Education: Rebuilding Boys Town

Boys Town, founded in 1917 by Father Edward Flanagan and celebrated in film and folklore, still beckons homeless boys to its 1,500-acre campus just outside Omaha. The statue of a tattered waif, a smaller lad slung over his shoulder, still stands at the entrance with the legend: "He ain't heavy, Father. He's m' brother." Otherwise, Boys Town is a community rocked by change.

First came the shocking disclosure in the Omaha Sun papers two years ago that Father Flanagan's ragtag "city of little men" was probably the richest incorporated village in the U.S., with a per boy wealth of close to $300,000....

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