Nebraska's Boys Town gets new director

BOYS TOWN, Neb., July 1 (UPI) -- Steven Boes, a 46-year-old Catholic priest, was inaugurated Friday as the fourth executive director in the 88-year history of Girls and Boys Town in Nebraska.

He succeeds the Rev. Val Peter who retired.

The non-sectarian school and childcare organization was founded by Father Edward Flanagan in 1917 and made famous in the 1938 move starring Mickey Rooney and Spencer Tracey, who won a Oscar for his portrayal of Flanagan.

Boes, an Iowa native who worked at Nebraska's St. Augustine Indiana Mission, was presented the Village of Boys Town flag, Father Flanagan's bible and a stone from Flanagan's ancestral home in Ballymore, Ireland.

Girls and Boys Town cared for a record 43,654 children in 15 states and the District of Columbia in 2004.