dhendron

I am not sure I would be consulting with District or Council (nice to let them know it happened, but the decision is certainly not up to anyone but the Troop leadership). My thoughts: the kid with the knife is expelled. The others can be handled constructively in house. I didn't see anything in there about the Scoutmaster. What does he/she think?(This message has been edited by dhendron)

(This message has been edited by dhendron)

(This message has been edited by dhendron)

Money does seem to be the driving force behind many things. I know me and my leaders are quite tired of being hit on for money every time we turn around. I am a trainer. My unit does it for the leaders and for the youth. In order to have the class sanctioned and the training recognized, I have to charge three times what I need to run the class. It is only $6.00, but I only need $2/pp for the class. Is Council really so hard up that the need to force me to overcharge for a training class in order to make $4 lousy dollars? I am on Powder Horn staff. in 2010, the course was over budget

Yep, those darn, hardworking, dedicated volunteers! I don't know about you all, but I will take a volunteer with a good head of steam any day! Anyone dedicated to BSA and the youth is alright in my book. Yes, sir! If I had one that was a mite "enthusiastic" with it, I think I will reserve my public comment to "thank you!" One thing I have learned all these years: never criticize someone who is willing to give it their best effort. Just be glad they showed up. Merry Christmas, everyone!

I am a long-time (31 years and counting!) police officer and have been a Scouting leader since 1991. Sometimes I have one, sometimes I don't. It depends on where we are going. My own policy as the Advisor of my Venturing Crew is that it has to stay on me 24/7. The youth never know I have it, but frequently assume I do and have politely been asked not to inquire. One of the unit's parents is also an officer. He gets the same deal: carry it on you 24/7 and it's no problem. We don't leave them in our cars, and I don't carry them on backpacks or water events (I have enough stuff to carry, an

Good ideas! I like both of them...particularly the "hop ha!" in the second suggestions! Thanks!

Greetings: I have two folks we are appointing as associate advisors this coming Thursday. One is a youth member and Silver recipient that turns 21 this week, and another a committee member who us switching over. I am looking for a simple swearing in ceremony. Anyone have anything they would like to share? Thanks!

Good luck, BP!

About time! Hopefully their availability will handled quickly.

A crew of 80! Wow! The must be the largest crew I have ever heard of. Although I am glad my own unit is relatively small at 23 youth, I am impressed with a unit that is so happy that it has 80 members. I agree that National is clueless about Venturing, but I would hazard the opinion that it is not just the Venturing program they are floundering on. What I see is an attempt to reinvent the program in order to fix things that are not broken. It seems to me that National is repeating a previous horrendous mistake (from the 70's or early 80's, I believe) that nearly destroyed the program. Cha

Pretty good! We have 23 youth right now: 13 girls and 10 guys. Two dating couples among them. We had one spat among a former dating couple two years ago, but no other problems before or since. We have been co-end since we chartered.

The issue of the Oath and Code, to me, has more to do with losing our identity than anything that has any huge impact. Basically, I see it as BSA screwing with the program...and we don't need them to. It is working just fine as it is.

A couple of years ago, BSA pulled the Venturing/Ranger books off the shelves suddenly. As I understand it, it was done for a legal issue. The books were off the shelves for close to a year. Recently, changes were voted on by BSA that resulted in the loss of the Venturing Oath and Code, effective in 2014. While I can't say I will miss the Code when this all becomes effective, the loss of Venturing's Oath has really ticked off the scouts in my Venturing unit. I hear rumor that the Venturing sign and salute are likewise history, but while this is being put out as fact on the blog attached t

Sigh...one of these days we are going to be so politically correct that we cannot even venture out without hazarding an offense to someone. The difference between name calling versus nicknames (which the youth often find to be in good fun, as intended) should be obvious. I think this one would fall into the "Get over it" category. Some years ago, my wife (also a leader in our Venturing Crew) and I got labeled "Papa Bear" and "Mama Bear". I think I would have preferred something more manly (joke!) but the name stuck. One of my girls was nicknamed "Pigpen", which was not derogatory.

Short of taking an EMT course (which I have been told was not what BSA was looking for), we couldn't find a course here in Southern California that would fit. After extensive research, we compromised. For my Crew, I am looking at the spirit of the requirement and accepting Wilderness First Aid. This is a 16-hour course, but the only game in town.

We also have a rule about no PDA's in our bylaws. We set our expectations, tell the youth we expect them to act like adults, and leave it at that. We have had several dating couples over the years. Two of them now. The youth tend to police themselves. As long as we don't make a big deal out of it, we don't sweat a little hand holding or innocent contact. On the other hand, when the relationship inevitably blows up, our hope is that if the relationship does not exist within the Crew, then hopefully the aftermath will not either. Wishful thinking sometimes. Once the drama that unfolde

Our Council has an active Venturing Committee, but the current VOA is a dysfunctional at best. Our crew stopped attending the VOA's since nothing was happening, they kept changing the meeting place and location, and really, there was no benefit to our participation. What should we expect: full Council support for the program, ability to purchase or obtain the support material and awards, a go-to person for issues, and Council support for Crews and Ships in all things Scouting.

I personally have mixed feelings about it. I see the need for National, at least in terms of providing the basic structure. Region...what do they do? Council? Other than a place to purchase stuff I need (which I can also get from National, and frankly, it is sometimes faster to do that since the local scout shop frequently does not have what I need in stock), my unit doesn't get any real benefit. Too commercial, and every time I turn around I am being asked for money. Geez, I can't even teach a adult or youth Council-sanctioned training without charging more than I need to run the class (I am

Hi all: For those who may be interested, the Venturing Leadership Award (VLA) has been discontinued effective the end of the year for adults. From that point forward, it will be a youth-only award. Too bad about that. I found it to be a useful way to recognize outstanding youth AND adults. Here is a link to the announcement (I only found it by happenstance via a post on a Facebook Venturing page): http://scout-wire.org/2011/10/25/new-youth-only-venturing-leadership-award-qualifications-announced/ ...and I just saw a previous post mentioning this. Sorry for the cross pos

The books were pulled in March or so. They are unavailable in the scout shops and on scoutstuff.org. Currently, scoutstuff.org shows them available again on 08/10/10, but that date came and went.

Hi all: The Venturing/Ranger books were pulled several months ago. We have heard various reasons, including a legal review associated with youth protection polices, updates to the books, etc. We cannot figure out why the older books could not continue on the shell pending whatever was being done. It has been quite the source of frustration since it has now been five or six months and our crew has several new members who do not have their Venturing/Ranger books to work with. Our DE checked and was simply told the book is being reviewed and will be available in 8-10 weeks. This is exac

I have had a couple of comments, including one sent directly to me, about whether the appropriate notifications were made, among other comments, including those accusing me of not doing my job, not protecting the scouts, or essentially failing to act as a true leader. Thanks for those, by the way, but I would like to say that sending me hate email while we are discussing an issue like this -- which included a similar email from the boy's parents -- is probably counterproductive and not in keeping with scout spirit. Back to the issue at hand: When the incident occurred, the troop notified

Great advice from everyone! I have met with our unit commissioner and district executive. Of course, for my part, my action is related to his Gold award, not the actual incident in terms of direct action related to that since it occurred within the troop, not my crew. However, I will pass that on to the scoutmaster for his consideration. I have a meeting this weekend with my committee chair, so...more later. Thanks again, everyone!

I am gonna have to try that complaint form sometime! I shouldn't have been drinking my soda when I read that one and then clicked on the link!