eisely

I don't know if you have ever seen a Philmont health form, but there is an interesting point made in that form about mental health. Philmont does not see itself as an "outward bound" program providing therapy for troubled or emotionally disturbed youth. One has sympathy for the youth and the family, but there are limits.

This should help us all remember why we do what we do. These young men were prepared and they acted with confidence, compassion, and knowledge. When you set aside all the politics, this is what it is all about. ___________________________________ Boy Scouts aid injured woman Thursday, April 1, 2004 4:29 PM CST Boy Scouts Travis and Mark Martyn and Bryan Yamnitz recently aided a local woman injured in a car accident. Boy Scouts really do save the day sometimes, a fact proven recently by two Perry County boys who aided a young women hurt in a car accident. Travis Martyn and Bryan Yamnitz, both 12, are members of Perryville Boy Scout Troop 155. They credit their Scout training for allowing them to stay calm and provide vital assistance following the March 15 crash. Misty Gegg, 17, received minor injuries in the accident on Highway D. She said Travis and Bryan were very brave during the ordeal. The three are neighbors. "The accident happened about 30 - 60 seconds after I left my house," Gegg said. The car Gegg was driving traveled a distance off the road, striking a fence and a mailbox. "I have a lot of bumps and bruises and cuts from glass in my head," Gegg said. "But I'm doing okay. "If this would have been a life or death situation, Travis and Bryan would have saved my life. They were that prepared and that good. I'm very, very proud of them. I wouldn't have been able to get through the whole thing without their help." Bryan was riding home from soccer practice that afternoon with his mom Nancy and sister Stephanie, 8, when they came upon a car sitting in the middle of the road. "We asked the guy what was wrong and he said that there was a car way off the road," Bryan said. "We ran down to the car and saw Misty and then I ran to Travis's house to call 911." Travis answered the door and Bryan told him about the accident. Travis got the phone for Bryan, and then gathered supplies with his dad Mark to take to the accident site. "I told the sheriff's department that there was an accident, what my name was, where we were, and how badly Misty was hurt," Bryan said. Travis said, "I gathered a blanket and some towels and went down the road with my dad. Misty was bleeding a lot and was stumbling around in the road. We got her off the road and wrapped her in the blanket and put towels on her where she was bleeding and stayed with her until the ambulance came." Nancy directed traffic until law enforcement and the ambulance arrived and took over. A few days later, Bryan went to visit Misty. "I took her a get well card and checked to see how she was feeling," he said. "She told me thanks and said we were a big help. She said she thinks she would have died if we hadn't helped because she was in the road." Nancy said she was impressed with the boys' actions that day. "I was amazed at how calm and collected they were," she said. "They knew just what to do and how to do it. I'm glad that they were there."

I certainly respect the right of churches as chartered organizations to stipulate that key leaders, or for that matter, all the registered adults, to be part of that church or faith. All the troops that I have been involved with, or worked with in some capacity, were a little more broad minded than that, and I think their programs benefited from that. In the case as originally described, it sounds like the church membership question was being used as on an ex post basis to force somebody out. One wonders if the broader church leadership would support such a policy when they haven't enforced it in the past, and it may lead to disruption of the program.

BW's answer is correct. If you are chartered by a church, the church may set those kinds of restrictive standards. In this day and age that is unfortunate. The only suggestion I would make is for someone to approach the pastor, minister, priest, or whoever is designated on the charter as the "institutional head or leader". The COR is just that. The representative of the chartered organization. If he or she is pursuing a personal agenda to the detriment of the program, their is a chain of commnad that can be followed upwards. It takes some courage. Good luck.

I bought an official ground cloth from REI for one of my tents, and it is very nice. It serves its purpose well. However, I would not spend that kind of money again. Get a heavy plastic sheeting material. Lay out your tent on the plastic. Mark the outline of the footprint of the tent on the plastic with a magic marker. Get out your scissors and cut out the footprint. That way you carry only what you really want to carry. I would stay away from the blue tarps and other fabtics.

