Twocubdad

Cool. Best part of summer camp for me is watching the new boys make friends and really become integrated with the older Scouts. You'll be at the mall this winter and see your son talking with some sketchy high school kid who needs a shave only to discover it's one of his buddies from camp. I've been to Cherokee. The hardest part of Swimming MB there is the hump back and forth to the waterfront!

No, RD, there is no evidence he "chose to exit his vehicle and confront Martin." Read the transcripts. http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/326700-full-transcript-zimmerman.html (I believe this is from Mother Jones, so assume what you will). Zimmerman followed Martin as part of an ongoing conversation in which the dispatcher kept asking for Martin's location. In hindsight, getting out of the car and following a Martin to see was a bad idea, but in the moment, with the dispatcher asking "which way is he running?" it isn't a totally unreasonable to try and see which way he's running. And contrary to the media spin, "the police" didn't tell Zimmerman not to follow or to stop following Martin. All the dispatcher said was "Okay, we don't need you to do that." Hardly a command. And he never followed up. Never asked, are you still following the guy? Never said, sir you really should go back to your car and wait for officers.

Because a jury of his peers found that the case against him did not prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt? Both made mistakes and had opportunities to avoid confrontation. The results were tragic. People make tragic mistakes all the time. Sometimes the mistakes and the outcomes are grossly disproportionate. It doesn't necessarily mean criminal convictions follow.

Allowing unit leaders to disallow MBs which are obviously unearned is a good thing. I thing the "rat sheet" on counselors is silly. Do you really need a form? The previously announced change to blue cards -- the unit leaders have no discretion in either the choice of counselors or when or if a Scout starts working on MBs -- is a serious error. We're not likely to make any changes in how we counsel our Scouts regarding merit badges.

I've been surprised at the number of people who have approached me wanting to discuss this. A lot of folks around know I'm The Scout Guy and I think are genuinely interested to know about the issue first hand. And some want to give their opinion and just have someone listen (this tends to be folks involved in the program at some level). I try to listen and do my best to give my understanding of the factual issues and my personal view on the topic -- and to identify both. I keep waiting for someone to approach me with an ax to grind, but (knock, knock) so far the folks have been very civil and engaging.

Was it on the old Newhart show that during town meetings some faceless voice in the back of the hall kept yelling "I OBJECT" to everything? It was funny then.

So don't go. Personally, having been at the last jambo dealing with 40-50,000 visitors a day and having the paying Scouts in my troop blocked out events because visitors and staff jumped the line and took our spots, I would completely close the site to non participants. This includes all the council and national muckety-mucks who believe they are entitled to a guided golf-cart tour of the site.

I went as a youth in '73. That was the year the red berets were introduced and -- over the great anguish of most Scouts -- were required parts of the jamboree uniform. Personally, I never wore the stupid thing again after getting off the bus back at home. BUT, one of my fondest memories of jamboree was the miles-long column of red berets marching to the opening and closing shows -- disappearing around one curve and reappearing over the next hill. There is a time and place for proper uniforming. which is one of the biggest lessons of the Uniform Method generally. I have no problem requiring full uniforms of jamboree participants, including jamboree-specific items. It is appropriate to wear them for arena shows, colors and other occasions. But 24-7 is silly, especially at an event which is billed to be high adventure oriented. What difference does it make the kind of socks a kid wears to go swimming or rafting? Or to sit and trade patches?

Yeah, everyone knows real Scouting can't possibly occur without the right socks.

Have the rules changed recently for running a pack? Used to be a requirement of the charter to have a separate Tiger DL if you had Tiger-aged boys; a separate Cub DL if you had Wolf and Bear-aged boys and a separate Webelos DL if you had Webelos. The only allowed combined dens were Wolf and Bear and Webelos I and II. How are you getting away with one DL running the ENTIRE program?

