eisely

Some councils may also have special awards you can put in for.

It is my understanding that a private funeral mass was held today and he was interred today in the cemetery of the San Fernando Mission in the San Fernando Valley. Those familiar with Southern California will know that the valley is mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, but I believe the mission is in the city limits of the town of San Fernando. There is supposed to be a larger public mass next week and a following memorial event somewhere in Hollywierd.

Did you know that Bob Hope was a Silver Buffalo awardee? Got it in 1959. Great man. He will be missed. _______________ Honors for Entertainer Bob Hope Mon Jul 28, 9:59 AM ET By The Associated Press Some of the honors given to Bob Hope (news): 1941, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (news - web sites), special silver plaque "in recognition of his unselfish services to the motion picture industry" 1941, 1943, Golden Apple Male Star of the Year, Hollywood Women's Press Club. 1943, George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting, special citation "for his untiring zeal and the high level of entertainment of his camp tours in the United States and throughout the world" 1945, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a life membership "for his many services to the Academy" 1953, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, special Oscar "for his contributions to the laughter of the world, his service to the motion picture industry, and his devotion to the American premise" 1959, Silver Buffalo Award, Boy Scouts of America And on and on and on .... 1960, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Jean Hersholt (news) Humanitarian Award 1963, Cecil B. DeMille (news) Award, Hollywood

It seems to me the most expeditious way of dealing with this is to talk to your SM and get him to call the lad in for a SM conference.

The lack of some kind of due process for accused persons in these situations has always disturbed me. Scouting is not obligated to provide a process involving hearings, cross examination of witnesses, etc. and I would not want to see scouting going in that direction, but some kind of elemental fairness should be incorporated into the process. These kinds of accusations are very easy to make and the consequences are difficult, if not impossible, to completely rectify in cases of false accusations. I don't know what kinds of internal procedures BSA has. I suspect they vary from council to council, but the procedures, including procedures for accused persons, ought to be disseminated to all concerned.

Some of my post has been said before, but those points are worth repeating. The first consideration in selecting tentage is the anticipated use and the environment in which you anticipate operating. My personal preference would be for a two person, three season, dome style tent, such as the REI Half Dome which I use. One consideration in the size of the tent that was not mentioned is that large tents often limit your selection of tent sites, even in an improved campground. Even if your unit is not into serious backpacking right now, sticking with two person tents gives you more flexibility, and it is easier to place tents among trees and large rocks. Tall tents that people can stand up in are also more vulnerable to the wind. I prefer a lower profile tent, although my Half Dome is not a low profile tent. I would not consider standing room to be a valid criterion for selection. Getting a heavier tent with more and stronger poles, suitable for winter camping in tough conditions, means you will be carrying more weight than you need most of the time. As noted, dome tents tend to do better in the wind, but there is nothing wrong with A frame tents. I also have a "tunnel" style tent that, in the long run, has proven less than satisfactory. Tub construction and a good rain fly, as mentioned are also important. The most effective ground cloth is to get some relatively thick plastic and cut your own to fit the footprint of your ten. Minimizes weight and cost.

There is no limit to the imagination for Eagle projects. ___________________ Airport Security Uses Eagle Scout Project - AP to My Yahoo! By DAVE CARPENTER CHICAGO - Fifteen-year-old Josh Pfluger and his pals went into his garage and hammered out a shoe-scanning device with the goal of polishing off his Eagle Scout requirements. Looks like the project passes muster. Pfluger's good deed is in daily use at the world's busiest airport, helping passengers at O'Hare International move through security checkpoints with a minimum of fuss. "It's real cool," the Rockford, Ill., teen said Thursday as he prepared to fly to New York for a round of appearances on network television shows. "If other airports call me, I'm going to do it as a job." The shoebox-like scanners fashioned by Pfluger and fellow members of Boy Scout Troop 37 don't mean the government has turned over airport security technology to the nation's youth. Rather, the homemade devices in use at O'Hare, and similar ones elsewhere, are an optional, preliminary step to let passengers know whether their shoes will trigger alarms if they don't remove them and send them through the X-ray machines before walking through checkpoints. That, federal officials say, can speed up lines and maybe encourage people to leave footwear with metal eyelets behind on future trips. "It's obviously not a certified machine, but it does initially help in the screening process," said Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Aviation at O'Hare. "It's a unique idea ... giving the Boy Scouts an opportunity to demonstrate their merit." Talk about a really big shoe Pfluger wears a size 13, and that's his shoeprint travelers step on when they use any of the 12 shoe-checker boxes in use at O'Hare. Inside each box is a wand, or small metal detector, held up with bungee cords. The box sounds an alarm if there's a violation. So how did a high-school kid end up building security items showcased at a global transportation hub? The idea originated with his neighbor, Rick Spencer, a Transportation Security Administration official. Responding to security demands that stem from the attempted airplane attack 18 months ago by convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid, Spencer rigged up a cardboard-box version used with some success at the Madison, Wis., airport. Recalling his own Boy Scout experience, Spencer decided earlier this year that the task for a sturdier, wooden version would be an ideal Eagle Scout project, which requires a community improvement and group involvement. "My Josh was just waiting for a project to fall into his lap," said Pfluger's mother, Dawn. "And he said, `Well, it just fell'" a reference to Spencer, whose agency declined to let him be interviewed for this story. With help from his dad, Dan Pfluger, Josh and about 10 others put in a total of 120 hours to design and build more than a dozen scanners, which feature sliding boards with Plexiglas. With Josh's inspiration, each one has a flag, the TSA logo and "Place foot here" on the top. It's the best thing he's made, he says, since crafting "a contraption that turned on a light" for an eighth-grade class project. TSA spokeswoman Chris Rhatigan calls the shoe-checkers "a feel-good customer service option that some of our people took initiative on." While they may not be aware of the Boy Scouts' involvement, many passengers seem to approve of the makeshift machines. Robert Wise, a frequent traveler from Chicago, calls such devices "a great addition." "The first time I saw one, I thought it was really cool," Wise said. "The idea of being able to get through this screening without taking your shoes off can save you a whole huge procedure. People don't want to take their shoes off."

