A great crowd of thirty Dragoons of SCV Camp 1524 and friends gathered for the monthly meeting on Thursday evening July 11th at the Prattville Masonic Lodge. Commander Grooms welcomed everyone and then Chaplain Brantley gave an Invocation from the SCV Chaplain's Handbook. Color Sgt Dennis led everyone in the pledges and salutes to the US, Alabama and Confederate Battle flags. Stuart McKnight was recognized for completing a Division Life Member(ship) and was presented with a certificate for that. New member Michael Dean Bargainear was then sworn in which was met with a round of applause. Harold then provided some reminders of SCV membership renewals and Dixie butt fundraiser upcoming as well as the Gen. N. B. Forrest Birthday Celebration at Pat Godwin's Ft. Dixie on Saturday July 27th. 2nd Lt Karl Wade informed everyone that the registration for the Autauga County Fair in October had been submitted. Another cemetery maintenance workday at Robinson Springs cemetery was also announced.
Newly elected Alabama Division SCV Commander Douglas Barrett was the guest speaker. He related that he spent many years working at the camp level but took on leadership roles starting about six years ago including SEC Brigade Commander for the past four years. During these past few years, Doug made it a point to travel around the Division and learn about the camps of the Division, that all are unique and different in their approaches to fulfilling the Charge. Doug said the goal of his administration will be to make the camps and in turn the Division stronger. It has long been said that growing the SCV begins at the camp level but that actions at the Division and National levels doesn't always seem to further that. Doug wants to move controllership of some Division funds directly to the Brigades and the camps in them so that initiatives can more easily and quickly be facilitated. He will depend on the Brigade Commanders to know the heartbeats of the camps and be able to communicate needs and wants of the camps in the Brigade to further the Charge thru projects like advertisements, cemetery maintenance, flags for setting, festival entries, all to grow the Division. He encouraged everyone who has an idea along these lines to contact him or their Brigade Commander to share. Doug further said while the Division is financially healthy, that with inflation of postal costs for instance, there is pressure to raise annual dues and this will be a topic of conversation in the coming DEC meetings; the National SCV similarly has discussed dues increases and at the upcoming National Convention that will be a topic there. It was a refreshingly revealing discussion about the direction of the SCV and the Alabama Division and everyone had an enjoyable evening of fellowship with compatriots.
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