In the latest news article on the Darwin Day dust up (see my previous post) there was a quote that caught my eye. It seems that the former mayor of Reynoldsburg Ohio Robert McPherson said he didn’t remember signing a similar proclamation for a Darwin Day in his city in 2006. Well it seems there is proof that he did in fact issue such a proclamation.
Whitehall’s consideration of honoring Darwin this year came after a a mass e-mail was sent to cities in November from the citizen group Darwin Day Columbus Planning Committee.
Amy Birtcher, a board member of the Humanist Community of Central Ohio, put the group together.
“This isn’t anti-religious; this is a science thing,” she said. “It’s part of an international movement to help us celebrate Darwin and the things he did to help us better understand the world.”
Birtcher said officials from a few other cities told her that they’d pass the idea along.
Former Reynoldsburg Mayor Robert McPherson proclaimed Feb. 12 Darwin Day in 2006, although yesterday he said he didn’t remember doing it.
I checked with the Humanist Community of Central Ohio and they sent me a scan of the document:
(Click on the document to see it full size)
I was there when the document arrived in the mail since I am a member of HCCO. We were shocked to get it because ironically some of our members had been complaining about McPherson putting up a Nativity Scene on the lawn of the city hall there and denying all attempts to add other symbols as required by various court cases around the country.
