FScouter

"Early in my Forum career, I defended the right of any old curmudgeon to post and allow members to evaluate and determine its benefit or lack thereof Then the personal nature of the attacks became clear to me In a private forum such as this, no one has any "rights" at all, except those bestowed by the owner of the forum. Over the years, Mr. Howerton has been extraordinarily generous in allowing nearly every manner of content to appear here. I would hope no one would object to his miniscule restrictions. Personally, I find it refreshing to see him exercise his rights. I find such restriction a positive step in furthering the objectives of the forum.

The position of "pack trainer" was set up so that a designated person with the appropriate credentials could train the newbies. The district training chairman certifies pack trainers. I'm surprised that the council would not permit this, considering it is part of the national program. The Cub Scout Leader book includes a discussion about the pack trainer.

Gee, I thought I was the only one with that problem. I waited for the next printing, expecting that the printer would get it right, but no. The record book is a great idea, but the sloppy bindery job makes it unworkable. I use Troopmaster now, and print individual pages to carry around.

Restricted activities are discussed in the Guide to Safe Scouting. Every tour leader signs on the dotted line that he has a copy and has read it.

"Why would you unless you wanted to cause problems or yank peoples chains." This topic is the perfect example of why active forum moderators are needed. Viewed 220+ times and counting, yet there is absolutely no socially redeeming value at all. It's this kind of junk thread that makes it so tedious to navigate the forum. I'd like to suggest to the forum management that junk threads such as this be deleted in their entirety. They waste forum resources and waste reader's time. I don't like having my chain yanked.

All adult leaders count. In fact, the 2nd adult need not even be a registered leader.

Our council gave each participant in the Philmont trek contingent 2 "limited edition" council shoulder patches. They have a cool image on them of the Tooth of Time. They were said to be worth $90-$100 each as collector's items. The price of our trek was $950 per person. One of the comebacks to complaints about the high cost was that you could sell your patches and recoup some of the cost. I've checked on the eBay a few times. I could sell my patches for about $5, maybe. Just because a patch is "limited" doesn't mean anybody will pay a premium for it.

"... den leaders want to do committee work as well as den leadership. I am very much against that." BSA is against that too. One may not register as both a den leader and a committee member.

Junior Assistant Scoutmaster is a boy position. A 19 year old man cannot hold that position any more than he could be a patrol leader. As an adult he can hold any adult position, assuming his application for adult membership has been approved by the chartered organization and the council. As dancinfox says, overnight activities require at least one 21+ year old registered leader.

Hydrogen is not free. Fuel cell cars would burn no gasoline, but the oil saved would be needed to produce the energy needed to make the hydrogen. It takes more energy to produce hydrogen that is produced when it burns.

NW, I dont think I am dead wrong. In the simplest of terms, money spent here helps our economy a whole lot more than spending it overseas. If U.S. airlines bought all their aircraft from Airbus, would that help our economy more than if they bought from Boeing? The money we spend for oil builds palaces for Arab sheiks. If they buy a few U.S. goods in return, our economy benefits to a degree. But if we bought our oil internally, our economy would benefit much more.

I'm having problem with my committee and den leaders. I have no problem getting my parents to come to pack meetings/activites but no one wants to come on the committee to help out. My CC and myself I don't believe in lying to my parents Listen to yourself. MY committee. MY den leaders. MY parents. MY committee chair. Maybe these people view you as a one-man-band. They need to feel like they are part of the team instead of somebodys underling. Do you want them to help you, or help the pack? Just a thought. No offense intended.

In the simplest of terms, money spent outside our country does not help our economy. Money spent within our country does help our economy. The U.S. will never be energy independent as long as it is easier and cheaper to obtain energy from foreign sources than it is to obtain from within. Viable, cost effective new technologies will develop when world oil dries up. Until then, there is insufficient incentive to develop alternatives.

