packsaddle

It's easy to start one. Just approach your DE and the DE will literally jump at this opportunity to add a new unit number. The hard work is keeping it together and alive and healthy.

Welcome to the forums! I am sorry this welcome has to come under these circumstances. When I was CM I had been involved with the pack for years as a DL and I continued to lead a den even after I took the CM position. The pack was about to die and I agreed to take the CM position but only after we had a meeting with the parent remnants. I informed them in direct terms that this meeting was either to restart the pack or else to disband. Whether for good or bad, the parents were shocked into action and we did a successful restart. I would have been fine either way..Sometimes you need to 'stick a fork in it' and move on. Sounds like you're 'there'. I wish you the best of success whether rebuilding or looking for another unit.

Yes, unethical. Find another pack. This one is DOA.

Nice article, thanks for the link. I remember watching Aaron on television every game while everyone waited for THAT home run. Anyone know how far he went in scouts? It would be a nice benchmark to use to show others that you can have one of the fondest memories of a life without that Eagle badge.

And I would like to add that I hope everyone has a REALLY nice day.

BD....think sarcasm.

Agreed.

In spite of how nervous I know this is going to make him feel, I agree with JoeBob.

Unless something has changed recently, National Forests have allowed 'harvest' of all kinds of things by the public. At one time, in this area, we could get a permit to dig up azaleas, for example, and there have often been 'wood lots' where we could cut trees for firewood, etc. You're not going to leave a scar on the earth compared to the people who clear-cut the woods so I'd take some of that earlier advice and collect where destruction is either happening anyway, or else it's allowed by policy. Edit is working again! One more thing, no one is going to care if you collect something that is an invasive species, like the shell of some invasive mollusc, or a leaf off some kind of noxious weed. Just make sure it's legal to have them in your possession and make sure you don't spread them even more.

OK, editing is not working now. So, in retrospect, I do appreciate that both the book and the movie provide a lesson to our young people - not to trust authority.

I think the murder, early in the story, is not a crucial component and sanitizing that is probably OK. The part that I think failed was that there wasn't much of an ethical struggle regarding the genocide. Almost an afterthought. But I guess that's not too different from real life considering how we humans have treated so much of this planet.

Thank you for posting this, resqman. For a young person like this to suffer a fate like this is a terrible tragedy and I've seen it several times in the past few years. It is heartbreaking on one hand and humbling to see their spirit fighting all the way on the other hand. Even at this hour he is reaching out in service to others. Hand Salute!

Yes, but think of the way that 14-year-old was able to develop his leadership skills!

Somehow I was under the impression that ANY time a boy asks to have a conference with the SM for ANY reason, there should be an SMC. When did we start using denial of this kind of communication as a punitive measure?

When did the sheath knife ban take place? I must have missed the memo.

Welcome to the forums, ptathor. I'm curious though...how did you manage to find a 6+ year old thread like this to respond to? I am truly impressed.

Both of these are disturbing. Youth will experience deception quickly enough as it is, scouting ought to be a place where you can trust others...seems like there's something like that in a law or something. In the first case, when the boys were told not to 'tell', THAT is what someone would demand if they had just molested a child...right? I would be livid about it and I think you have a right to feel the same way. In the second case, your son is developing a perfectly logical response to someone who is a liar. Your ASM needs to modify his interactions so they are constructive. Time is running out.

Yeah, plus unlike a lot of other soap, you can eat it without getting too sick. But I like the idea of putting some red ink on the edge to indicate a cut.

Well, I don't know that I WOULD replace it...you know me...a seething mass of indecision. I just observe the wide range of successes and failures associated with 'the project'. I have observed some boys who, from outward appearance and from personal conversations, didn't get much benefit from the project. It was a chore that they suffered through because it was the only thing left separating them from the rank. This not so much a result of a bad attitude as it was their intense shyness with respect to working with others. They were GREAT backpacking companions, enjoying the quiet and solitude while displaying excellent outdoorsmanship at all times. They were, in many respects, 'uber'scouts....except that they hated having to manage other people and the details of doing a project like this. Just a different personality type, I guess. They will probably never be administrators or managers. But I'd pick them for a survival situation every time.

I have read numerous tales of woe over the years in these threads, and I've observed my share of them first hand as well...all of them surrounding some concern or conflict arising from some part of the procedure for the Eagle Project or else the project itself. I earned my Eagle rank and never did a project. There were a lot of others who did the same thing at that time because there was no such requirement. So I'm wondering...has anyone considered that perhaps this requirement isn't needed? What are the actual benefits to the boy from this requirement as opposed to doing everything else? What is lost if that requirement went away? What would be gained? I'd be interested in reading the various views on this.

Agree with Sentinel and Qwazse. In all the units I know, the ECOH is the responsibility of the family, if they even want to have one. Once you've made it to the point of presenting the award, you are free to do that any way you want. My ECOH consisted of about 5-10 minutes of recognition during a regular Sunday church service. There was nothing more. I was good with it.

"Go a head and do an end around and go to the District Advancement chair and see how it affects his ECOH." It should have no effect whatsoever.

Twocub, he must have the same prof I had when I was coming through. Sheesh, that guy must be REALLY old now.

"Once the boy realizes he does not like girls he is about 14-15." Heck, I didn't 'like' girls until about that age, maybe a little earlier, hard to remember exactly. But I must have been gay until then. I think that if most parents were completely honest, part of their interest in scouting is to get the boys 'out of their hair' for a weekend or a week once in a while...at little or no cost.

Nextgenscouter1, that would be interesting. Remember though that prior to the last decade or so, there were abundant units chartered by public schools. Now, with a little more inclusiveness, BSA could regain what they lost and shed all the controversy...let all that discrimination find a more suitable home in Trail Life.