CalicoPenn

I suspect the term bully is being used because of the perceived superiority of a former area-level (read national) professional scouter and the assumption that it's not just a simple complaint but a bit of tossing his weight around as well. However, it's a valid point that the term is misplaced - we don't know the circumstances of how the complaint was actually delivered or whether the Cubmaster just assumed there was an implied threat because of the complainers former position. That being said, unless the Cubmaster is getting multiple complaints from multiple parents, or if it's a breaking of an actual policy that they can prove up with official BSA documentation, then the Cubmaster should be politely listening, take it under advisement and perhaps discuss at a leader's meeting or committee meeting - and should be backing up his volunteer.

If I were Cubmaster, my first reaction would be to back up the guy that's actually volunteering while acknowledging the concern and assuring them that the sword is a replica and not sharpened. If it's some former professional complaining, I'm telling him/her to show me the actual rule in an official BSA publication. If I'm the sword bearer, I'm explaining that it is a replica sword that is not sharpened, that no one else is complaining, and asking the CM to show me the actual rule in an official BSA publication. If the answer comes back as an "I'm the CM and my decision is final" kind of answer, then my response is "Don't ever ask me to do anything else for this unit beyond my current duties - and start looking for my replacement".

Welcome to the forum. If you're wondering if you should take extra special care of your neckerchief by leaving it its packaging and never wearing it then I would suggest that the point is being missed. Those special limited edition neckerchiefs should be worn and worn with pride - 100 years as a continuous unit is a heck of an accomplishment. Thinking of buying extras to put away? If you're thinking of having a few on hand to give as gifts in 10 or 20 years to some deserving Scouts in the Troop who were not around for #100, that's a great idea. If you're looking for it as an investment, you're probably going to be better off putting that money in a savings account. When it comes to collectibles, mugs are probably the least collectible. As one collector says - they're good for drinking coffee out of or for target practice. Patches are the most popular collectible and there are a lot of them. It's easy to specialize in one kind of patch as there are so many different types of patches that can be collected - just OA flaps, just Council shoulder patches, just rank patches, just Jamboree patches, just merit badges - you get the idea. Just as a fun aside, the rarest patch is the Invention Merit Badge from 1911-1915 though it may be unfair to call it the rarest patch as in this case it would be the rarest patch in the same way that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is the rarest bird - it was only earned by 10 Scouts and there are no known surviving specimens of this merit badge in existence - if you ever find one, you're probably going to be retiring early. Unfortunately neckerchiefs are pretty far down on the list as well. There are folks that collect them, but they aren't as numerous as patch collectors, and like many patch collectors, they seem to specialize. Some only want neckerchiefs from summer camps, some only from Jamborees. There may be a few out there that collect Troop special edition neckerchiefs but they may be hard to find, even on E-bay. I suspect that your special edition neckerchief will have about the same value as the special edition neckerchief I got from my Troop back in the 1970's - sentimental value.