I see no reason to disagree with any of the above. BSA envisions non-registered adults and parents participating in a variety of ways. However, I would encourage registration of everybody who carries out some responsibility on a regular recurring basis. They will get the magazine and may be encouraged in other ways to broaden and deepen their commitment. Another way in which registration as a committee member could matter very much is in those situations where some sort of formal vote may be required. I know that others in this forum have maintained that the BSA rule book does not require votes on anything, but votes are not precluded either. Most committees operate by consensus without any voting, but occasionally contentious issues arise. The ugliest thing that can come up is a question of disciplining an adult volunteer. Although removal from the unit is the prerogative of the COR, that person might want committee participation in some formal way. If I were either a committee chair or a chartered organization representative, I would want a committee with broad registered membership and I would want to know exactly who those people are at all times.

Probably the most prominent American political figure who is also an Eagle Scout is Gerald Ford. I don't know of any other Eagle Scouts elected president. (Ford was not elected. He was appointed Vice President by Richard Nixon to replace Spiro Agnew when Agnew resigned in disgrace under the provisions of the 25th amendment to the constitution. Ford then became President when Nixon resigned in 1974. Be all that as it may, Ford was and remains a very good man and an Eagle Scout.)

Responding to Bob White's question, it is always a good idea to look in the book to see what it actually says. For all ranks except Eagle, the handbook states simply that the service project must be approved by the scoutmaster, and no criteria are specified. For the Eagle rank the handbook states, "While a Life Scout, plan develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, any school, or your community. (The project should benefit an organization other than Boy Scouting.)....." To me this implies that service hours for lesser ranks can be earned for service to scouting in general, or at least they are not automatically excluded. I always understood that putting in time working for the benefit of one's own unit clearly does not count, and I think that is reasonable. I would not count as service hours time spent maintaining equipment or engaging in a fund raiser, for example. I would think that unpaid time on staff for a day camp for cub scouts should count, or at least are not precluded by a higher policy. I have been involved with troops that counted such hours and have no problem with it. All service projects must be approved by the scoutmaster. If there is a controversy, it is appropriate for the PLC and the committee, working together with the scoutmaster, to establish some guidelines. I don't think the scoutmaster acting unilaterally to restrict service endeavors is a goo idea.

We live in a fairly affluent area and virtually all of our scouts come from families who, if not wealthy, have no serious money concerns. Oddly, our scouts are highly motivated to participate in our two car washes. A lot parents participate too. We keep on setting new records. There are two things at work here. First, giving a Saturday to intensive work is ultimately easier than selling something, one candy bar at a time, or one container of popcorn at at a time. Second, our scouts have gotten very competitive in doing advance ticket sales for this. Parents, self included, find it a lot easier to simply write checks than get too deeply involved in fund raisers. Somehow our troop seems to have hit its groove in these car washes.

I believe this is in one of the areas of Michigan where the United Way has turned its back on scouting. __________________________________ Scouts scurry to help homeless Bath kids distribute bags, collect food for young adult shelter CHRIS HOLMES/Lansing State Journal Chief Okemos Council: www.chiefokemosbsa.org By Hugh Leach Lansing State Journal BATH - Although Boy Scouts nationally will conduct Scouting for Food drives in April, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts in Bath are going to jump the gun. They have a special cause that can't wait. Gateway Community Services' Crossroads program needs help now. Crossroads is a homeless shelter for 16- to 21-year-olds located in Lansing. Its ability to serve young people in Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties has been severely affected by budget cuts. "We've been hurt by reductions in funding and not getting a federal grant we hoped for," said Dawn Robertson, a Crossroads worker, whose son Benjamin is a member of Bath Cub Scout Pack 267. "I suggested to the Cubmaster that collecting food for the shelter would be a way for little kids to help big kids, and he jumped right on it." Saturday, Cubs from Pack 267 and Boy Scouts from Bath Troop 67 will travel throughout Bath distributing bags and flyers, urging residents to fill them with nonperishable canned and boxed food items. The Scouts will collect the bags the following Saturday. Bags were donated by L&L Food Centers and S&S Party Stores. "We decided to do the Scouting for Food drive in March because Gateway needs help right now," said Cubmaster Paul Lacroix. During a Scout meeting at Bath Elementary School on Tuesday, Lacroix gathered the boys around him and explained the project. "We're all very fortunate to have homes and parents to go home to, and when you go home, you have a pretty reasonable expectation that dinner is going to be on the table," he said. "The people we are going to help have no place to live, no moms to go home to and don't know where their next meal will come from." The boys got the message and are eager to help. "I feel good that we're going to do this," said Kyle Kopitsch, 11. "We don't know what it's like not to have food." Jacob Clarke, also 11, agreed. "They don't have stuff that we can afford," he said. "It's a chance for us to help out." The food drive will be the first community service project in which most of the Scouts from Bath will participate. Andrew Lathrop, Gateway marketing and community relations director, said the Scouts' effort could indirectly help other agencies. "It shows how much help the community can be," he said. "All nonprofits are struggling right now. This could encourage more people to do more to help out."

