One Hundred Years Ago This Summer
One hundred years ago this summer a high school science teacher named John Scopes went on trial in the small town of Dayton Tennessee for breaking the law banning the teaching of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in his classroom. This was a test case of this law brought forth by the American Civil Liberties Union. It was deliberately staged to attract publicity to this small town of Dayton Tennessee. In fact, John Scopes was unsure whether he actually taught that humans evolved from lower animals over a long period of time.
This trial that ran from July 10 to July 21 1925 became a media circus as the national media converged on this small Tennessee town. Representing the Baltimore Sun, well known columnist and author H L Menken reported on the trial. Also, the new media called radio reported on this trial all across the nation. It brought a lot of attention as well as people to this small eastern Tennessee town.
The ACLU brought in their star trial lawyer, Clarence Darrow, to defend John Scopes in this trial. He was famous earlier in the decade by getting an acquittal in a big murder case. Assisting the prosecution was former three-time presidential candidate and fundamentalist William Jennings Bryan from Nebraska who lost presidential elections to William McKinley twice and Theodore Roosevelt. This trial became a clash of legal giants in a small town.
This trial became a media circus and made the town of Dayton Tennessee a national laughingstock. In the end, John Scopes was convicted of breaking the law and fined one thousand dollars. The case was appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court where the original verdict was upheld. It wasn’t until 1968 that the Tennessee state legislature repealed that law banning the teaching of evolution.
This trial was later turned into a stage play and a movie titled Inherit the Wind in 1960 that starred Spencer Tracy in the Clarence Darrow role and Frederick March in the Jennings role with the teacher, John Scopes played by Dick York who later became known as Darrin, the husband of Samantha in Bewitched on television. The role of the reporter H. L. Menken was played by Gene Kelly in a rare dramatic role instead of as a song and dance man in musicals.
Fast forward forty-five years to 1970 when I graduated from college with a comprehensive science teaching certification that meant that I was qualified to teach any science class in any accredited school in Ohio. In college I had a double major in biology and earth science that included a full geology minor as well as related courses in meteorology and climatology as well as full year of chemistry physics and math. I interviewed for a position with a public school district in a neighboring county of Cuyahoga. The principal was very impressed with my credentials and student teaching report and recommended that I be hired for the position.
However, a Baptist preacher on the school board vetoed my hiring because I had taken a course in “organic evolution” in college. That course was a required course for biology majors and in the science community of 1970, evolution was no longer just a theory. We knew over seventy years ago the mechanism of evolution when two scientists named Watson and Crick constructed the model of the DNA molecule in 1954 and were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery. Ironically it was an Austrian monk, Gregor Mendel who discovered the mechanism of evolution by his studies of peas in the 1880s.
In fact, humans have been using “genetic engineering” for centuries by selective breeding of livestock and plants. We have cows that give more milk as well as cattle that have more meat on the bone. We have pigs that are leaner and pigs that have more fat for lard. We have chickens that lay more eggs and have more meat on the bone. Just compare a domestic turkey to a wild turkey. They could just as well be separate species. The corn that grows in farm fields bears no resemblance to the original grain that it was before all this genetic engineering.
That said, I eventually landed a job as an earth science teacher at a Catholic boy’s high school on the east side of Cleveland. This irony was not lost on me, even as a young man fresh out of college. That my hiring was vetoed by a preacher on the school board of a public school district, but the Roman Catholic diocese had no problem with my taking a course in “organic evolution”.
I am appalled now at how many people in the United States in 2025 still deny science and believe lies from politicians and celebrities that have no basis in fact. The fact that so many Americans believed garbage and refused to get vaccinated against COVID, putting their health and the health of their loved ones in jeopardy confirms this scientific ignorance and disdain.
Yet the genetic engineering that led to those COVID vaccines may hold the key to a cure for cancer, according to scientists. But as a former science teacher, I know the scientific process and respect it. It is based on lots of experiments and testing as well as peer review and actual proof, not some advertising, preaching or celebrity endorsements.
Lee Kamps
Lee has been working with Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance since he began working at the Erie County Welfare Department in January 1973 where a major part of his job was determining eligibility for Medicaid. He went into the private insurance business in 1977 with Prudential Insurance Company and within a short time had become one of the company’s top sales agents. In 1982, he was promoted into management where he managed two field offices and as many as thirteen sales agents. After leaving Prudential in 1986, Lee decided to become more focused on health insurance and employee benefits. He has advised many local employers on how to have a more cost effective employee benefit program as well as conducted employee benefit meetings and enrollments for many area employers. The companies Lee has worked with ranged from small “mom and pop” businesses to local operations of large national companies. Lee received his B.S. degree from Kent State University where he has been active in the local alumni association. He has completed seven of the ten courses toward the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist designation. He has taught courses in employee benefits and insurance at Cleveland State University and local community colleges. In addition, Lee is an experienced and accomplished public speaker. He has been a member of Toastmasters International where he achieved the designation of “Able Toastmaster – Silver” in 1994. He has also served as a club president, Area Governor and District Public Relations Officer in Toastmasters as well as winning local speech contests. Lee has also been a member of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association’s Speaker’s Bureau where he was designated as one of the “official spokespeople for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” prior to the hall’s opening in 1995. He has given talks and presentations before many audiences including civic organizations, AARP chapters and many other community groups. With the implementation of the Medicare Modernization Act (Medicare drug bill) in 2006, Lee has shifted his focus to Medicare and helping Medicare beneficiaries navigate the often confusing array of choices and plans available. As an independent representative, Lee is not bound to any one specific company or plan, but he can offer a plan that suits an individual person’s needs and budget. In addition, Lee is well versed in the requirements and availability of various programs for assistance with Medicare part D as well as Medicaid. While he cannot make one eligible, he can assist in the process and steer one to where they may be able to receive assistance.