RememberSchiff

Having read the Canadian volunteers being turned back from traveling to aid a NJ church, should the Jambo organizers proactively inform US Customs and Border Protection which countries are sending scouts and their names? Let's try to keep this discussion scout related.

http://columbustelegram.com/news/national/teen-goes-home-with-new-heart-and-lungs-after-st/article_22ff1cf6-157d-5e36-a2a2-7508c34c2589.html An incredible story of medical survival. Scout salute to Scout Spencer Kolman.

http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/spending-money-at-home-contributing-to-the-trump-slump-in-the-u-s-1.3324885 “The U.S. travel industry already has a name for this. It's called the “Trump Slump,†says David Macdonald. Macdonald is a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, located in Ottawa. He says the Girl Guides of Canada is just the latest group to postpone travel to the U.S. and believes the numbers are telling with respect to the economic impact of those decisions. “It does appear that travel into the United States is down about 7%,†he says, “and searches for flights into the U.S. is down 17%. So more of that tourist money that American communities might get, might well be spent in Canada.†About 800 Canadian Girl Guides travel into the U.S. each year. The Guides say their decision to postpone that travel is intended to ensure safety and equality for all the girls. “It's not a political statement,†says Sarah Kiriliuk with Girl Guides of Canada, “it's a reaction to the realities of what's happening in the world right now.†Scouts Canada (their BSA) has no plans to postpone trips to the U.S. In a statement, John Petitti with Scouts Canada said, “As with any Scouting activity involving travel, we encourage our members to plan their trips carefully, to have all required paperwork in order and to always have alternate plans in case of unexpected developments.†Both the Ottawa Carleton District School Board and the Ottawa Catholic School Board say no trips have been cancelled so far but added that they will continue to monitor the situation, as will many of the shoppers we spoke with today.

online MB class...so virtual adult association?

Like I said, be prepared. At least four adults in group, so two adults available to stay back. Hopefully, any problem will appear at first departure point (home airport) where parents are on just other side of the gate.

Why not send out a notice to units and let the scouts/parents in that unit decide, rather than telling all units they cannot go to Disneyworld because there may or may not be a problem. I expect on any flight, there will be a problem at the airport. If one or two are delayed (I really mean detained) by TSA, do we all stay behind, scrap the trip, and eat the expenses. No. I would expect a border crossing to be more problematic. Be prepared, not scared. Another $0.02.

Shazam, I moved this topic to I&P.

Depends on your state and town. Maine is more DIY-friendly for electrical and plumbing work than Mass.

That's a good point. Add calling Dig Safe as well. Whether local code allows a DIYer to work on his/her own gas lines, I doubt the BSA or parents would approve.

If a member of my unit is denied access to a destination, the trip does not automatically grind to a halt. Yes sometimes scouts/scouters get sent home for a variety of reasons, right or wrong. Now if the Girl Guides said we refuse to have our (all) members groped by TSA, that would make more sense to me. Another $0.02

They should have dropped Req 6 from plumbing as mostly that is for gas lines. Not many DIYers are allowed to work on gas lines. Maybe add to 7, also demonstrate connecting copper pipes with compression fittings or Shark bite connectors. 6. Cut, thread, and connect two pieces of metal (formerly steel) pipe. 7. Under the supervision of a knowledgeable adult, solder three copper tube connections using a gas torch. Include one tee, two straight pieces, and one coupling. Another $0.02

My concern is that nonsensical decisions like this could spread and impact the World Jamboree at Summit. Maybe Tillerson's State Dept can send a scout-friendly message to our nervous northern scouters. Another $0.02,

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/trump-travel-ban-girl-guides-canada-cancels-all-trip-u-n733161 The organization, which is Canada's equivalent of the Girl Scouts, announced Monday that they are canceling all trips to the United States until further notice. The group cited uncertainty about the ability of all of its members to enter the country. ... "Girl Guides is a very inclusive and diverse organization," spokeswoman Sarah Kiriliuk told the CBC. "It is part of our mandate and it is very important to the fabric of our organization to be inclusive and diverse. And we wanted to make sure we could extend that to all aspects of our organization — which includes girls that are traveling." She added: "In this case, girls that were traveling across the border would not have that opportunity, it would not have been an inclusive and diverse opportunity for them." Kiriliuk also said that the Girl Guides' national office was unaware of any issues occurring with members traveling to the U.S. so far, but that the measure was designed to ensure "no girl gets left behind." Good grief.

