The American Legion annually honors The American Legion Eagle Scout of the Year at its National Convention. The winner of the competition receives a $10,000 scholarship and the three runners-up each are awarded a $2,500 scholarship.

Forms for nominating Boy Scouts for The American Legion 2003 Eagle Scout of the Year are now available from State Headquarters. Nominations must be received by State Headquarters no later than March 1, 2003. A panel will then select the Department Eagle Scout of the Year and that nomination will be submitted to National Headquarters in Indianapolis, IN. The National 2003 Eagle Scout of the Year will be announced during the 2003 Spring Meetings of The American Legion in Indianapolis in May of 2003.

Support for the Boy Scout movement came at The American Legion's first National Convention in 1919. Today, there are more than 2,500 Boy Scout units sponsored by Legion Posts throughout the country.

Supporting Boy Scout activities is natural for Legionnaires, who bring their service-learned skills and experiences as veterans to help build character and positive traits in "Young America". Few other Post activities generate more goodwill from the community.

Based on Post activities reported to State and National Headquarters, there are currently 33 Scouting units in operation in South Dakota that are sponsored by American Legion Posts.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, there have been some changes made in the High School Oratory Contest. These changes effect when and where the various phases of the contest will be held.

The East River Oratory Contest (for all winners of District Contests East of the Missouri River, Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 and 14) will be held in Chamberlain at the Chamberlain High School starting at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 15.

The West River Oratory Contest (for all winners of District Contests West of the Missouri River, Districts 8, 9, 11, 12, and 13) will be held in Rapid City at Rapid City Post #22 Post Home starting at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 16.

The finals for the South Dakota American Legion High School Oratory Contest will be held in Pierre on Saturday, February 22. We were required to move the date back because of The American Legion's Washington Conference which is being held a week earlier than usual. The specifics as to the time and place are still being worked out. This information will be passed to everyone as soon as it is available.

Enclosed for all Commanders is a letter from the Chairman of the State American Legion Employment Committee, Donn Grandpre. This letter announces the Employer of the Year for Hiring the Older Worker competition. Also enclosed is a copy of the nomination form which must be used.

All nomination forms for the 2003 Employer of the Year for Hiring the Older Workers must be submitted to Chairman Donn Grandpre at 1604 S. 3^rd St., Aberdeen, SD 57401.

The deadline for submission of nominations is February 21, 2003.

Also enclosed for all recipients is a listing of the Post by Post membership statistics as of January 2, 2003.

Ninety-five (95) Posts, 19 less than last year, have qualified for Continuous Goal Achievement because of attaining advanced membership. The award is based on reaching 90 percent, or better, of the assigned goal by the year-end target date.

One Post, Sinai has made advance membership assignments every year since the award began 55 years ago.

Framed citations are given for each five-year increment of continuous achievement. Attachments are given for intermediate years.

District 14 Commander Tom Jurek of Mobridge will receive an appropriate award because his District had at least 90 percent of their 2003 membership goal and had no "goose-egg" Posts by the year-end target date. A "goose-egg" Post is a Post without a single member enrolled by the target date. District 14 Commander Tom Jurek led District 14 to attainment of 91.36 percent of goal by year's end.

The calculations required to determine the recipients of the Certificates of Meritorious Service have not yet been completed. The listing of those Posts receiving this award for having 2003 membership which matched or exceeded their previous all-time highs will be reported in the next edition of the Up To Now. Due to having the deadline for receipt of membership deliveries to Headquarters ending with today's mail, adequate time was not available to complete the calculations and meet the deadline for mailing this Up To Now.

Year-end awards also included Honor Ribbons won by 27 Posts, 7 less than last year, for having 2003 membership that surpassed their respective 2002 end of year membership by the December 31, 2002 target date.

The final award, based upon the December 31 target, involved early Go-Getters certified to State Headquarters by Post Adjutants. Recipients will be entitled to attend the Go-Getters reception, Friday evening, January 24, during the annual Midwinter Conference in Pierre. The Go-Getter listing is being compiled and will appear in the January issue of the South Dakota Legion News. Admission tickets to the reception will be available to qualified Legionnaires at Pierre.

South Dakota finished 2002 with 23,678 members who had paid their 2003 dues. The total represents 85.13 percent of the Departments 2003 membership goal. Percentage wise, this is a decrease of 2.83 percent under last year's end-of-year percentage, which puts the Department 678 members behind where we were on 2002 membership at the end of the year 2001.

The 2003 Post-by-Post membership standings as of the December 31 target date is enclosed with this mailing of the Up To Now.

The next National membership target date is January 8, for Midwinter. The National goal for that date is 85 percent. Although the Department has already met that goal, we need to keep pushing for membership.

February 11^th is the target date for the "Big Twelve" competition. Department Commander Walt Lindemann entered a bid of 92.65% during the bidding for the Big Twelve competition at the Fall Meetings at National Headquarters. The Department needs 2,241 members to attain the number of members required to meet State Commander Lindemann's bid.

On that target date we will also determine whether an award will go to one of the five State Vice Commanders. By that target date their 2003 Area membership must show the highest percentage increase over the Area's total 2002 membership.

BOYS STATE PACKETS TO BE MAILED

Brochures, registration cards and other pertinent information regarding 2003 Boys State will be mailed next week to all high schools and Legion Posts in the state. Please be on the lookout for them.

Two important items to remember are the April 1 registration deadline and the $115 per boy registration fee. Fees and registration cards should be sent to Boys State Registrar, Wyland Borth, 110 W. Prospect Ave., Apt. E, Pierre, SD 57501.

Journalism City applications were distributed this month by Borth to all schools. Completed applications also should be sent to Borth at the above-listed address no later than Saturday, February 1.

Do Not send the $115 registration fee with the Journalism City applications. If a boy is selected, his registration fee will be collected later.

This is another reminder that the deadline for submitting bids to host 2004 State American Legion sporting event tournaments is rapidly approaching. The deadline is Friday, January 17^th, 2003 for the submission of all invitations to State Headquarters in Watertown.

Bid forms for baseball events can be obtained from State Headquarters in Watertown. Bids for other events, i.e. golf and bowling, can be submitted in letter form.

• The State Bowling Tournament should be held during three or four weekends in March and/or April, 2004. The bowling establishment must have at lease eight (8) lanes to host the event.
• The State Golf Tournament should be held on either the third or fourth weekend in June, 2004.
• Tentative dates for the Class "B" Baseball Tournament are July 28-August 1, 2004.
• Tentative dates for The American Legion State Championship Baseball Tournament are August 4-8, 2004.

To ensure that participating baseball teams take home some money to pay for their expenses, the State Athletic Commission requires that bidders guarantee a split of $2,500 in the "B" Baseball Tournament and $7,000 in the State Championship Tournament.

The 2003 tournaments are being held in Hot Springs (bowling), Eureka (golf), Parkston ("B" Baseball Tournament) and Pierre (Championship Baseball Tournament).

2003 membership stands at 23,678, or 85.13 percent of goal