I'm putting this edition of the Casper Daily Tribune up for one reason.
The article on the Boy Scouts.
It notes its explosive growth at the time, and that there was a troop in Mills. There's no troop there today.
Indeed, church troops, which this article notes, have really dwindled, although they still exist. I know that in the 30s, St. Anthony's Catholic Church and St. Mark's Episcopal Church both had troops. They no longer do, although St. Mark's retains a cub scout troops.
According to the short search of it I did, today the local troops are:
Contact: Devin Hutchinson
Phone: (307) 337-1185
Email: devin930@hotmail.com
Boy Troop
Online Registration available for this unit.
Meets on Thursday nights at the church.
Girl Troop
Contact: Richard Summerton
Phone: (307) 259-8878
Email: rlsummerton@gmail.com
Boy Troop
Online Registration available for this unit.
Meets on Tuesday nights in the basement of the Elks Lodge.
Contact: Craig Dutcher
Phone: (307) 258-9379
Email: craigdutcher@hotmail.com
Website: http://www.wytroop94.com
Boy Troop
Online Registration available for this unit.
Troop 1094 is dedicated to provide an educational program for boys and young adults to build character, to train in the responsibilities of participating citizenship, and to develop personal fitness. Our Troop camps during most months of the year, participates in several community service projects, and meets every Tuesday evening for regular meetings.
Girl Troop
Boy Troop
Online Registration available for this unit.
Great Troop! Great fun! Meets on Monday nights at the church.
A few things to note.
Two of these are associated with a church, that being the First Christian Church. Way back in antiquity when I was briefly a Boy Scout, even though I'm Catholic, that was the troop I was in. I think this was solely because somebody we knew was in it, and I was invited. In retrospect, I'm surprised that my parents didn't suggest I look at the St. Anthony's troops, which was still around at the time, although its members were no doubt mostly alumni of St. Anthony's school.
The George Vroman legion troop actually meets at College Heights Baptist Church, based on that address. So is it a church troop? That's not clear, but probably not. That Legion post meets at the National Guard armory, so it doesn't have its own meeting site, which might explain it partially.
Two of these troops are associated with service organizations, the Elks and Rotary. Service organizations are on the decline as well, although both of those seem to be doing well in Casper.
Most of these troops have a girls troops associated with them. The introduction of girls into what had been the Boys Scouts happened a few years back, and when it occurred it took all the LDS troops out of the organization. They'd had a big presence in it. The move also irritated the Girl Scouts, for obvious reasons.
I don't know if It's helped the Boy Scouts or not. They've certainly been in decline, but I suspect that the introduction of girls hasn't helped. Mostly what it probably has served to do is to create one more way in which it's impossible for boys to be with men in a formal way. Scouting was reeling under homosexual rape/seduction scandals at the time, although I'm sure that some would object to that characterization, even though there really is no other way to accurately describe it given as it was obviously male on male. I'm not claiming, of course, that male on underage female, and for that matter female on underage male, sexual abuse does not occur. Indeed, in the last year there's been a host of female on underage male abuse reported nationwide from public schools, school teachers in general being the number one sexual abusers of the underage. Something, suffice it to say, is really amiss in our society, as it is likely that all of this reflects a big increase in this conduct, not merely the discovery of it.
At any rate, the introduction of girls into the organization wouldn't seem to be directly related, but in a way it was, designed to show that Scouting was cleaning up its act and becoming inclusive. It could have addressed that in another way, as it really undercut the basic nature of the organization.
As noted, my connection with Scouting is thin. I was only briefly a Boy Scout. I shouldn't, therefore, really care too much about its decline, but still, it says something about the evolution of American society over the past century, and whatever it says, it isn't really a good thing that it's a shadow of its former self.
Scouting no doubt has a lot to compete with these days. However, the irony of that is that when it was first formed, it did to, and in some ways was formed expressly for those reasons.
Erskine Childers, Ango Irish, English-born, Protestant, Irish Republican, was captured by the Irish Army in a nationwide roundup of IRA members.
Childers was an Irish revolutionary figure who went from being an ardent supporter of the British Empire who served in the Boer War, into a revolutionary. He was a member of the Anglo Irish aristocratic class, a lawyer, and a writer, who originally fit into the classic role of the period of English Empire loyalists, a view which he moved away from following the Boer War.
He helped smuggle German rifles into Ireland before the Great War, as he was by that time a supporter of home rule. When World War One came he was recalled into service and served first in the Royal Navy and then in the Royal Air Force. His nationalism known, he was already a figure in Irish efforts to secure independence, and following the war he ended up the secretary of the delegation which negotiated with the British for independence. He was an ardent opponent of the treaty with the UK.
He followed De Valera out of the Dail and published a pro-Republican journal following that while being a figure within Irish Republicanism. He was not popular, however, among the Republican rank and file who regarded him as English, not without some good reasons. He was not trusted with a military role in spite of being vastly experienced in the same.
He was arrested for carrying a .32 handgun and put to death under the Army Emergency Powers Resolution which made carrying a firearm without a license a capital offense, a supremely ironic law for a government that had come into existence through doing just that. He was executed on November 24, in what should be regarded as a supremely unjust act. He was 52 years of age
The Greek city of Saranta Ekklisies ("Forty Churches") in Thrace was turned over to the Turks, who renamed it at first "Kirk Kilise" ("Forty Churches"). Today it is Kirklareli, "The Place of 40"
The Marine Corps League was established.
The US released twenty vessels seized on the seas for carrying alcohol.
The Soviet Union introduced universal male conscription, starting at age 20.
The Reserve Officers Association was formed in the US. Originally an organization made up of reserve officers who had served in World War One, it's now an association that includes reservists of all ranks.
Lithuania introduced the Lita as its currency, replacing German currency it had been used.
It's really odd to think of the American Legion, which was brand new at the time, even having an opinion on this topic, let alone an anti-Japanese immigrant one in light of Japan having been an Allied power in World War One.
