AwHeck

In our troop, we give out beads for all kinds of silly reasons every day at summer camp. Examples include best 'bed head', 'first blood' (every year, SOMEBODY will get a cut for some reason or another), etc. We've been known to include beads for neatest/cleanest tent and even the messiest tent on occasion. It's all in good fun and taken that way. We don't open tent flaps, and would only just neatest/messiest based on what was visible while flaps were up. We've also given an award to a scout who happened to be in camp as a huge storm was coming through who took it on himself to close flaps, stow stuff inside tents etc. Other than 'no food in camp' (most camps we go to have bears in the vicinity, and ALL have smaller critters), we don't try to enforce any specific neatness factor for inside of tents.

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While he's certainly not in 2nd grade yet, my grandson who will be turning 5 in 2 weeks probably has no clue as to his address or 'phone number'. His mom and 'Daddy Tom' are moving this weekend, they've only been in the current place a little over a year. Before that, he spent most of his life in our house but also 6 months or so in a different apartment. If pressed, he might know his full name, he does know that his mommy is also called Erin and on occasion will tell us daddy Tom's full name (at times we think he believes the full family has daddy tom's middle and last name) Daddy Tom is actually mom's boyfriend but not bio dad. They don't have a home phone number, both have cell phones which is more and more common these days. I honestly couldn't even tell you their phone number without looking it up. Since they're moving 4 hours away, that will likely change anyway with new area code etc. Long story short, there can be many reasons for kids to not know their current address and phone numbers. I *do* expect him to learn it by first grade but you just never know.

I only want to make one point. BadenP in a prior post actually questioned the '30 by 30' requirement stating 'how often does that happen?' (relating to NOT holding a class) I can tell you from personal experience in our council that a class was canceled a couple of years ago for precisely that reason. I was a staff member, one of many who had put many hours of preparation in over the course of many months getting ready for our course that was ultimately canceled because we didn't have 30 registered 30 days out. Unfortunately in our neck of the woods at least, we've seen a distinct trend of delaying committing to ANYTHING very far in advance. We believe that had we been given the chance, our numbers would have been up before the course but we weren't given that chance. The council still DOES provide two courses a year, spring and fall, but know that course CAN and ARE canceled if they don't have the requisite numbers.

HICO, I was told at a Commissioners training event that the Colorado Legislature had approved of the National Health form so the Colorado specific form would no longer be used. I have not yet been able to verify this information.

There is no requirement to build a radio in the current Radio MB. You do need to be able to draw several components and locate some of them.

I have to say it's situational. I know this is the Cub Scout area but in Colorado for boy scouts, camping where the temp drops below 32 degrees is standard for fall/winter/spring months. Our troop requires it's members (youth AND adult) to attend our own Winter Camp Training to teach them how to dress and sleep warm for any tent camping between November and April. For the Polar Bear patch, they have to sleep outside (in tents) when the temperature drops below 0 degrees... and cook a meal. The Wood Badge Course for which I was on staff last year got their Polar Bear For cubs, though, I agree winter camping is not encouraged in any form. For Klondike, Webelos are invited for the day only and are not permitted to spend the night with the troops while they are invited/encouraged to spend the night for Camporees.

Or you can try Camp Tahosa in Denver Area Council... http://www.denverboyscouts.org/openrosters/ViewOrgPageLink.asp?LinkKey=11107&orgkey=51

When I was CC for our troop, we probably 'failed' less than 5 scouts over a 5 year period. Some were a scout who could not sit up and maintain eye contact, appeared to have no interest in the process at all. For those, we simply requested that he re-evaluate and try again. My most memorable 'fail' was for a young man going through the board to achieve First Class rank. Our troop allows any scout of First Class or above to sign off on skills for T-2-1 so I asked a question related to that. I asked if a buddy came and asked him to sign off on something that the buddy couldn't demonstrate, what would he do? I believe that he correctly said that he wouldn't but when I followed up with 'why?' ... just wanting him to state that a Scout is Trustworthy - he couldn't articulate it. We tried to give him help, leading him to the scout law at which point he stated that he didn't know the scout law. This board was being held at summer camp, about mid-week. The board unanimously agreed that we could not accept a First Class Scout who did not know the Scout Law. He was told that if he came back to me by the end of the week and could prove that he knew the Law, Oath, and Promise, then he would be granted the rank. This did cause some consternation amongst his patrol mates but he managed to get back to me a couple of days later and was granted the rank. No - we don't re-test and for the vast majority of scouts, the board is a rubber-stamp however when necessary, we will delay rank, usually not for long.

Most camps I've been to have 'roads' around if only for camp staff to transport things to/from the camp sites especially during off season. While they tend to have a 'no cars in camp' rule, that rule is almost always waived for situations such as yours or for disabled scouts. The car can only be used for transporting the specific disabled person and not for general troop transport but most camps I've been to do allow for that.

As said previously, it all depends. In my home county, burn bans often include charcoal grills. This was the reason we finally got a gas grill for the house, I went a whole summer not able to grill at home and didn't like that. I think the reasoning is that charcoal grills could get knocked over or blown over (if strong enough winds) and charcoal could then start a fire but a gas grill is heavier so less likely to be knocked over and even if knocked over, less likely to catch surrounding vegetation on fire.

