Pack212Scouter

We have had some issues similar to this before. It occured when the track was set up in an area flooded by IR and UV light (yes, even inside a big top tent). High levels of this lighting can throw off some sensors and sometimes even fail to register. A highly reflective car in these conditions may have to occlude the sensor more than a dark matte car before the sensor will tigger. One of the companies, Judge timers, has a timer gate sensor option to use in these conditions.(This message has been edited by pack212scouter)

GrandPrix Race Manager is the way to go. We have used it for many many years. The benefits over elimination are many, but most notably... Fairness by all Cubs running on all lanes. All Cubs get the same number of heats, no matter how fast their car. The fastest average car is always found, no matter who they race. (In the case of elimination, it is possible to get winners, especially in the 3rd and 4th place range, that are not the fastest).

As was discussed in the post above, a 10 year old Scout would be pretty rare. The rewording didn't really change things too much. I guess it would apply to young boys who skipped a grade more than anything else. I don't believe 10 1/2 was ever a rule. It was a common misinterpretation of "six months after turning 10 or completing fourth grade". Many people miss that last half, and hence the 10 1/2 month idea. The only way a boy can join at 10 is...if 5th grade is completed or AOL is completed. In the case of grade requirement, the youngest a child can start kindergarden here is if they turn 5 by October 31, which means that without skipping a grade, the youngest a boy could join without AOL would be 10 years and almost 8 months. (school here ends in June). In the case of AOL, they must be active in their Den for six months after completing 4th grade, or turning 10. This would put the youngest potentially at 10 years and almost two months (six months after the beginning of June is the beginning of December). I suppose there is the rare case where a boys skips a grade and could potentially complete fifth grade at 9 years and 8 months, but I think this would be pretty rare. In that case, they would have to wait until turning 10. So, I guess the "10" year old mark was put in since there is a wide range of 10 year olds eligible.

We've used online payment with Paypal on the Pack side for about 5 years now and the Troop side for about a year. It makes collecting dues and fees much easier, as people can just go online and pay. The only drawback on the Troop side is that they have to close it before the Monday before the campout so that funds can be available to give to the grubmasters.

In our Pack, it has been a natural evolution I guess. Blue & Gold became a graduation banquete at the end of the year. It was a symbol that the boys could now work on their next rank. Of course it was always presented as you are now a Wolf...now a Bear, etc. It was never treated as the end of a rank, but the beginning of the adventure of a new one. It is the end of the regualar meeting year because as was said in one post....baseball. After April, our attendance, both in Scouts and Leaders dropped off by at least 50%. So now we end it at the end of April and concentrate on providing fun activities in the summer months. (May is our Spring campout). As for the Webelos, ours runs as a 1 1/2 year program. All the Webelos head to Boys Scouts together after their AOL in March. It may not be "the way it used to be done", but it must not be broken...80% of our Webelos go on to Boy Scouts and over 80% of them are still Boy Scouts two years later.

I think there may be some confusion here. There is an outdoor activity award and a summertime activity pin. The outdoor activity award has additional requirements that are rank varied. The first time earned is a packet flap patch, after that, wolf track pins may be added. The Summertime activity pin requires nothing more that the boy participating in a Pack event at least once in each of the three summer months. These pins are worn throught the same pocket flap and are colored by the rank they are received in. In the case of our Pack, only siblings join at the end of the School year, so the pin is awarded based on their last year rank, ie. they come back in the fall as a Wolf, they get the Tiger colored Pin. Alternatively, the Scout Shops still have the old, non-colored, all gold colored pin. You could awards this in their final year if they have all four of the others.

Our B&G eventually moved to April and became a graduation ceremony at the end of the Cub year. The reason for this is that Parents and Leaders did not want another big event that was nothing more than a birthday party.

You have two issues there. First off is AOL. If they have earned it (although from the Troop visit side, they may not have), then just schedule a date, preferably a meeting night, and give them their AOL ceremony. If the boys have earned it, then they deserve it. Another thing that we do at our B&G is have a representative from each old W2 Den come and "retire" their Den/Patrol flag, right before the new W1's are presented with their new Den/Patrol flag. Makes for a nice transition ceremony that the rest of the Pack sees. As for Crossover/Bridgeover, that is another thing altogether. Most Troops around here prefer to do their own. Some Packs do it as part of their B&G or AOL ceremony, but it is really supposed to be a welcoming to Boy Scouts and our Troop ceremony. In some cases, a small Troop's Scoutmaster will come and do one for the Scout/Scouts from our Pack at the end of our own Troop's. Our Troop allows this as a courtesy.

