Rythos

Just use a different CO for the Venturing Crew and leave the other units where they are. Ry (Who can't figure out why the rest of the world can manage co-ed scouting and its just beyond the US, along with the metric system)

I found it interesting that in the YP case the council woman seemed to feel that if BSA allowed open Homosexuals into the program this man wouldn't have abused male children. I'm not sure how that really makes any sense. If he was interested in other men he would have been able to persue that on his own time. I don't really think that has anything to do with molestation of boys. Back on the current topic glad to hear everyone was safe, and hopefully they can sucessfully raise the amount of money needed to make their ship seaworthy again. Ry

Not if the Archdiocese decides it not really a crime but more of a spiritual problem, and conceals it...

It's amazing to me that the ASPACA and PETA don't try to shut this board down for all the dead horses that get beaten around here. Ry

Welcome!

I thought the Blue and Gold was in February...

Make sure you read all the how do we fire our CC threads to see if anyone from your unit is posting here Truly though, those threads can help you by showing how small problems eventually turn into big ones if handled incorrectly, and by doing so help you avoid any landmines. Best wishes on a difficult job! Rythos

Why can no one just follow the program?

We did this quite a bit in my Tiger den this year. I tended to fabricate a lot of the components ahead of time (cutting the pcv for the rings/drilling the baby food jar lids for slide backs) and had the parents run the glue guns for their kids. Some easy examples: Marbles belt loop - drill two holes in a baby food jar lid. Make a ring out of pipe cleaners that runs through the holes. Drop in enough glue and place the marbles onto the jar lid. We did this when we earned our marbles belt loop Pinewood Derby Slides - Cut Door molding in 1 1/2" widths. Glue pvc ring to the back of the molding, and use screw hole covers or slices of wood dowels as wheels which are glued on the sides of the molding. Kids paint cars and decorate and we actually made the kids neckerchiefs out of checkerboard bandannas from the craft store to go along with this. Lots of fun and it offsets the cost of the kids losing their offical slides which happens a ton. Matt

I'm a Den Leader and a Committee member in my local pack and I just ran the updated numbers. With my boy going from Tiger to Wolf it will run 32.00 to upgrade his uniform parts to the next level. For a new Wolf Scout that joins our den it will run 12.00 to sign up plus 95.00 to fully uniform him. If I was a parent without a strong personal attachment to Scouting my kid would be playing rec baseball or soccer at 25% of the cost of scouts. I will not be surprised if the vast majority of our new recruits do not even make the attempt to get uniformed. As it is the first thing I tell all my parents is to raid family members, ebay, thrift stores, and craigslist, long before they give a penny to the Scout Shop. There is no reason whatsoever that they need to price these items at this level, unless they are trying to drive their numbers down on purpose. If the bigwigs in Texas want to grow the problem they need to cut costs to parents, not keep bumping them up. Rythos

"But he will certainly do the minimum" Being an Eagle Scout shouldn't be about doing the minimum of anything, at least not if is supposed to be as meaningful as it once was. I've never understand wanting an award if it's devalued by the methods used to obtain it. If you and your son don't think you have the time or skill set for Scouts and are not willing to put 100% into it I would suggest concentrating on those activities that you are interested in and leaving behind scouting. If it's just about the patch it would seem anyone can pick one up at the link below: http://cgi.ebay.com/EAGLE-SCOUT-RANK-PATCH-NEW_W0QQitemZ400042481549QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item400042481549&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50 But it's always seemed to me that what you do during the Eagle journey and how you live your life afterward is more important than a piece of fabric. Best wishes, Matt

As someone who is responsible for all aspects of a year round camps food service operation (Not a scout camp admittedly) I always appreciate it when the Program Directors and other staff actually remember my staff is part of the team. All to often my employees go to great lengths to make sure a program has what it needs, and it goes unappreciated. Also I make sure that the staff that bothers to help my department out from time to time gets taken care of however we can. Never hurts to remember that they do a much work as the rest of the staff, and usually the campers have no idea who they are. Ry

Keeping the thread on the 24 hour actives in hopes of someone seeing it and being able to help me out. Ry

Does anyone have a picture of the Green Bar Bill Pack (either one that someone has made, or a scan of the picture from the books) I've been trying to find a picture for a while to see if this is something we would like to make. Thanks! Ry

Can anyone really claim surprise about where this conversation is going or will end up? Most of us could have guessed who would be on which side of this thread long before it even started. It has remained civil longer than I thought it would though. Ry