Can a pack drop their CO and move to another one? Sure - you can all up and go to another CO - but there are consequences. All the funds in your account and all the equipment? Stays with the CO where they can hold on to it until they form another Pack. They'll also likely keep the Pack Number as well. The only time something like this works out is when the current CO agrees that they no longer want to have a Pack. Can something be done about a CO that refuses to assist the pack with a place to meet and causes more issues than being helpful? Not really - you can either accept the relationship as it is, or you just go about finding a new CO to create a new Pack. But before we get in to that, let's clear up a misunderstanding. The Chartered Agreements do not require CO's to provide a place to meet though a lot of people think it does. It only requires that the CO ensures that the Unit has appropriate facilities for their regular meetings. You meet in a school - you're meeting in an appropriate facility - maybe someone way back when got that relationship going - maybe the unit found it on its own (and the Charter doesn't even require that the CO find you a place to meet - only to ensure that the place you meet is appropriate) - the point is that the obligation has been met. Are they causing more issues? Compared to when? They may have been perfectly happy holding the charter and signing the paperwork once a year while leaving the Pack to it's own devices. There are plenty of COs out there that do just that - sign the paperwork and say have a good year and the BSA has no interest in challenging that. Perhaps the issues are caused by the Pack coming to the CO and changing the way the relationship operated. It sounds to me like the COR is pushing back because you've created more work for her without knowing it. Is there any reason the Pack leadership felt it had to try to get the CO more involved other than that's what some thought the CO should be doing? You might be better off going back to the way things used to be. I'm not sure what you're storing that you need a $300 a year storage facility. Perhaps you can store some of the bigger used once a year items with the Troop (and have an agreement with the Troop rather than the CO) and other stuff can be stored in someone's garage or basement? Perhaps someone who can't get involved as a volunteer on a weekly or monthly basis but has some room? Should I listen to my wife and leave the pack with one more year left to go for my son in the pack? I'm generally loathe to get involved in disagreements between spouses but I will suggest this - you have one year left to go - just one - your son has friends in his Den and Pack - moving him to a new Pack and Den at this point would likely be a bigger disruption to him, than it would be to either of you. If there was more than a year left, that might make a difference, but kids in the Cub Scout age group are better off with that kind of year-to-year stability. If he were a Boy Scout, it would probably be different - that age group tends to handle disruption a bit better. My suggestion would be to go back to the way things used to be and see if that makes things better.

Question - how would you make the determination that a Scout knows his stuff? And what "stuff" are you expecting him to know? Remember, the BOR is not a re-test. The best way to know if a Scout knows his stuff is to see him in action over time, putting to use what he has learned and practiced? One of the BOR's responsibilities is to make sure that the Scout has met all the requirements. I think too many folks think that means they need to re-test the Scout on the requirements when that is not what this responsibility means. Unfortunately, the BSA sometimes can't get out of its own way so instead of explaining it in plain language as an administrative task to make sure all the boxes are checked off (heaven forbid we suggest that BORs have something of an administrative task to do - why, we won't ever find people to serve on BORs if we ask them to do something clerk-like), the BSA comes up with no re-testing language that a bunch of folks like to ignore anyway. So I ask again, how to determine if a Scout "knows his stuff"?

So do we know exaclty what this is?

There is a name written in pencil above the photo which would indicate to me that this is indeed the cover to some sort of booklet or notebook. The name starts with an E, perhaps Eric, and the last name looks like it is Trout. I believe he would have been the owner of this booklet/notepad. Powers Engraving is likely to be also known as Powers Photo Engraving of New York - the Power's brothers held a number of patents for the photo-engraving process. I believe the title of the artwork is Message to the Chief, and though it could be interpreted as the Scout delivering a message to his Scoutmaster, based on the pointing by the Scoutmaster (yes, making an assumption on the relationship here), I suspect that it is a message the Scoutmaster is giving the Scout to relay to someone else - some unseen Chief. What's interesting is the requirements - those are the 1910 temporary requirements. In 1911, the cooking requirement was changed from cook the ingredients with the regulation kit to cook the ingredients without using regular kitchen equipment. The First Class reqiurement to train a Tenderfoot in 1910 was changed in 1911 to train a Tenderfoot that the Scout has recruited. It's unlikely that this was printed in 1910 - I don't believe there would have been time to start fully outfitting boys, and by late 1910, the BSA was being operated by the YMCA for a time until it was big enough and strong enough to go out on it's own. I think folks are on the right track that this is the cover to some kind of blank page notebook. I suspect that, despite the use of present tense, it was not printed with current requirements but with historical requirements. Based on the membership numbers presented, which I interpret as the number of members in the "Brigade" of Boy Scouts of America and not of the entire world, I'm guessing this as printed sometime between 1946, when membership first reached the 2 Million plus mark and 1952 when membership reached the 3 Million plus mark. Also, the background color being used - that light greenish-blue - is consistent with color printing from the late 40's and 50's and not from the 1910s-1930's. (Ok, your saying to yourself, Calico is really going out on a limb here but one way that folks can tell how old certain things are like quilts, and posters, and postcards (and other printed materials) is by the colors being used - every decade or so can be said to have a color palette - remember the 1970's with Avocado Green, that hideous Orange, and that equally hideous Yellow? Color Palette. Take a look at car colors - you can tell the difference between a 1950's car color and a 1960's car color. The same holds true for printing. There is even a whole color palette associated with Frank Lloyd Wright that can be used to identify his peak period. Now I could be wrong, but I've seen that shade on other things from the late 40's and early 50's but not on things from earlier). ps - it's just occured to me - you know what else comes in size 8 x 5 (technically 5 x 8)? Junior size Notepads.

