knew. http://time.com/longform/boy-scouts-sex-abuse/

More info from Denver Post. Fiar warning this was behind a paywall for me earlier today.