I think everybody agrees that this boy should be encouraged to stay in scouting. I also think that he should be advised that, when he submits his eagle application, he will need a letter of recommendation from his "religious leader," a concept that is undefined. We are not very active in any religion in our household, and when my middle son went for his eagle we were briefly concerned about this. However, he had been participating in a youth group run by another denomination and the leader of that group wrote a letter that was acceptable to his Eagle BOR. Of course this is Northern California, and people are pretty relaxed about things. In some parts of the country Eagle BORs may be more demanding.

As was pointed out, everybody questions the existence of god at some point in their life. This young man's questioning is normal for a person his age and is no reason for him to exclude himself from scouting. Scouting does not demand much in "duty to god." I would tell him the mere fact that he is thinking about the subject is enough for the moment.

Catch22... NJScouter cannot be a real lawyer if we non-lawyers understood his explanation. Can't be. He's a fake.

I am truly puzzled that the pack has its own EIN. My knowledge of these matters is certainly more than that of most laymen, but I do not claim to be an expert. This issue has been visited before in other threads. We all agreed that using some individual's SSN is a very bad idea. The default was the CO's EIN or the council's EIN. But the pack having its own EIN! Never seen that before.

The "nights camping" requirement can be subjected to a great deal of interpretation. Our troop provides far more than enough opportunities for boys to accumulate the minimum requirement.

There are women are members of OA, just not female youth members. Adult volunteers can be nominated by their unit committees if (1) the unit elects at least one youth candidate during the election cycle and (2) meets the nights camping requirement the same as a youth. The one requirement that does not apply to adults is the rank requirement. I have met many fine women members who came into OA via this route.

Coming back to the original incident for a moment...What was a boy doing "down range" of the rock skipping exercise? Boys are attracted to rocks just like they are attracted to matches, knives, and other fun stuff. I personally view rock skipping on a creek as a fun thing to do, but frown on other rock throwing. It ought to be easy to control the rock skipping, but gratuitous rock throwing along a trail should be prohibited. The best discipline for undesired rock throwing that I have heard of is adding two rocks to the offending boy's pack for every rock he throws.

Never having been involved in church finances, I wonder how many churches really do full blown annual audits? Is this really an outside paid auditor or some kind of volunteer auditing committee? Couldn't the auditors' needs be met by simply having them audit the units' accounts? The idea that the auditors are demanding consolidation is one of the things that makes me suspicious. There certainly is nothing wrong with auditing a unit's accounts. I would hope a unit committee would make this a regular event in the life of a unit, particularly when there is a change in leadership or treasurer. But a volunteer committee should be able to do this adequately, particularly if there is some volunteer expertise available. Coming back to the issue at hand, maybe the first step is to invite the auditors to simply audit the units' accounts. This will certainly help gain focus on the real issue and any hidden agendas that may be there.

Sounds to me like you handled the situation correctly. The priority was treatment for the injured scout. If that meant the outing ended a little early, it ended a little early. You ought to schedule a session of YP training for all the parents, particularly those who question the policy. How anybody could question the wisdom of the two deep rule in light of the scandals in the Roman Catholic Church is beyond me. Don't these people watch TV or read a newspaper?

