Stosh

Hmmm, I know it was allowed at one time and I have not heard of it being changed, but parents can serve alcohol to their children up until they are 18 years of age. Yes, a parent can order two glasses of wine at a restaurant and serve one to their child. They can serve alcohol to their under-aged children in their own home as well. It's up to the parents to decide for their children. The kids in this state then go into the Twilight Zone. That's the time from when they turn 18 and parents cannot serve them alcohol until they turn 21 and they can legally drink "as an adult" despite the fact that they are "an adult" at age 18. In America we seem to make up stupid rules all the time and it's no wonder no one can figure out what's going on. It's not a moral issue, it's a "pick a number out of the air" rule that makes people feel all warm and fuzzy that they are protecting someone, somehow, somewhere, sometime. Sorry for waxing nostalgically, but I pine for the good old days when intelligence, common sense and personal freedom ruled the society.

Zero tolerance policies are meant for those who are incapable to thinking creatively with helping others with their failures. More than once I have been accused of not reacting to difficult situations in the "normal" way. I don't quote tolerance policies, I don't reach for the the rule book or the by-laws, I simply do what they don't expect, i.e. put them on the roster of chores the next day? (Perfect!) Don't dwell on it, they know they screwed up, they don't need to be told 100 times. They don't get "grounded" (which to most teens means nothing), etc. The consequences they suffer is usually enough "punishment" for the infraction. I have never sent a boy home from an activity. I have supported PL's who have sent boys home, however, and that happened only once. I have had PL's ask that a boy sit out an activity because he couldn't be trusted considering what he did at the last outing as well. A Scout is Trustworthy. I have had to tell a number of boys over the years that I simply don't trust them, but if they wish to correct that, they can start at any time.

It is unfortunate that they no longer use the inside front covers of the scout books to show placement and spacing of scout patches on the shirt. If you didn't know that was there, that's probably why we see patches showing up all over the place except where they are supposed to be. Maybe they dropped that practice with the Centennial shirt that moved the trained patch from under the POR patch to on the cigarette pack pocket flap.

This seems to be indicative of most of the threads on this forum as well. Maybe the admins could check into that as well.

David CO and I often bump heads here on the forum, but I thought his comment about Tampa's typo was kinda funny, not worth a ding. Sometimes a little levity goes a long way.

The only time I "held back" a scout from advancement was in the case of the Eagle Scout candidate who I have mentioned in previous posts. It would seem that council would not schedule an EBOR with the scout without a formal recommendation from the SM. THAT is an inappropriate requirement on the part of the council!! The boy had pulled a major infraction and so I didn't feel it necessary to "reward" him with a SM recommendation for Eagle. This went on for 6 months during which time the boy had the opportunity to convince me he was Eagle material....which he did and I issued the council a recommendation which read, "This scout has fulfilled all the requirements for the Eagle rank." When the council questioned it, I informed them that their SM recommendation requirement was inappropriate in regards to the requirements of the BSA rank advancement policy. They scheduled his EBOR very quickly after that. I don't mind giving a boy a second, third, fourth chance from failure, it's what I teach my troop's program. Failure is what what I get, but I never accept it, Either the boy wins or he learns. As long as he sticks to that premise, he stays in the troop and works at growing up.

Learning to sew on patches with no prior experience for any adult should take all of 5 minutes. I have found cutting off the old ones and pulling out all the frizzles take more time than sewing on the new one.

And how is this not adding to the advancement requirements of the next rank? In an ugly situation, there is no "best way" to going about handling it. Simply go to the new troop, show him the boy's BSHB and have another COH and move on. The BSHB is the only official record and if he has signatures and dates, it should be enough. Otherwise it would do, for the new SM to just do a quick review of the requirements and if satisfied, he/she can do a quick SMC, and another BOR/COH and move on. An explanation as to why the boy is transitioning to another troop at the FC level without any obvious non-scout reason should suffice with an explanation as to why the boy is leaving the previous troop.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/13/tomb-unknown-soldier-guard-weather/5449621/

For me I refer the more Christian approach to these situations, which start with forgiveness and work the situation into a learning opportunity for the people to rise up from their mistakes and become a stronger person in the process. It's all kinda fits into the character building, learn through failure process that I have found works better than zero tolerance policies. @@qwazse you are almost dead on with your comment: "Specifically, if a school must categorically dismiss a student, that removes any further ability to discipline." I think you would prefer it worded it removed any further ability to teach and learn.

