buffalo2

I recently submitted a ~$50 receipt for Camp equipment to our Council for reimbursement in the normal fashion. When I received that check it was for a slightly different amount; I was not reimbursed for the State sales tax, only the material cost. A question to the Council developed that this small difference was considered as my personal donation to Scouting (without a Thank You) Imagine my surprise... I was not offered tax ID information to use nor directed to vendors that carry our Council accounts. There has been no official release or clarification on the matter; we volunteers are expected to absorb this as one more contribution. Is this a BSA National policy or has my Council suddenly gotten creative?

Like it better than a GriGri?

Thanks folks!

Folks - Our Venture Crew is interested in touring Washington DC for a few weekdays in August; we're looking for ideas on inexpensive places for a group of about 10 to stay in the area. Camping is an option and we're hoping to find some Scout property somewhere, then using Park & Ride lots and riding the subway in and out of the DC Metro area. Any ideas or guidance on this? Thanks!

Does anyone have an electronic copy of the BSA guidelines for caving? I've seen it and it really does exist as a separate entity, but of course don't have the document # handy... And yes it is a bin item but the chances of finding one locally are slim! The first half is the G2SS Caving section and the second half is written by the NSS and concerns cave conservation. Would appreciate a link or a PM. Thanks in advance

Hi Eammon - like you, I'm disgusted by what passes for (family-rated) programming on the televeision these days; the coarsening of our society comes in a large part from these 'shock' things that are foisted of on us in the name of entertainment. And the news is no better; why in the world some poor person thats just had a member of their family killed in a house fire NEEDS to be immediately interviewed and edited is absolutely beyond me... We don't watch a lot of TV in our household, read a lot instead, and honestly I don't think we're missing much (except for the odd looks we get when a 'Survivor' reference comes up and are clueless) Buffalo3 (about OJs age) watches what he wants on cable (-movies) when he gets the urge, but spends more time on the video games in and around homework and Scout stuff etc. He seems to go in spurts with these things, and when he's done with one just parks it. He seems to have the same fascination and intense application with learning computer programming or calculus or whatever else; I think that's something of a kid thing that we've forgotten... And I marvel at the depth of detail these guys will exhibit when discussing a game that they're all familiar with; if we'd shown that level of concentration at that age we'd be astronauts! There's something that they are developing that we don't quite understand, when that focus is shifted to the real world these boys will suddenly show an ability to learn thats impressive. I'm a little more concerned about some of the forbidden fruit aspect of things; that by making a fuss over something we add to the importance of it in our children's minds. Lots of what we think is truly evil slides right off as not quite comprehensible (unless I'm deluding myself) and falls away until we call their attention to it. I do what I can to try and find better things to do than watch TV, rather than just police what's in front of him. As the lad grows, he's exhibiting a fairly level head and I'm more interested in seeing him develop in his own directions than just blindly follow along with whatever Dad thinks... Maybe this is where that Adult Association thing starts paying off?? To end this meandering, I'd like to encourage folks to look for the good in these kids; it's there and we don't always see it. Look for opportunities to deal with them on an equal basis; while not always appropriate or possible, it sends a good message across. And remember that they're changing a lot and we're just moving along; last year's problem child might be next year's SPL! Sorry for the long post but this is pretty important...

I hate to sound silly, and don't really have anything meaningful to contribute to the discussion (other than some agreement) but I'm really moved by the general tone and quality of this thread... And thanks for the BP link!

Trevor - While there are some good ideas here, you might do some searching through the archives on this one, particularly for thoughts on this from EagleDad. FWIW in our Troop we're using a Venture Patrol on a event by event basis and tie it in with the Crew whenever we can. Wouldn't call it a smashing success but its working kinda...

Privacy is long gone...

Eammon we forget how hard these guys are working sometimes... Be glad he doesn't still try to stay up and then grump it out the next day! Wondering if we could develop some sort of an index based on calendar age and oversized feet (indicating rate of growth) Might be fun, if only to come up with a name and the necessary acronym.

Thanks for sharing Eammon I'm just getting to the point where the boys that I came through Cubs with are earning their Eagles and starting to step out in life. Its a pleasure to run with them when I can, and an honor to have been even a small part of their development... Makes you look a little harder at the younger ones and try to do what small things we can.

A most excellent topic - and thanks for the perspective!

I like to have the SCOUTS try out some different ideas. They are able to maintain dignity appropriate to the situation. Of course a lot depends on how many flags you have and how much time and your audience etc. This can be a good opportunity for your Historian or another Scout that sits back a bit to do something special. One thing that hasn't worked all that well for us is to have each boy put a piece of the flag inthe fire. We ended up with too much moving around which seemed to dilute things a bit; and as the fire flared up the boys ended up almost throwing their stripes on and that didn't contribute to the decorum. As always, your mileage may vary...

Thank you Uncle Guinea - for a useful addition to my vocabulary, and for introducing a bit of light...

Thanks to Mark and Hunt for trying to bring this back on a rational level. I've learned different things from both of these guys, and think it's about time that we consider agreeing to disagree...