Oak Tree

I think you're right, Eamonn. For most people in the US, it would make little difference whether there were any international Scouts or not. Many people in Europe just don't realize how big the US is. I had friends from Ireland who couldn't believe that most Americans did not have passports. A large majority of Americans still don't have passports, and this despite the fact that the percentage has climbed a lot recently since now you need one to go to Canada. The US is huge. It's bigger than all 44 non-Russian European countries combined. We go from glaciers in Montana to beaches in

I've been very disappointed with the quality of these programs as well. I think we can do a much better job of it within the troop, so we generally cover the items in-house and discourage Scouts from signing up for these programs at camp. This is also where you can get a lot of the troop operations drilled into the boys. How does your troop set up an axe-yard? Where is the rope, where is the axe? How do we cook meals? How do we do meal plans? The camps couldn't do this even if they were running a good program, and they aren't.

Like so much else, a lot of this depends upon the expectations that were set. Did someone tell the Scouts that they could become lifeguards for sure if they took the course? Who signed them up for it? Who encouraged them to sign up for it? Normally I would not consider reimbursement for this. But if someone in the troop led the Scouts down a path and gave them very misleading expectations, I might be more sympathetic. How much money does the troop have that could be used for reimbursement? Or is there something else that could be done to make up for mistake, assuming that there was one.

I agree - the new look is nice and modern. Some of it seems to update pretty well, but other page changes took a long time for me. Probably some optimizations to be done there.

are we doing it right? Yes. At least, as far as the boys are concerned, I'd say that you've got it exactly right. My suggestion would be with setting the expectations with the parents ahead of time. You don't want the parent to have the idea that you will try to help their boy finish the rank. When they suggest that they want their son to finish up, your immediate response could be "That's up to him. We can provide opportunities, but advancement is the Scout's responsibility." You could also do some additional communication to the overall troop. Talk about advancement philosophy

Our pack always invites everyone but no one from outside the committee ever attends. The troop used to do it as an all-parents meeting back when the troop was small, but now it's just a committee meeting and usually goes pretty quickly and uneventfully - maybe half the time there's nothing really to discuss. I don't think we openly invite people, but neither have we ever turned anyone away. I don't think the UC has attended any meetings, although he'd be welcome to. As Barry's troop did, I could foresee a use for a closed session, but we've never had one of those either. We would pro

We always do all of recruiting in early September. In general, we've had all of the issues that Lisabob lists. The first big den leader training is usually in September - that was the best way to do it from my perspective. But now I guess it's all on-line. The training is fine, but I think there is some value in getting people together with lots of other leaders just to see that you're part of a big group all in this together.

I attended some really awful courts of honor and eventually I decided that I wasn't going to just let the boys do anything they wanted up there. In addition to being a recognition of the boys, it's also one of the main public faces for the troop. The parents are there, including the ones who aren't all that involved. The boys tended not to make much of a ceremony of anything (mumble, mumble, name, mumble merit badge). We've reached what I consider a happy medium. The boys lead most of the court of honor, but there is a lot of active coaching behind the scenes, and the Scoutmaster get

You can search for some past threads on this topic and you'll see there's quite a variety. Our district does require 1. A complete list of items - the assumption appears to be that you're going to have to go to the store and buy them, so you need to know how many to buy. "Lots" isn't sufficient. 2. A complete list of tools, yes. This isn't so bad. 3. An estimate of Scouts/time. This is purely an estimate. I just encourage Scouts to give it their best guess without spending too much time thinking about it. 4. Total anticipated man-hours. Just add up #3. 5. A full cost estimate -

I'm going to go with Twocub - I would prefer a different form for permission slips - I don't want it mashed into the medical form. I get parents asking what the point of this line is, and which of the two options is the controlling option. All in all, it would be better not to have these lines on the medical form. It's just confusing, and we basically ignore it.

eisely, non-swimmers have relaxed requirements now. There is no longer a need for a lifeguard in the case of boating non-swimmers. "For activity afloat, those not classified as a swimmer are limited to multiperson craft during outings or float trips on calm water with little likelihood of capsizing or falling overboard. They may operate a fixed-seat rowboat or pedal boat accompanied by a buddy who is a swimmer. They may ride in a canoe or other paddle craft with an adult swimmer skilled in that craft as a buddy. They may ride as part of a group on a motorboat or sailboat operated by

Still one mention of him on the national museum web site. One of the benefits of donating at the $500 level includes a copy of the book Baden-Powell The Two Lives of a Hero by: William Hillcourt http://www.bsamuseum.org/SupportTheMuseum/Membership.aspx

Agreed, the islands are alluvial and wet, so decomposition should go quickly. The Forest Service says "Visitors are encouraged to use already established campsites whenever possible and remove all traces of human presence when breaking camp." I did notice that Chief Cornplanter Council rents canoes, but one of the big advantages of using an outfitter is for logistical support. They'll get all of the people and all of the canoes to the start of the trip at the right time, and they'll pick you up at the end and take you back to your cars. From the rental form on the council's web site,