The limit is what the unit wants. BSA like giving out ribbons. Ribbons for Quality unit...ribbons for attending camp...ribbons for tieing your shoes... Our unit has only be around 20 years and the flag was getting ridiculous. A couple of years ago it was decided that we would only put on it ribbons that we truely "earned", such as quality unit. It looks alot better without 100 ribbons on it!

A few years back we had a boy in our Pack who's parents were part of a very nasty divorce. As it turned out, it was so bad that he had a court appointed attourney to represent his interests. Anyway, the short of the story is that he very much wanted to participate in Scouts, but his parents were using it as leverage against one another. The court appointed attourney actually wound up getting a judge to rule that the parents had to allow his participation in Scouts.

That's a rough situation. I suppose you could look at paying for facility use as part of your Pack "paying it's way", even though the CO has a responsibility to provide a meeting area. However a much more important situation is what situation your CO is in. Is your CO in danger of financial collapse? IF this is the case, you want to know. The last thing that you want to happen in so show up for a meeting next November with a closed sign on the door. I may be mistaken in this, but if the CO wants to unburden themselves of the Pack, I believe that they can voluntarily give up the unit number to another CO who would be willing to take the Pack in.

Come on people. The whole point of the guidline, at least originally, was to make you think about whether this individual should be doing a particular event. Some people below the guidelines shouldn't, while some over them can. Use some common sense and best judegement like Scouting has done for 100 years. It is a tool, like any other. One of the tennents of Scouting is physical fitness; getting these boys out, active and showing them that it can be fun. To get them off video games, and tv, and doing something active. If we restrict it to only the fit boys, then there is a whole world of boarderline boys that will never learn to be more than they are. It may be difficult to tell one "I'm sorry, but you can't do a 50 mile hike yet." But if his patrol goes out on a 5 mile day hike and has fun while on it, them maybe he will learn an activity that improves his outlook on fitness.

We have one of the larger AHG presences in the country in our Council, so we are a little unique, but here is what is done here... On a unit level... --- Our CO's AHG unit participates with the Cub Scout Pack in Spring Campout --- They participate with both the Pack and the Troop in Scouting for Food, Scout Sunday, some service projects --- They may be allowed to participate in our Spring Camp Card fundraiser...that is being decided. On a Council level... --- They attend University of Scouting and have a course there on "What is AHG, and how does the relationship with BSA work". --- They have information booths at University of Scouting and sometimes other events. --- They can attend other BSA training events. --- They have their own Summer Camp the week after the last BSA Summer Camp session and utilize camp staff for that. --- They are permitted to utilize the Popcorn fundraiser in the Spring if they desire (off season for Scouting). --- They have their own Venturing Crew in our Council composed solely of AHG girls.

It is worth noting that BSA says that those are "guidelines", but that care should be taken with those individuals. The Health form itself even says that Philmonth 'may' consider someone up to 20# over the guidelines. The guide is NOT a BSA rule.

My daughter has been involved with AHG for 7 years now. It was started because GSUSA national became such a radically liberal group, dropping the faith requirements, coworking with planned parenthood, openly accepting and even recruiting alternative lifestyles. That said, AHG is not BSA and does not pretend to be. It is a Christian based organization and will never be more. BSA has an agreement with them, because they hold to BSA tennants (much like a Christian based BSA unit does). Because of the Christian faith foundation, it would not be a good unit for another faith. With all that said, however it is an excellent program and much more closly mirrors the Scouting program than GSUSA does. We have had representatives from AHG at our University of Scouting, Regional Jamboree, etc. Our Pack and their Troop conduct a joint spring campout. The memorandum of understaning allows AHG to utilize BSA training courses and BSA facilities the same that any BSA unit can. Now before anyone gets in a tither, yes, there are excellent local GSUSA troops and leaders. AHG, myself, and BSA (from what I have been told) have issue with their national's values.

Ok...5'6" and 210# is not exactly fit. Fit enough for moderate activities, yes, but I would question, or at least keep a very close watch on someone like that on a hike such as this. Philmont would never allow him to go out to the best of my knowledge. For instance, I am 5'6" and 195. I am reasonably fit, but definitely a good 10-15# overweight; and hardly a specimin of muscle. It's hard to tell from pictures, but my guess is that this young lad was a every bit of 210#, if not more.

Sadly, I see that leadership requirement for patrol outings still on the horizon. It is the unnatural evolution of our society. Where once children ran around all day without supervision, playing with bb guns and lawn darts; we now have children that parents feel must be under constant protection and school systems outlawing the game of tag as too dangerous. It is a sad comment on our society that we are raising a generation of boys who develop into one of two things. Either wimps, unable to understand what a male is, or a young man who does not know or understand how to control himself.

