Will Become 'City Fathers' And Conduct Meeting On Public Issues
The Springfield Union - Monday, February 8, 1954
Chicopee Feb 7 - Operation of the municipal government will be in the hands of the Boy Scouts Monday as they participate in their annual Good Government Day program.
Highlighting the day will be a meeting of the "Board of Alderman", comprised of scouts from each ward of the city. The creation of a Chicopee Historical Society and museum as well as the construction of a fire station in Willimansett and development of Bemis Pond are scheduled to be acted on.
The scouts will meet in the City Hall aldermanic chambers at 8:30am to draw for municipal posts including the top job of "Boy Scout mayor". For the remainder of the morning they will assist department heads getting a first hand idea of government operations. At noon, they will be guests of Mayor Trybulski ath a luncheon at Market Square Hotel.
In the afternoon, the Boy Scout aldermen will conduct their meeting. The program will end with the presentation of certificates of service by Mayor Trybulski to each scout. The mayor's secretary Ted Garczynski and Charles Fournier, chairman of the Aldenville troop committee, will co-ordinate the program.
Rev. Raymond Lavoie scout chaplain, officiated at the mass. He commended the scouts and their fathers for the close relationship to one another as evidenced by the large number attending mass and receiving communion together.
Seated at the head table were Mayor Trybulski and his son "Skipper", Chief Scout Executive Exley, Comdr. Henault, Committeeman Roland Dion, Institutional Representative Roger L. Sampson and Committeeman Ted Garczynski who was master of ceremonies.
Introduced by Charles W. Fournier, chairman of the troop committee, the mayor complimented the local scouting units and announced that four deserving scouts of the troop are to be treated to an excursion to New York City. They will be accompanied by his secretary, Garczynski and will witness a baseball game at Yankee Stadium and tour the city. The boys will be chosen by committeemen and leaders.
Exley said the day opened the formal observance of the 44th anniversary of the founding of Boy Scouts of America. He remarked he had heard many congratulatory statements about Aldenville troop. The scout movement is growing tremendously, he said and by 1960, the Hampden County Council expects to have between 7,500 and 10,000 boys in scouting.
Codr. Henault told of the close relationship between the local American Legion post and Boy Scouts and expressed his pride in the local units. Den mothers, Mrs. Doris Sampson, Mrs. Rita Brennan, Mrs. Laurie Picard, and Mrs. Leonie St Pierre; Scoutmaster Paquette, Cubmaster Adrien Boisvert and the acting advisor of the Explorer Post, Albert Demers, were introduced.
Mrs. Sampson treasurer of the Boy Scout Mothers Club, presented a check for $126 to the three scouting units. The sum was from a recent merchandise club plan, sponsored by the Mothers Club.
Scoutmaster Paquette presented four Eagle Scouts, Gerard Fournier, Leslie Fournier, Robert Harvey, and Richard Fulton. J Almanzar Baril, cofounder of Troop 138, which was organized about 20 years ago, told of the troop's growth through the years.