[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 3]
[HOU]
[Pages 3374-3375]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  KENTUCKY CELEBRATES ABRAHAM LINCOLN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, February 12 is going to be an interesting 
day in Kentucky. On February 12, at the birth place of Abraham Lincoln, 
we're going to have a ceremony celebrating the 200th birthday of our 
great President. And we had planned for it to be at the log cabin. The 
actual log cabin still exists on its site. Unfortunately, we had to 
move it because of the damage from the ice storm that we had the last 
couple of weeks.
  First, let me say that the citizens of Kentucky are very thankful to 
the outpouring of help that we received around this country. Today, as 
I was driving to the airport, there are still convoys of utility trucks 
heading into our State continuing to bring our people back onto power. 
I toured a shelter, and there was a nurse from Alabama, a volunteer 
from Indiana, and they're all over. And Saturday morning, I ran into a 
crew from North Carolina that came to help remove debris.
  But unfortunately, the great trees that surround the log cabin of our 
President, several of them have had damage. Therefore, they're having 
to move it to the LaRue County high school. It was actually in Hardin 
County where Abraham Lincoln was born, but it's now LaRue County. The 
high school will be hosting a celebration on February 12.
  And we understand that there's been a lot of talking about Abraham 
Lincoln and Illinois in the last few weeks and last few months, but 
Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky. He's a Kentuckian, and we're very 
proud what he has meant to our State, and we invite people throughout 
this country--as you

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look at the Lincoln heritage--we invite you to come to LaRue County. 
And you can go to Washington County where his mother and father were 
married. There is usually a reenactment during the summertime where you 
can go to the Tom and Ms. Hanks wedding, Tom Lincoln and Ms. Hanks 
wedding. I saw that re-enactment this summer.
  The Lincolns then moved to the spot in LaRue County where Abraham 
Lincoln was born. And the City of Hodgenville has a beautiful downtown 
square that's been remodeled for the State for the purposes of the 
bicentennial. And there is a beautiful statue of Abraham Lincoln as a 
young boy as he would have been when he lived in that area before he 
moved to Indiana and then on to Illinois.
  So I think it's extremely important that we do recognize the great 
decisions that were made by Abraham Lincoln. As we sit here today, and 
as I've been in the House for the last few weeks, I'm new at this, a 
freshman. I've been in this the last few weeks. The decisions that 
we've had to make. And you wonder what was going through--how Abraham 
Lincoln was able to withstand the pressure that he had for the 
decisions that he made that meant men and boys and the women that were 
sent, that were in harm's way, cities that were in harm's way and 
nothing--I did a dome tour when I first came here. And we went to the 
top of the Capitol dome, the great cast iron dome that we have. And it 
was built--a lot of people don't realize, but the dome to this building 
from which we speak was built during the Civil War. And people were 
asking why would you use cast iron and build a dome when we're at war 
when the iron could be used in the war effort.
  And Abraham Lincoln, our great 16th President, thought it was vitally 
important that we continue to build this building to show the union of 
this country. It was symbolic. And that was just a small decision, but 
a symbolic decision that he made.
  And Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to address this body.

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