MISSOURI JUSTICE WILL KEYNOTE EAGLE SCOUT COURT

Fifty-seven boys who attained Boy Scouting's highest rank in 1992, will be honored Saturday at the Southeast Missouri Council's annual Eagle Scout Court of Honor.

Edward D. Robertson, chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court, will deliver the dedication address. The class will be named in his honor.

The Court of Honor will be held at 3 p.m. in Academic Hall Auditorium on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. Following the ceremony, Eagle Scouts will attend a dinner in the University Ballroom, sponsored by business and civic leaders in Southeast Missouri.

Robertson was appointed to the Supreme Court by Gov. John Ashcroft on June 26, 1985 at the age of 33. Last year, members of the seven-judge court selected Robertson to serve as its chief justice.

The son of a Methodist minister, Robertson grew up in the Kansas City area, earning a bachelor's degree from Westminster College in Fulton; a degree from the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas; and his law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

In 1990 he earned a Master of Laws Degree from the University of Virginia and was awarded a Doctor of Laws Degree from Westminster College in 1989.

After graduating from law school, Robertson served as an assistant attorney general in 1978 and 79, and after spending about two years in private practice with a Kansas City law firm, served as deputy attorney general in Missouri from 1981-84.

After Ashcroft was elected governor in 1984, Robertson served as chief of staff until his appointment to the Supreme Court.

To attain the rank of Eagle, the Scouts had to earn 21 merit badges, including 11 that were specifically required; complete a major service project where they were required to demonstrate an ability to plan, develop and give leadership to others; and throughout their Scouting career successfully carry out leadership responsibilities in their troops.

Before the national office of the Boy Scouts of America approved their applications for the rank of Eagle, the Scouts were required to pass a board of review conducted at the troop level and pass a review board from the Southeast Missouri Council.

Troop 16, sponsored by the Elks Lodge, has the most Eagle Scouts in the 1992 class with seven. Members of the troop getting their Eagle are: John H. Cochran, IV, Andy Dial, Brian Little, Charles Richey, Jeff Riley, and Matt Shivelbine and William Talley.

Other area Scouts earning Eagle badges are: John Hearnes, Mark Rose, Corey Wright, and James Brickler, from Troop 2 in Cape; Jeff Cook, Reid Cranmer, Gabe Helton, and Tim Miller, from Troop 311 in Jackson; Gabe Hinkebein, Justin Smith, and Scott Blank, from Troop 21 in Cape; Andrew Mack, Jared McMullin and Jarrett Milam, of Troop 25 in Benton; William Kirk Yount and Stanley Michael Clark, from Troop 10 in Cape; Marcus Duschell and John David Crites, from Troop 5 in Cape; Dominic Blythe and Lance Patrick Layton, from Troop 250 in Perryville; Christopher Lewis and Brandyn Hart, from Troop 155 in Perryville; Eddie Magill, from Troop 11 in Jackson; and James Boyt McMullin, from Troop 222 in Cape.