RememberSchiff

Whoa..How did we get from "...how to be a great CM?" to "how to do FOS presentations effectively"?

for us gray-beards who remember 1969 and Woodstock, a light, fun read. When the Boy Scouts met the hippies at Woodstock https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-08-15/woodstock-anniversary-hendrix-baez

Speaking from recent experience, beware these caterpillars which have infested Maine and other parts this summer. Browntail caterpillar hairs are toxic with toxicity lasting 3 years. Hairs are easily airborne from shedding, raking, mowing and cause a poison ivy rash (only worse) and respiratory distress if breathed. Found in hardwoods - red oak (did a number on oaks here), apple, birch. A browntail moth caterpillar Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Note two dots on tail end. Hairs on adults are supposedly not toxic but may have residual caterpillar hairs when emerging from cocoon. I am considering putting out a light sheet to capture some of these moths to send to state labs. I haven't done that since back in day at scout camp, back then moths were safer, only bothering trees in their youth. https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mfs/forest_health/invasive_threats/browntail_moth_faqs.htm https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Brown-tail_moth https://bugguide.net/node/view/36900

From a ASM: #1. Educate and manage the adults. Ground the helicopters. #2. A unit committee is thrifty. Please minimize program time lost to fundraisers. From a former CC (albeit Cubs) #3. Meet with SM and ASM's to get more advice. Review program calendar check for school, SAT, etc. conflicts. What is their activity and equipment wish list. Who will handle equipment, a ASM or a Committee member? Ditto with troop trailer (insurance, registration, maintenance)! Who will handle med forms - a ASM or committee member (while an ASM may seem more logical, a medical professional might be a committee member). #4. Before you accept, review the unit finances and leadership with CO. Know what CO expects from unit. Talk about how to make leadership changes, if the need arises. #5. Proactively and energetically recruit the adults you want for committee positions. #6. Any Committee member who says "Wouldn't it be nice..." see #2 My $0.02, hope it helps, best wishes

Not What, who. That would be us parents.

Apples and oranges. Anyone can advance in Scouting to the top award, not so in sports. There is nothing in Scouting that compares to that championship season after years of losing seasons, double practices, injuries, losing key players and coaches, bad calls,...Imagine if there was competition for Eagle slots at Council, say only 20 scouts "win" Eagle each year. I know I'm dreaming since patrol competition is all but gone. Instant gratification sometimes takes years. My $0.02,

As I understand, the 500 "Unbreakable" Czech scouts brought their podzada tents to Jambo, which appear half cabin, half tent.

@Cptsandt welcome to scouter.com

I dunno. How many linked opioid deaths do you need? Here's one allegedly traced back to said Eagle. Note he allegedly shipped 800,000 pills nationwide. https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900083757/aaron-shamo-accused-utah-pillmaker-fentanyl-death-trial.html https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900028644/utahs-overdose-deaths-fall-12-percent-despite-nationwide-surge.html Short answer to your two questions. 1. Start with those convicted of a felony. 2. Unless conviction is overturned, former Eagle remains just that. Another $0.02

@JulzIsCool99 welcome to scouter.com and hopefully soon to Scouting.

My concern is some people will say "An Eagle Scout did that < terrible thing>" or worse that the BSA cannot maintain its standards ( sorry for the awkward wording). IMO, we should be prepared with an official response akin to what @skeptic stated and that the former scout is no longer an Eagle. Another $0.02

IMHO, if a accusation can remove a scouter from the BSA , a felony conviction should rescind an Eagle award. A partial response to aberration. My $0.02,

The hits keep coming... Former Eagle Scout Aaron Shamo, 29, will stand trial beginning Monday on allegations that he and a small group of fellow millennials ran a multimillion-dollar empire from the basement of his suburban Salt Lake City home by trafficking hundreds of thousands of pills containing fentanyl, the potent synthetic opioid that has exacerbated the country's overdose epidemic in recent years. ... Shamo's family, though, said he's been singled out even as deeply involved friends are offered more lenient plea deals. His father, Mike Shamo, said his son was a chess whiz as a kid who experimented with marijuana in his teen years, but later earned his Eagle Scout badge crocheting blankets for a hospital. More details at source link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/opioid-drug-bust-aaron-shamo-former-eagle-scout-accused-multimillion-drug-empire-salt-lake-city-utah/

@Owls_are_cool welcome to scouter.com

@Rches welcome to scouter.com

Update 8/8/2019: Members of the local Boy Scout community asked officials of the statewide organization a lot of questions about the pending sale of the Silver Trails Scout Reservation this week. .... Over and over, for more than two hours, scouts and their supporters said the community wasn’t properly informed on the process. Some didn’t agree with the council's assessment that Silver Trails wasn’t sustainable long term or with how scouting funds have been appropriated. ... Chuck Truza, of the MCC’s board of directors, said the MCC wanted to host town halls and round tables to properly explain the deal with Mid-Michigan, in an effort to be transparent. The gesture, he said, followed the years-long consolidation of Boy Scout organizations across the state and the closure of other camps. And in that time, he admitted, communication was a problem. More at source link including second buyer who appeared to conserve property but to no avail. https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2019/08/08/local-boy-scout-community-silver-trails-sale-going-hurt-scouting/1952882001/

