fgoodwin

Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966): stars Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller and Elke Sommer. A real estate agent (Hope) gets in trouble trying to hide an actress (Sommer) from the studio who wants her to film a bubble-bath scene she refuses to do. Some Boy Scouts stumble upon their cabin hideout in the woods; hilarity ensues. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060186/

Did anybody happen to see "Lucky Christmas" on Hallmark last night (Nov 12, 2011)? The character of the boy ("Max") is building a PWD car and he's shown racing his car at the Pack PWD later in the movie towards the end. The Cub Scout theme is a minor subplot in the movie but I was pleasantly surprised to see it: http://hallmarkchannel.com/luckychristmas

The National Episcopal Scouters Association is now on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/National.Episcopal.Scouters.Association Please share this with your fellow Scouters who are Episcopalian or Continuing Anglican.

I swear, you give folks a little wiggle room and they'll drive a Mac truck through it. NO, you DON'T wear an OA sash at Scout Sunday. Just because you're *IN* OA isn't sufficient justification for wearing the OA sash at non-OA events. Is Scout Sunday a "special occassion"? Yes of course it is. Does it mean an OA member is necessarily *REPRESENTING* OA in the performance of *SPECIAL* SERVICE? NO! Good grief, how much clearer can it be?

From the Time Magazine photo essay: http://tinyurl.com/yleoxhc The beginning of the photo essay: http://tinyurl.com/yhk4w96

Oak Tree, the influence of LDS on BSA is no more than that of the Methodists or Catholics. Or is it just the influence of religious bodies that you are concerned about? Since the ACLU drove us out of the public schools (at least in terms of charter sponsorship), we are left with religious and civic organizations. So naturally, the largest sponsors will have the most influence. If I misread your concern, let me apologize now and ask that you enlighten me.

I've always heard that BSA encourages units to NOT apply for separate 501©(3) status; but if you do have such status, this may affect your unit; consult your tax advisor: Nonprofits could lose their tax-exempt status http://stories.dailytimes.com/story.lasso?ewcd=fcf75400d37ec1f0 From staff reports The Daily Times Published January 24, 2010 Several hundred Kerr County nonprofit organizations could be in danger of losing their tax-exempt status this year because of a 2006 federal act that requires most to file at least every three years with the IRS. Most of the bigger organizations such as the university, Peterson Regional Medical Center and local foundations file with the IRS every year, but many smaller organizations were not previously required to file. That changed with the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which went into effect in 2007. Under the act, an organization that does not file automatically will lose its tax-exempt status after three years. Another change now requires even small organizations, which were previously exempt from filing, to file a Form 990-N online. Form 990-series returns and e-Postcards, are due by May 15 for organization that run on the calendar year. [excerpted]

I suggest you go back to the source of the rumor and ask that person for more details regarding where he or she heard this.

You don't have to be a registered volunteer to serve on an EBOR; thus requiring adults to wear a uniform seems a bit much to me.

You should also consider joining Alpha Phi Omega, the service fraternity. I think it was originally started by some Boy Scouts, and it continues to have a heavy emphasis on Scouting, but I don't believe you have to be a current or former Scout to join. Good luck and Happy New Year!

http://comics.com/the_buckets/2009-12-19/ I guess the colorists think Cub leaders still wear blue unis . . .

Although I hope to buy at least one of these coins (production limited to 350,000), I am not a coin collector, so I don't know the answer to your questions. I'm sure there are coin-collector forums around where you might get a quicker response, and if you do, please post any response here to help your fellow collectors / Scouters.

This looks much better than that awful generic stamp the USPS is issuing to honor BSA's 100th anniversary:

I know we're straying from the topic here, but I wanted to add that I am half-Japanese. I was born there to an American father. My mother was living in Fukuoka (near Nagasaki) when the Americans dropped the 2nd atom bomb. I can't speak for other Japanese, but I personally don't find the terms "Jap" or "Nip" offensive. And I don't forgive them for what they did at Pearl Harbor or to POWs in their care. Similarly, while I don't agree with herding up Japanese-Americans and placing them in "internment" camps, I can understand why President Roosevelt did it.

I haven't taught Health & Safety in a few years (is it even still offered?), but I'm pretty sure the prohibition on caravanning is mentioned in that syllabus.

@BrentAllen: of course you're right, if there's no scribe, then no one advances . . .

