FScouter

The petition being "a call for Bob White and Fat Old Guy to stop bringing a negative tone to this forum", I whole-heartedly sign-on. Thicken your skin a bit and avoid the urge to get defensive. Bob, he's pushing your buttons. Why fall into his traps by reacting? Bickering is sooo childish, and accomplishes what? Nothing. Realize that there are lots of different kinds of people in this world, and one cannot make the people one dislikes go away.

Tit begets tat.

The G2SS discusses many activities and practices that are not permitted. One may wonder about other activities and practices that are not discussed in the Guide. It would be incorrect to conclude that activities and practices NOT discussed are forbidden, simply because they are not mentioned. The Guide also discusses many activities and practices that are mandatory. One may wonder about other activities and practices that are not discussed in the Guide. It would be incorrect to conclude that activities and practices NOT discussed are mandadory. Don't make the G2SS more than it is. You must do what the Guide says you must do. You must not do what the Guide says you must not do. With anything else, use the common sense that God gave you.

Something to think about ...

My son collects patches too. He prizes the ones with the most cool pictures, regardless of where they come from. It's fun for him and he doesn't care anything about any kind of collection method.

Awhile back our DE met with a local corporation that wanted to make a sizable donation to Scouts. They wanted the money to be used to grow the Scouting program. And they wanted to be able to see tangible results from their donation. This meant of course that the money could not simply be dumped into the council pot. The DE worked out a scheme to set up 15 new Venturing crews. One volunteer is the advisor for all the crews. The boys signed up are inmates at the state juvenile prison located in our district. These are paper crews in every sense. Part of the money pays to register the boys, and the rest gets dumped into the council pot. The program for the boys consists of going into the prison 3-4 times a year and doing some kind of 30 minute hands-on demonstration for a dozen boys, usually something like how a compass works. It's great to get corporate donations, but they've been hoodwinked into thinking we have grown the Scouting program in the community.

Sounds like a great idea. I'd suggest that only the Scouts in uniform be eligible. The boys missing pants or other uniform parts aren't eligble. How would it look if the one boy wearing a complete uniform loses out to another wearing blue jeans?

The individual awards (a patch) are for 100, 250, 500, and 1,000 nights cumulative. The troop awards (a streamer) are for 10, 20, 30, or 50 nights in one year, or 100, 250, 500, or 1,000 nights cumulative. The requirements are printed on the camping log.

As Roger indicated, the Camping Log is #33690A. It is available at the Scout Shop or through the catalog (call the 800 telephone number). The award descriptions and application is included.

The official uniform headgear worn with the standard field uniform is either the official cap, or the campaign hat. The expedition hat, like the boonie hat, is an activity uniform piece. One could wear the expedition hat instead of the cap or campaign hat with the field uniform, but would not be considered to be in "full uniform". There is no rule about not saluting while wearing the expedition hat.

If my father were here, he'd knock a couple of virtual heads together.

See Mike Krysowatys Totin Chip web site for the definitive history including lots of pictures. http://totinchip.home.comcast.net/

School Committee member James DiMillo has got my vote. He says "My problem with the whole thing is, why change it when we only have one complaint?". School districts have enough work to do without trying to please everybody in town that has an ax to grind. Press forward with the important school issues.

I would guess that perhaps some people could get more excited about bundling up boxes of goodies for the Red Cross than in writing a check. Money is probably preferred, but a box of goodies is better than getting nothing. I've always wondered why some people cut the address label out of their magazine before donating it to the hospital. What's the thought there? Are they afraid of identity theft, or what?

The leader may feel like being on the outside looking in. Give that person a project to work on, or some area in which to be in charge.

Our district has 3400 members, 185 units. I only know that because I cornered the FD and asked. That seems big, but with nothing to compare to, who knows? There are 6 districts in the council. Membership numbers are not published, and those who should know either don't, or don't want to tell. I don't understand the reluctance to discuss the stats.

"At least three people" is another way of saying no one-on-one contact, which is never permitted in Scouting.

I'm not an expert, but maybe two-deep is not required for den meetings because a child molester doesn't operate in a group setting such as a den meeting.

Anytime a leader knows and understands the methods of Scouting, but chooses to ignore some part of those methods constitutes misuse of the program. For example, Uniform is one of the 8 methods. Choosing to not follow that method, and rationalizing that decision is misuse of the program. "The boy only has $12.50", or "the other boys wear black pants" are rationalizations for the choice to ignore Uniform as one of the eight methods of Scouting.

He can earn the money to buy the things he needs. It helps him develop a sense of responsibility.

Next thing you know they'll be wearing green pants from the Old Navy store, or black pants so they can all be "uniform".

I would hope that if a kid needs to buy pants for Scouting, he would buy the uniform pants before he buys black pants. It's better to match the Scout uniform than to match some other kid that only has black pants.

At our last court of honor the new kid proudly wore his merit badge sash. It had no merit badges at all, but he wanted to wear it. He looked good too, wearing pants and socks and everything.

Den meetings do not require two-deep leadership. Certainly it's good to have a second adult to help out, but it is not required.

How does December ever have 35-40 days?