Gasoline or electric? It seems to me theres no free lunch. It takes energy to move a vehicle from point A to point B. How much oil must be burned to produce the electricity needed to charge a battery? Is it less oil than that needed to produce the gasoline used by a traditional car? Or more? The Honda hybrid uses an interesting concept that conserves energy by charging the battery through the deceleration of the car. The kinetic energy of the vehicles mass is converted into a charged battery, as opposed to converting brake pads into dust and heat.

The thing about volunteers is that they dont always volunteer. They must be asked. Parents dont volunteer because they dont always know exactly what it is they are volunteering for. Eamonn has excellent ideas. Prepare a clear written description of exactly what it is you want from your parent. It will help you better understand too what it is you want. Then, dont ask for a volunteer to step forward. Step forward and ask the person you want. Theyll be flattered that you want them specifically, for an important job, and not just anybody that happens to raise his hand.

... the employees there need to carry a gun to defend themselves from rattlesnakes. Id say rather they need a gun to kill rattlesnakes for personal satisfaction. They dont need a gun for defense. Rattlesnakes are not aggressive, and dont seek out people to attack. The best defense against snakebite is to watch where you step.

I don't see how any way one could justify these military insignias as being "patrol patches" particularly since the idea is to have several different patches for any one patrol based on length of service. Perhaps more objectionable is the idea that one or two boys in the troop are lobbying the other boys to adopt the practice. In my mind, troop practices should be adopted by the troop, through a decision of the Patrol Leaders' Council. The SM could suggest that the SPL put the topic on the PLC meeting agenda. I'd expect the proponents to provide some sort of argument supported by something in the Handbook or Insignia Guide. The SM should also advise them that they cannot make decisions or adopt practices that are contrary to the rules and policies of BSA. Let the boys hash out amongst themselves whether the practice is within the scope and purpose of patrol patches, and supported by BSA. If they were to decide "wrong", at least they arrived at the conclusion through a correct process. The opinion of the committee chair should carry no weight at all. An alternative to putting these patches on the Scout uniform might be to put them on a troop t-shirt, or on a brag rag, backpack, or maybe the patrol flag.

I'd consider the rank to be the schievement earned upon completion of the requirements. The award would be the badge or medal.

Has there been any discussion amongst the camp leadership about removing the dogs and eliminating the danger?

"Covered it up with removing the newspapers." Interesting thought. My first thought was that if such an event was occurring, I'd want to read what the press had to say about it and buy a newspaper. Unless I'm a complete kook, surely others would think similarly and buy papers too. If the newspaper rack was "sold out" why would anyone think that the OA organization conspired to steal the papers? Is there any evidence of this? Someone noticed that a rack was empty and concluded that the OA conspired to cover up the incident? Is there a conspiricy? Is someone wearing a tin-foil hat?

"I would've been honest and closed the case right there." What did the OA do that was not honest? What would you have the OA do to close the case?

I never asked the question. But I think its already been answered in the Insignia Guide. Uniforms and uniform pieces are controlled by BSA and it would not be appropriate to encourage individuals to put any and all patches on uniform pieces. The red wool jac-shirt issued by BSA is considered a uniform piece. The Insignia Guide states how patches should be placed on the official jac-shirt. If the "red felt jacket" LPC_Thumper is referring to is the official BSA jac-shirt, the answer has already been given. Put the patches on some other piece of clothing, like a sweatshirt or some other jacket.

"... Order of the Arrow has to LIE to its members ..." That's a mighty big charge mister. Particulaly since you have not stated what "lie" was made. What is it you think the OA has done wrong here? If you were king, what exactly would you do differently?

Communication within the Pack is important. The presence of a website, or lack thereof really doesn't indicate anything about communication. Its entirely possible that the best communicating packs have no website.

"It falls on us as adults to train and support each Scout to help him get the job done." Life would be easy if boy leaders were enthusiastic, capable, effective leaders right out of the box. Since they are not, we Scoutmasters are obligated to do our primary function: train boy leaders. A boy that coasts through a 6-month stint in a leadership position and does nothing did not do his job. Neither did we.