Twenty-three steps.

That’s what separates the first and second floors of American Legion Post 108 on Pine Street in Bradford. For the 80-year-old post commander and 86-year-old adjutant, it can be difficult to make the climb day after day.

Adjutant Clair Butler explained Wednesday that legionnaires with the post will be holding a special meeting at 7 p.m. Aug. 14 at the post on Pine Street to vote on an important decision — buying a one-story facility.

“We’re all older guys,” Butler said with a laugh. “The young guys aren’t coming in. They are joining, but they aren’t coming to meetings.”
Legion officials are holding a vote to see if the members want to purchase a one-story facility with its own parking lot.

“We’re looking at a piece of ground, an acre, that’s got a one-story building on it,” Butler said, without getting into details on the parcel. “We’ve been looking at different places. We’re all getting too old to be climbing stairs.

“We’ve got a chair list in the building, but a lot of people don’t like to ride in it,” he added.

The lot the legion officials are considering is in Bradford Township. It does have one drawback that Butler can foresee.

“We probably have six or seven people who walk to the legion every day,” he said, “but going out to Bradford Township would be farther. It does have some drawbacks and it’s got some advantages.”

He said the legion would have to put an addition on the building that is currently on the lot. They’ve had some contractors take a look at the facility already to get an idea of what is needed.

“We’ve already got an approval from the bank to borrow money,” Butler said, explaining the prep work is ready for the members to consider.

The measure would have to be approved by a two-thirds vote of the members present at the meeting to pass.