I think Schiff is correct in that other volunteer organizations are easier, but not because of the paperwork and training required of the BSA, but because other volunteer organizations are built around making life easy for the volunteers. I think the nature of volunteering has changed. I was always surprised that I could get 100 volunteers to take a week off work and serve as "den leaders" at day camp. Basically all day camp DLs do is shepherd 12 kids from activity to activity for a week. But get two or three volunteers to be real den leaders and take responsibility for a den program for a year -- for get it. Every job I've had in BSA has required commitment and taking responsibility. Like Scoutmaster, Cubmaster or CSDC director. Now, when you get to district and council committees, there seems to be a mix of people there to get something accomplished, those who believe the rest of us are in need of their wisdom and the ROMEOs (Retired Old Men Eating Out.) When I was a kid, the volunteer stuff I remember my parents doing were roll-up-your sleeves volunteer jobs. My dad did a lot of fundraising for the Kiwanis Club, Chamber of Commerce and United Way. I'm sure he did stints as a worker bee, but I mostly remember him being campaign chairman and later board chairman of the UW and that sort of stuff. Mom did the typical June Cleaver stuff at church and the PTA, but at one time she and a couple friends created a program to teach under-privileged folks how to sew and make clothes for their families. When that caught on, she started shaking the bushes for people to donate used sewing machines to the program. I can remember delivering sewing machines to tar paper shacks where I though the machines would fall through the floor. People now want to be drive-thru volunteers. They want to show up for the walk-a-thon, drink a couple glasses of wine with their friends, write a check and go home. Or show up at the local Habitat build with their new hammer and nail apron and get their picture in the paper. It's volunteering as entertainment. There aren't many jobs in Scouting like that. But people try. My biggest issue with the volunteers in our troop is the lack of responsibility. I can ask someone this week to change the toilet paper roll in the Scout House and they are more than happy to do it. But next week the roll is empty again and I'm back to asking some to take care of it again.. Maybe my brain is just wired differently from other folks, When I get involved in an organization, I look for ways to contribute. If the TP is empty, I'll replace it. If I don't know where they keep the spare rolls, I'll find them. If there isn't any, I go buy it. it's really hard for me to understand folks who don't think that way. How can you walk past a full trashcan and not empty it?

Back in the day we licked/wiped stuff clean and just dunked it in boiling water. You would think there would be a pretty quick learning curve when it comes to sticking you hand in a pot of hot water to grab a fork or spoon, but you would be wrong. Stupid hurts. I do recall that when we went to jamboree in '73 we had nylon mesh bags we'd put utensils in to dunk them, and spin them dry.

I googled Sterimine tablets and found them really cheap from some livestock supply house. That's an interesting mailing list to be on. Reminds me of the "Bull 5000" episode of King of the Hill. The sanitation tablets are much easier/safer than using scalding water or bleach. Cuts down on the amount of water heating needed. With the sanitizer, you only need water warm enough to be comfortable and help cut the grease. We've going to the trouble of installing three fiberglass laundry tubs out back of the Scout House. Ten buck each at Habitat Restore. While the boys are supposed to come home with clean kitchen gear, it's not an infrequent thing that they will open their patrol tubs a few weeks later to find everything fuzzy. We'll send them outside and have them run the three-pot method using the sinks. Our CO has a really nice kitchen we could use, but we would spend more time cleaning the kitchen afterwards than we spend cleaning the gear.

Whitewater is an extra? You've got to be friggin' kidding. What next? A fee for using the trails at Philmont? Will swimming be a extra at Seabase? Paddles not included at Northern Tier?

The problem with a national campaign is that it depends on units and councils to work. If National spends $XX on TV spots in Townville, but the council isn't able, willing, or interested in facilitating a large influx of new recruits, then all National has done is waste that money and create ill will on the part of the new recruits who fall through the cracks. National has put the money in where they can best spend it, and created a complete marketing package that is available for free to any council that wants to use it: http://www.scouting.org/sitecore/con...ecruiting.aspx This could sound like excuse-making, but take a look at BeAscout.org and put in your own ZIP code. I use it routinely to try and find contact info for troops across the country, but it has almost always not been configured. Free marketing for every unit in the country, but virtually no units are taking advantage of it. Oh please! If BeAScout is your example of BSA's crackerjack marketing efforts, then any others will be a waste of time and money, too. We were one of the first units in the area to configure BeAScout for our troop. In the years since, it has generated precisely TWO leads. But in order to pursue them, I have to check the site manually every day? That's an effective use of my time? We get more inquiries off a very simple district web site which shows a table listing troops, meeting dates and places and my email and phone number. Gee whiz, maybe if they had thought to add a function which would notify unit leaders by email when they get a hit, they could respond. Nah, that makes too much sense. My hunch is BeAScout was the result of some check box on the strategic plan launched with no training, no support and no follow-through.