We do offer a mix. Maybe half of our outings are cheap and the other half a bit pricier. We have a ski weekend, a climbing lock-in at a gym, a whitewater trip, zip lines, boating, caving. I would guess our average weekend is $50 and some are well above that. We don't do anything special to fund these. We do offer the Scouts some ability to earn money for their Scout accounts, but mostly the parents just pay for the trips. I do agree it's better at keeping the Scouts' interest. Some families don't do some of the more expensive trips. While we do offer to help with anyone who doesn't h

We've had great luck with Allegheny Outfitters. http://www.alleghenyoutfitters.com/ and their Indian Waters subsidiary - http://www.alleghenyindianwaters.com/scouts.html This is a great trip. Are you planning on doing just one night? You can start at Kinzua Dam and stay overnight at the Buckaloons, a National Forest Service Campground. You could also try camping on some of the wilderness islands. It depends on how experienced your Scouts are and how much time you have. Be prepared for rain. Don't build an itinerary around the assumption that it will be sunny.

[holds right hand up] I hereby promise to read all questions more carefully in the future. rraffalo - As I think about it, I don't think we're going to end up with a situation where one leader will be responsible for multiple Scouts on an airplane. Not that it would be a problem if we did. If we had two adults seeing them onto the plane and two adults at the other end, we'd be fine. Today, with cell phones everywhere, especially on airline routes, it's not like you're ever really going to be out of touch except while you're actually on the plane, and not even for sure then. I wouldn'

Yeah, sure, I agree with Beavah on this. I also agree with Calico and want a newspaper. We wouldn't even give this a second thought. We're actually doing this for Philmont this summer. People are mostly going as a group, but some are going early and some are going to meet us there. Good grief - it's a father and son! Just makes you shake your head.

We've had families bring dogs on pack camping trips, and pretty much kept the dog around their tent. No real problem. We've been to one of BSA bases where the head guy has a couple dogs that have their run of the camp. The kids love them - they are like camp mascots. I generally agree with the above posters who don't allow dogs on the trips, but my own personal experience has been fine.

Commissioner Service in its current form will work No, the Commissioner Service in its current form will get exactly the results it is getting.

also offensive is holding up a single family as representing an entire racial, ethnic, cultural or religious group. I'd say that every individual represents their racial, ethnic, cultural and religious groups. If I think about what it's like to have Jews in a troop, I think of the actual Jews who have been in the troop. There are some things that are common across groups - that's what starts prejudice, but that's also what allows statistical sampling techniques to work, too. What's it like to have Hindus? We have a number of those. Another thread asked about Jehovah's Witnesses. Sorry if

Legal. Hmm. Fine for him to open a bank account. Fine for him to deposit cash in it. If he already had cash, how is depositing it in a bank any worse? Did he deposit checks? Whose name was on the account? Who were the checks made out to? How did he sign the checks? What types of checks and balances do you have in the normal case? How do you know that someone turned over all the money in the past? I definitely agree it's a problem that he won't give you details. He has to give you details, or the whole thing is a non-starter.

Right, it wasn't the Promise that caused any issue because all it refers to is "my country", so people can say it while meaning whatever country works for them. It was the pledge that was questionable. The Tiger rank says: Practice the Pledge of Allegiance with your den The Wolf rank says: Give the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. The Webelos Badge requires a Webelos Scout to "Repeat the Pledge of Allegiance from memory," which I guess you could do without technically giving the pledge. The Scout Badge says "Repeat the Pledge of Allegiance." Thi

Ok, I looked over my dad's handbook, and there are a lot of things I'd personally find very strange to have in today's program. Just the names of the badges sound strange for some of these. It's not so much unnecessary, just very different. Automobiling: Scout has to pass a driving test. Corn Farming: Grow a patch of corn of not less than 300 square feet. Farm Home And Its Planning: present a drawing plan of sewage disposal for a country home. Farm Mechanics: Demonstrate how to adjust and actually operate one or more of the following farm machines: [7 choices] as used on the S

Does that violate that belief system, to PLEDGE oneself to an entity that is not God? Yes. It definitely violates their belief. That's not to say that they won't do it. Or, he might say it for rank and then just abstain quietly. We've had citizens from other countries in our units and it has always seemed odd to require them to say the pledge - we may have just quietly skipped that requirement for them, and I know we certainly let them abstain on a regular basis.

It strikes me that this is similar to the "reasonable accommodation" required by the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). It's reasonable to shift a work meeting to another time. It's not reasonable to expect other workers to change what their work hours are. It's reasonable to alter the marginal parts of the job. It's not reasonable to alter the essential parts of the job. The law doesn't apply to Scouts, but the principle seems pretty reasonable.