Unfair Pinewood Derby Race

[rtullier]

Jamist649:

 

Just as you state in your post, in one of my previous posts to this thread, I described the hours and hours and hundreds of my own dollars that I have given to the Cub Scouts to date. Given that you don't know the people involved and their respective actions that were felt by many parents at the event to be unwelcome at best, and offensive to everyone present, you are, respectfully, not in a position to judge this situation and the use of the term "allowed".

 

To imply that you would like to use harsh language to make a statement is certainly not in the spirit of scouting. Not one other poster took the extreme position that you took and I will ask a moderator to remove your post from this thread.

[AnnLaurelB]

*sigh* Really?

 

You're going to get upset over what a stranger types on a screen in cyberspace?

 

C'mon. You opened the thread. And this is what's called an "open forum". If some people felt your position was extreme, you may expect that their answers would swing the pendulum the other way.

 

To remove someone's *opinion* simply because the originator of the thread finds it beyond the pale would be the worst sort of censorship.

 

I respect your feelings; as I said, I surely understand being upset and then later thinking, "Okay, take a step back, here."

 

But if you want a forum where you can control the *degree* of poster's responses to you, you're probably going to have to start your own website, and man the moderating buttons yourself.

 

Just my opinion. I hope it doesn't get deleted.

[Lisabob]

You know, one year we had a family in our pack who had a lot of money to throw around. They were very nice people, with two well-mannered boys. They did ask a ton of questions about pack finances (the dad seemed to think we had a CFO and a team of accountants - BWahahahaha! For our poor little pack!) and they got themselves appointed to the committee and as an asst. DL (as I recall).

 

But they were always on vacation or off somewhere, and hardly ever came to anything.

 

They bought an electronic timing system and computer software for our pinewood track - a fairly expensive item, and one that the pack would not have been able to purchase that year, without this family's generous donation. This was their only involvement in preparing for the race.

 

As a result, when they showed up at PWD day, they seemed to feel they should have the right to run the show. Down to the details of which cars their sons' cars should race against.

 

Sigh.

 

Honestly, I loved volunteering in cub scouts, but at times I wished we could send a few of the parents on a long walk off a short pier, so to speak.

 

(Don't doubt that many people have invested uncounted hours, and money, in the pack. You've just finished your first year with the pack and so you may not have a strong sense of what those folks have done. Some of those people may be wondering where you think you get off.)

[momof2cubs]

rtullier: I hope you do stick around in this forum, but if you choose to do that, you are really going to have to develop a thicker skin.

 

Something you have to understand about most of the guys that hang out here is that they are passionate about scouts. They devote time, money, talent, and energy to it. And most of the time, they don't get much in return. Most of the time, parents don't even say thank you. Most of the time, the only time you see some parents is when they have something to complain about.

 

So do we sometimes take things personally? You bet your patootie we do. Sometimes being a leader in scouts is a THANKLESS job.

 

Like I said before, I hope you take the advice that was given here to heart. These guys really know what they are talking about. It ain't easy being on this side of the stage.

[5yearscouter]

Quote rtullier: "Just as you state in your post, in one of my previous posts to this thread, I described the hours and hours and hundreds of my own dollars that I have given to the Cub Scouts to date. Given that you don't know the people involved and their respective actions that were felt by many parents at the event to be unwelcome at best, and offensive to everyone present, you are, respectfully, not in a position to judge this situation and the use of the term "allowed". "

 

hahehahehahehehahea

 

I'll raise you your one year in scouting, and your hundreds of dollars-- take what you've done and multiply times 2 boys thru the cub scout program (over 6 years now, yeah I need a new user name). I'm at thousands and thousands, of hours and dollars and miles driven for scouting.

 

I've run thru Derby with my kids 8 times now.

still haven't quite gotten it right no matter how many people would offer to make a fancy cabinet to display the cars on race day and spend hundreds of dollars. It's a different situation each year, but if handled with grace, and with the spirit of scouting, it ends up with nobody going home in tears.

 

 

There is then the annual discussion of buying a new track and changing this and that, new and improved software and more and more money thrown at the problem. And change of derby chairmen and yadda yadda yadda.

 

[neil_b]

When I was Cubmaster of our pack we fixed a lot of the "fairness" complaints by getting an electronic lane judge and using GrandPrix Race Manager Software.

 

However, what is fair to one person may be unfair to somebody else. A car that is falling apart may be running into other cars and causing them to break, so running them down the track is not fair to the other boys.

 

I have seen people build cars that were way over weight or didn't have enough track clearance. In two cases we tried very hard to help these people get their cars in working order and failed. In both cases the boys were very upset and the parents blamed us. Is this fair to the leaders who are trying so hard and putting in so much time for the boys?

[Scoutfish]

 

"Given that you don't know the people involved and their respective actions that were felt by many parents at the event to be unwelcome at best, and offensive to everyone present, you are, respectfully, not in a position to judge this situation and the use of the term "allowed".

 

Yeah, here's the thing..as we all have experienced it before - You asked a question, and the amount of info provided...was provided by you. If it was not enough...then that falls on you. If it was not clear enough( trust me, I'm an expert there) it falls on you.

 

See, you asked people what they thought of a partricular situation - of which you provided what you deemed to be enough details. So Jamist did EXACTLY what you asked Jamist to do.

 

The only thing I see is that you didn't like the answer. So what? It bappens. Not everybody agrees with me, sees things the way I do...nor do they always use the same expressions or terminology.

 

And to clarify, Jamist was completely correct on the phrase he took you to task on: "Allowed".

 

Packs can have PWD all they want. There is no higher authority ( other than the CO) who can tell them no. Packs do not have to apply for permission to hold a PWD in the district or council. It's up to the pack and any volunteers who are willing.

 

 

And what comes off abrasive is that this is the first time you participated in a PWD and you are already tossing out that YOU do not think they ought not to be allowed to hold another one.

 

And, I mean no disrespect , nor is this malicous..but honestly, what experience do you base that one?

 

This is your first PWD.

 

Nowq, from your original post, I agree that your packs PWD could be run much, much better. But you have to realize you can't just run in and tell people what they are doing wrong when you haven't done it yourself. It's always easy to look from the outside and throw blame.

 

I hope you join the PWD committee and use that energy to work with chaninging and implimenting a better event.

 

But I will caustion you: go in and start telling everybody that they are doing everything all wrong...and you will end up being a one man PWD committee!

 

(This message has been edited by scoutfish)

[83Eagle]

Nealb, why did the parents blame the leaders? Or perhaps, did the leaders show the parents that both of those specs are in the sheet that comes in the box? Maybe it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

[83Eagle]

Nealb, why did the parents blame the leaders? Or perhaps, did the leaders show the parents that both of those specs are in the sheet that comes in the box? Maybe it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

[AnnLaurelB]

I love you people.

 

Thank you, that is all.

[SeattlePioneer]

My own experience is that pack activities OFTEN improve with repetition as pack leaders identify problem areas and find ways to improve the program.

 

That happens to me all the time.

[AnnLaurelB]

*sigh*

 

I miss Tulli.