White spats also used to be part of the uniform for Explorers who wore a forest green uniform. Has FOG changed his meds or something? He seems almost calm.

Responding to FOG's point: I don't know how many other councils do this, but our council service center will maintain an open account for you. You have to deposit funds in advance, but it enables the authorized leaders to make quick purchases when necessary without advancing their own funds or getting a check ahead of time.

SR540Beaver, Sounds like you just nominated yourself to be the new treasurer.

Something does indeed smell a bit fishy. There are several issues raised in this original post. I have heard of some banks that charge fees for deposits made with a human teller, but that is very rare. A fee of 5 cents per deposited item is very stiff. I shall return to this subject. While there is no guidance from BSA on this subject, it is not a good idea to have the treasurer in the same household as either the scoutmaster of committee chair. Was the scoutmaster/husband present for this display? What did he have to say about it? Is your account a dual signature account? It should be. BSA does not require this, but it is a very good idea. I do not think it is a good idea to have payments for items sold in a fund raiser made to the parents of the boys making the sales. This can only create more headaches, more difficult book keeping, controversy, and also temptation. A single bounced check is not a reason to go for this extreme a solution. Most banks, even very big banks, give their branch managers a great deal of latitude in some areas. Besides differences in fee structures the primary difference in the accounts is what kind of tax ID number is on the account. It would be useful to know the answer to this question. It should be the tax ID of the chartered organization. In some instances local BSA councils have allowed their tax IDs to be used for this purpose. If it is an individual's social security number, as would be required for a personal account, then that creates different problems. If you really have a business account, you most likely are using something other than a personal social security number. This matters because it can affect who can claim ownership of the account. It also affects how you go about changing signatories on the account. Your chairman needs to be encouraged to deal with this in a forthright manner. If the treasurer has really resigned, your chair along with the chartered organization representative need to contact the bank to arrange changing signatories. This will get your outgoing treasurer off of the account which presumably would be a very good thing. It also provides an opportunity to learn directly about the fee question, and negotiate a different deal. In closing, it may be that your outgoing treasurer has a great deal else going on in her life that has affected her behavior. If this is true she may welcome the relief. On the other hand, there may be something even more unpleasant going on that caused the defensiveness and outburst. When was this account last audited or reviewed by the committee? Good luck.

I have found the best option for me is a gore tex vented parka shell from REI. I use it as a rain jacket in warm weather, and can layer up underneath it in cold weather. I don't normally use the hood, but rely on a boonie hat of some kind. The best broad brimmed rain hat I have found is the "Seattle Sombrero" by Outdoor Research. This hat can get uncomfortable in hot weather, but is great for most conditions in most seasons here in the San Francisco bay area. These items are relatively expensive. Great for adults, but awfully expensive for growing boys. I also carry an old military pancho in my car for emergencies. The point about panchos and safety in canoes merits repeating. Do not allow your scouts to use panchos as rain gear on float trips. I would rather deal with a scout in hypothermia because he got soaked in the rain than a scout floundering in the water in a pancho.