I would not, I would just chalk it up to experience, it is the project not the hours that count,...but others may want a fuller reporting of a scouts total Eagle Projects hours. Reporting volunteer hours using the same counting method as other volunteer agencies ensures that Scouting as a movement gets proper credit for all the great work our Scouts do. When we present that number to groups and families not affiliated with Scouting, we want it to be as accurate as possible. http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2016/03/10/eagle-scout-service-hours-number-probably-hour/ My $0.02

Scouts in Action. I liked the skills review at the end of the story.

Let's not get tied up in terminology. I do not know the full story of the OP's situation, but as to question can a registered BSA volunteer leader or non-registered volunteer adult be removed (fired, banned, ...) from a scouting position or activity? Yes and it is unpleasant. IMO, if you see a problem with your unit and the Council or CO does not see it or refuses to rectify it, then it is time to find another unit or another activity.

From the 2016 Report to Nation • 1,262,311 boys ages 6 to 10 in Cub Scouts • 822,999 boys ages 11 to 17 in Boy Scouts and Varsity Scouts • 119,268 young men and women ages 10 to 20 in Exploring career-based programs (including the STEM Scouts pilot program) • 136,629 young men and women ages 14 to 20 in Venturing and Sea Scouts • 372,891 boys and girls in elementary through high school in Learning for Life character education programs • 102,888 units, representing partnerships and collaborations with businesses and community and religious organizations that support BSA programs @@qwazse scooped me! Well done. Here's link http://www.scoutingnewsroom.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2016-Report-to-the-Nation.pdf

If I had a time machine and as a Dad who wants the best for his sons, I would send my sons "back in my day" to experience the better scouting I had at my old, probably below average, troop. But after a month or year what would be their preference?

So opinions on the make-up "classic scouting" by different generations - Greatest Generation, Boomers, Gen X, etc.?

Issues and Politics seemed a more flexible (rules-wise) forum for a highly opinionated discussion about whatever Classic (traditional) scouting might be in terms of membership, advancement, leadership, lawyering, Methods and Aims, reverence (DRP), volunteer quality, safety-concerns, uniform, role of scouting, visibility of scouting... I don't see that the changes were internally driven by politics, but I could be wrong. Who knows who is on the Executive Committees? I see money (ligitation, donation, salaries), publicity, and just poor leadership as driving factors. Please more substance and less labeling in these posts. Anyway that was my thinking. If I had to honestly label my opinion, I would say non-caffeinated.

I think you meant 1st Class which had a Signaling requirement, either semaphore (flags) or Morse Code. I was 2nd class for a long time.

In New England, just about each year, WFA courses taught by SOLO instructors are hosted by a Council or unit. $120-150pp. I have not seen any Red Cross offerings here.

IMO, adult leader judgement was trusted more. My old SM would credit patrol camping in our town woods but not backyard or family camping.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/premium/article_966698ba-047c-11e7-b73b-e730653044ea.html Another interview with some more background info on Mr. Fossum. Fossum, public speaker, author and philanthropist, was born in McAllen and graduated from MemorialHigh School in 1982, the school’s first graduating class. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in mechanical engineering and served as an officer and captain in the U.S. Air Force. Fossum is a lifelong Boy Scout and at the time of casting, was a Scoutmaster in Spokane Valley, Washington, where he now resides. A casting call was sent out to the national scouting website and Fossum was nominated by someone who had been through one of his leadership courses. Fossum initially thought the casting email was a hoax. “The problem is, I’ve never gone to that website, and if I did, I certainly wouldn’t have answered a casting call for a reality TV show,†Fossum said. “I’m not interested in being on a TV reality show in the least. I was 51 years old at the time, getting fat and had pretty much decided that my adventures were behind me.†Fossum agreed to the casting call and tried out for the show. When it appeared he would be cast, he decided to leave it up to faith and accept the challenge. “Well, I’m a Boy Scout, always have been, always will be, but is that enough?†he asked himself. “I used to teach Wilderness Survival merit badge at Boy Scout Summer Camp as a youth. I took a real interest in it, being able to survive without much, or anything. I won’t pretend to ‘master’ the wilderness, because the wilderness is always the master and anyone who believes otherwise is a fool.†This video is pretty funny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdEaF4cHL8Y more on Mr. Fossum at his website https://terrylfossum.com/

Consider this recent NPR story regarding the ornithological inaccuracy in Hollywood. Surely this a problem that Scouting can solve! So we birders are doomed to hear that same Red-tailed Hawk scream every time they show a Bald Eagle or some other raptor, and that same inappropriate Mourning Warbler song every time a commercial wants to convey a suburban atmosphere. That recording really gets around, which is strange because it’s an obscure and uncommon species that you would not hear in suburbia. http://news.wgbh.org/2017/03/03/arts/plea-hollywood-get-your-bird-sounds-straight Agree, that Sustainability is unnecessary and Nature MB was once Eagle required and should be again.