What ScoutNut said. In the past, Committee Meetings technically did not include DLs, but BSA changed the name to Pack Leaders Meeting and now includes the Committee, CM, ACMs, DLs, ADLs, and any interested parents. I think many packs did it this way even before the official change. In my son's old pack, we printed an annual Pack calendar with all Pack meetings, Committee Meetings, and Pack outings (we scheduled one pack outing per month in addition to our pack meetings), B&G, PWD (these did not count as pack meetings but counted as a monthly outing), etc. so everyone knew the schedule of pack events. As CC, I sent an agenda via email in advance of each committee meeting, and I stuck pretty closely to the schedule (if you think boys have short attention spans, try a room full of bored adults!). I usually asked for a report every month from our treasurer, so we'd know how much $$ we had, then a report from any activity coordinators for that month (we would assign each den to coordinate one of the monthly pack outings, other than PWD & B&G which had their own subcommittees). Finally came the CM report, which included a final review of the upcoming pack meeting, and a preliminary view of the next month's pack meeting. There are seven parts to a pack meeting, and we rotated each part to a different den each month. The CM would compile a "duty roster" to ensure each part of the pack meeting was covered by one of the dens. We'd review those assignments and progress or problems the dens might be having in preparing for their role in the pack meeting. We also discussed any issues the dens had that needed committee attention. We'd wrap it up with snacks and I'd send out a summary of minutes, not so much who said what, but more importantly, who agreed to do what, by when, how much $$ was needed, that sort of thing, with a list of unfinished business or issues deferred to future committee meetings. Good luck!

Tracking advancement requirements is the responsibility of the Troop Scribe (you can look it up). If an ASM, Advancement Chair or any other adult is doing this, then you're doing a job that the boys should be doing. If you've been trained, you know that's a "no-no".

John, which of the Twelve Points of the Scout Law covers showing up or stumping your instructor? I also earned the Lion Badge, but it is an obsolete rank now; we both know what response your instructor was looking for and to answer otherwise is snarky and not being "helpful", "courteous" or "kind".

Girl Scouts Commemorative Coin Passes House http://www.coinnews.net/2009/10/15/girl-scouts-commemorative-coin-passes-house/ By CoinNews.net on Oct 15th, 2009 Legislation passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday that would authorize the United States Mint to strike up to 350,000 commemorative silver dollars in 2013 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts of the USA. The Girl Scouts USA Centennial Commemorative Coin Act, or H.R. 621, was introduced on Jan. 21 by Rep. Jack Kingston. It represents a second attempt at passage as the first version failed to make its way through last years 110th Congress. The Girl Scouts USA Centennial Commemorative Coin Act includes a provision for a $10 surcharge per coin paid to the Girl Scouts of the United States of America and made available for Girl Scout program development and delivery. H.R. 621 is currently before the Senate. Members there have the option to move on it or their own version (S. 451), which was introduced on Feb. 25 by Sen. Susan Collins. For coinage legislation to become law, it must pass in the House, the Senate and get signed by the President. [excerpted]

I've never understood the concept of "Eagle material", or the idea that SMs have to somehow "uphold the standards" of the Eagle rank. By definition, a boy is "Eagle material" if he satisfies the requirements for the Eagle rank. And SMs "uphold the standards" by running the program as BSA has written it -- no more and no less. I understand there can sometimes be personal issues with a boy, but where is it written that such a boy may not be awarded the Eagle rank if he otherwise meets the requirements?

There's a difference between walls to keep people in (Berlin Wall) and walls to keep people out.

Wouldn't it be great if all Scouts wore their uniforms to school on Patriot Day? The rest of us can wear our Scout polo shirts, flag lapel pins, and for those who have one, fly our flags at home.

Our "neighborhood" school is little far for kids to walk to these days (although I google-mapped my grade school and I walked about four-miles each way back in the early 60s). So instead of parents walking their kids to school, they walk them to the bus stop and wait with them for the bus. Yes, those are helicopter blades you are hearing . . .

I'm not Lutheran, I'm Episcopalian (another denomination going through similar issues), but I like BSA membership policies just the way they are. If an ELCA (or ECUSA) church doesn't want to charter a Boy Scout Troop, they don't have to. But they shouldn't impose their views on BSA (I'm not saying they are).