OldGreyEagle

you know, potaasium is the main drug used in the "lethal" injection of execution. Chlorine is a poison and a mainstay of the YMCA pool I swim in. Everybody pretty much agrees one shouldn't eat mercury yet its found in most Tuna but tuna is still sold, and eaten. I think one has to weigh the amount of food eaten boiled in a plastic bag. If you do it 2-3 times a year for one omlete each time, I dont think its anything to lose sleep over. It may not be something to do every day I agree. Its sorta like the time they fed a laboratory rate 50 pounds of cheese in a day, know what happened? The rat exploded yet I still eat cheese with impunity, just not 50 pounds of it in a day

If the youth have asked you back, you must have made some connection with the youth, and that is what scouting is, making connections with youth. Perhaps not with the original troop but you were given a talent to work with youth and it should not be hid under a bushel basket or burried in the backyard

You know Schiff, the medium is the message, the new WB'ers attitude towards you was much more of a message than anything that could have been said. I know I suffer from the malady of being so passionate that sometimes my passion obscures the idea I wanted to communicate. It does no good to abuse, belittle and generally harass someone who you are trying to have understand a point of view. Most people don't respond well to that style of "education"

"As Marshall McLuhan said, "The Medium is the Message."" I agree

One comment frequently heard about the forum is how nobody wants to have "cookie cutter" scouts, or "Cookie Cutter" troop programs. There seems to be an adverse reaction to anything that implies uniformity (like the uniform?) So, now, into this rather Libertarian mix ( not like that is a bad thing) we want to inject the Troop planning the Eagle Court of Honor for each scout. The path to Eagle requires 21 merit badges of which 12 are required from a list of 15. The scout gets to choose 9 merit badges to earn as electives from approximately 110 (once you subtract the required ones). In theory you could have 12 scouts earn Eagle and each have 9 different elective merit badges from the other 11. Why in the name of diversity would we have the Troop run a Court of Honor for all of them? Then again, if its the troop tradtion to do so, then they should do it. Eagle Courts of Honor don't have near the rules often associated with them. However it's done is fine

many Churches have Communion, the Catholic Church holds that only Catholics may receive Communion in a Catholic Church. Where does the need to be diverse end and the right of assosiation begin?

How much effort do you put in contacting him? Enough so when you tell the youth, hey I tried to contact you, you and he knows you did your best, no one can expect more.

Ah, very good question Gunny, very good. I know that habitat for humanity has a restrition on the workers, they have to be 16 years old at least and perhaps he didnt want to set up a situation where younger youth would be left out. Good questions, now, as far as being active, lets see how BSA defines active: Question: For the Star, Life, and Eagle Scout ranks, how is "Be active in your troop and patrol" defined? Answer: A Scout is considered to be active in his unit if: He is registered in his unit (registration fees are current). He has not been dismissed from his unit for disciplinary reasons. He is engaged by his unit leadership on a regular basis (Scoutmaster conference, informs the Scout of upcoming unit activities, through personal contact, and so on). The unit leaders are responsible for maintaining contact with the Scout on a regular basis. The Scout is not required to attend any certain percentage of activities or outings. However, unit leaders must ensure that he is fulfilling the obligations of his assigned leadership position. If he is not, then they should remove the Scout from that position. Now, if the scout is registered in the Troop and has not been dismissed due to diciplinary reasons, then he is active. You are correct that he could/should have asked for help from the scouts, but why hadnt the scoutmaster or designee called the scout and asked how he is, what is he doing, what are his plans with the troop, that sort of thing. If you have a second class scout miss three meetings in a row, why wouldnt the patrol leader call him and get an idea why he is missing meetings, if the scout wants to quit, why not have the scoutmaster call him. Its what a business would do with a customer, why would we do less?

allangr1024 you do have something there. If a scout does the First Aid merit badge and comes back with a signed blue card, he has the First Aid merit badge is the counselor is registered et al. Now, if when you go to do the first aid rank requirements, you find the scout lacking in knowledge on topics the First Aid merit badge covers, you would need to teach the skills and then have a quiet conversation with whoever ran the merit badge day and with the counselor.

I didn't want to further hijack LisaBob's thread, but I wanted to answer Gunny as well. This is the text of Gunny's post: "OGE, I agree with your definition. No really, no argument I do. By hypothetical way of example, if an Eagle Scout wanted a SM conference on his accomplishing the rest of the requirements for his first Palm, but he: 1) had never been seen on any camp out since his Eagle, 2)Came to one Meeting since his Eagle COH (1 meeting in sixteen), 3)Had not been on either of two Eagle work days for either of another Eagle candidates projects 4) Did not show up for any of several service projects 5) had previously stated a desire to help the SM in the transition to a boy-led troop but has only been around as stated above. And had had many messages left by but no conversations with the SM - the family in the hypothetical screens calls with religious fervor. But is a bright, engaging, charming youth with excellent social skills and a good and usable vocabulary should he still "Pass" in his Scout Spirit? The only thing he might be missing otherwise would be in "regular association with the SM". Or does he get held back until he has some measure of Adult association - Or does that get fulfilled in his Merit Badge work. I (hypothetically)never signed any of those blue cards by the way - assume the former SM did that part. No (hypothetically)there is no valid reason why he could not have been more involved. Could one say that some element of Scout spirit was lacking here? Could the Palm be denied? Under what grounds, if so, if any?" Ok, first we need to consider the requirements for a Palm, they are as follows: After becoming an Eagle Scout, you may earn Palms by completing the following requirements: 1. Be active in your troop and patrol for at least 3 months after becoming an Eagle Scout or after the award of your last Palm. 2. Demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your everyday life. 3. Make a satisfactory effort to develop and demonstrate leadership ability. 4. Earn five additional merit badges beyond those required for Eagle or last Palm.* 5. Take Part in a Scoutmaster conference. 6. Complete your board of review. When you read the requirements and consider the scout's situation, I would have a talk with the scout and ask how he fulfilled the requirements and then decide what to do. Many scouts think if you have 36 merit badges and 12 months to go to 18, they are assured of a Silver palm, but that isnt always so. Now, to add a wrinkle (sic!) I have a question. You find out that the scout, since his Eagle Court of Honor, has been working on a Habitat for Humanity House and he wanted to get it done before winter. He has lined up workers for all possible times the house can be worked on and he has coordinated all the work and workers himself. Everyone who knows him says he is a credit to the Troop, does he get the Palm?

