BEAR-CAT TROOP OF BOY SCOUTS ORGANIZED

“The attendance at the meeting held at the courthouse to organize a troop of Boy Scouts was not largely attended on account of so many of the boys being out in the country to work, but they were on hand in sufficient numbers to put the organization over and choose their board of managers.

Dr. Mahaffy, C .C . Campbell and Clarence Pecht are the ones who will stand for the boys and assist in getting their charter from the head of the state organization. The charter will not be asked for, however, until a few more boys sign up the application, pay in their .25 cents and present the written consent of their parents. Boys wishing to become members and have their names on the original charter will do well to attend to the matter at once.''

Thus it was that scouting first came to the community of Mullen. By 1930 or thereabout Wayne Fitzgerald had taken over as scout-master in our community. He had around a dozen boys in the troop and they were meeting at the grade school.

At that time a bandstand sat on the northeast corner of the courthouse square, but the community had not had a band for a number of years. The county commissioners offered the structure to the Boy Scouts and with the assistance of Lewis Folk they moved it to the river north of town and about 1 1/2 miles downstream. There they sat the struc-ture on ties and used it as a shelter when they went there on their outings. By around 1935 or 1936 the scout troop had disbanded and the structure was moved back into Mullen. From there it was later moved to the golf course where it is still being used today.

We have no record of Scouting activities in the 1940's, but the Episcopal Church was sponsoring the Cub Scouts in the 1950's. Mullen's Pack 329 met monthly in the Episcopal undercroft for the business meet-ing and the awarding of badges to the cub scouts. The Blue and Gold banquet was held there, as well as the first Pinewood Derby car races. `Bus' Huddle and Glen Tompkins designed the first track to be used for these exciting races.

In 1954 Stella Baldwin and Hazel Schoene, assisted by Boy Scout Raymond Baldwin organized the first den of Webelo scouts. Dale Baldwin and Leon Meridith were among the first Webelos.

Roy Oak, who was an elementary principal at the time, was the leader of the Boy Scout troop in the early 1950's and they met at the commercial club room at the courthouse. By the mid-1950's Dan Diebler had taken over as scoutmaster and they had a big Camp-o-ree on the river north of town. Scouts from a number of surrounding towns came to participate. Some of the boys active in scouting at that time include John and Steve Vanderbeek, Paul and Robert Coble, Charles Licking and Leroy McCully.

In 1959 Ronald Tompkins received his God and Country award in the Methodist Church. Rev. Robertson made the presentation. On July 24, 1960, a Scout Jubilee Picnic was held in the Mullen park in collaboration with similar events over the nation. The meeting was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and then moved on to many exciting races and relays. Activities included turtle races and even a slipper kick for the mothers. The evening ended with the Scouts reciting “Remember that scouting is for God and country,'' followed by the Scout Promise and the Living Circle. The Senior Boy Scouts were not active at this time, but the boys who had been involved before their group was discontinued acted as den chiefs for the Den Mothers and the Cubs.

Henry Cox re-organized the Senior Boy Scouts sometime in the early 1 960's and at one point he had as high as 30 boy scouts active in the program. In reflecting on this time Hank observed that some of the boys had a reputation for being rather mischiev-ous, but they got along fine once he found ways to channel their boundless energy.

Other Boy Scout leaders in the 1960's include a Rev. Mohlman who was with the Assembly of God Church, elementary princi-pal Gary Tuton, high school principal Robert Mandeville, and Charles Patch who was a druggist here at the time.

Lloyd Leonard Ginkins and his wife Betty were among the Cub Scout leaders of that era, as were Lynn and Jody Phyllips. By this time the track for the Pinewood Derby was showing signs of wear and Lynn had to make some much needed repairs on it. `Ginks' has continued as a judge for the Derby races from that time to the present.

In November of 1969 Daryl Tompkins received his God and Country award with the Rev. J. B. Choate making the presentation in the United Methodist Church. In the after-noon of the same day a Court of Honor was held there under the leadership of Scout-master Charles Patch and with the assistance of Eagle Scouts from North Platte. The purpose, to present Daryl with the Eagle Scout award, the highest honor in Scouting. There were no records of any other Mullen Scout ever receiving this award so it was assumed that Daryl was the first. The only other Scout to receive such an award in Mullen was David Sautter who moved here with his family in 1974 and received his Eagle Scout award that winter.

In 1973-74 Dan Diebler was the Scoutmast-er here, continuing the tradition his father had established in the 1950's. Dan said that the highlight of his period was their winter campout on the Dismal. He and Raymond Baldwin took a group of boys to a cabin which was once owned by Nate Basset and is located near Bobtail Creek. The Scouts who partici-pated in this were Verlon and Marvin Shears, Phil and Scott Baldwin, Fritz Cooley, Gerald Henry Craig Maire and Billy Wright. It was cool that weekend and they received several inches of snow.

By 1976 John Furrow was Scoutmaster, assisted by teacher Dan Miller. That winter the Scouts tried another winter campout at this same cabin and the weather cooperated a little better. The following summer Dan took a group of scouts on a canoe trip down the Dismal. They started from Highway #97 and went to the road south of Seneca, camping overnight on the Bullingon place enroute.

The Cub Scouts were going strong during this period. In May of 1978 they started an annual tradition of a Cub Scout campout each spring. The rule was established that each Cub Scout must be accompanied by a parent or guardian in order for them to participate, and that year the campout was on the Dismal river. By 1979 the Cub Scouts were doing so well that they made arrangem-ents to use the school activity bus and about 20 Scouts and their parents and leaders traveled to Ft. Robinson for a long weekend of camping, swimming, horseback riding and more.

By this time the Pinewood Derby track was beyond repair so Cubmaster Larry French had built a new one. Larry has been active as a leader of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts alike since about 1977 or 1978. In May of 1980 a Scout-a-rama was held at Mullen at the Lariet auditorium, along with an overnight campout canoe races, a cooking contest and other activities. In June of that year Larry took four Webelos, Troy Elliott, Scott Evans, Dirk Porath and Jody Reynolds to Camp Opal Springs where they received their Arrow of Light, which is the highest award a boy can receive in Cub Scouting.

In 1981 several of the scouts were working on their bicycle merit badge, so they biked to campouts near Thedford, Halsey, and on the Dismal southwest of Mullen. In July of 1982 Assistant Scoutmaster Jim Marks and Russ Evans took several Scouts backpacking in Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes, Colorado. While they were there a dam broke, causing considerable flooding and some anxious moments for their families back in Mullen. The scouts meanwhile were on a pack trail on the west slope and totally unaware of any problem until they returned to civiliz-ation that afternoon. By the following sum -mer Jim Marks was Scoutmaster and he took a group of Scouts canoeing up on the Missouri River.

The Scouting program went into a brief slump after that and by the fall of 1985 Mullen did not have an active Boy Scout Troop. ln the fall of 1986 the Cub Scouts re-organized under the sponsorship of the United Methodist Church and had about 20 boys active. Mullen hosted the Scout-a-rama the following spring, and by the spring of 1988 the Catholic Church had agreed to sponsor the Boy Scouts with Sheriff Steve Lattin as Scoutmaster, assisted by Jody Reynolds.

The Boy Scouts are indebted to many people and organizations in Mullen for the time, interest and support they have given the Scouting program. When one considers the values the Scouting program supports, perhaps Mullen owes a great deal to Scouting.