As others have said, you have to be careful about judging other's situations. It's hard to tell without delving deeply into their finances. Some will take advantage of you, and some who need it will refuse to ask. In our Pack, we maintain a Scholarship fund...have a specific annual fundraiser event to replenish it (the local mall gives us one of their fountain cleanouts and the Scouts spent an evening cleaning, sorting, and rolling). All that is required is an expression of need for a Scholarship and it is given. As long as they fundraise and volunteer, then we will continue to help as needed. What is not being said by some here though, is that your Pack has a history of financial difficulties. You need to have a serious sit down, not just with the COR, but it should include the CM, CC, COR, whoever at your church is over the program area, and either your UC or DC. You need to come to a thorough and complete understanding about what is expected and where the funds are coming from. It is great to have a huge heart, but if the church or the Pack is not there next year, then it won't be able to help anyone else. Financial responsibility has to fall in here somewhere. Only after all parties come to an understanding will this situation be remotely close to being solved.

That's a tough one, but it sounds like your COR is trying to run the program his way and not either how it needs to run or how the CO would want it run. In the case of our Pack, dues covers recharter, Boys Life, estimated awards and Pack costs to the end of the School year. They bridge over before the end of the school year, but because Webelos pins cost alot more than beads, it evens out. None of their dues goes to the Troop because Pack dues are set to cover costs and no more. The boys get their AOL certificate and patch. If their family wants a plaque, they pay for that. If any money is left in their Scout account after they bridge, that is transferred to the Troop, but dues stay with the Pack. You need to make sure that you have a set Pack budget. Printed out, what dues covers, what Pack costs are, what events have to pay for themselves. If that is done, you can sit down with the COR and say "See here. This is what is costs. It can't work the way that your saying or it will backrupt us again."

We do one of three things.... If they are a transfer from another Webelos program, then into a Webelos 2 Den. If we get at least 4 or 5, then we create a new Webelos 2 Den that works towards the same goals. If we just get 1 or 2, then they go into a Webelos 1 Den, since they are all working towards Webelos Badge. We then have them work on the extra AOL requirements with the Webelos 2's when they do them. About a month before bridgeover, if they are eligible, we move them in with the Webelos 2 Den to become familiar with those boys before bridging.

Rockford, Maybe we should teach that instead of policing food. They should be taught these things, not that XYZ is bad for them.

We have a very large Pack and this is true. That said, after 5 years in the Pack, 2 as DL, 1 as ACM and 2 as CM, I have discovered a few things. In most cases, unless it is something truely unique (such as how we go overboard for our Bobcat ceremony with drums, indian dress, etc.), the parents care more about how the bling is presented than the boys. Most of the boys couldn't care less "how" they get their awards as long as they get them and hove fun at the meeting. They really don't want to sit through 40 cases of "Joe Green worked hard to get bla, bla, bla." Because of this fact, we have moved to a more simplified and rapid award distribution. Beads are presented in Den as they are earned by their Den Leaders. Belt Loops and other awards and patches are presented in a quick manner during the Pack Meeting and then we concentrate on what is presented at the Pack meeting for content, games, and group activities. The boys have a good time and they don't get board.

We need to stop being the food police and teach them how to make appropriate choices. What most children and adults are not taught is that what you can eat is entirely dependent on your physical activity and your genetic predisposition. If you have a history of cholesteral and high blood preasure, then your should not eat high in saturated fats and salt....but this does not mean that someone from a familily without such issues and who burns 4,000-5,000 calories in a day should not. People need to be instructed on how to make appropriate decisions, not have them policed for them.

Our pack is a uniform pack, so the necker thing might not work for us (for the boys, since the Cub Scout neckers are the official wear necker). Adult leaders are expected to be in uniform to lead by example and the boys are also. If they can't afford a uniform, we get them one from our uniform closet. As for recognition, we make sure that all leaders that are deserving of knots are awarded said knots at our awards banquet, along with a certificate. We are trying something new this year; we budgeted a little out of popcorn sales to do an overnight lock-in, just for leaders and their sons, as a thank you.

I don't believe that there are any hard and fast rules about the low temperature, other than you should use good experience and common sense. I know that the Alaska Council for instance has 100, 200 & 300 below awards for the total number of degrees below freezing that you camped out in one season (and at least one night has to be in some form of natural shelter). Once again, it is common sense and regional. While it may be nothing for a Fairbanks Scout to camp at zero, it would be huge for a Los Angeles Scout. The difference is that for most Scouts and adult leaders; personal gear, probably Troop gear, and experience are all different depending on where in the country that you live.