The daughter of the troops scoutmaster went to Princeton, as a freshman she had an opportunity to do an event to meet other students who would be freshmen at Princeton, she joined a group that did a portion of the Applachian trails in Conn. She had never camped before and loved it. By the time she was a Senior, she was leading such treks. The name of the Organization that lead the trips is called Outdoor Action, I dont know if its a national organization or not, but if you are in or close to a University setting they may have a similar program. Its hard to give advice long distance, have fun whatever you do

Since World Jamborees is not camping, then it follows that Scouting does allow scouts to gather in non-camping venues. So, I can say that summer camp with a dining hall is not camping, but is a scouting event. If a scouting event produces memories dear to a scout and makes a positive impression on him about scoutings values. I'll take it, recognizing its not camping.

I have seen a lot of pictures of B-P walking around World Jamboree's and heard recordings of his voice at World Jamboree's. Are you telling me that Those World Jamboree's had patrol campsites 300 yards from each other? I know there were not as many people alive back then, but that would take alot of land by any standards.

I apologize if my use of the phrase "three tier program" sent anyone into a tizzy. I should know only to never veer from the words and phrases used in BSA publications and try to add in my own personality.

The Council is having a Council wide event and it was suggested that we do a Ranegr Award Court of Honor. Does anyone have a selection of readings or even a format of what you include? I would like to see what is being done

WildernesStudent, you confuse me First you want to know how to prepare a group of people with zero outdoor skills and then you want to extoll the virtures of going off trail. Is this for your group who you are convinced cant hike out of a blind alley or for yourself? If you want to go off trail, have a good time. Don't go single file, think of a single plant, it can recover from being stepped on once most likely but trod on 8 times greatly reduces the chances. I never saw LNT as too many rules or as a blight on my enjoyment of nature, rather as insurance my grandchild and greats will have something to see. Different views for sure and all are valid, just some dont make sense (is that an oxymoron or what?)

Maybe its an East Coast thing, what was the name of that New Jersey Governor who got caught, what was it, having Gay sex at rest stops on the New Jersey Parkway? What affiliation was that again?

I can understand that Venturing, a compeltely different program in the BSA would not be mentioned in NYLT, I wouldnt expect Explorer Posts to be mentioned either. But I wondered if Venture patrols were mentioned. There has been talk on the forum that a Boy Scout Troop should have a three tier program, New Scout Patrol, Experienced Scout Patrol and Venture Scout Patrol and there seemed to be reluctance that this was the case. I was wondering what the National Syllabus teaches youth about how their Troop should be set up

I understand what you are talking about, but what do the words "Leave No Trace" mean to you?

So, what we are back to is to have Wood Badge be an expert level Boy Scout adult training course and call it Wood Badge and then have either separate Expert Level Courses for Cubs, and Venturing, and Sea Scouts, and call it something else. Then, since we now have program specific advanced training courses we need multiple training teams. How many feel that the council they serve could put on a good advanced session separately in Cubs, Boy Scouts, Venturing, and Sea Scouts? I guess I could go along with Wood Badge being specific to Boy Scouts and then have a "Management Class" open to all aspects of the Program. It may lower Kudu's blood pressure. So to be fully trained in Boy Scouts I need to be a Wood Badger and a Management Course graduate, just the path an organization should take that currently has 30% of its adults trained at the entry level

Then there is that National guideline about nothing being closed in scouting and that every event is open to everyone. Then again, you may be tempted to do a Bobby Seale on the mom

Ed, I know of a couple of methods used in Boy Scouts that is missing in Venturing, its not accurate to say the methods are the same in all of the BSA Uniform- Optional Outdoors- While there are Outdoor Crews, Arts and Hobbies, Sports, Sea Scouts and Religious Life Advancement- There is no advancement program in Venturing although there are awards & Recognitions Patrol Method- Not used

Perhaps the topic should be rearranged to read "Why Scould the BSA trust us to deliver the Program". At a recent University of Scouting course I did on Boards of Review, I was faced with the question, in the first minute of the session with the question: Should a Board of Review take 4 hours it went downhill from there

Saturday was the Council's University of Scouting for this year. We had over 320 registered participants and a few walk-ins. It was held at a local community college and the place was ours for the day. It was great

My thought in mentioning this was whether or not this was an acceptable use of scouting in the political process