Basementdweller

Oh the grey area of Our camp isn't paying for itself.... Honestly if it isn't then it should close. Raise the cost to attend, my daughters church camp is twice the price of my scouts summer camp and they have a marginal program. So why is the camp so expensive???? The property committee needs to figure it out and address it.

I agree there has got to be a better way than popcorn. I liked the idea of a single day selling bottled water and soda at the Metro areas. Fourth of July festival......I have a parent working on it now..... Our local grocery change will donate the chains brand of water......He is working on the soda distributor for a reduced price or donation...... I have a call into my city council man and the board of health to try to figure out exactly what needs to happens for the permit......I can see us raising all we need from this event to pay for our entire year of programing in about a 10 hour period.

Generally we have not had luck with car washes.........Of course some bad luck....The HS Flag corp was in bikini's up the block washing cars.....

Emails will go ignored...... Phone calls will yield higher results. If you leave voice mails they will probably get ignored as well. Knocking on doors will get even better results...But folks may peek out and chose not to answer. The difference is the amount of personal effort expended. I would do the email thing, if your really serious follow up with a phone call, then knock on the door of the ones who don't respond to the first two. I wouldn't waste a lot of effort chasing boys who left.....I am guilty of that......Concentrate your efforts on the families who enjoy and see the value in scouting....... If you have lost boys because of troublemakers deal with them now. Require their parents to attend and participate in the meetings to manage their behavior.....If that doesn't work suspend them for a week or two.....

If you do introductions.....Limit it to Name and unit number......Do not include scouting positions........My favorite scouter's goes something like this.......Scoutmaster troop 123 Cub Master 123 Webelos den leader, District Advancement Chair, Scoutmaster for IOLS Fall session, Unit commisioner for unit 234, 345, 456.....Dean of Scout university.....Well you get the idea...... My first thought is there is no way he can even begin to do have of those jobs very well. With that said, the RTC then does the who has scout sock check. Announcements at ours go 30 minutes as well then break for coffee and cookies...then 20 minutes for a program.

If that were the case with LNT then why does philmont not permit them?????

So the patrol canoe trip was fantastic....Boys did great, they cooked a hot lunch not my first choice but ok.... Did 14 miles in about 7 hours including lunch? They made chicken tacos, very good. How did your scout outing go this weekend?

When you look at a troop at a camporee or a meeting how do you know a Troop is boy run or led????

The adult unit leaders control this......No debate about it..... How many times have you heard or watch unit dynamics.....you can't trust the boys to do it they will just screw it up.....Yes they will, nobody will starve or get killed so it will be ok. The boys simply can't lead if the adults won't get out of the way. Let them burn the pancakes or set their tents up in the depression Train them Trust them Let them led Honestly it would be easier for me to plan events and just do the grocery shopping and training...... It is also hard to drop them off at the trail head and watch them disappear over the hill or around the corner. But the simple presence of an adult changes the group dynamic. My unit has about 20 hours of service possible in a month......Most at the CO either in the food pantry or the community meal.... I think the service hours required for rank are to low....what 12 hours will get you to life scout. It takes the adults to guide the PLC and then support what they want to do even if you don't agree with it. I don't like the December lock in.....Don't like the pizza and video game theme.....

Never noticed having to use the porta tree more often??? Brew do you sleep with your feet higher than your head??? Or could it be a function of temperature???? Or maybe your not sleeping as deep as you do on the ground and the hormone that turns of the kidneys at night isn't working????

We have a troop that brags that their Eagle percentage is 80% of boys that join. Explain to me exactly how is that possible???? While I don't think that the BSA is just an Eagle Mill....There are units that abuse it and then BSA simply becomes another class room exercise. So with falling membership numbers why is the percentages on eagle going up??? More dedicated youth??? Easier requirements????

I don't have anything to say about the council program...... But wait, I do.... I can pick programs to take my scouts to that offer the most activities and value for the dollar. My local council does not offer webelos activities such as use of the rappelling tower or horse back riding......so we go to other councils that are less expensive and offer more/better activities. Why should I apologize because your council doesn't offer it and folks just accept it...... Take your money and scouts elsewhere and get them the program they deserve.......

I honestly find your food paranoia entertaining

Tie up all of the crazy, semi-crazy, and act like they are crazy, politicians. Lash them to a pole. Stage a giant BBQ. Is THAT what you mean by making the world a "better place"? Scout camps get sold all the time.... Once the pro's decide it is usually too late for the volunteers to do anything. My boyhood camp was sold a couple of years ago and the community reacted and tried to save it much the way the nantucket folks are doing...... Still was sold.

