By Edward Oliver
Dairy Days 2021 are fast approaching for the Sesquicentennial of the founding of Norris City. The question has come up a number of times as to where Norris City got its name. [Read more...]
NORRIS CITY’S SESQUICENTENNIAL
By Edward Oliver
Norris City’s plat was recorded on August 17, 1871. For more information about that see my article “Norris City Sesquicentennial” in the Villagers Voice dated January 18, 2021. [Read more...]
JOHNSON’S GROVE AND JOHNSON’S POND
By Edward Oliver
My dad, Charles Oliver, and Norris Bruce, father of Carolyn Bruce and Betty Bruce McKenzie, always talked about swimming in Johnson’s Pond. Dad and Norris were just a few months apart in age (Dad was born in December 1902 and Norris a few months later in 1903). They were good friends and used to play together and get into mischief together when they were young boys. One trick they played on Norris Bruce’s dad, Anderson Bruce, got Anderson so mad that Norris went home with Dad and stayed for two weeks, but that is another story. [Read more...]
The Book Report – October 30
Feeling creative! So are we! Join the NCOE Art Club and teacher Logan Tharp on Wednesday, November 6 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. for a “Pencil Party.” This art class promises you’ll have a great time while learning to draw!
WC Historical Society Plans Fall Events, History Book Project
Submitted by Ranelle Hubele
The Board of Directors is announcing updates for White County Historical Society fall events. The three main museums will be open from 11 to 2 on Corn Day with the popular corn tasting event at Ratcliff Inn from 11 to 1. Plan to visit the exhibits in each unique museum and sample the corn products at the Ratcliff Inn on Main Street. The exterior of the Ratcliff Inn was repaired and waterproofed this summer. This treatment is supposed to prevent further moisture damage to this 1828 building so that the interior can be repaired and preserved.
The Tragedy of The General Lyon Steamer
By Juanita J Mezo Harris
Wabash Chapter NSDAR
The Civil War was finally over in 1865. The Union (Northern States) had defeated The Southern States and slavery was abolished. The United States were still United. The South had lost their bid to succeed from the Union. President Abraham Lincoln must now bring forth healing and uniting. He had stated in his Gettysburg Address, “Our Nation was conceived in Liberty and Dedicated to the Proposition that all men are created equal”, as our forefathers stated and believed. The Emancipation Proclamation became a reality, all men were now FREE.
CONSTITUTION DAY & PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
by Edward Oliver
Back in the February 5, 2014, issue of the Villagers’ Voice newspaper, I wrote an article with the title “Prayer In School.” The American Humanist Association had threatened to sue the Norris City-Omaha-Enfield High School if the school district did not end the practice of prayer at the NCOE High School Graduation Ceremony.
I pointed out in that article that there is nothing in the United States Constitution requiring “separation of church and state,” as some try to say. Amendment I of the United States Constitution states “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Congress has not made any law establishing a “denomination” as the official religion of the United States. This had been done in England and some of our states were considering establishing an official denomination which would have been partially supported by taxes paid by all citizens as was done in England. Our founding fathers put this prohibition in Article I of the Amendments to the United States Constitution to prevent the establishment of an official denomination.
September 17 is celebrated as Constitution Day in the United States of America. This day commemorates the approval by the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787, of the United States Constitution. The law passed by Congress establishing the present holiday was passed in 2004. This act mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions, and all federal agencies, provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day. In May 2005 the United States Department of Education announced the enactment of this law and that it would apply to any school receiving federal funds of any kind. This holiday is not observed by granting time off from work for employees.
Now, when we are celebrating the creation of the Constitution of the United States, the Humanists are still at it, threatening law suits if they don’t get their way using the name Freedom From Religion Foundation.
In Florida they threatened to sue a school because a school there had a Football Chaplain. They scared the school into changing the name from Football Chaplain to Life Coach.
Now they also are threatening to sue schools if the words “Under God” are used when the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag is given.
When first published, the Pledge of Allegiance contained the phrase “my flag.” This wording was criticized on the ground that foreign-born children and adults, when giving the pledge, might have in mind swearing allegiance to the flag of their native land. In order to eliminate this possibility, the First National Flag Conference held in Washington, D. C. on June 14, 1923, recommended and adopted a change in the wording, substitution for “my flag” the phrase “the flag of the United States.” The Pledge of Allegiance received official recognition by Congress by an act approved on June 22, 1942. However, the original Pledge was first published in 1892 to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, and was first used in public schools to celebrate Columbus Day on Oct. 12, 1892.
A further change in the Pledge was made by House Joint Resolution 243, approved by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on June 14, 1954, that amended the language by adding the words “under God” so that it now reads, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
At the time President Eisenhower signed the bill adding the words “under God” to the pledge, he said “In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.”
During my attendance in grade school at Norris City, we always said the Pledge and, of course, it was the old pledge without the words “under God.” I was half way through high school in Norris City when these words were added.
The addition of the words “under God” to the Pledge reflected the deep belief and faith in God of both the founders of the United States and the vast majority of the citizens of the United States. I am sure the vast majority approves of it today.
Groups like the Communists have always been atheists and have fought religious rights, while also trampling upon other liberties. What most people don’t realize is that Communist and Nazis and such groups have been in the minority when they were allowed to take control in nations and then strip freedoms from the citizens. We need to be ever vigilant and stand up for our rights and for God, or we can also lose our freedoms and our religious rights. Some right here in Illinois have even proposed to start taxing churches. This could result in taxing churches out of existence.
Sometimes, like my article about school prayer and this article, I get off of local history, but I feel the times we are living in now needs to be addressed.
If anyone has any information about or pictures of this area to share with the readers of these articles, please contact me at Edward Oliver, P. O. Box 456, Norris City, IL 62869, telephone 618-378-3176, or email me at edoliver2@yahoo.com.
