INDEX

ABOUT BILL SMITH'S UNOFFICIAL ROUNDTABLE WEB SITE BALOO'S BUGLE Last Update: 7/20/09

MISSION

The aim of this web site is to support Cub Scout leaders and those who serve them with suggestions for their dens and pack activities and organizations that could make their jobs easier and more successful.

DISCLAIMER

Nothing on this web site represents the views of the Boy Scouts of America, the Cascade Pacific Council, BSA or of any of its districts, Cub Scout packs or Boy Scout troops.

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ORGANIZATION

I have tried to make it easy for leaders searching for program activities or methods to zero in on what they are looking for. There are lots of tables and internal links to help. I have added a search facility that may help find key words. On occassion, I check to see how it's working and it does seem to help a bit. I have also included links to other sites that I think might be particularly valuable to visitors. Some are official BSA sites and some are not.

HOW TO USE THIS SITE

Start at an index - in the RT page if you're not sure, and pick a subject. Underlined words are links. Use them. If they take you somewhere you don't want to go, use your BACK button. Any text can be highlighted, selected and copied to your own computer programs. Same with images. Permission to use anything on these pages is granted as long as it used for the benefit of Scouting.

HISTORY

This all started out as exact copies of the Sunset Trail District Roundtable handouts. They were typical handouts with ceremonies, games, etc. based on the recommended themes and Webelos ABs. We noticed that some leaders who were strapped for time would drive up to our RT with a mini van full of kids, run in, grab one or more handouts and drive off.

To make it easier for them, we just copied it verbatim onto my personal web site. We could have put it up on the council site but the process to do that was slow and usually in a state of flux. In a few months we were getting about as many visitors to the web site as attendance at our Roundtable.

What a success!

In the spring of 2001, I resigned from RT duties to devote 100% to working on the National Jamboree. When I returned from Virginia I noticed that people were still visiting the monthly pages even though they were from last year and the theme was different.

I then decided to remove the theme stuff and just lump all the activities into categories like games, ceremonies, pack admin  and such and leave it alone until the interest subsided and I could quietly remove it. However I had, in June, promised the Tiger people at National that I would put Sue Hauser's new Tiger stuff up on the web. Time became critical when the printing of the new Tiger Cub Book was delayed so I put both Sue's power point and all the advancement chapters up on my RT site as well.

This permanently changed this site from a little local RT addendum to some sort of universal Scouting resource. Interest in maps of local troops and packs or local places to visit waned or stayed the same while national links, and especially Blue and Gold, grew to ridiculous proportions. Traffic has grown exponentially since then. The site has attracted hits to about 800,000 pages, 300,000 distinct IDs a year and visits from some 80 countries. I am convinced, now, that interest isn't going to fade away soon. I have some responsibility to make the quality of these pages to be the best that I can.

Bumps in the Road

That's the way things were until the spring of 2009.
Someone - probably from eastern Europe - was able to hack into my web site to corrupt many existing files and dump in thousands of new files. Much of the content was not suitable Cub Scouting material. It took several months to clean up the mess and then resurrect things on a new (more secure, hopefully) site. The following September, just as things were looking up, I suffered a hemorrhagic stroke that has certainly slowed me down. I'm gradually getting back to working on Scouting stuff.

I intend to keep it going to justify the interest and faith of those leaders that come here. Yeah, It takes me a bit more than an hour a week to maintain it. It's worth it because I respect and love these people who lead our packs and, as my Wonderful Wife Shirley reminds me, it keeps me off the streets and out of the bars.

Although I am mostly a National Cub Scouting wonk and tend to agree wholeheartedly with the folks in the Cub Scout division (the pros) and in the National Cub Scout committee (the vols) I do have some strong personal convictions that may run counter to some of you. they include:

Parents

I strongly believe that every child desperately needs the love, guidance and support of those people who make their homes safe havens. The Cub Scout program is, and must be, the leader in in fostering this love, guidance and support. This is built into the program and mandated by the Parent Agreement that a parent is required to sign before the boy may join. I decry the wishy-washy attitude that many councils and even some in Irving take - apparently just for the sake of achieving short term membership goals.

Craft:

I have a long standing distaste for the cute, junky craft projects that are often imposed on bored Cub Scouts. They are dull busy-work, encourage misbehavior and drive kids and families out of the program. When Cub Scouting Director, Brad Farmer suggested we totally drop the word CRAFT out of Cub Scouting vernacular, I was overjoyed. Remember CUTE is a four-letter word and has no place in Cub Scouts.

Pinewood Derbies:

The PWD has the potential to be a great Cub Scouting and family activity. Sadly, it is too often - often almost universally - run as a super competitive clash seemingly designed to disappoint all but two or three boys in the Pack. Worse still, there are strange misanthropes who are dedicated to run district PWDs so they can disappoint all but two or three boys in the entire district. I have seen a couple good PWDs - one of my grandsons was in a pack that actually made PWDs fun with no winners. If you doubt that pinewood derbies dissapoint boys, check out the PWD photos in pack web sites and look at the lack of smiles amongst the non winners.