Guess your council program stinks...... go figure. I have attended webelos resident camp in 4 different councils and ALL allow webelos to rappel..... I have attended Cub resident camp in 2 different councils and both allow them to use the short climbing wall.

Once again your incorrect.... Webelos use the climbing tower at most if not all the BSA Council owned camps I have been too. I have not seen cubs rappel but they use the short side of the climbing wall. tex the problem with doing what you are saying is that if things go bad and there is a law suit, if any thing documentation exsist such as a date on a Troop or pack calendar, email or a map you provided then you will be named in the law suit as well. Then council will say when their turn to testify is that we told him not to hold the event. Just the way modern folks work.

So it degrades to you making fun of a poor white kid who has bed bugs....Nice. Ya know St louis bet my town for increase in bed bug infestations http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2013/07/09/more-bed-bugs-are-living-in-st-louis/ So your turn is coming....... Keep in mind....All that cabin and cave camping....how many folks have used those bunks and mattresses.... You truly are getting the program you deserve. I am glad I am not affraid to eat what the boys cook.

KDD, ya can cook your burger your way and teach your boys to stick a thermometer in everything to make sure it is the right temperature. I will teach my guys to cook a burger all ya need is a campfire and a something that won't burn easily..... We have a set of grates that fold and have a handle on them together that the boys love to use for burgers....... I have had burgers that were hockey pucks come off it and others that still moo'd...... Some that were fantastic...... Wondering who will have more fun.....Not really....I have seen the cook managing the flare ups and trading off who is watching the burgers and the bickering about whose burger is whose.........Great memories, puts a smile on my face. Unreliable????? Naw, I am not paranoid about nonsense...... Of course I am not lording over the boys in the kitchen either, recently had some macaroni and cheese that they forgot to drain the water it was boiled in before they added the cheese packet........they couldn't figure out why it was so soupy.....laughing about it right now...... Nobody has ever got sick on one of our campouts from an under cooked burger or chicken or eggs. My favorite breakfast activity is watching the great bacon debate .......Some like it crispy crunch others like it limp.....One patrol has everyone cook their own to their personal liking......Really fun to watch. One patrol had bacon fest.....They had bacon at every single meal.......Shaking my head... Story was someone had coupons or something like that. So I gotta ask........Do you cook hot dogs on the stick over the fire?????? Do you use actual sticks or did you buy the metal hot dog forks?????? I get a picture of the poor cook checking the temperature of every single hot dog making sure their done.....

Odd how that council does it. Our CO is a church we use the tax exempt number and their EIN for everything. I suppose things are different when your a PTA/PTO charter,

Local regs????? Really?????? Federal rules are not a local thing my friend..... So who exactly has told you that each unit is required to have it's own Federal ID and state exempt letter??????? The Charter organization owns the unit. We use our CO's information locally under guidance from the local BSA council

bottom line is the the BSA is a business pretending to be a youth organization... Not much different than those mega churches where the preachers drive bentleys and live in 5 million dollar houses.

cook it till the juices run clear and if in doubt cut one in half and make sure no pink is present.... At home I cook to medium, but I grind my own burger.

The Fed ID # would be that of your Chartering organization. Ask permission first as it may impact their 503 status. I used square last year to sell popcorn and did very well. Just be aware of the terms of the Paypal or square accounts....If you take more than $1,000 they will hold the money for 30 days. It does take a couple of days longer for the funds to get to your account than stated.

I find that terribly disrespectful. I too was a member of a Catholic Troop that had the very same requirements; my boys and I are no longer members of that unit. We joined a Methodist Troop that respects our religious differences. There isn't anyone on the planet who hasn't heard the "good news," this means that if someone isn't Christian (or Catholic) it's because they choose not be. Our current SM is Catholic; he also left the Catholic Troop because he didn't like the policy of forcing religion on to others (He had this crazy idea that people were given free will for the purpose of allowing them to exercise it and that included freedom to choose a religious preface.) Bottom line: You may end up running off your catholic membership as well as your non-Catholic membership. k...you have a big chip on your shoulder about religion....... The truth is that the catholic SM found the policy a big pain in the ass. So Saturday night or sunday morning you need to find a church, get all of the boys who had been camping clean or reasonably presentable, load them up and haul them to church......It punches a 2 hour whole in the program. I don't like it and would never tolerate it......But the truth is they can require the troop to go to mass.... The thing to remember is membership in a particular troop is completely voluntary.

Where we go backpacking there is a ridge, generally the birds wake us right at first light........We hike up to the ridge and watch the Sun come up..... that is more spiritual than any church