This is not a pretty picture, whatever the truth may be. ______________________________________ Suffolk Scouts Sued for $10M Family alleges son sexually abused By Samuel Bruchey STAFF WRITER July 16, 2003 A West Babylon family filed a $10-million lawsuit yesterday against the Suffolk County Boy Scouts alleging that last summer their disabled teenage son was repeatedly sexually abused while working at a camp in Baiting Hollow by a fellow junior counselor. After learning of the abuse, the family made efforts to notify camp and county Boy Scout officials, certain they would reprimand the abuser and implement safeguards to protect other children. A year later, the family says the only decisive action taken by Boy Scout officials, who deny any abuse occurred, came in August. That's when officials fired several counselors, including the alleged abuser, after empty beer cans were found in the woods. Their son resigned before he could have been fired. "That was their way of washing their hands clean of the problem," the teen's mother said. "This is an institution that is supposed to protect and care for the boys who come under its care," said the boys's attorney, Seth Harris of Manhattan. "They turned their back on him, and pretended the abuse never happened." Ken D'Apice, president of the Suffolk County Boy Scout Council in Medford, said the alleged abuser was fired in connection with the underage drinking incident, but denied any connection between the drinking and the allegations of sexual abuse. D'Apice said the abuse allegations, detailed in a handwritten letter from the boy, were investigated thoroughly by a three-member committee, consisting of experts in juvenile law and juvenile issues. After collecting evidence and interviewing "every person who could possibly provide information," the committee concluded there was no incident of sexual abuse. Lt. Richard Boden of the Riverhead police department, which has jurisdiction over Baiting Hollow, said his department was never notified of the allegations. As troubling as the allegations were to the boy's family, they said they chose not to contact police because they had faith that Boy Scout officials would take action on their son's behalf. "We believed in scouting almost as a religion," said the teen's father, a former Boy Scout himself, who founded his son's troop through their church. "We believed all we had to do was to tell the right people." The alleged abuse took place between June 20 and Aug. 1 last year. That July, the teenager insisted on writing D'Apice directly. His letter describes the abuse, which, he said, took place inside Tuocs cabin, where he and the alleged abuser lived with several other junior counselors. Tuocs is separated from the camp's other cabins by a steep hill, the family said. "He verbally assaults people and tries to make them relieve him orally or with their hands," the letter states. "I am not the only one receiving this and I am not the only one witnessing this." In an interview with a reporter, the teenager, whom Newsday is not identifying because of the type of alleged incident, said he always rebuffed the advances. At first he "thought he [the alleged abuser] was just being a jerk" and viewed his behavior as an unwelcome prank. After the summer, however, the abuse weighed heavily on him. "I felt almost frozen because I couldn't seem to do what I used to do. Everything just stopped," he said last week at home. He graduated from high school, but just barely, his family said. Since then, the teen, who was speech-delayed as a child and still has difficulty processing what people say to him, has been diagnosed with depression, meets regularly with a psychiatrist and is taking prescribed anti-depressant medication. The incident, too, has tarnished his faith in what for years had been the family's shared passion. His father was a scout until he was 16. His younger sister once wrote letters to national scout leaders, lobbying for girls to be allowed membership. "I don't want to have anything to do with it anymore," the teenager said. His last act with the organization was in September when he became an Eagle Scout, a ceremony his mother called "beautiful but hollow." Still hopeful that officials would take action on his claims, the teenager invited D'Apice to attend the ceremony, held in the basement of their church in West Babylon. D'Apice did not attend, but sent a copy of the Eagle Scout Challenge handbook. The package came with a letter congratulating him on his achievement and reminding him "of the responsibilities which are now yours." Copyright 2003, Newsday, Inc.

I still smell a rat and the odor is getting stronger. I am less concerned about funds being used illegally than I am about funds being diverted to some non scouting purpose. However, non profits do get ripped off, including scout units. If sensible simple controls are in place this is much less likely to happen. In my observation non-profits are much more cavalier in their handling of funds than are for-profit businesses, and for that matter, most government agencies. I can easily see a situation where someone in a position of authority in the CO simply diverts the funds raised by the scout unit for its scout program to a different program the person making the decision sees as more needy. There would be nothing wrong with a CO asking a scout unit to help out, but once control of the funds is surrendured you have, by definition, no control. Proceed cautiously. In re reading an earlier post, I have never seen a federal taxpayer ID of any kind being required for making any kind of purchase. A "resale number" issued by a state taxing authority for sales tax collection purposes is a different kind of number all together.

The question about the 501c (3) number arises with regard to the checking accounts used by your units. The bank must have some kind of taxpayer ID on the account. If they are using the church's number, then that may be where the concern is coming from. Both BW and the Man of Steele are correct in that, if the CO wants to consolidate the funds, that is their prerogative. I am with FOG in that I tend to smell a rat. There is no compelling reason why any CO would want to micro manage the funds of the units chartered to it. Why would they want the headache? I have seen too many non profit organizations, includiing churches and pre schools get ripped off. You really need to press them about the financial controls in place and what guarantees they will make about the availability of unit funds for unit purposes. All you can really do is draw up a set of procedures and rules and hope for the best.

