RememberSchiff

Spot check on Scoutstuff for "Made in USA" Nalgene bottles Moccasin kits Lodge pans, skillets (some Lodge like LId Lifter is not USA, IMO scouts should blacksmith and sell lifters at camp!*) Thorlos hiking socks Thermarest sleep pads, pillows I would like camp Scoutcraft to step-up and add making your own outdoor gear. "Make a useful (temporary) camp gadget" is getting old. Our scouts love to make "keepers" - knives, arrows, poncho (Clint style), add zipper pouch to their pack,... Back in the day, camp had a "shop" for woodcarving, woodwork, and artsy-fartsy. Busy place on rainy days. Hmm marketing, yeah marketing, we probably can't just call it a "shop" or "workshop", maybe call it a "makerspace" or "makerlab". My $0.02,

US military uniforms are required by federal law (Berry Amendment) to be 100% domestic material with all manufacturing done in US. Not that the Defense Logistics Agency has always followed the law (some apparel orders were made in China until publicized) or spirit (manufacturing done by low wage US prison labor). https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL31236.pdf http://www.ncto.org/industry-facts-figures/textiles-and-our-military/

US Postal workers uniforms are Union-made in USA. http://www.skaggspostal.com/scripts/items.asp?itm=ELB+270&next=1&allot=0 and ... they are less expensive! But let's drink the KoolAid that no US manufacturers can be found for button shirts, pants. US made t-shirts still can be readily found, lets go with that until a US manufacturer starts making scout uniforms again.

If those "standards" exclude a subset of Catholic kids - public school, home-school from the start, then those standards need tossing and not those kids. My $0.02,

Well some progress anyway. Back in the day, public school Catholics, like myself, were not permitted to join the church troop or play CYO basketball.

School sports is a conundrum for home-schoolers. Most states have "Equal Access" to public school activities but then many state/regional sports conferences are private groups with their own rules (sounds familiar) and yet practice and games are on public school property. So far, state courts have mostly ruled in favor of school districts/sports conferences setting eligibility requirements. Seems discriminatory to me, I see more legal and legislative action ahead. Meanwhile kids showed up for town Little League. No one cared what school they attended or their grades as that is still a parent responsibility, we just check DOB. Play ball.

Congratulations. Where, when, where, how often are your meetings? I like the "real" scout neckers.

New Executive order? http://talkobamato.me/synthesize.py?speech_key=4063dd2f306d4726a17ce93082991dea

Would that the BSA treat ALL of us who are over 18 as adults!

Well there was at least one MAJOR change to YP in the last 12-16 years. Initially, we were told to first report abuse incidents to the Scout Executive even though there were examples of how that had failed. It took a few years (lawsuits) to change, but finally call police first! IMHO, YP training for youth educators/coaches/volunteers will likely become state regulated and replace CO, Little League, BSA ... YP's. Like a driver's license we will need to take a training course (just once!), pass a test, issued a photo ID , and pay a registration fee. Maybe it will be an endorsement on a driver license.

Thanks. I couldn't help but notice have well beehaved members were during the hive's stay in I&P.

Hillsborough, NJ Boy Scouts from Troop 1776 who will soon become bee caretakers once the Queen Bee and her colony are settled into their hive. Members of the Hillsborough (NJ) Rotary built the park compound where the hives will be located and protected by an eight-foot fence. Scouts are busy working with the Rotary to refurbish and paint the compound's utility building and the slats that form the hive framework. Eventually, the hives are expected to produce sufficient honey to cover yearly costs. More at link. https://www.tapinto.net/categories/news/articles/hillsborough-rotary-turns-over-bee-hive-project-t Arrggh, I have no idea how this ended up in Issues & Politics.

Machetes are ok.

Yeah mergers. When asked about the drop in membership, I have heard more than one council SE respond. "Oh no our council has expanded and we have MORE members than..."

Perhaps I missed it, but I have found no BSA documentation stating that a scout MUST wear MB's on a sash, sleeve, or anywhere else? Could a scout just keep his merit badges in a box and skip the sash?

Tahawk: Not what we have seen here. Don't get me started on scheduling our troop program AROUND OA weekends. Ever notice where "hassle" ends up in Scouting? Not at Council, OA, Crew, Summer Camp, scouts, parents,...