We do use permission slips and require them for every non-meeting activity. Weekend camping trip? Permission slip. Day Hike? Permission slip. Night of bowling? Permission slip. We used to just do an annual one but now we do one for every activity. We know full well that they provide very little legal protection. The reason we use them is two-fold. The first is that a long while back, a Scout that was grounded and was told by his parents that he couldn't come on a camping trip showed up anyway - we had the annual permission slip and brought him along not knowing any thing was amiss. Unfortunately this was before cell phones were common. Fortunately, the lads parents figured it out (based on certain items being missing) and didn't panic. Had it been the son of a couple of other more tightly wound parents we had in the Troop, I have no doubt that we would have been interrupted at some point by flashing red lights. The other reason is that it helps to keep down the complaints by parents that they didn't know their son was going to be doing some activity that the parents disapprove of though we still usually get one or two a year, usually for our annual clay pigeon shooting trip - of course, it's usually the spouse that has signed it - but it makes it their issue, not ours. I know, I know - we could avoid that if we got both parents to sign it but a few years back, one of our single parents offhandedly mentioned that it always bother her a little to sign a form that had space for two parent's signatures - she wasn't adamant about it or insistent that we change our form - it just came out in conversation about all the forms that parents have to sign for their children's school and activities. We took it to heart and changed our form. We just make it a simple form - we describe the time, date, location and what the activity is, then provide a space for a parent to sign. That's it - no legalize, just an acknowledgment that a parent is aware of the activity being done.

Have you noticed who the GOP front runner is?

Oh - no doubt that they do have other political positions - but that's really beyond the point. How many people knew the Boy Scouts had a policy prohibiting gay scouts and leaders until it became an issue in the media? Heck - we had a lot of Scouters and people with boys in the BSA that had no idea. Now think about all of those people who then learned that the BSA had a policy against gays from the media - how many of them knew anything else about the Boy Scouts? Maybe they had a stereotypical view of a Scout helping a little old lady to cross the street (but more likely these days, help a little old man fly his house around with the help of balloons). I seem to remember a lot of lamenting within Scouting, both in this forum and in person, about how much people didn't know anything about the Boy Scouts except for the policy. We pay attention to what we read, what we consume in the media - and unfortunately we rarely take interest to go beyond what we read and hear in the media. When the US media does mention Amnesty International, it is almost always in the context of their opposition to the death penalty and in their defense of dissidents. No one ever reports on their position on contraceptives, abortion, prostitution, women's rights, men's rights - of any thing else they take a position on. So when an Archbishop of the Catholic Church singles out Amnesty International as being part of the problem with the Girl Scouts, without mentioning exactly why they are problematic, no one should be surprised if the first, and likely only, reaction is that the Catholic Church is supporting the execution of dissidents and is pro-death penalty.

