eisely

I readily admit to being a stick in the mud when it comes to music. I generally consider the phrase "rap music" to be an oxymoron. I will have to get my son to copy this one for me.

Troop ownership and use of trailers used to be more common before so many folks owned pickups and SUVs. Storage of the trailer is one issue. Legal ownership is another issue. This has been addressed in other threads. Presumably a trailer, as a vehicle, has to be registered, licensed, and insured. The troop per se is not a legal personality and cannot own such a piece of property. You do not want to make the trailer the personal property, and legal liability, of one of the leaders. The answer is that the chartered organization has to become the owner, even if the troop pays all the costs. Check it out.

Never thought I'd live to see the day... GRESHAM, Ore. -- Gresham police say one charity is going too far by cutting off the Boy Scouts. The Scouts have been the center of controversy for not allowing homosexual leaders. The United Way now says groups with discriminatory rules will no longer receive funds. But the Gresham Police Association, a supporter of the Scouts, says it's a double standard. "An organization that purports to be nonpartisan should not be taking this action. And if they do, we don't want to have any affiliation with them, we don't want to be approached by them, we don't want their materials in our workplace," Paul Poitras said. This year, the Portland-area Boy Scouts Association received more than $100,000 from the United Way.

The Man of Steele is of course absolutely correct about the policy. This does not mean that boys do not occasionally register with more than one unit simultaneousy, either accidentally or on purpose. Policing this requires some careful monitoring and checking at the council level. If someone were intent on doing this, it probably would not be too difficult to fool the system.

I have never heard of this and cannot offer any suggestions. I just want to say that this is a really great idea. It not only honors those who sacrificed, but brings home the idea of service and sacrifice to the ideals of scouting. The good news is that we have no one eligible for this recognition in our unit history.

This raises an interesting question. How alone is alone? Here again, everything was done according to the books, and still an incident occurred. One wonders what would happen if there were no rules. ___________________________ Posted on Tue, Sep. 16, 2003 THE FLORIDA KEYS Miami man accused of abuse Four teens say a scuba instructor reached into their bathing suits at an Islamorada Boy Scout camp this summer. BY CARA BUCKLEY cbuckley@herald.com A 26-year old Miami man has been arrested on charges that he fondled four teenage boys from Pennsylvania at a Boy Scout camp in Islamorada. The boys reported that their instructor, Keith Walker, reached into their bathing suits during a scuba diving class at the Florida Sea Base Camp on Aug. 13. The boys, age 14 and 15, immediately reported the abuse, according to the camp's general manager, Dennis St. Jean. A ''very remorseful'' Walker was fired one hour later, St. Jean said. Walker was arrested on Thursday, three weeks after a warrant was issued for four counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a minor, said Becky Herrin, spokeswoman for the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. Detectives said an earlier arrest was thwarted because Walker was evidently avoiding his Miami apartment. Walker, who is being held in Miami on $150,000 bond, will be returned to Monroe County to face the charges, Herrin said. The alleged fondling occurred halfway through a scuba certification program in a dive tank attended by a group of eight teenage boys from the Philadelphia area, St. Jean said. Walker singled out four of the teens and took them, one by one, to a section of the tank away from their group, where the abuse allegedly occurred, St. Jean said. This was unusual behavior, according to St. Jean. To head off possible sexual abuse, Boy Scout policy mandates that no boys can be alone with one adult. Another adult counselor was in attendance but was at another location in the dive tank when the alleged inappropriate touching took place, St. Jean said. ''One pleasant thing in light of this tragedy was how fantastic the kids were,'' said St. Jean. ``Often youngsters are embarrassed when talking about this sort of thing, but they went right to their leaders, and their leaders came right to me.'' Walker had cleared the camp's background check and taught there for three summers and a spring session, St. Jean said. He was living at the camp and had no prior criminal record in Florida. Florida Sea Base Camp offers eight adventure programs to Boy Scouts nationwide, including the scuba certification program that Walker taught.

Thanx for the input.

While the dictionary may require the use of powder or other explosive to call something a firearm, at least one civil jurisdiction here in California of which I am aware (Ventura County) has legally defined air rifles as firearms. Several years ago one of our sons was shot at by some other kidss with an air rifle. During the follow up police investigation I learned this little legal tidbit. Fortunately the shooters were not good shots. Point is ... I am satisfied that a weapon does not have to use gunpowder to be considered a firearm for regulatory purposes.

