LAHARPE — Sometimes the important lessons are the ones that aren’t covered in instruction books.
As a 25-year Boy Scout leader in one capacity or another, Barney Divine has helped teach everything from the proper way to retire an American Flag — Saturday’s lesson — to the protocol necessary to rise up through the Scouting ranks.
Divine, Scout Master for Iola Boy Scout Troop 55, spoke about his experiences following Saturday’s flag retirement ceremony hosted by the LaHarpe Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
There, the Scouts disposed of roughly 400 American flags, from the little cemetery flags displayed each Memorial Day, to the behemoth flag that greets visitors on the east edge of Iola near Pump N Pete’s.
It took roughly an hour to dispose of them all, which had been collected for more than a year by area Scout leaders or local churches, Divine said.
Following the ceremony, which lasted until dusk, the Scouts were treated to hamburgers and hot dogs.
“This group is a young group, and they want to do stuff,” Divine said. “All of these kids want to learn.”
The goal, he explained, is to find at least one community service project each month.
September’s was collecting food for those less fortunate. This month’s was on the American flag.
Next up is a camping trip in mid-November.
Divine is keen on having the Scouts get as much say-so as they can in planning the camping trip.
“I want to bestow knowledge so they can make decisions,” he explained. “That’s where they’re at right now, planning on where they want to go.”
Decisions such as location, available resources, even food budgets will be determined by the Scouts.
Because Troop 55 is a small group — six in all, including one girl training to be a Scout in the near future — Divine introduced economics into the process.
“Let’s say we charge $10 for each kid, that gives us $60 for four meals,” he said. “That gives us $15 per meal. What kind of food can we have?”