Darn - who's peeling the onions in my living room

Good question - but in what context? Are you talking about advising/helping Scouts on the requirements? Other than any Troop-related requirements (within the GTA) I think your safe since every Troop should be using the same set of requirements as any other - where there might be difference, like who signs off, etc., then that's for someone from the Troop to deal with. Are you talking about as a "guest" in a BOR? You can certainly sit in as an observer for a Scout - but observers do just that - they observe - and should only step in if someone on the BOR is being abusive, and should only offer advice if asked by the members of the BOR. Should you be a member of the BOR? If the unit has more than 3 members of the committee, then it's skirting the GTA which says that a BOR is made up of 3 to 6 committee members but can use outside people if there are 3 or less members in the committee. If the unit is asking for your advice - go for it - but if you want to serve on BOR's, I would at least become a member of the committee.

Matt, Amnesty International may well have some kind of position on contraception and abortion but if you ask people what Amnesty International is all about, the first thing that pops in to people's heads is not contraception and abortion - it's imprisonment and the killing of political dissidents, of opposition leaders, or free speech advocates, and opposition to the death penalty. If you ask most people what Amnesty International's position is on abortion, most people couldn't tell you they even have one, let alone what it is (for the record, they don't advocate access to abortions for all - they do advocate to allow for abortions for victims of rape and incest, and for the health of the mother - which is pretty much the mainstream position in the United States). So am I really twisting things or am I pointing out what most people are likely to think when they read that an Archbishop of the Catholic Church is expressing opposition to Amnesty International? He may very well think, in his mind, that it's about Amnesty International's position on contraceptives and abortion, but that just isn't what most people are going to be thinking about, are they?

It depends on what your Council requirements are. The BSA has a "pilot" program where Councils can require certain positions to show that they have been trained in a minimum number of courses in order to be re-registered at the next charter renewal. National apparently hasn't yet rolled it out to all even though it's been in the pilot phase since 2010. Every leader MUST take youth protection training, regardless of whether the Council is participating in the pilot or not. If you're in a Council that requires that leaders have position specific training (and it's really not that onerous - for an ASM it's IOLS and one other course - all of which can be done by private coaching if need be) then they have to complete it by the next time the unit re-charters. If you are in a Council that is taking part in this program, they'll reject those 10-year leaders if they have not gotten the proper training. If you aren't in one of those councils, then unfortunately the answer is "as long as they want" since there is no requirement then for any training other than youth protection. If National ever rolls it out across the board, then they'll probably have to get training before the next re-charter. BTW - welcome to the forum.

Stosh, I like your ideas though I'm not sure about making any activity mandatory for him - we don't make them mandatory for any other Scout or Leader - but I like the idea of the Troop doing activities where he has the ability to hang around and interact with the Scouts. I'm also not sure about a new SM getting the stamp of approval first before something can be done - may as well keep him as SM then. Any new SM should have the ability to put their own ideas to work - but he should certainly be a resource to the SM - and I can definitely see the CC using him as a sounding board to make sure any new SM isn't driving off the rails. I also agree that he deserves a big party - where my concern lies is that he is reluctant to give up the post and I'd want to make sure that offering a SM Emeritus position doesn't get interpreted by him as being pushed out. Whether intended or not, big celebrations/roasts after taking on a SM Emeritus role could be interpreted as being a retirement party - even if that's not the intention. However, one possible way around it might be to choose some other big event - a birthday perhaps - or a big anniversary of his years in Scouting - to throw him that party - I just might not do it until a few months after he takes on the new role.