Philosophically I am somewhat conflicted on this question. Excess paperwork should be avoided. However I come down on this with Korea Scouter and others who see a benefit from having certain things written down before the controversey arises. Most of these decisions should flow from the PLC but they still need to be written down. I would probably tend to call such documents, if collected in a single place, a "policy manual." For example, there are some tough issues related to advancement and what level of participation or effort should be required to get credit for a leadership position, or just being "active". I have become a strong advocate of having written statements of "expectations" in place before a youth takes on a leadershhip position and expects to get his ticket punched just for having his name on the organization chart. Whatever standards a unit chooses to set should come out of the PLC, but once agreed upon, need to be written down to avoid misinterpretation and unnecessary controversy.

Our troop has done whitewater rafting in the past, but it is not a big part of our program. We always work through commercial outfitters and guides. We own no equipment of our own and have no qualified adult leadership. There are many opportunies for "day trips" here in California. The last time this troop did an extended expedition it was on the Rogue River in Southern Oregon.

A chartered organization can have more than one unit chartered to it. I am not aware of any restriction on the number of units that a single CO can operate. That is to say, the same CO could have two scout troops chartered to it, besides units in different program elements. As far as duplication of personnel is concerned, I am not aware of any restriction on the number of positions that an individual may fill across units, although on a given charter for a given unit, the COR, the unit leader, and the CC all have to be distinct individuals. Whether it is wise to have a single individual wearing multiple hats is another matter, but I am not aware of any prohibition on this.

Our troop is tentatively scheduled for a trek of some kind over spring break in 2004, the last week of March. We are in the San Francisco Bay area and I would like some suggested destinations and itineraries for a trek in Southern California. I am thinking of Ventura County, the San Gabriel Mountains, the San Bernardino Mountains, the area around San Jacinto, and any other place that somebody may suggest. Your suggestions are eagerly awaited.

This really sounds like fun. I wanna go.

This sort of thing has come up in other threads in this forum and some of the issues are rather vague. The biggest concern is the liability question. Parents need to understand that, even on a designated family event, they are totally responsible for all non scout siblings. They cannot expect the registered leaders to baby sit the younger siblings. Scout activities are not appropriate for a sibling of this age. If the sibling were one of the Webelos that would be one thing, but he is not. We had situation at a rock climbing event several years ago at Joshua Tree in Southern Californnia where a well meaning dad put his very young daughter in a climbing harness. The people at the top of the climbing lane handling the belay could not see what was going. The kid safely made the climb, but she was way too small for the harness. This is the sort of thing you have to watch for and be clear about.

Of course I'm kidding.

The boys run our COHs. We usually do three a year. One in September, one in December or January, and one in late spring, or June at the latest. Regrettably our COHs are boring. We could do more, but nobody seems to want to be inspired to do more. Speaking of music, how about Tom Lehrer's "The Boy Scout Marching Song"? That will certainly get everybody's attention.

I don't always check out every part of the forum and I missed this thread altogether until now. Funny that BW mentioned Napa Valley here in California. I am in the Mount Diablo Silverado Council which has Napa Valley within its jurisdiction, and the council does a wine auction at the Silverado Country Club in Napa Valley every year. I have never attended this event and do not plan to go this year either. As far as I know this is strictly an adult event with no youth present. I don't know how much money is raised at this event, but obviously somebody feels it is worth the effort. Also, responsible adults at the council level obviously also believe they are in full compliance with BSA policies.

In my view a gift is not necessary. Certainly some kind of card is appropriate. If a close friend or relative wants to give a gift in private that is fine, but public displays of gift giving should be avoided. In our troop we do eagle courts in groups, so anywhere from four to six young men are being recognized simultaneously. Normally the parents of these young men, as a group, agree on a gift and everybody gets the same thing, eagle appropriate. If a grandmother or special uncle gives something extra, the rest of us never hear about it. If you feel you want to do something, go ahead and do it, but do it privately.

OGE, "...beat that dog...." Really? You need to put in a disclaimer that you are referring to a rhetorical dog and that no real dogs were beaten in writing your post. We have enough grief from PETA already... But then maybe you really are beating dogs...care to clarify?