I've been to a lot of different beading ceremonies over the years. Our council has a 'Wood Badge Breakfast' twice a year and some get their beads there. The breakfast is a fund-raiser for the JAMBO troops when they are formed and looking for fund raising, otherwise it is a fundraiser for whatever troop hosts it. It's a time for anyone who has been through Wood Badge to get together and have some fun as well as a bit of a recruiting effort for potential participants. Other than at Wood Badge Breakfasts, I have only been to ONE beading where 'the song' was sung. They've been at Troop meetings, Troop COHs, Roundtable, at University of Scouting, at camp, etc. Its up to the participant where/when they want their beading. Just a few weeks ago, I attended a beading that was for 3 adults from one troop (one husband/wife team plus another adult) and this one was JUST a beading ceremony, not tied to anything else and I was impressed at the number of youth in attendance.

Jeffrey - the problem with your approach is that some youth have dropped out of Boy Scouts and only participate in Venturing while still working on their advancement towards Eagle. This is perfectly acceptable per BSA regulations so long as he had achieved at least First Class while in a Troop. It is very likely in that event that he does not have a Boy Scout uniform that fits if it has been more than a year.

Our DE showed us the new Resource Guide at the Commissioners Meeting this past week. He indicated that there is 'more' material in the printed guide (or DVD that can be purchased) than what can be downloaded but he wasn't specific as to what that included.

Seems to me that our scout shop tends to ask for the advancement report if you are a unit leader purchasing insignia but if you are a parent or only purchasing a few items with your own funds, they don't ask.

Our troop has been doing 2 summer camps (plus a High Adventure trip) for several years now. It started after the year that we took 60+ boys to one summer camp. Talk about crowd control! We learned very quickly that many scouts makes it very difficult to get organized or anywhere as a troop on time. From that point on, we have offered two camp options each year. One is in-state (Colorado) and we basically tell all new cross-overs that they must go to that camp if they go to summer camp with the troop. Scouts who have been with the troop for more than a year are free to choose either the in-state or out-of-state camp. The PLC choose both which in-state camp and which out-of-state camps to go to and the out-of-state camp is usually chosen for the unique program offerings at that camp. We are blessed with several good choices for in-state camps between 4 different councils plus a Kansas council who's camp is in Colorado. The in-state camps tend to get rotated with our in-council camp getting chosen more often than the rest but not overwhelmingly so. We are a fairly large troop although we're not above 100 scouts as we were the year we took 60+ to camp, our registrations now hover around 70+ and we'll typically see 20-30 scouts at each of the summer camp choices. One of our ASMs is a big fan of the boundary waters so he'll organize a high adventure trip there about every other year with some other high adventure choice the other years.

I didn't get that they didn't know her, I got that the reporter was being vague to protect the identity until charges are filed.

It sounds like some of you didn't get the debriefing after the game. If you don't debrief, discuss how the game went and how that applies in life, what was the point?

In our council, we usually have a separate position for the technical stuff running the computer for presentations etc.

Denver Area Council does one every year. The tickets that are sold are basically discount tickets to a variety of businesses and also serve as admission to the event. Discounts tend to be a discount on oil changes at Grease Monkey, discounts to a franchised pizza parlor, discounts on dry cleaning, discounts to Subway etc. All units are invited to host a booth at the Scout Show and we get decent turn-out. I honestly couldn't say how many attendees are non-scouts but even for scouts to see what other units are doing is fun.

The course can be held either as a week-long (6 day) course or a 2 weekend (3 days each) course. Our council attempted 3 courses this year, 2 weekend courses plus one week-long course. The week-long course had to be canceled as they did not have the minimum 30 participants registered 30 days out and Regional is cracking down (at least in our region). There are many theories as to why the week-long course did not have enough participants. Was it being overly optimistic to schedule 3 courses in one year? Some see it as 'harder' to get a full week off of work than 2 'weekends' (often our weekend courses are Thurs-Sat to permit religious obligations on Sunday). The 2 weekend format does permit the patrols time in between the two weekends to work on their project, absorb what they have learned thus far etc. On the other hand, I have spoken to many scouters who would prefer to get it all done at once so there are arguments on both sides.

The youth protection aspect is no 'one on one'... in our troop, we tend to handle this by meeting at a public location in full view of others such as at the public library or, if meeting at a house, ensuring that someone else is present.

We do an annual 'new scout' campout shortly after most cross-overs. It's been at the same site for the past 5 years or more and the site works well for us. Most of the older scouts go up on Friday night to set up and prepare to be instructors, the new scouts don't arrive until Saturday. For this campout, we welcome the new scout parents to come along if they want. Any new parents who come are assigned to a 'new parent' patrol and they go through the same trainings that their sons' go through, but not WITH their son. Typically, we include the Tot'n chip and Firem'n chit along with how to set up our troop tents, setting up the camp stoves, basic first aid etc. This gives the parents a chance to see the troop in operation and even have a little fun 'learning' what their kids are learning. Some catch the bug and eventually sign up as ASMs and go through training, for others it gives them a level of confidence as to what goes on at a campout. So far as siblings - NO! We may have one family campout during the year if the scouts plan one but that is the only time that siblings are allowed.

From my perspective, there is a difference between having issues with organized religion and not believing in any kind of higher being. I know many people who I would characterize as very spiritual yet they don't belong to any organized religion. Its normal for youth to question their beliefs and I believe it to be an important step.

When I was committee chair for our troop, I asked some SCOUTS if they wanted me to wear a uniform at the troop meetings or not. Overwhelmingly, I was told YES that they preferred me to wear my uniform so I did.