fotoscout

Bob, I find your answer interesting in its exclusivist nature. They would be selected based on their positive attitudes regarding the program, an understanding of the purpose and function of the uniform, and their ability to represent their peers. Youve identified those people who in all likelihood wear the uniform proudly. Those with positive attitudes regarding the program, an understanding of the uniform, AND those that can represent their peers. These three criteria put together certainly dont reflect the vast majority of boys who will not wear the uniform, and possibly not even the vast majority of boys in the program. If you're going to do this type of uniform survey, you certainly dont want to solicit the choir about their thoughts on singing in the choir. The review would have to be done across a much larger base.

Packmaster is a very good program! To use it to its full potential, you should get all of your leaders onboard with it. Data entry is the key to making any of these programs work for you. So make sure that someone takes the lead and diligently does the data entry. The additional benefit of Packmaster is that your Council can give you a download from Scoutnet with much of the data for your Pack. At least this way youre not starting from scratch. It took my Council a sew attempts are getting the format right, but it was worth the extra work.

I would think that the kids are a very good place to start, and that a lot of weight should be put on their ideas. However, you still have to look at the programmatic purpose of the uniform, and balance that against what the kids might want. Face it, you could change the uniform a hundred times, but if the kids dont like it, they wont wear it. As an adult, I could care less what it looks like, (provided its not embarrassing to wear). The point is to get the kids to wear the uniform, we wear it to support the kids. I dont know anything about those other Scout Organizations, but it would be a shame to change our uniforms to something that the general public would no longer recognize, which might be just one reason to include non-Scouters in the review process.

If Spring Camp is any indication, our promo's are doing better this year than last. Attendence at Spring Camp was double last years attendence, and I know that from my Pack, Day Camp & Resident Camp attendance will be close to double last years.

We had Spring Camp three weeks ago. Five of my boys were signed up and I offered to drive since I work in that general direction and camp is about 25 miles from our town. My son came up with a 24 hour stomach virus the night before camp was to start. We were not about to let go to camp while he was still sick, so Monday morning I collected the other boys and headed to camp. Tuesday night, I come home and there's a message on my answering machine from one the dads. He went on at great length telling me how impressed his son was that I still drove even thought my son couldn't go to camp on Monday. Ok very nice, I bet you think that this is the end of the story, but it's not. Today at the lttle league fields, three weeks later, I meet the 17 year old sister of the boy who was so impressed. She begins the story all over again with how nice it was for me to drive, etc..etc...etc. So, when you do the little things that just come naturally and you think that no one is watching, guess again, they watch everything we do.

Thanks guys!

So I went to the Scout Shop at lunchtime to buy the book. The manager of the shop thought I had two heads on my shoulder. He knew nothing about the available literature. This guy has also been a Commissioner since the turn of the century, actually a few years before that. So who has it, and where can it be found? Bob, where are you?

My first thought was, wow what a full schedule! My second thought confirmed my first thought. I would suggest doing sometime in the public safety sector like Police, Fire or Ambulance Department activity. Maybe your local police department does a Police Week activity. With a pack schedule that is so full, I have to wonder about the participation levels at your den meetings. We live not far from each other and Im sure our kids are all involved with the same amount of other activities. We are a pack of 65 or so, I would expect many of these events to be very poorly attended, to the point of canceling some of them before they even got off the ground. And Marty, did you ever get the generic Cub Scout Cap?

Check out this web site, a real movie about the Pinewood Derby. http://www.downandderby.com/

What a conflicted life she must have!

Ready, Set, Go! Now, a Great Big Group Hug!!! Are we still entitled to membership in BSA after a group hug?

Ive been watching this thread for a few days now, thinking that someone will try to set the perspective straight. No one has so Ill try. If you were a newbie reading this thread, you would be drawn to the conclusion that someone from Council or District, (wearing a dark suit and cape, and using a very draconian voice) is visiting Units in the middle of night telling them .....You must sacrifice a leader to higher callings! Where did the concept of Taking leaders away from Units or ... units claim that they don't have any leaders to spare, come from? Units dont provide or give up leaders to District or Council positions. No one goes around looking for units with large numbers of leaders, asking them to donate someone to a Council or District position. Thats preposterous! These people come out the ranks of leaders who are willing to do more than their fair share to support scouting. Unfortunately many or probably most of them are active in a unit or two. Rather than asking Where do they come from?, maybe the question should be , Where are they found? To that I would answer, Roundtable, District/Council events, and training. Leaders that never leave the womb (the unit) never get the big picture and most likely could care less. Leaders that are out and about, attending various activities with their kids, are simply more interested and committed to Scouting. Weve heard a lot about the BSA How to Recruit Leaders literature lately. Although Id argue against the real world application of those concepts in recruiting new unit leadership, the concepts put forward in that literature are a case study for recruiting District and Council Leaders.

Hello DRBUTTS and welcome. If you are fortunate enough to have an active committee and Charter Organization the structure is in place for you to deal with this. Take the problem to the committee chair and COR, then move forward. You should have a Unit Commissioner who can also help with this type of situation. As an outsider the UC can sometimes be a good mediator. If you still feel that youd like a professional involved, then by all means contact your DE. Even if your committee and CO are not active, you still have that mechanism to fall back on, the positions of CC and COR do exist on your charter, find out who they are and use them. With the support of the your committee and CO, you can ask her to take her son to another pack. I have to wonder why she would want to stay if she felt so loathed in this den. The other thing you can do is to ask her if she wants to be your awards person. She can get a full dose of what it takes to make all of the awards happen and at the same time she can eat a little crow.

