Gone

Do tell...

These are the USGS topos. It is funny how many of these sites all come from the same source.

We have a range for the Blackhawks (about 21-24 'hawks) for our Venturers. Great hawks! The hickory handles are (nearly) indestructible.

We have very high participation from our Asian members (15% of the unit) from both scout and parents. I will say they are very "westernized", as in they were schooled either in England or the US and have spent 20+ years in either place. The parents that are more recently from their homeland are less likely to volunteer....unless one of their countrymen encourage them. We've found Indian men to be reluctant volunteers, but Indian women to be absolutely intense volunteers....though cutting that umbilical chord (from both child and husband) has proven to be difficult.

You can order the maps from USGS online. Their 1:24k maps are the best. We frequently download them there and then go get the copied. If our trek takes us across more than one quadrant (and it usually does) we get all the maps and piece them together, then copy on to one large map. You can even have hem copied on to special paper and laminate them so they fold easily. It ends up being a bit more money than getting the printed versions, but since you are making a custom map it works just fine. You can also download the USGS 1:24 topos to GPS units as a back up. That will allow you to drop waypoints and track your trek for posting as a KML file later so the scout can use Google Earth to see where they've been.

Oh yay! More bashing from an unpleaseable liberal group. That's helpful.

I have no issue with the sketch. Is it scout-appropriate? No. But with all the political correctness run amok in the last 20 years, I try not to get my knickers in a snit about such stuff.

Hmmm. Does that remove the Supreme Court protection from Dale? Not an attorney so I don't know. @@Merlyn_LeRoy seems to suggest that there has to be some sort of more substantive change to remove the coverage from Dale; unless I mis-read the intent of his post.

Graham was not an oversensitive, fearmongerer. He was not over-reactionary. He had a helluva sense of humor.

Can BSA now, after going to the local option, compel units who elect to restrict membership to open up?

I am with @@Rick_in_CA on this. I was never homesick. Never understood the mentality. I could not wait to get away from home and be off on my own. Hell, I would have stayed all summer. As soon as I had a chance I was camp staff. I can sympathize with those who get homesick, but it is not something I can relate to.

Two years until retirement....so I will make it before that happens.

As long as we bring this up, anyone with an Archery certification as Instructor or RSO can head up the range. Same rules as archery.

Curious....is that *all* parents you see do that? Or parents of "color" doing that?

We require it for SPL too. Usually never have to waive it.

We got these a while back. They are weighted just right and easy to fix. Get a few extra handles in case someone (usually large, burly adults who think might is the best way to throw [it's not]) breaks a handle. They used to be ~$22/each. You might be able to get a volume discount like we did. We run 6-7 lanes at a time, so 18-21 'hawks will do fine.

I am sure the new membership will not look kindly to that song.

I'll have him scrub it and see if he can't post it.

This is VERY true. When there is too much "down time" those kids prone to homesickness will drop further in to despair. This is especially true in the evenings and at night. We always make sure we have unit or camp-based activities during those times. It has greatly reduced or eliminated homesickness.

Camps are open, but there's no staff there other than the ranger. If we want a range, we staff it. That's in the western plains.

...or have gutted (insert animal here) by the time they were 8 years-old. I am in an area you mention above. We have to amp up what we do to keep these kids' interest. We give them a ton of autonomy and they respond. My cousin is in an urban area (near @@KenD500 actually) and they have HUGE issues keeping kids' attention. Not because the kids don't want to go outdoors, but rather the parents have them subscribed to SOOOOOO many things the kids don't have time to breathe. From what he tells me, schools make all sorts of things mandatory (e.g., band, orchestra, choir, after school "tutorials", etc.). Add to that all the other things (religious school, sports, family, etc.) and Boy Scouts is just one of many events in the kids' daily schedule. To bring this back to the OP, in his area, there are many Asian cultures (large IT organizations HQ'd there). As he tells it, many of the Indian, Chinese and Korean kids have schedules that would make Bill Gates blush. Add to that the language barrier in some of the Asian cultures (slow uptake from Chinese by first generation), the need for many of these cultures to take care of older adults (e.g. grand parents), or suspicion of anything that smacks of military-style groups. Ironically, my cousins district had a "how to recruit Asian people" event at a RT. The speaker talked about WHY units should do this, but not HOW. The last slide? "Recruit Asians now" Not how to, but just do it. The problem is, if you look like an all-[insert color here] unit, how do you get color in your unit? THAT, to me, is what BSA needs to help leaders with.

Good points! The best way we found to harness those parents who truly want to "get engaged" with the boys is to have them become SMs or MBCs. If they truly miss the adult>scout relationship they had in Cubs (being more hands on teaching rather than letting the boys teach/lead) is to have them teach MBs, plan events the boys put on the calendar or help mentor scout leaders.

Temp without wind was around -5F. Snow was 3ft deep.

I guess the minimum age is the age to be a Boy Scout. Same with the maximum age.

I hear ya. We had the issue many years back. The rules were 1) There are no dads or moms on camp outs, only Mr. or Mrs. X, 2) No one except the adults are in the adult camp site except in case of emergency, 3) Adults show the same camp site respect of the scouts/patrols that they show us, 4) If your kid is in trouble or having issues, someone other than you address it with him. It ain't Cubs, so the run-to-mommy/daddy mentality is stopped in its tracks.