Another point about blue cards... In preparing an eagle packet our local district requires that all MB earned be listed showing the date of completion and the name of the MB counselor. If a MB was earned at camp, one lists only the name of the camp. I don't see this as an additional requirement, but just documenting more completely what was done. The point is, be sure to keep all the completed blue cards even after the MB is sewn on the sash. You may still need them down the road.

Until a few years ago, I too had believed the myth that a partial expired after six months. While I have never been confronted with a partial for any merit badges I counsel, I agree that MB counselors are wise to at least go over the previously completed requirements with a boy to see how much might have stuck.

Last spring I taught a brief session on stoves for Outdoor Leader Skills. One of the points in the discussion was the stability of different stoves under different conditions. Most stoves and cooking gear in the market are designed for small groups (four or less). If one is cooking for a larger patrol you need a stove that is stable with a large pot. We actually had a large pot filled with water so the trainees could judge for themselves how the different stoves performed.

I will be interested to hear more NJCubScouter after he has read the full opinion. I too am intrigued by the council appearing to exercise what I have referred to as "local option" on this issue. I suspect that we will be hearing more about this case.

Anybody hear about this one? The last few sentences are particularly intriguing. Story from the Hartford Courant. ____________________________ Boy Scouts Lose Case State's Delisting Of Charity Because Of Its Gay Ban Upheld July 11, 2003 By LIZ HALLORAN, Courant Staff Writer WASHINGTON -- Connecticut can keep the Boy Scouts off its list of charities that receive donations collected from state workers, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York said Thursday, because the group's ban on homosexuals violates the state's gay rights law. The decision upholds a year-old District Court ruling and was hailed by state officials and gay rights activists as an unequivocal affirmation of Connecticut's anti-discrimination policies. "We're obviously delighted with this decision," said Cynthia Watts Elder, director of the state's Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and author of a 1999 memo that first suggested suspending state-collected donations to the Boy Scouts because of their practice of barring homosexuals from employment and membership. "It's important to point out that this is not about the Boy Scouts," she said. "It's about the CHRO's anti-discrimination law." Jennifer Levi, a lawyer with the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, which joined the suit in support of the CHRO, said the decision is "about a fair playing field and allowing Connecticut to decide when it opens up the workplace for organizations to do fund-raising." National and local Boy Scout officials expressed disappointment with the ruling and said no decision has been made about whether it will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. "It is still our position and we still maintain that our exclusion from these funds is unconstitutional," said James Florez, spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America. "We haven't yet had a chance to examine the opinion so it's a little premature to say whether we will pursue this." The Boy Scouts filed their federal complaint three years ago in District Court after a committee that oversees the annual workplace charitable campaign in Connecticut state offices decided that the Boy Scouts would not be allowed to participate as they had in the past. During the campaign, workers are typically solicited for charitable causes, their pledges collected by the state through automatic payroll deduction and disbursed by an agency, usually the United Way. In late 2000, the CHRO ruled that the scouts' policy of excluding gays violated Connecticut's anti-discrimination statutes, though a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled that the scouts could not be prevented from excluding gay leaders. This week's unanimous Circuit Court decision, written for the three-judge panel by Judge Guido Calabresi, former Yale Law School dean, rejected claims by the Boy Scouts of America and its Connecticut Rivers Council that their exclusion from the charitable campaign violated their First Amendment right to free expression. "We also hold that there was no violation of Connecticut law," Calabresi wrote. "The committee's actions were a reasonable means of furthering Connecticut's legitimate interest in preventing conduct that discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation." The state currently is holding in escrow about $65,000 in state employee donations to various Boy Scout councils while the issue is decided by the courts, said Deputy State Comptroller Mark Ojakian. The private, nonprofit Connecticut Rivers Council of the Boy Scouts of America has about 37,500 participants in Hartford, Litchfield, Windham, New London and Middlesex counties, said Harry Pokorny, its executive director. He said the council, which has an annual operating budget of about $4.5 million, typically received about $10,000 annually through the state employee charitable campaign and the loss of the funding "hasn't had a major impact." "People are giving through other means," he said, adding that the organization still receives considerable funding - about 10 percent of its budget - from the United Way. Susan Dunn of the United Way of the Capital Area said the Boy Scouts continue to be eligible for United Way funding because the local scout council signed a required pledge saying it does not discriminate based on a number of things, including race, color, religious and sexual orientation. "We did question it when they signed it," Dunn said, "but they had a motion from one of their board meetings saying that they don't discriminate locally."

The military scholarships also carry with them an obligation to accept a commission upon graduation and serve an extended time on active duty. It has been years since I thought about such things, but one of our recent eagles accepted such a scholarship through the Navy. One year of school for one year of active duty. This is a very good deal unless you have serious plans that exclude military service.