Mentoring Tiger Leaders (or new Leaders) for Unit Personnel Mentoring Tiger Leaders (or new Leaders) for District and Council Personnel

Some time ago the local heath department caused us to eliminate the outhouses and install flush toilets throughout camp. The end result was some new facilities and some modified outhouses. The modified outhouses are actually not too bad, the new bathroom facilities turned out to be a disaster. It appears that council got a local contractor/and part time architect to do the design. The primary design consideration was to prevent vandalism, so we have facilities that seal up very nicely..but they have no air circulation. You have to remember that these facilities are cleaned and washed down at least once a day during the summer, and they are in constant use by a bunch of kids who..well you all know the rest the story. Anyway, the result is that the facilities are always damp and dirty. They smell terribly (worst than any outhouse), and at any one time fully 1/3 of the toilets are out of service because of kid stuff. The constant dampness has caused all sorts of problems with the electric and the finish material used on the interior spaces. Bugs, mold, mildew, etc. are all out of control. Ive been in many outdoor facilities that were designed from the ground up to be campground bathroom facilities. Unfortunately these never had a real design process. SO THE MESSAGE IS, for any of you who are looking to rebuild your camp bathrooms, make sure you get someone familiar with this type of design to review it before you spend megabucks building it.

Acco40, Your issue about money and this BSA policy is well founded. In another thread I referred to a Newsweek article that discussed just this point. Basically the article referred to the financial (and program) ramifications of the relationship that BSA had entered into with LDS and other blocks of COs, and, the policy limitations (and decisions) that have come about as a result of those relationships. In the end, the reader is left with the thought that BSA unwittingly got stuck between a rock and hard place. BW, dismissed the article as just one mans opinion. Of course the rest of us realize that any article in a publication like Newsweek, let alone a cover story, goes through far more scrutiny that just one man. The article makes very good reading, and I recommend it to all of you! I looked for the article online, but unfortunately I cant find it to reproduce here. It was printed in late 2002 or early 2003.

Ed, Since they are too busy yelling at each other, I'll say it... Happy Easter to you too. Foto

Au contraire!! (Sorry my French is a little rusty), One, it is easier to make something work than to make something fail. Two, quality is free, or did you forget that one. If you paid anything, you paid too much. And Padre, please keep in mind that Bob is the only one here who "get's it".

Depends on the failure. You can carry a set of various clasps (thats the slide part)in case the clasp breaks. Most often the teeth break or falloff. This is more difficult problem. Safety pins work well but of course you can have bug or rain problems. duck tape will supplement the safey pins. The best thing to do is remember the saying....an ounce of prevention.... clean dirty zippers, lube them frequently, inspect them periodicly!!!(This message has been edited by fotoscout)

Interesting question, one that highlights the diversity of programs offered in scouting. We have a High Adventure (HA) Committee whose primary function is to train leaders for HA outings with their boys. The why of what they do, goes something like this; as time went on fewer and fewer troops were doing nothing more than car camping. Not that thats bad, but the older boys tired of it after a few years. So whats a troop to do? The answer is something else. So the HA Committee formed and started to run classes in Backpacking, Advanced Backpacking, Canoeing, Kayaking, Winter Backpacking, and maybe some other things that Ive forgotten. The concept is familiar, Train the Trainer, meaning the leaders. Some of their courses take about 12 months to complete. But in all of this they, do not really define what High Adventure is. The thought process behind the whole HA program is to develop outings that the younger boys can look forward to, and that will excite the older boys. So if youre looking for a clear definition, I dont think that youll find one. Its more of a concept than a specific activity.

Nice idea! Just finding the caches is pretty simple, I think I would add some additional GPS "learning" excercises to this kind of event.

The man is entiltled to his belief. The respectful response is, "Thank you for your consideration, I'm sorry you feel that way." End of discussion. Some of you guys need to move onto less polarized tuff. Foto

I've been involved with so much TQM and TQL stuff that has done nothing except get in the way of generating a good product. FOG, I can commiserate with you about this one! Like you, Ive had my share of that stuff with the same results. Some guy gets up there with a lot of useless B school buzz words. He gets paid; you get the opportunity to waste your time. Maybe if youre lucky you get to see a new city! WB is not like that. Its real people, your peers in Scouting, making all that stuff work for you in the context of Scouting. Dont be too quick to discount it. It really is a very well put together program, highly tailored for the audience. You may even find that you have something to offer. (This message has been edited by fotoscout)

too much focus on religion is hurting the scouting program. Perhaps this needs a little refinement. Too much focus on religion, inside the framework of scouting, is hurting the scouting program.

Bob, let me go in order: - My first couple of comments simply reflects the passion of your posting. You gotta lighten up a little! - The publication is Newsweek. - I do not believe that BSA refers to itself in any literature as a religious organization. That is a label that the courts have given BSA. On this Ill stand corrected if you can show me a citation from BSA publications. - As for Games that are taken too seriously.I think everyone here in this forum would agree that we all need to keep tabs on the perspective from which we approach our Scouting functions each week. Sometimes its important to step back and take a deep breath. Most of us who have experienced life, know this to be true, no evidence is required. - Sorry Bob, I dont get your last paragraph. Duty to God is a far cry from religious education. We are not anyones religion school. By the way, I suggest that you go back and reread my comments about the Scouters Own. (This message has been edited by fotoscout)