Ok, I'll admit to being a bit old fashioned in my thinking about merit badges - that they are done by individual Scouts (or with a buddy or two) with solid contact between the counselor and Scout. I do see a lot of merit in your approach as well - indeed, I've seen it work - our District used to run a winter time swimming and lifesaving merit badge "class" at a nearby indoor swimming pool to give Scouts the opportunity to earn these badges outside of the normal summer camp routine (heck, I worked these for a number of years). Earning these badges required a commitment of at least 4 Sunday evenings in a row at the local indoor pool, with plenty of Counselors on hand - swimming offered first, the lifesaving afterwards. It was comprehensive, and well run. I think this approach, which sounds much like yours, is a good approach - for a certain subset of merit badges. I think that's where my dislike of the standard merit badge fair comes from - its taken the concept and applied it to many merit badges that perhaps shouldn't be included, then made them a one day event. I don't think merit badges like the Citizenships, or First Aid, or Camping, etc. should be counseled this way. Yet the merit badges where this kind of fair would work well - swimming, lifesaving, auto mechanics, etc. end up getting the short shrift. Unfortunately, it would be an exercise in futility to try to come up with a list of merit badges to use this approach on with the idea that it not be used for other merit badges. But still, if we can resist the temptations (and demands) it would still be something worthwhile to pursue.

So in his letter, the Archbishop mentions that one of his problems with the Girl Scouts is their relationship with Amnesty International because, according to the Archbishop, the work of Amnesty International is in conflict with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Until now, I never thought of the Catholic Church being opposed to organizations that oppose dictatorial regimes beheading political opponents and other dissidents. Does the Pope know that his Archbishop supports beheading political enemies? Just curious.

Wendi, Welcome to the forum. Everything you mentioned in your first paragraph is EXACTLY how the Cub Scout Program Leaders (CM, DLs)/Committee responsibilities work. Your Pack has been doing it right for at least 2 Cubmasters. The Cubmaster and the Den Leaders should be meeting monthly to plan the program and to make sure the program plans are being followed - the BSA actually makes it pretty easy to do this by annually publishing a program plan for units to plug in and play that will lay out a theme for the year and a month by month guide of suggestions on how to do it. At least once a year, preferably prior to the start of the school year, they should be going over the annual plan with the idea of adopting it, adapting it, or just making up their own plan. The rest of the year's meetings are implementing the plan. The Committee's responsibilities, which includes recruiting leaders and handling the administrative tasks, including finances and award tracking, are geared towards supporting the program plan. Once the CM and his DLs plan the program, they proudly show it off to the Committee - not to get approval, but to figure out what kind of support is needed. It may be budgetary, it may be logistics - but it is never about planning the program or running the program - the committee's job is to support the program. If the Cubmaster and Den Leaders want to have a pack-wide campout in May, the committee helps with finding the camp site, making the travel arrangements, getting the permissions from the CO and Council - but they aren't responsible for planning the activities or the campfire. Your District Chair is, to put it bluntly, ignorant of how the program and committee sides of the unit relationships work. I would just flat out ignore the District Chair at this point. I would also flat out ignore anyone else who is part of the District Key-3. Frankly, they have absolutely no business interjecting themselves in to internal Pack business, regardless of who invites them. Then I would tell the COR that the Committee has decided that the Pack needs a new Cubmaster - one that will do the job required - the entire job - not just the Emcee having fun with the boys part - and that the Committee is starting to look for a new leader. In the meantime, either an ACM will have to step up or the CC will have to take on the role of Emcee temporarily. If the COR squawks, then the Committee simply needs to resign, en masse, from the committee then start demanding that the COR make sure that the Pack provides the program that they, as parents, expect the Pack to provide.

If he wants to stay on, he may be worried that the unit will decline again - or it may be that this is what gives him the motivation to keep on trucking if he's got serious health problems - gives him something to do and fight for. If he's comfortable with the ASM that's ready to step up, then having a friendly discussion about how the Troop is doing and suggesting a Scoutmaster Emeritus role would be a good start. Does anyone have a friendly relationship with his wife? She could be your biggest ally into talking him in to an active Scoutmaster Emeritus role. Don't overlook the possibility of his working more directly with a "new scout" patrol to help get them up to par - especially if he's already used to have Scouts camp in his "backyard". One thing I would avoid - if he's willing to go for a SM Emeritus type position, I would stay away from any big celebrations or roasts. I know the thinking is in honoring him, but it can also be seen as a retirement message and it may be that he's resisting the idea of retiring from Scouting more than he wants to continue to be Scoutmaster.

