Boy Scouts celebrate 100 years

Boy Scouts celebrate 100 years in Dothan on Sunday.

By Ebony Horton
Published: February 07, 2010

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Seventy-five of the 100 years that Boy Scouts of America have been in existence, Eagle Scout Ted Spangenberg has been a member.
He celebrated the organization’s anniversary today on Sunday at Landmark Park with dozens of other boy scouts. The event featured exhibits and a celebration of the boy scouts in and around Dothan.
Spangenberg, of Chipley, Fla., said much about the boy scouts have changed since he first joined in Miami at the age of 10.
“It’s moved from a more rural thing to more of an urban thing. A lot of badges were dropped because of their rural origin. Now you have them for electronics, ministry,” Spangenberg said.
“To get a merit badge I had to identify 50 different birds. Things like that have changed.”
The long service of Spangenberg and others is what inspired other scouts like 17-year-old Life Scout Joshua Brien of Marianna, Fla., to stay involved.
“It’s taught me a lot of values. It’s really nice to be in touch with nature and go into the woods and learn,” Brien said.
Boys Scouts of America was founded Feb. 8, 1910, under the laws of the District of Columbia, according to the organization’s Web site. Membership passed 1 million in 1935 and more than 20 million had joined by the 1950s.
Membership now stands around 4 million, according to the scouts’ application online.
Eleven-year-old James Sanchez of Dothan Troop 106 had just moved from the Cub Scouts as he celebrated on Sunday.
He said he looked forward to learning the history of Boy Scouts.
Thirteen-year-old Josiah Jackson agreed.
Jamie Sanchez said she encouraged her children to participate in Boy Scouts because of the lessons learned.
“I didn’t want them to be the kind of kids that just sit at home in front of video games. The good thing about the troop they’re in is they earn their own money, so they learn to value and appreciate more,” she said.
The Boy Scouts’ mission is to prepare members to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the organization, according to the Web site.