Publisher Urges Recognition of National Lighthouse Day
By Sue Clark on Jun 1, 2009 in News, Press Release 
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Press Release
Tim Harrison, editor and publisher of the Maine based Lighthouse Digest magazine says it’s time to make August 7th as our nation’s official National Lighthouse Day. In doing so, he has asked for help from Maine’s Senator Olympia Snowe. Harrison said that ever since the 200th Anniversary, on August 7, 1989, of the federalization of our nation’s lighthouses, lighthouse groups have unofficially celebrated that date.
In anticipation of the 200th Anniversary of when all lighthouses came under control of the federal government, on August 7, 1789, the 100th Congress passed a joint resolution on November 5, 1988 that enacted Public Law 100-622, which declared August 7, 1989 as National Lighthouse Day. But the law made no provision for carrying the August 7 date forward as the official date for all future years. Since every state that borders the oceans or the Great Lakes, and even a few other inland states have lighthouses, Harrison feels that concerned citizens, lighthouse preservation groups and Senator Snowe shouldn’t have trouble getting support from most members of Congress.
“We also feel that an official declaration will help draw attention to the historical significance of lighthouses and the role they and the keepers who served at them helped in the development of our nation,” said Harrison. He continued, “It might also help draw attention to the financially strapped Maine Lighthouse Museum and the efforts by many concerned citizens to help keep its doors open.”
Harrison said, it’s easy for people to help. All they need to do is contact their federal legislators and ask them to update Public Law 100-622 or write a new one that declares that August 7 will forever be National Lighthouse Day.
He continued by stating, “If it passed, the resolution could be read jointly at lighthouses all around the country at the same time on August 7th and one of those locations could be at the Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockland, which has the largest collection of lighthouse artifacts in the nation. The national publicity for all lighthouses, in all states, and the importance of preserving and telling lighthouse history could be tremendous.”
Lighthouse Digest is a news and history magazine devoted to lighthouses that is published eleven times a year from Whiting, Maine and has world-wide circulation. You can visit their web site at www.LighthouseDigest.net. Harrison can be contacted at 207-259-2121 or by email at editor@LighthouseDigest.com.
Photo Credit: Portland Head Lighthouse At Day’s End by James Jordan. Some rights reserved.
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