What's wrong with an old-fashioned, hand-written, heart-felt thank-you note?

I think you're missing the cooperative nature of the program, Stosh. This IS the parents chipping in. If, as a camp director, I can gain 10 volunteers by assigning a couple of them to watch the children of the other 8, I count that as a net increase of 8 volunteers, not the loss of 2.

Camp standards require non BSA members be covered by supplemental insurance which costs about $1 each. The purpose of the tot lots IS to provide day care for the non Scout children of the volunteers. Not many folks can afford to pay several hundred dollars per child to volunteer for at day camp.

"My point is this is a ridiculous discussion..... " DING! Correct answer. This is Boy Scouts. Why are the adults even paying attention to this?. Our guys much prefer to sleep under the stars in hammocks, weather permitting. Everyone still has a tent for storing gear, changing clothes and bad weather, but I couldn't care less. My only concern is with the new Scouts. I've had little guys freak out when they learn their tent mate is sleeping with the gang in a hammock and he's stuck in the big, scary tent alone. My only rule/request is the new guys pair up with another guy who has the same plans for sleeping in a tent or hammock. Last week was a bit odd in that it seemed like the guys were changing tents and tent mates all week. I think it was a function of the rainy weather and different guys willing to take chances with the rain. Still, I don't care. If you're somewhere in the campsite by taps, I'm okay with it.

Other than when flying, the thought never crosses my mind that any of the variety of knives I regularly carry and use may be illegal. I don't think it is as big an issue as you may think.

Hmmmm..... Three days in to a week long trek and Scout One and Two are only now remembering they have the map and compass? Where was Mr. Motivation while they were GETTING lost? Success had been defined as 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration. I'd put motivation and competence at about the same ratio. Charging up and down mountains just because there are mountains to charge up and down isn't necessarily helpful. While inspirational leadership is a necessary component, nothing motivates me like someone who knows what the hell they're doing.

Really. That never happens around here.

Got it. Then how about this: Dear Mr. & Mrs. Kettle -- I'm sorry your understanding/expectations for the Scouting program are different from those in our pack. We have a very clear mandate from BSA that requirements are to be met as written -- no more and no less. As you see from the BearTrax spreadsheet you completed for Dear Sweet One, he is substantially short of meeting the requirements for Bear. It would be unfair to both Dear Sweet One and the other Scouts to award a badge he did not complete. Both his den leader and I have offered numerous times to help him complete requirements he as missed, but it is difficult to complete all the requirements when missing numerous meeting. Dear Sweet One can continue to work on these requirements until (date)** and I will be more than happy to work with him, to the extent my family's summer schedule allows. But the great thing about Cub Scouts is every year is a new start. Beginning in September we will all start anew working towards the Webelos badge and I have no doubt that Dear Sweet One can complete it along with his friends in the den. Sincerely Yours in Service to Scouting, Chris ** A note on the cutoff date. There is nothing which says a pack has to have a hard, fixed program year. There is no reason a Scout can't continue working toward last year's rank through the summer. You just can't go back and work on Bear once you're a Webelos. Consequently, I wouldn't let them work on both Bear and Webelos at the same time or go back and forth. And as Pack says, there is only so much you can do. We've all gone above and beyond to help particular boys and sometimes it pays off and sometimes it get thrown back at us. You (and the DL) have to decide where the boundaries are.

You said the PARENTS have updated the sheet, but it's still showing incomplete requirements? But the GRANDPARENTS are complaining? I don't think the grandparents have a dog in this hunt. Say to them "Well bless his heart." Then thank them for their interest in the program, smile sympathetically and walk away.

And here I thought part of the beauty of the program is its flexibility to adapt to the needs, interests and abilities of the local boys, families and leaders. Love how you guys find pejorative ways of describing the OTHER guy's program. You should apply for writing jobs at Fox News or MSNBC (it doesn't matter which).