Stosh

LOL! that's perfect!

Yep, I went back to the pictures and the trailer seems to be a camper. 34' camper will not have the weight of a fairly loaded cargo trailer and will work like a sail in a cross-wind. Why does a scouter need a huge camper on a scout activity?

I'll make note of that if you leave it a rest.

This trailer is 6' shorter than the one in the accident. Depending on the model of Excursion it can haul 7,200# or 11,000# But then one must take into consideration the weight and cargo in the tow vehicle. Loaded it would be a beast to haul. Empty on a windy day would be worse. One cannot tell if the tow vehicle was equipped with an load leveler hitch with anti-sway feature, but an occasional tow vehicle would probably not have that as standard equipment.

A winner??!! Did I win a prize? What? The check is in the mail? Great, I'll watch for it every day! I never win anything.... Gotta go, gonna buy lottery tickets right away!

Historically keelboats on shallow narrow rivers and barges on canals, were either lined or poled. Large canoes were often poled in rapid difficult waters as well. 20' poles with a metal spike on the end is the tool used by the canoeist. The canoeist stood in one place depending on whether they were going up or down stream. The keelboat and barges were pushed under the feet of the polers who walked the side decks of the craft.

The closest distance between two points is a straight line... Yeah, right, not on this forum.

A A small contingency fund for emergencies is not the same as literally thousands of dollars in a CD account. The rainy day these people are holding out for would be a major hurricane or massive multiple tornadoes. The point being, there are many Cub Scout units out there with huge balances in the bank. I know this because the Cub Pack I worked with in the early 1990's had over $5,000 in their "savings" account. The troop I was ASM for for 13 years averaged between $8,000 - $10,000 in their CD account. This is why people have insurance.

I did the same thing. I wonder how many other "old wive's tale" myths are out there like that that we just keep passing along to the next generation to uselessly worry about.

It kinda puts the whole idea of Be Prepared into perspective. What better way to exemplify "On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country...and to help other people at all times."

I would think that if a person wished to continue the thread beyond the original OP's solved comment, they could start a new one. This may help with some of the tangents we tend to get off on.

The money raised is of no value in the bank.

If some folks thing its great to climb to great heights and they are not under my responsibility, they can fall off cliffs and out of trees all they want. Not on my watch. #1 rule: Safety First. I was berated for 3 days on a scouting cross country trip by the SM for not caravanning according to his standards while he drove 10 over the speed limit pulling a double axle cargo trailer loaded with scout equipment with a Dodge Ramcharger and four scouts. 1) I don't speed. 2) BSA policy prohibits caracanning. 3) I don't want to witness an accident. It was within 2 months I found another troop. The best medicine is prevention. While we call them "accidents" they really aren't. And by the way, there are limits to First Aid. No amount of training is going to make up for no pulse.

Marking it solved means the horse is dead, leave it alone.

@Col. Flagg I put the PL as the highest ranking OFFICER in the troop. It is ultimately up to him to insure the safety, development, welfare and success of the members (his patrol). It is everyone else's job to support him in his success. As far as officers are concerned, starting with the PL, his right-hand man is is APL, a position BSA really doesn't recognize as important enough to earn a spot as a position of responsibility. Yet his responsibility is to insure the success of his PL! He doesn't just hang around waiting for the PL to be absent, he is to know just as much as the PL's function and more so to insure the PL is successful with what he does with the patrol. That's a really important job in the success of the patrol method. The left-hand man to the PL is is liason with the adults, the SPL. The SPL is the go to man for any support needed beyond the scope of the patrol. The SPL coordinates between the various PL's. In my book (I earned the title BSA Heretic legitimately) the SPL doesn't run the troop, he supports the work of the PL as the SENIOR PL who needs to be focused on the workings of the Patrol Method in the troop. When my troop gets up to 3-4 patrols, the PL's select one person to be the person who coordinates among the patrols in insure they are all successful. It was interesting, as I have pointed out in the past, when it came time to select the SPL, the PL's picked the best-of-the-best among the APL's to fill that position. The best person supporting the PL was given the job of supporting all the PL's. It only seemed natural. Thus the SPL was selected by only the PL's who would be the ones that would benefit directly from the work of the SPL. The SPL did not interfere in the workings of any of the patrols and worked only with the PL's and APL's. Whether or not this is a good thing, it was the design created by those boys at that time and it worked really well. There was no confusion between the "leadership" of the SPL interfering in the operation of the PL's "leadership" in their respective patrols. After I left that troop they went back to adult led so I have no data on the longevity of such a setup. My troop is small right now and is run by the PL who doubles as SPL activities when needed. When there were two patrols, they took turns. It was only when they got up to 3 patrols did the discussion arise for the need for someone to function as an SPL.