T How about this instead, if a scout wants to stay active in OA, he must plan and lead a troop campout to a new location listed in OA Camp directory. The SM would then send a letter when a successful campout had been completed by scout. No letter from SM, OA membership canceled.

There is a difference. In my experience, our older scouts spend their time with older scouts in OA but return to the troop mostly to finish their Eagle and little else. OA can have them. Set it up that a scout who joined OA would have his unit membership transferred to his OA lodge. The scout could then seek Eagle through his OA lodge similar to a Venture Crew. My grumpy $0.02,

Ah, I see you have been through our "ordeal", welcome to the Order of Grouchy Old Guys*. We chant "OGeezOGeez" whenever we lose one of our prime older scouts to OA. *Note: We now accept women scouters who are Grouchy Old Gals.

I have used a Thermacell appliance/holster which has worked fairly well. I want to try these new Kite patches which are due 2016. http://www.kitepatch.com/ For scouts, as long as it is not a spray, sunscreen and repellents are parent's call. For myself, I prefer to steer away from lotions. The frequency of re-applying, safety, and long-term unknowns are concerns. Mosquitoes and ticks sure have gotten scarier.

Definitely a lot of questions to ask. Did the bank or customer have any limits/safeguards on transfers from that checking account, e.g., total amount of transfer, number of transfers/day, transfer destination,..? I doubt the CO or troop will ever know for sure. I wasn't aware of the 1 day reporting restriction. Ouch. My $0.02 and it's staying under my mattress,

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, Long Island (WABC) -- A troop of Boy Scouts on Long Island became the victims of a scammer who stole nearly $10,000 from their checking account. Troop 517 in Rockville Centre works hard to raise money for their trips. It took almost a year to save up nearly $10,000, but only a few seconds for someone to steal it out of the scout account at Astoria Bank. The troop leaders were shocked to see their balance wiped out by a wire transfer to another account at another bank. They learned someone scammed the scout account number and used it to pay off a credit card in Europe. The second shocker, a little-known rule; business and charity account holders have just 1 business/banking day to report fraud to their bank. Since the scouts didn't report it for weeks, their claim was denied. The scoutmasters appealed to the bank but got nowhere even the Boy Scout sponsor was losing faith. "So many people put up roadblocks and I thought it was a lost cause," Pastor David Grainson said. [Channel] 7 on your Side was prepared for the challenge, we asked Astoria [bank] to take a second look and, hopefully, reconsider. Scoutmaster, Barry Goldman gave the good news, "Today, as of today all of our money has been restored." Astoria [bank] said the generous gesture was a courtesy to the local Boy Scouts, even though the bank tried but couldn't recover their stolen funds. And they surprised [Channel 7] Nina Pineda by making her an honorary junior scoutmaster! (Hmm, first of course, she would be made an Honorary Scout ) Now the scouts have their funds to make their scheduled scout trip to Williamsburg after all. http://abc7ny.com/news/boy-scouts-need-help-after-bank-fraud/1242236/

Almost, BOTH involve picking up trash dumped by said "others" in the community, but only ONE group IS UNIFORMED. The inmates wear orange jumpsuits, so the two service groups are easily distinguishable.

My meaning of neighborhood was "local" to scout so as there is a rather direct benefit to "scout" and his family. Clearing the fire hydrant across the street benefits your neighborhood and the scout. A neighborhood is usually a small subset of a community. I suppose if your town is so small that the neighborhood is the town, maybe the scout is a Lone Scout? Anyway semantics aside, I want my scouts to start thinking outside of their neighborhoods towards the needs of their community, then nation, and world.

A service project should teach citizenship, i.e.,what we as scouts can do for our community. There's a difference between being a good neighbor and being a good citizen. Doing a Good Turn ("does not provide a benefit to the general public"} in a Private Community where YOU live is being a good neighbor. Shoveling out the fire hydrant on your street is being a good neighbor. Doing a Good Turn for your Whole Community is being a good citizen and more in the scout spirit of helping others. Put another way, as SM/ASM, I and anyone else should be able to go see the finished work and perhaps benefit. I don't want to visit And the sign said, Anybody caught trespassin' would be shot on sight http://www.yccbsa.org/OrgHeaders/406/Service%20Project%20Guidelines.pdf