Ok, yes - instant re-commissioning of an old Battleship is a major gap in realty but we are talking about a movie titles Battleship in an era where we have no modern battleships so I let that one pass (and the scene where all the old salts are standing on various high points of the ship always causes the dust in the room to get in my eyes). But, I must overrule some objections. It's entirely possible that an alien civilization may have large ships that are incapable of landing and operating on land - though they did have smaller craft that could - these aliens had special helmets to cut down on the light of the sun - one conclusion that could be drawn is that they come from a dark planet - but since they have specialized helmets that allow them to venture in to the sun, I would suggest that they might live either underground, or, since they have ships that move so well in water and can't land on land, that they live under water, where it would also be dark - a water based civilization would have large craft that operate in water with smaller landing craft for land based operations. It's been a long established tradition in Science Fiction writing that there could be civilizations who invade and destroy everything without taking "booty" or slaves - I call your attention to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where Earth is to be utterly destroyed to put in a new space highway. This invasion was by a vanguard who lost their communications ship and was trying to re-establish contact with their fleet to bring down the real destruction - perhaps terraforming the planet to meet their needs or perhaps just to plunder some resources. Maybe they were there for the booty but didn't have time to get it - and if they were going to terraform or just plunder, they might not have need for an "insignificant" species like ours for slaves. And that insignificance could be the answer as to why the heroes could retrofit the Missouri - they have defeated us and we could be ignored. As for the Cartesian coordinate tracking - what better way to try to track vessels that are invisible to more modern means of detection - it's yet another example in the movie of how the old-fashioned ways of doing things can still be useful - besides, it's a movie based on a classic board game that uses Cartesian tactics - I thought it was cleverly done. But too each their own - you can show your boys The Sound of Music, Black Beauty, Babe, Mulan, Life is Beautiful or The Empire of the Sun if you want.

Ok - I can see some kind of "MB Fair" along these lines being awesome - provided that a Scout can't earn a merit badge at the fair. If it's set-up more like a Merit Badge Showcase where it's held all day at a school or banquet hall or a park or somewhere with enough room that maybe multiple merit badge counselors for a badge could set up a "booth" (like an old-fashioned Scout-O-Rama booth - or a Fishing, Camping, Hunting, Outdoor Loving, RV, etc. type of show for the public) where Scouts can visit all the booths and see if something catches their fancy and they decide to try for the badge by making an appointment with one of the counselors at the show (or is given a list of the counselors for that badge) I can see that as being pretty awesome. A Scout can't earn a badge, no lectures, no spending 3-5 hours in one sitting in a classroom environment with 20 Scouts and a Counselor - but they can certainly learn more about a badge and what the requirements are - heck, if you can generate the interest among the Merit Badge Counselors, you might be able to showcase 50, 60 or more merit badges. I'd even think that each booth could do some kind of activity where a Scout could meet one - and no more than one - requirement for a badge to get them on their way. It would require the cooperation of MBCs and the flexibility of Scoutmaster's to accept a "partial" blue card for the one activity to sign - but I could see this. I could also see where a couple of the largest and most active Troops in a District get together to plan and coordinate it and invite other units to come to the showcase.

There is no such thing as an awesome merit badge fair - and the reason they won't go away is that there are always some merit badge counselors who say yes when they should say not just no but H*** No.

My Side of the Mountain; Battleship; Godzilla (2014 AND 1954)

There are some that say there are more books about chess than about any other game or spor (though I have to think that fishing has to be a viable contender, as would hunting). I don't know of any good books on chess history for youth - though your local library might have something. My suggestion would be the Chess Merit Badge Book - chances are pretty good that it will discuss everything needed to meet the requirements.

We give them an annual inventory and an annual "audited" financial statement. We also give them a monthly treasurer's report. They may not read it, but it helps show our trustworthyness.