Cub Scouts win elm tree, title for Poland

staff report

POLAND — Cub Scout Pack 2 is the recipient of the Liberty Tree Memorial grant and will be awarded a ceremonial 14-foot disease-resistant American Liberty elm and commemorative bronze Liberty Tree plaque.

The gift is through a grant from the Elm Research Institute in Keene, N.H.

The village has been named a Liberty Tree Memorial town. In the last 10 years, more than 300 towns have received the designation.

The dedication ceremony will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Poland North Elementary School, Johnston Place. It’s open to the public.

“Ken Adams and Cub Scout Pack 2 have been involved from the beginning in bringing this project to Poland, and I thank them for their hard work and interest in community service,” said village Mayor Tim Sicafuse.

John P. Hansel founded ERI in 1967 to save the American elm from extinction. The institute sponsored genetic research that resulted in the American Liberty elm, a purebred descendant of disease-resistant American elms.

To qualify for the Liberty Tree Memorial project, a town must agree to establish the Liberty Tree Memorial in a prominent location and hold a public event when the Thomas Paine poem “Liberty Tree” is read.