An update: Russell Ruth, 34, aka "Captain Rick" was convicted of possessing child pornography including prepubescent images, and sentenced to 80 months in federal prison. He was employed at the Babcock Hovey Scout Camp in Ovid which is operated by the Seneca Waterways Council in New York. His duties focused on teaching scouts fire building, knot tying and other outdoors skills. He was recognized in 2017 for 25 years of participation at the Scout camp. The sentencing is the result of investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Kelly. Ruth had faced up to 10 years in prison. https://www.syracuse.com/news/2019/08/former-boy-scout-camp-employee-gets-5-years-in-prison-for-child-porn.html https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2019/08/07/russell-ruth-former-boy-scout-leader-sentenced-child-porn-possession/1948629001/ https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdny/pr/former-boy-scout-employee-going-federal-prison-possession-child-pornography

Not much, was that next to the cannabis* tent with CBD only? Give a mouse a cookie... My $0.02, Note the cannabis tent was sarcasm. RS

We still rake, stack wood, shovel but more and more our scouts are doing tech projects for the town and senior center. From Boy Scout Troop 213, Superior, Minnesota : Participants (senior citizens) are encouraged to bring their cell phone, tablet, computer or other device for one-on-one help with Janicki (Eagle candidate) and four of his fellow scouts. “I was also thinking of teaching them to use Google and YouTube,” he said. Van Sickle often fields questions from seniors about connecting to wireless internet, downloading voicemails and using email. “Some of just these basic, everyday tasks, but because everyone has a different phone … it can be challenging, so we want to make sure people aren’t left behind,” she said. As part of the project, Van Sickle suggested adding web cameras to the computer center to allow seniors to video chat with relatives. “They turn off their computers during the nighttime and these computers were scheduled to get updates during the nighttime,” Janicki said. “So they were years behind with their updates.” “I think it’s great,” center manager Jenny Van Sickle said. “Something we get all the time is robocalls, security calls. We have people here who have had close calls. This scamming is prevalent and it’s serious.” Janicki, a Superior High School sophomore, said protecting yourself from scams online is a skill that’s essential when using computers, especially public computers. It can include remembering to log out of email accounts, watching site names closely and not saving items to a computer's desktop. “There’s tons of ways scammers can get money out of you, but it’s actually really easy to combat that using some simple browsing tips,” the scout said. More of a very interesting story at source link. https://www.superiortelegram.com/business/technology/4054327-Eagle-Scouts-project-eyes-cybersecurity-for-seniors P.S. Nice, familiar-looking but less dusty HP workstation in link photo

@Jburts911 welcome to scouter.com

I thought the 2017 National Jamboree at Summit which had 30,000? in attendance was training for a World Jamboree (40,000) two years later there. Summit was designed for 70-80,000.

Likely true. As I recall, organizers were complying with WOSM Jamboree requirements and local laws. I do not know the WOSM requirements, if any, regarding shooting sports. My guess, shooting sports will be limited to archery at the next Jamboree in South Korea. Archery is HUGE in South Korea which has developed some of the world's top archers. Could be wrong. My $0.02,

2012: nine Michigan councils consolidated into the Michigan Crossroad Council. The move was sold as a cost saver that will improve scouting by streamlining operations. The land sales quickly followed the consolidation and some local Scouts say it appeared to be a land grab. In the last five years alone, the Michigan Crossroads Council of Boy Scouts, which oversees scouting in Lower Michigan, has netted more than $5 million by selling five camps covering more than 2,000 acres. That figure could more than double if planned sales go through. Camp Tapico near Kalkaska, Camp Holaka in Lapeer County, Camp Agawam in Orion Township, Camp Muscootah in Hillsdale and the Northwoods Scout Reservation near West Branch have been sold since 2014. The Silver Trails Scout Reservation near Port Huron is in the process of being sold. Two other large camps, Paul Bunyan in Rose City and the Lost Lake in Farwell, are up for sale. 8 camps since 2014? Weak finances are driving the sales. A Free Press review of the council's most recent financial audits shows the state organization sustained operational losses of $5.5 million for 2013-17. That means that on average, council expenses exceeded revenues by about $92,000 a month for five years. More details at source, including current sale of Silver Trails directly, no realtor, to a local gravel company. The proposed sale has angered local residents and other fans of the property. Almost 5,000 people have signed an online petition to save the property as natural area. Also there are details of Council's financial troubles and membership drop, 68,000 in 2014 to about 61,000 last year. Source: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/08/04/boy-scouts-michigan-campgrounds/1868668001/ Related earlier topics:

This report states 1M rounds of ammunition.

...other scouts will remember their first, and for some of them, only opportunity to shoot firearms at the Summit’s shooting sports complex -- the second largest in the U.S. ... Summit Director of Shooting Sports Dick Heft said he spoke with many scouts who had never seen or held a firearm and likely would never again as it’s illegal in their countries. He even got an email from the government of Belgium indicating that their scouts should not be allowed to handle firearms. Heft responded matter-of-factly that his staff would not screen scouts. “That’s not our job,” Heft said. “That’s a political issue, and this is not a political venue. We’re here to safely provide a fun activity. And that’s what we’re doing.” In a single day, Heft saw more than 12,000 scouts go through the shooting sports, discharging up to 70,000 rounds of ammunition. ( 5 to 6 rounds each? -RS ) https://www.wvpublic.org/post/wva-hosts-tens-thousands-scouts-around-world#stream/0 @Oldscout448 @ShootingSports