Lincoln is in the Air

OFF the BEAT

ROBERT L. SPINKS, MA, MS

COMMENTATOR

PORTRAIT OF LINCOLN: LOCAL CONNECTIONS Published on Wed, July 13, 2011 by Robert Spinks, MA, MS http://www.sequimgazette.com/spinks

July is a great month! The 4th of July, the Sequim City Band playing at the James Center in Carrie Blake Park, the KSQM Bob’s-R-Q, the Lavender Festival! I love July in Sequim because it shows the best of a small town.

and lobbying followed to have Port Angeles officially established as a national city.

July has always reminded me of President Abraham Lincoln, maybe because of the 4th of July. The rocket’s red glare of the celebration of our nation’s birth, and Lincoln’s efforts to try to hold the nation together during the bloody years of the Civil War seem to blend together in July for me.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers platted a federal town site on the reserve land, laying out the street plan patterned after the town of Cincinnati, Ohio, which still exists today.

Lincoln has a unique connection to our County.

The actions of Lincoln continued to have an impact well into the future. The federal government saw the value in the protected harbor of Port Angeles.

On October 2, 1895, the United States Navy Pacific Fleet dropped anchor and identifed the harbor as an ideal location for naval practice. The fleet returned annually for summer exercises until the 1930s providing a significant economic stimulus to the area.

On June 19, 1862, President Lincoln signed an executive order setting aside 3,520 acres on Port Angeles harbor as a federal reserve for lighthouse, military, and naval purposes. Ten acres on Ediz Hook were for the planned lighthouse, while the remaining "military" reserve was to be a federal town site. Previously the Customs Port of Entry was moved from Port Townsend to Port Angeles

Port Angeles has many tributes to Lincoln's influence in the naming of Lincoln Street, Lincoln School, and Lincoln Park, not to mention the Lincoln Theater. There is even a connection that links Lincoln to Olympic Medical Center. In the parking lot is a plaque that acknowledges that the land was plotted for a hospital during the civil war.

That dream came true on Nov. 1, 1951, when

Port Angeles Created

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Olympic Memorial Hospital opened its doors beginning it journey towards becoming one of the top rural medical facilities in the country.

In 1942, Aaron Copeland an award winning American composer finished the ‘Lincoln Portrait.’ Stitching together material from speeches and letters of Lincoln and quoting from songs of the era. This unique and moving tribute to our 16th President was first performed on May 14, 1942.

Lincoln Portrait Copeland’s words resonate just as strongly today as they did during World War II, and read: "Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history."

earn bread, and I'll eat it.' No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation, and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle." [Lincoln-Douglas debates, 15 October 1858] Lincoln was a quiet man. Abe Lincoln was a quiet and a melancholy man. But when he spoke of democracy, this is what he said.

He said: "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy."

Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of these United States, is everlasting in the memory of his countrymen. For on the battleground at Gettysburg, this is what he said:

That is what he said. That is what Abraham Lincoln said.

"Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility." [Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862]

He said: "That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth."

Not a bad message to chew on every July. Not a bad message to ponder on for a few moments either. Certainly a great message for our elected and appointed officials to embrace each and every day.

He was born in Kentucky, raised in Indiana, and lived in Illinois. And this is what he said. This is what Abe Lincoln said.

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we will save our country." [Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862] When standing erect he was six feet four inches tall, and this is what he said.

He said: "It is the eternal struggle between two principles, right and wrong, throughout the world.

It is the same spirit that says 'you toil and work and

Have a great summer!

Robert Spinks is former Sequim chief of police and Interim City Manager. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Sequim Senior Activity Center and the Olympic Community Action Program (OlyCAP) and is a volunteer Manager at KSQM 91.5 FM. Reach him at Robert.Spinks@alumni.uc.edu .

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