Beams elected to VFW state commander
Hot Springs veteran Will Beams was recently elected state commander at the 2019 Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of Arkansas, Annual State Convention in Little Rock.
Beams is a 27-year member of the organization, having earned his eligibility for the VFW at King Khalid Military City in Saudi Arabia with the 5th Battalion, 3rd Air Defense Artillery Brigade. Beams and his wife, Robyn, have been active members at Thaddeus H. Caraway VFW Post 2278 in Hot Springs for many years. He is an All-American Post commander and past Arkansas District 9 commander, a news release said.
Thaddeus H. Caraway Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2278 has served Hot Springs since 1932. It has changed location several times and will soon move to its new home at 660 E. Grand Ave.
The VFW is the largest and oldest veteran advocacy organization in the United States. Its activities range from local community support up to influencing the outcome of federal legislation Washington, D.C., on behalf of veterans, the release said.
Last year, the Department of Arkansas VFW awarded $33,000 in scholarships to Arkansas students for participation in the Patriot's Pen and Voice of Democracy essay competitions. The VFW also sponsors the Citizenship Education Teacher of the Year award, having sent winners of the award from Arkansas to Washington, D.C., to receive that award.
One in seven service members returns from combat diagnosed with post-traumatic stress. The VFW works in conjunction with the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure that trained and accredited service officers are available statewide to help veterans wade through the Veterans Administration claims processes and provide administrative assistance to veterans with service-related physical injury claims.
Membership in the VFW is important for veterans that served, and are serving, in foreign theaters and their families. Family members -- sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and grandparents -- may be eligible to join the VFW Auxiliary. Information about membership and locations can be found at the VFW Department of Arkansas website at http://www.vfwar.org or http://www.vfw.org.
Audubon Society to meet Thursday
The Garland County Audubon Society will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3819 Central Ave.
The Hot Springs National Park Christmas Bird Count will be conducted on Dec. 29, and Ron Kew will present a program on how the count started in the United States, what is done with the data, and how to participate in "citizen science."
Prior to the turn of the 20th century, hunters engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "side hunt." They would choose sides and go afield with their guns, and whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won, according to a news release.
"Conservation was in its beginning stages in that era, and many observers and scientists were becoming concerned about declining bird populations," it said. Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the then-nascent Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition: a "Christmas Bird Census" that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them. Each year, tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the Americas brave snow, wind, or rain to take part in the effort, the release said.
Audubon and other organizations use data collected in this long-running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations, and to help guide conservation action. To participate in the Hot Springs National Park Christmas Bird Count, call Nathan Charlton, National Park Service natural resource program manager-physical scientist, 620-6751 or 501-463-0892, or visit http://www.nps.gov/hosp.
Society on 11/12/2019