le Voyageur

It continues to be a fail....

I’ve elected to keep it simple by not wearing any,.....staying incognito and blingless keeps one from getting volunteered....

Without going into details for this question, what are possible solutions to prevent provisional patrols from morphing into “Lord of the Flies” gangs?

Yes.... www.seychelle.com For base camps.... make my own using Berkey black filters and stainless steel stock pots

Camp Geronimo (Her run amo)has been sold, along with 10 acres of land from their Heard Scout Pueblo.. Staffed there in 64 (jr staff). and went through my Ordeal at Heard. Always wanted to return, it was an amazing camp located in Arizona’s Mongollon high country near Payson. As Geronimo was a merit badge camp, my focus on directing high adventure programs kept me away. Maybe next year, provided they do a lease, might see if a Unit is short on the two deep leadership side of the coin...

As a high adventure director I’ve no problems with cell phones. In our environment where there is no cell service the only function left is that of a camera. However, we warn them that we don’t replace cell phones should they flip a boat. It’s up to them to keep their phones dry...

Have my own system. Will only make cowboy coffee using a quart size, light weight stainless steel pot. So, no instant, percolators, or French Presses.....simple is best... However, can understand the reason for this . Seen too many Scouters toting 5 gallon mugs who thank nothing about draining the pot to the last drop...

Suggest for showering using garden sprayers. They are fairly common and come in two sizes, 1 gal., and 2 gal. We've a small collection, about five or six now. Here's our setup.. 1. Water, 2. Distill Water (for back flashing water filters), 3. H2O + 10% bleach, 4. H2O + Lysol, 5. H2O + 25% citric acid, 6. H2O + Pinesol For showering, a gallon of water is more then enough for one shower. And about half that amount of water for rinsing and sanitizing dishes.

Appears that NCS is now canceling a number of classes which will impact all council camps.....

Been attempting to impress on the Council that it must be manditory for all campers and staff be pre tested. Additionally, that staff must be quarantine at the close of camp and re tested before being release. It's a wait and see at this time as testing for the general population is currently not happening.

Pondering a bit .....Currently, no camps have protocols for adult scouters who may be at the beginning phase of cytokine release syndrome, as covid 19 is specific to lung tissue, and will not manifest at first with elevated temperatures... additionally, added into the mix are scouters and scouts with asthma, or other medical issues such as COPD, and sleep apnea.......I tend to think we are in uncharted territory this time around...

Thoughts on the impact that covid-19 will, or will not have on summer camps

.....don't drum up men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea." Antoine de Saint-Exupery...

.....holds dominion over people when they understand little, and need simple stories and legends to comfort and explain. But legends and the ignorance that give them birth are a house of limitations and darkness. Knowledge is freedom, freedom from ignorance and its offspring fear; knowledge is light and liberation. Knowledge that the world contains itself and its origins, and the hope of knowledge again. Dare to know, that is the motto of enlightenment." A.C. Graying, The Skeptic's Bible....

A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon. As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird's chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head and sadly said, "I'm sorry, your duck, Cuddles, has passed away." The distressed woman wailed, "Are you sure?" "Yes, I am sure. Your duck is dead," replied the vet. "How can you be so sure?" she protested. "I mean you haven't done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something." The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room. He returned a few minutes later with a black Labrador Retriever. As the duck's owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head. The vet patted the dog on the head and took it out of the room. A few minutes later he returned with a cat. The cat jumped on the table and also delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot. The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room. The vet looked at the woman and said, "I'm sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck." The vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the woman. The duck's owner, still in shock, took the bill. "$150!" she cried, "$150 just to tell me my duck is dead!" The vet shrugged, "I'm sorry. If you had just taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20, but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it's now $150."

That may be true of your camps, but there are exceptions....at our camps, for those of us who drive CDL and are tasked with driving rafting crews into W. Va. using 45 passenger buses, BSA med forms do not meet DoT requirements. Should a driver be stopped by a Trooper and unable to present that document, it's a ticketable offense.....

Somewhere or another I recall something about a philosophical construct centered on "morally straight". Kinda wonder where I heard that at?

A fact of life is that a million good deeds can be undone by one misdeed....however, it is also well known that arrogance likes to appear humble in public. As I see it, men and women should share the world as a mutual possession. Thus, Twain said it best .... "laws control the lesser man....right conduct controls the greater one."

May not be his first offense....

plain as day .... upon conviction he will have to register as a sex offender, thus his days in the Scouting program ends regardless of the position he holds... https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2010/title-16/chapter-6/16-6-22-1/ Sexual battery is a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature, punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $5,000. A second or subsequent conviction for sexual battery or a conviction for sexual battery against a child under the age of 16 is punishable by one to five years’ imprisonment. (Ga. Code Ann. § § 16-6-1, 16-6-2, 16-6-22.1, 16-6-2.22.) People in Georgia who are convicted of rape, sodomy, or aggravated sexual battery are required to register as sex offenders, as are people are convicted a second or subsequent time of sexual battery. (Ga. Code Ann. § 42-1-12.)

Since our program involves a considerable amount of shooting (muzzle loaders) which parents are fully aware of, we don't have that problem with parental permission. However, it's up to the Scout to decide as to whether or not to shoot. As for the medical, I've never used the BSA med form, but will provide a copy of my DoT med card when asked since it's more comprehensive as it includes drug testing...

I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. Percy Bysshe Shelly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdQKUvv3bew

When you get what you want in your struggle for selfAnd the world makes you king for a dayJust go to the mirror and look at yourselfAnd see what that man has to say.For it isn’t your father, or mother, or wifeWhose judgment upon you must passThe fellow whose verdict counts most in your lifeIs the one staring back from the glass.He’s the fellow to please – never mind all the restFor he’s with you, clear to the endAnd you’ve passed your most difficult, dangerous testIf the man in the glass is your friend.You may fool the whole world down the pathway of yearsAnd get pats on the back as you passBut your final reward will be heartache and tearsIf you’ve cheated the man in the glass. Peter Dale Wimbrow Sr. 1934

Suggest giving Blue Ridge Mountain Council (Roanoke, Va.) a call, ask for their Reservation Program Director.....she might be willing to release the canoes you need, but no promises here since I'm not aware of any current fees. If that should occur, Foster Falls is fairly close, and a run to Allisona on the New would be a good start....

The times are changing. If it were not for change, would we still be living in the dark ages thinking we are bloody enlighten as we've a priestclass that tell us what to think being that we can't read latin, let alone even read? My thinking, time to end the Civil War and move on. And, if it means putting the Southern icons and statues along with the lies and revisionist babble of the Daughters of the Confederacy on the trash heap of history, and the 900 section of the Library of Congress so be it.