By Willis Webb | Published Thursday, September 25, 2008
When you talk to anyone about your community's children, almost all will agree we need to see they get the best education possible, and with that process, that we provide them with wholesome, fun activities outside the realm of school and family.
Most of us can point to some such experiences in our youth that helped keep us on the straight and narrow.
While the Boy Scouts of America experience still exists in an effective manner, adapting to the times, it was a bit different but no less effective when I went through it in the late 1940s into the mid-1950s. I am thankful for that experience because it complemented my parents' already effective formula.
Then as now, Scouting's objectives were developing character, citizenship and personal fitness. And, it was fun.
Scouting came about for me because of a couple of men - Jim Martin and George Mulcahy Sr. - devoted to providing a wholesome and nurturing experience for the boys in my hometown of Teague.
Troop 91 of Teague gained quite a reputation throughout what was then the Heart O' Texas Council, BSA. Each year HOTC produced what it termed a Boy Scout Circus in the Heart O' Texas Coliseum or Baylor Stadium in Waco. Our Scoutmasters decided Troop 91 would build a bridge in less than 15 minutes, suitable for crossing a small creek, and drive a Jeep across it.
Utilizing the woodsman skills we learned at troop meetings and outings, we took cedar posts and poles, using ropes as the only "holding-connecting" devices and built the bridge. Longer posts made up the framework and we "lashed" the shorter posts on it as ramps and a bridge floor, then one of the teenaged Scouts would drive the Jeep over the bridge to a standing ovation. The bridge-building stole the show and two dozen Teague Boy Scouts were ecstatic.
There were other activities and experiences and all were aimed at developing character and citizenship as well as learning a variety of skills in a wide range of topics and maintaining personal fitness.
One other annual highlight for me was attending summer camp at Camp Tahuaya on the Lampasas River near Belton.
Our leadership was such that it allowed for funny but harmless camp pranks young boys and young men are bound to employ.
One night, some older Scouts decided to scare a younger boy, nicknamed Doover, out of sleepwalking. They asked if he wanted to be tied into his bed. He agreed. The next morning, the ropes lay untied and his footprints led out into the woods near the campsite. They scolded him and told him they'd tie the knots better that night. After he fell asleep, the older boys untied the ropes and laid them back, then made footprints into the woods and created "animal tracks" all around a boy's footprints. In the morning, they woke Doover and showed him the prints, telling him a circus train had derailed near there and some of the animals escaped. Doover broke into tears. I really felt sorry for him. He didn't sleepwalk anymore during the camping experience. Weeks later, some of us told Doover what really happened.
I was impressed enough with that Central Texas area and the Scouting experiences that I retired to a home on the Lampasas River not far from the camp.
But Scouting did something else for me. As an adult, I came to realize how important it was to have organizations and programs for all youngsters, especially those who might not have had the "effective formula" my parents had for their children. I also came to know with certainty that we need caring adults, whether they have grown children or no children (Jim Martin had two daughters, no sons), to stay involved in programs and activities.
Every newspaper I ever published promoted wholesome activities for children as well as quality education. I was blessed to be the founding president of a Boys & Girls Club aimed at children who might otherwise be on the streets after school. I found it to be as effective with those "latch-key" kids as Scouting was for me and for other boys I knew.
And, I know that every community newspaper in Texas is a force in quality education and wholesome programs for our children. Join them. Find a way to be involved with youngsters. You too will be blessed.
Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor-publisher with more than 50 years in the business. He can be reached by email at wwebb@wildblue.net.
