To the editor:
On Wednesday, January 20, 2021, Americans across the country will unite to celebrate the Inauguration of President-Elect Joseph R Biden, Jr. and Vice President-Elect Kamala D. Harris.
A website https://bideninaugural.org/ details arrangements for the Inaugural events. The FAQ provided by the Presidential Inauguration Committee (PIC, for short) states:
“President-elect Biden and Vice-President-elect Harris will take their oaths of office at the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021. The swearing-in ceremony will be live streamed and broadcasted for the country and world to watch.”
The FAQ continues: “PIC is strongly encouraging all Americans to follow public health best practices and refrain from traveling to Washington, D.C. and instead join from home in new and innovative ways. “This year’s inaugural events will be reimagined and reinvented to engage Americans in creative and innovative ways and bring the country together to celebrate a bedrock of our democracy — the peaceful transfer of power. We invite Americans to stay tuned for upcoming announcements on how they can get involved from home.”
Greene County Democrats have been considering how we could collectively “get involved” as a community, and still observe social distancing and avoid large in-person gatherings. Mr. Mahanay’s Tower, and its wonderful selection of patriotic music, seemed “made” for the occasion. And better yet, might a guest maestro play a small concert of the “National Anthem”, “God Bless America”, and “America the Beautiful” for the community to enjoy?
Unfortunately, the Bell Tower board decided the request was CONTROVERSIAL and “too political”, and kicked it up to the county supervisors to decide, citing that the music itself fell under the Public Art policy. The supervisors in their infinite wisdom determined playing such patriotic music would show “political favoritism”.
As the Tower website reports, “Floyd Mahanay was quite specific in his will, indicating that 50 percent of the music played should be sacred and patriotic. Daily concert times were set and Easter, Christmas and July 4th concerts were directed *. The lists of acceptable musical selections are published and the requested tunes are among them.
Floyd Mahanay, whose vision made the tower a reality, and Paul Nally, whose donations set the stage for a completed carillon, and who was heralded by past Bell Tower of Fame winner Clarence Juhl, a NATO diplomat , as “… a real hero among the many, many heroes of his generation – a quiet, unassuming, caring patriot and human being of the highest caliber”* made the Tower possible for public enjoyment.
Makes you wonder what Mahanay and Nally might think of the Bell Tower board and Supervisors squelching these tunes, doesn’t it? Might Mahanay and Nally counsel the Supervisors and the Tower board that playing patriotic music to celebrate the swearing in of a duly elected President and Vice President of the United States could actually be one of those virtual celebrations to bring the community together?
*Quotes about Floyd Mahanay’s wishes, and the late Paul Nally’s generosity are taken from the Mahanay Tower website https://www.mahanaybelltower.org/about-us
*For more information about national Inaugural events: https://bideninaugural.org/ .
To join in local Zoom celebrations, local watch parties and a virtual salute to President Biden and Vice President Harris, contact the committee at GreeneCountyIA.Dems@gmail.com
Chris Henning, Greene County Democrat central committee chair
