By Cathy Spaulding
Cub Scouts Matthew Burris and Justice Glory learned how to be prepared for flat tires.
Cub Scout Derrik Lacy learned how to be prepared for left turns on his bike.
Scouts from across northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas learned all sorts of ways to be prepared at Safety and Preparedness Day, held Saturday at the USS Batfish. The event was sponsored by the Neosho District Boy Scouts of America and the Batfish War Memorial Park to help Cub Scouts and Webelos gain credits toward merit badges and get to know each other.
Neosho District Board member Andi Shaw said she was expecting between 200 and 300 scouts at Preparedness Day.
“We’re trying to get boys out and about and earn credits, and we want to get kids to interact with other kids,” she said. “We have 10 stations for the scouts, depending on what they’re earning.”
Stations included bicycle safety, law enforcement, personal fitness, fire prevention, model building, even a tour of the Batfish.
Joe Smythe, cubmaster for Cub Scout Pack 638, led the lessons in auto maintenance.
“We’re learning how to change a flat, change headlights and change oil,” said Matthew, 10, of Fort Gibson. As he watched Justice, 10, of Tahlequah lower a truck corner with a jack, Matthew said auto mechanics was his favorite lesson of the day.
The event wasn’t just for Cub Scouts and Webelos, either. Several Girl Scouts, seeking to earn badges in first aid and safety, also attended.
Muskogee County 4-H Club member Lindzie Hollingshead of Midway High School helped with the bike safety lessons, showing kids how to make turn signals with their arms.
Wagoner scout, Derrik, 8, said he learned a lot “about bike stuff and left turns and right turns.”
Derrik already knew one of the more important bike safety lessons as he came prepared with his bicycle helmet. He also came ready for a busy day, said his grandfather Jim Akey.
“He’s doing just about all of it,” said Akey, a former Cub Scout.
Programs such as Cub Scouts help boys, Akey said. “It makes men out of them,” he said. “It teaches them responsibility and it’s an education they’ll use the rest of their life.”
Reach Cathy Spaulding at 684-2928 or cspaulding@muskogeephoenix.com.