District Cub Scout Activities

Our priorities for staging Cub Scout activities should be -

• Family - if it can be done at home or with the family, that's where Cub Scouting should be done.
• Den - If it can be done better with a bunch of friends, do it in the den.
• Pack - If it needs a lot of equipment or leaders, do it in the pack.
• District or Council - only if it can not be done any other way. Usually, activities like canoeing, field sports like bb-guns and archery are the ones best carried out at the district or council level. Every time the district leads an activity that is better done by packs, dens or families, we weaken the leadership structure of every pack we serve. You don't have to agree with me. There are lots of web sites out there that promote fuzzy stuff that will make you feel good and will sugar coat your program. Or, better still, read what Scout Executive Dennis Cook has to say about district activities.

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ABOUT BILL SMITH

I have been an adult Scouting volunteer since October, 1962. Since then I have been:

Cubmaster Pack 28, Jackson NJ Assistant Scoutmaster Troop 35 Lakewood, NJ Cubmaster Pack 135 Geneva IL Assistant Scoutmaster Troop 37, Geneva IL Scoutmaster Troop 37, Geneva IL Dist O&E Chair RT Commissioner Dupage Area Council (now (Three Fires)   Dist Membership Chair Two Rivers Council (now Three Fires)   Member Cncl Executive Bd.   Council CS Commissioner Unit Commissioner   Cncl Training Chair

Member Area 3, East Central Region (now Central) Member East Central Region Columbia Pacific Cncl (now Cascade Pacific)    Pioneer Dist - Boy Scout RT Staff,    Dist Commissioner    Sunset Trail    Dist.. - Membership Ch.    RT Commissioner Cascade Pacific Council   Membership Chair   Cncl. Vice President   Representative National Cncl.   Assist. Cubmaster Pack 122 Fort Gatlin Dist., Central Florida Council   Membership Committee.   Training Staff.

I hold Scouters Keys for Cubmaster, Scoutmaster and Commissioner, Dist. Award of Merit,  Silver Beaver, Membership in James E West and Heritage Societies. I completed Wood Badge courses R7-7 at Region 7 Canoe Base in 1969 (Soaring Eagle) and 900-1 at Mentone, AL in 1976 (Alabama PolarBear).

JAN Lee, fellow den member at WB course 900-1, Nov. 1976 at Mentone, AL.

I have also served on the staff of a National Camp School, 3 Woodbadge Courses, 5 National Task Forces and served as the Chair of a National Jamboree Exhibit. For the last several years I have been maintaining this web site and also contributing help to Dave Lyons of New Jersey with some articles for his BALOO'S BUGLE

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INSPIRATION AND INFLUENCES

I owe a debt of gratitude to a lot of Scouters who have guided and shaped my attitudes and my work in Scouting. Amongst them are:

Bud Bennett -

National Cub Scouting Director who taught me the values of parent participation

Ken Wells -

National Director of Research who taught me about the heritage and values of Scouting.

Jack Johnson -

One of the first DEs I worked with (now a SE in Ohio) who taught me membership.

Glenn Johnson -

Jack's boss (now retired in Irving, TX) who showed me how councils and districts

Murray Hasson -

An ASM in NJ who explained to me that "The reason for Cub Scouting's problems was because people like you [me] complain instead of getting involved and doing something about it."

Rick Barnes -

The professional Scouter I most enjoyed working with. The check lists and the open House at Cub Camps were his.

Mary Anne Rounds -

ECR Area 3 Cub Scout Ch. who got me involved in region and national events. 9001-WB buddy.

John Willett -

For many years, compatriot and co-worker. Now Dist. Ch Fort Gatlin district, Orlando.

Ed Hesser -

One of Bud's Associates - Now retired, great song leader who taught me the orange gloves technique

Bob Untch -

Nat. Director of Cub Scouting, advocate of Cub Scout camping, 900-1 WB buddy, who taught us to recruit DLs insteat of Cub Scouts.

Lee Ruiz -

WV Apple farmer and Vice Chair ECR Cub Scouting. 900-1 WB buddy who repeatedly emphasized the FUN of Cub Scouting. He was reputed to have roused an entire camp at 2-AM for the official setting of the sun dial to DLST.

J.A.N. Lee -

Author of the first Computer MB Pamphlet, 900-1 WB buddy who taught me the importance of titles (i.e. DLs rule)

Dave Proehl -

Nat. Assoc. Cub Scouting Dir, now retired youth minister. Inventor of the Stampede who finally established Bud and Bob's outdoor program.

Hajime (Huck) Smith

Member Pack 122, now member Kadaira Scout Group 1. Taught me the meaning of Akela

Shirley Smith -

who allowed me to be a CM as long as she didn't have to help. Two weeks later she was a DL, and then a trainer, Explorer Advisor, Pow Wow Chair, Ex. Bd member for two councils, staff of a pilot Nat. Camp School and a bunch of WB courses and many other projects.

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