Hooters is a restaurant with a bar in the same "category" of business as our American Legion.... How's nudity in theaters today any better/worse than a strip club? Neo-nazi church or Wicca gathering vs. Christian service? Any differences there? The point being, to be making sweeping generalizations to prove a point is rather,.... well should we say, "pointless?" My point is that as soon as someone starts distinguishing who gets a flag ceremony and who doesn't, one is deep into politics.

Our American Legion has a bar.... is that a problem or do the boys need to go outside and across the street to do their flag ceremonies?

In my religion, had we had zero-tolerance rules, I'd have been in Hell for some time now.

Welcome to the forum @@samsmith ! Under the heading of "Hello Everyone", feel free to let us know about you... like why your ID is samsmith and your real name is Jack. That's going to be a problem on this forum because most of us don't know Jack.

I didn't say anything. I only asked a question. The question mark at the end of the comment is the give-away clue. A police officer doesn't wear his uniform 24/7/365, nor does a firefighter. A soldier has that option as well and so do the doctors and nurses at a hospital. But when they do wish to be identified as such in a role they wish to fulfill, they wear the full uniform properly. On occasion if an off-duty police officer were to witness a robbery, he/she doesn't run home to get their uniform on before stepping in. A scout may be in a similar role, but when he is functioning as a scout, it would be nice to be able to recognize him as such and not some kid that forgot to change clothes after playing basketball. I have boys who show up for scout activities more often in their sports uniforms than their scout uniforms and when they do show up with a partial uniform it is often incorrectly buttoned and untucked over their sport uniform. It is obvious that they really don't care and that attitude gets generalized into the activities they are involved in. It is obvious they "aren't in the game." Not even for one hour.

Scouting is supposed to be a game..... The lessons learned from the game apply to their lives..... So, when is a Scout not in the game?

Simply doing a flag ceremony is a political statement..... po·lit·i·cal pəˈlidək(ə)l/ adjective adjective: political of or relating to the government or the public affairs of a country. "a period of political and economic stability" synonyms: governmental, government, constitutional, ministerial, parliamentary, diplomatic, legislative, administrative, bureaucratic; More public, civic, state "the political affairs of the nation" of or relating to the ideas or strategies of a particular party or group in politics. "a decision taken for purely political reasons" synonyms: politically active, party; More militant, factional, partisan "he's a political man" interested in or active in politics. "I'm not very political" motivated or caused by a person's beliefs or actions concerning politics. "a political crime" derogatory

Cub Scout service stars, too. IF the boy has received any heroism knots, they transfer as well. Arrow of Light patch transfers which will again morph into a knot for the adult uniform.

That's more important than counting the number of stars one has.

@@gumbymaster, is correct. If the scouts begin to get selective in who they will do a flag ceremony for and who they will not, will move them into the realm of politics in a heartbeat. Flag ceremonies are to be a-poltical, Once one crosses the bridge as to deciding who gets one and who doesn't, it's political. The end result is that in order to be fair, instead of doing flag ceremonies for ALL people, we do it for NONE. I don't think the BSA needs or wants to promote that policy.

I only go on the registration. Some parents chaperone many years before actually signing on as a registered scouter. Same kind of logic applies to the MB counselor situation. If they fill out the form and are registered they can count the time. @@qwazse, you are correct, people can count it any way they want and if someone was MB counselor a few years prior to signing on as a unit scouter, then they can count the time if they wish.

I guess I'm from a different era and definitely a different ilk than most. I don't think I have ever maxed out on anything I've done, I was taught that one can always add more water to the soup, FHB was announced when the food was put on the table (family hold back) and if Mom ate dinner standing at the kitchen counter it was no big deal. No one gets turned away and nothing is ever said of it for fear that it might get back to that person and make them feel like they are intruding. The last person that shows up gets the same warm welcome that the first one got. I was in charge of an evacuation shelter during the Hurricane Matthew storm. My first experience with the Red Cross in the area of sheltering. I had taken the online course on helping with the shelter, but nothing on being the overall manager. Two days before the storm I had 5 people. I can handle that. Then the day before the storm it jumped to 37 people. By then I was getting nervous........ at the height of the storm, the power went out, the medical people on oxygen were suddenly without, all hell broke loose and I was responsible for the safety and welfare of 150 people. That's a lot of water in the soup, but we all survived and have a great story to tell our grandchildren. As long as people are looking for a spot at the table, I will always find the room.

A merit badge counselor is a registered scouter. He gets credit for the year. Same for a UC who never visits or is assigned a unit.

My District Commissioner is also my ASM. A lot of information about what's going on beyond the boundaries of our district are offered up to the boys for them to decide. The last big event for our boys was helping out at a haunted house..... in a different council.