You Go Girl

Eagle Scout has no plans to stop at 120 badges TIMOTHY J. GONZALEZ / Statesman Journal Sergei Zelenskei of Woodburn has earned all of the 120 merit badges offered by the Boy Scouts of America. The Woodburn teen has proposed two more skills for his meritorious list. MATT MONAGHAN Statesman Journal March 11, 2004 Be prepared is the motto of the Boy Scouts of America, and perhaps no one lives up to that credo more than Sergei Zelenskei. The 17-year-old Russian immigrant from Woodburn has earned all of the 120 merit badges commissioned by the national scouting organization. Each merit badge represents a different skill area from forestry to wilderness survival in which the Scout must successfully demonstrate a mastery of the requirements needed to obtain the badge. Zelenskeis feat is so rare, the Boy Scouts dont even keep a record of how many others have accomplished it. I called the regional office in Portland and asked who else had ever gotten all the badges, and they could think of only one other person in Oregon, said Zelenskei, displaying his sash full of badges and medals. As if that is not meritorious enough, Zelenskei also has submitted proposals to the Boy Scouts to add two more merit badges to the list for physics and biology skills. In December, Zelenskei attained the Boy Scouts highest rank: Eagle Scout. To put Zelenskeis achievement into perspective, his Scoutmaster, Don Stitt, said the average Eagle Scout earns between 25 and 30 merit badges. His reputation is known pretty far and wide among those involved with Boy Scouts, Stitt said. Zelenskei came to the United States with his family in 1998. He joined the Scouts through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was 12. At first, the Boy Scouts organization was a way for Zelenskei to meet and socialize with other kids in his community. It was my way of being able to talk to people, he said. He will graduate from Woodburn High School this spring and plans to attend Penn State University in the fall. Zelenskeis mother, Irina, said her sons scouting challenged both her and her husband, Alex, in a unique way. In Russia, my husband and I did not drive, but Sergei was always asking us to take him places for the merit badges so we had to learn, Irina Zelenskei said. One badge in particular pushed Zelenskei to his limits and almost derailed his quest to earn all of the badges. In wilderness survival, Zelenskei had to spend a night in the forest, but because of fire danger he wasnt allowed to build a fire. He said it made for a long, cold experience. That was interesting, he said. I didnt think I was going to do any more merit badges after that. What kept him going was a sense of curiosity and a passion for exploration. You can learn a lot from all these people who know things about a particular area, Zelenskei said. Even if you dont remember everything, you take away bits and pieces of useful knowledge. Despite leaving his troop to attend college later in the year, Zelenskei isnt abandoning his scouting life and has lofty ambitions with the organization. I want to be the national scouting executive one day, he said.

Go to this thread: http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=1414#id_1414

I erred in my previous post. I meant to write "...commissioner and as a unit leader..."

BW, Regarding dual registration as a commissioner and a unit leader: This is the first time I have seen that stated so starkly. Is this a new policy? If this is the policy, who is enforcing it? A great many people I know are registered as both a commissioner and as a unit commissioner somewhere. I had always understood that you could be registered as a commissioner and a unit leader simultaneously. Apparently this is not correct. One wonders how many people would drop out of the commissioner role if this were truly enforced.

KS, I don't think there is a formal prohibition against being commissioner for your own unit. I know too many people who do this. I don't think it is a good idea, and if a commissioner program is being run properly, it should be discouraged, if not prohibited, at the district level.

I concur with the other posters. You did the right thing and the smart thing.

I cannot imagine that a lodge can create a rule that overrides a national policy. I can however imagine a situation where attendance at an ordeal might be restricted because of limitations of the facilities. Most lodges offer multiple ordeals during the year. Even if a lodge had to limit attendance because of facility problems, hopefully that lodge would offer enough other opportunities to candidates to participate in a different ordeal within the required time frame.

To the best of my knowledge, you are correct. It is theoretically possible for all the eligibles on your ballot to be elected, and all duly electected candidates can go to an ordeal. I suppose the liklihood of this is greater in such a small troop. I have yet to see it happen in any election which I have observed.

Maui...hmmm Maybe I will become a little more involved in OA.