Training is one thing our council seems to do well. There are now three separate sessions of JLT for the youth. We have a variety of high adventure programs open to adults and youth over 15: backpacking, paddle sports, okpik (winter camping), cycling, and climbing. Wood badge is offered. We have a cub scout pow wow and University of Scouting.

What do you plan to do after all the birds in the neighborhood are wearing ankle bracelets?

As a California voter I find this to be useful information. I now will know exactly where the politicians that I get to vote for stand on this issue. I suspect this resolution could do more good than harm if people who care about scouting pay attention and find out where their representatives came down on this issue.

Several years ago on an outing to Havasu Canyon Arizona, I told the scouts that the tarantulas there had learned a special behavior to protect themselves from getting stepped upon. There was so much horse traffic on the trail that there was a great deal of horse poop on the ground. I told the scouts that if they looked carefully they might find tarantulas curled up to look like horse poop so they wouldn't get stepped on. After a few inspections they figured out the truth.

This has nothing to do with scouting, but I just had to post this piece from the Friday, August 29 Wall Street Journal. _____________________________________ His Mother's Son For Chesa Boudin murder is still "activism." Friday, August 29, 2003 12:01 a.m. EDT As far as we know, Chesa Boudin (Yale '03) has never met Edward O'Grady III (Annapolis '97). Let's just say that they have a connection through their folks. Mr. Boudin's mother, Kathy Boudin, has been doing time for her role in the 1981 Brinks robbery in Nanuet, N.Y., that killed Lt. O'Grady's policeman-father, along with another Nyack cop and a Brink's security guard. Normally a new college grad who was 14 months old when his mother was locked up merits some latitude. But young Mr. Boudin is not exactly shunning the limelight. A Rhodes Scholar frequently described as a "second generation activist" (as if murder and armed robbery constituted activism rather than criminality), Mr. Boudin has been profiled in People and is back in the news now that his mother has been granted parole. In these media moments, Mr. Boudin freely dispenses instruction about what's best for the families of the three fine men murdered in the Brinks job: Sgt. Edward O'Grady, Officer Waverly Brown and security officer Peter Paige. With CNN's Paula Zahn, he said he and his mother hope that her release "can move this healing process, the reconciliation process, forward because that's ultimately the best thing for everybody." That was no stray comment. "Bitterness and anger can really consume us," he told the suburban New York paper the Journal News. "Reconciliation and forgiveness can actually help all of us move on in a healthier, happier way." But he saved the best for the New York Times, where he likened his plight to that of the nine children left fatherless in the Brinks robbery-murders. "I also was a victim of that crime. I know how important it was for me to forgive." Mr. Boudin has said he remains committed to the ideals (minus the violence) that motivated his parents. But his remarks unwittingly reveal the hallmark of that ethos: narcissism dressed up as compassion. Surely he comes by it honestly. With his biological parents in prison, Mr. Boudin was raised by one of their fellow Weathercouples: Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. Mr. Ayers, you might recall, had the ill fortune of having his flip crack about his fugitive past--"I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough"--carried in the New York Times the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. For her part, Kathy Boudin explains that it was her guilt over her privileged life and her affinity for black America that led her to that robbery. How ironic, then, that Waverly Brown, one of the two slain officers, was the first African-American on the Nyack police force. And Ms. Boudin's embarrassment about being to the manor born didn't stop her from letting her wealthy lawyer-father help arrange a clever plea bargain that today enables her to realize her freedom while others remain in prison. Her son, meanwhile, urges those who are forever denied the kind of reunion that he will soon enjoy with his mother to "move on." But he's the one hitting the lecture circuit as an expert on parental separation. Meanwhile, the late Sgt. O'Grady's son serves his nation as a naval officer; Officer Brown's son is a captain in law enforcement and his two daughters served in the Air Force; and the other O'Gradys, Browns and Paiges live as productive members of society who decline to parade their causes or charitable works in public. In all worlds but the one Mr. Boudin apparently inhabits, simple decency would mean--especially in the wake of his mother's parole victory--leaving these people in peace.

To my knowledge, if you want to do more than just be a merit badge counselor, you have to be registered somewhere.