What we often forget is the Scout is the reason why we have the organization in the first place, why then are they at the bottom of the hierarchy? When I run the patrol method in my troop the most important person in the group is the Scout. He's the one that has paid for the program and expects to receive something in return for his money. If that be the case: The scout is #1 on the chart. His PL supports his success and growth in the program. The SPL is below the PL supporting them in their efforts to make sure their patrols are successful and healthy. Then comes the leadership corps who support the SPL in the various tasks he is responsible for. After all the boys are placed on the chart, the SM and ASM's support them in their success as a troop. The committee UNDER the CC makes sure the SM and his staff are properly supported and equipped to support the boys. Without the SUPPORT of adults the program would struggle but could function in a pinch. But without the boys, there is no program. The boys are not their for our edification, they do not "work" for us under our tutelage. They are the reason why we are doing what we are doing and their success is dependent on how well we support their efforts. The adults don't run the show, the boys run their own show. We as adults are there to HELP make that happen. I do not like the hierarchy charts put out by the BSA they give the wrong impression of what the Patrol Method is all about and it only encourages abuse by adults.

I know it's in the wrong thread, but maybe every unit should have a Safe Place Patrol for all those boys offended by the world around them. And yes, I don't like the historical term ScoutMaster very much either. Other than tradition, I don't know what one would put in it's place however. I like the Venturing Advisor title.

When I was in the ministry it was an unwritten rule that when a pastor retires, he does NOT stay with the congregation, he moves his membership elsewhere. There are too many people who will still look to him for pastoral services which is a great dis-service to the new pastor. I served in congregations that did not follow that policy and it created quite a bit of friction for everyone. The classic example is where a pastor founded a new congregation and served his entire ministry there and retired as the chaplain of the local hospital. He lived to be 104 years old and 40 years after he retired it I was called to serve there and it was like the guy left the day before I arrived. Not good. The pastor who followed right after him said he stayed 3 years and then spent the next 25 years at the state mental hospital. He didn't very often mention it was as a chaplain. It distracted the story. It does no one any good to continue to hang around. In my second troop, I took over as SM and the former SM stayed on as the CC to "help out". He did understand the problems with such a setup and did not attend meetings or outings and refused to interact with the boys in the troop other than as CC. It worked out well and we are still good friends to this day.

He's not a moderator anymore.

Up votes indicate the forum is producing a healthy forum for those posting valuable information to others. Down votes let everyone know that the forum isn't useful to the readers. I find the voting is a direct indicator of the value of the forum, not just the person making the comment. I would hate to think the ability to express free speech manipulated on a forum like this be affected in such a way.

My comments were sarcasm, thanks for leaving it lie.

I, too, vote no media. Major litigation can occur with liable issues and if one thinks that embezzlement is bad, until the crime has been tried in court, that person is innocent. Going public opens a whole new can of worms.

We sold one time use stove-top fire extinguishers. If something caught fire on the stove, grab the can and spray. Worked really good for grease fires. I have no idea whether any of them sold or not but the idea was good.

When I was Venturing Advisor for a reenactment group of Venturing Scouts they were broken down into 2 basic groups... Damnyankies (yes, all one word) and Seccesh Traitors depending on what uniform they happen to be wearing at the time.

Inquiring minds want to know! Don't leave out any of the tasty tidbits of gossip and like all gladiatorial WWE events, if there's blood we want to see it.