Grayson County TXGenWeb

The Denison Herald
Sunday, February 22, 1976

The Graveyard Shift
While it might be extremely difficult to get a couple dozen kids to even walk through a cemetery after dark, it didin't take a lot of doing by Bill Steen to get a group to visit a local cemetery by day.
Steen, you see, is cubmaster of Pack 601 of Layne School. The burial grounds to be visited was the old Layne Cemetery. The reason for the visit was to clean it up.
"We don't have funds for a caretaker," Mrs. Billy E. Smith, president of the Cemetery Association, told Steen. "It has been ahrd to find anyone with the time and equipment to help us keep the cemetery cleaned up."
When Steen learned of the problem he figured that would help fill the bill for his Cub Pack to earn their Bicentennial badge for participation in a community project.
He got with den mothers Sue Bush, Pat Emery and Penny Steen, and on the appointed day, some 20 cub scouts showed up for work.
"They did a great job," explained Steen. "At last count they filled slightly more than 100 sacks with trash, debris, and other unsightly items found in the cemetery. They raked leaves, trimmed trees, hauled fallen branches away, and did a great job of cleaning up the area."
To Mrs. Smith, one of tje best efforts displayed by the youngsters was om straightening up tombstones that had been knocked down.
It took most of a full day for the scouts to complete the task, but by the day's end, Steen had filled his pickup several times with bulging sacks and hauled them off.
Today, the old Layne Cemetery is neat as a pin. Steen isn't certain at this point on making it a regular job for the youngsters, but the chances are pretty good that Bicentennial or not, the boys of Cub Scout Pack 601 of Layne School will be available for that cleanup job.
Incidentally, the Cub Scouts will earn still another Bicentennial badge at their blue and gold banquet coming up at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Layne School cafeteria.
They plan to present in song and skit their Bicentennial version of their sports, hobbies and crafts.