Beth

I'm C.E.R.T. certified and several of my older scouts have gone through the training. No merit badges were earned nor did they ask for any. This was something that we did after working in the special needs shelters during the 2004 huricane season. Our area was hit with multiple storms. Our troop has earned community service hours by participating in the disaster drills being victims. The first aid training is not the same as the first aid merit badge, i.e. we never do CPR. You could cover several requirements for E-prep and a couple of other badges but the training in Florida won't cover any merit badge completely.

We use the budget plan in my troop. A portion of the scouts monthly dues is put into the transportation fund. So far, this has covered our monthly camping trips. We do reimburse drivers, start full & fill up upon return, for any trip 1 hour away or more. For summer camp, we include it in the price we charge for camp. The budget is on the agenda for the next committee meeting to review the breakout of the dues, I'd hate to have to start charging the scouts more for dues, currently $8.00/mo or add a fee to the campouts.

We had a similar incident in our troop three years ago only the weapon was a large knife. The scout being assulted parents' are both deputy's for the local sheriff which could have turned real ugly. What worked well for everyone involved was the offending youth had to attended and pass anger management classes, wrote a sincere letter of apology to the troop, the parents and the youth and wasn't allowed to attend any troop activity including meetings until he passed the class and received a letter of clearance that he was not a threat to others. The youth had a hard time upon returning to the troop accepting that the adults let the past go. He told me once he had never experienced the forgiveness that the troop offered and didn't trust that the adults could put it the incident behind them. He has turned out to be a wonderful asset to the troop.

In our troop, twice a year we print an individual scout record from troop master that includes personl info, advancements, completed merit badges, and partials with a list of what's needed to complete the badge. It's a simple process using troop master. The Scouts are given this handout at the August and February COH. They are told to look for mistakes to be corrected but it also serves to refresh their memories on how close they are to that badge. Within a couple weeks after the COH, we have a fresh new batch of completed merit badges. Seems to work like a charm.

We have a relatively young troop, only 2 years old. We have matching tents for all the scouts. All of our troop gear is labeled right down to the forks and knives, coolers and water jugs. We have four patrols worth of gear, red, blue, green and orange are the assigned colors. Paints pens, shrink tape and colored electrical tape worked wonders for marking. I could go on and on but back to the tents. Each of our of our tents and all parts are marked using the number system of 04-01, 04-02 etc. 04 = year, 01 = tent number. Besides that, each are marked using the corresponding color (paint pens) marked small and non-obtrusive. Tents 1-5 are blue, 6-10 are red, etc. When there is a repair needed, the tent is retired until fixed. Each tent is stored on a shelf assigned to a specific patrol (the bag is marked on the end so you can see which tents are there or missing). The quartermasters is responsible for making sure any borrowed tents (OA campouts etc) or tents taken home to dry are returned. This has worked well with our current troop and the previous troop where we developed our system. Our troop has been known to toss out every tent from the trailer, including the ones not used on the current campout and reset up every tent because the part numbers did not match. It's a story the boys pass on to the new scouts for many, many months. It's not a leason soon forgotten.

Thank you to everyone. They disconnected the life support today. Prayers are needed now for the family to continue on in living in the tradtion that Gail would have wanted them to.

Please say a prayer for our fellow Scouter, Gail. On Christmas eve day, she experienced a cardio plumonary embolism. The outlook is grim. She is only in her mid 40's with a 16 yo eagle scout son and a 14 yo daughter. She is the assistant Advancement Chair for our district as well as a fellow Woodbadger. She put together our districts Merit Badge Madness this past fall. Prayers are needed and appreciated.

My adult sons did not get any scouting gifts for Christmas but I did. My boys got me a 35" copper fire bowl and a load of oak firewood so that I can sit around the campfire anytime I want. They had me in tears with their thoughtfulness.

Raising 3 sons with varying degrees of ADD & ADHD & LD doesn't make me an expert but I have learned many tricks of the trade. They do not outgrow true ADD & ADHD. They do learn to live with it if properly directed. Eye contact, as stated above, is important but so is auditory contact. Use the scouts name when talking to him. Have him repeat to you the directions. Many people with ADD can hold a conversation and listen to another conversation at the same time. Don't think they aren't listening just because they aren't looking at you. Break the task down into only a couple of steps then have them come back for more directions. As with any of the scouts, look for the talent and use it, and then use it again. It's so easy to fall into the trap of negativity. Find the positive and reinforce it. Just do it a little more with scouts with ADD. If mornings are slow, have them wake up first. Show them ways to be organized on camping trips. It's not commonplace to them, they need the intervention of being shown an improved way of doing things. Just don't give up on them.

Creamy PB w/homemade strawberry jam on bread & dunk the sandwich in rich chocolate milk. Brings back memories from my childhood.

We just returned today. Have never really had any trouble getting the older guys to go. Took 17 youth to camp. 5 were high school age. The aquatics program always keeps them busy with water skiing, motorboating, small boat sailing, life guarding, and new this year was sail boarding. (In addition to the traditional aquatics classes) One boy took SCUBA. A couple took the 'Eagle Trail' program. Most of them already have the climbing MB. The BMX track was used alot during free time. The guys enjoy the staff/camper competitions. We also took 3 of our college age ASMs. They came home just to go to camp. They too kept busy at the waterfront, working with the camp commissioner doing campsite inspections and at shooting sports. Where were we? Flaming Arrow SR in Lake Wales Florida. I'm not sure who had more fun this year, youth or adults.