Every once in a while, I hear something so absurd that I have to savor it…just for the humor. Corey continues to entertain.
There has been talk for some time in the Stewart budget proposal, about doing away with 2 federal holiday observances for county employees. The two holidays were Columbus Day and Presidents Day. From what I was able to gather, this was just the final shot to already bad morale in the county. The employees didn’t like it.
Corey announced today in the BOCS meeting that he would not be present during Supervisors Time but that he had a proposal. Naturally he butt in line and outlined his wants, although not at the appropriate time. He suggested that the supervisors agree to not observe Columbus Day or Presidents’ Day as county holidays. He then said that it was great to observe Washington and Lincoln but it also meant that one would have to observe all the presidents like Andrew Johnson and Richard Nixon. He then proposed giving back the holidays to the employees on Lincoln and Washington’s actual birthdays.
WHAT is he thinking? Who would want to trade off a fall holiday for one in the dead of winter that has a 2 out of 7 chance of falling on a weekend? Furthermore, what’s wrong with Andrew Johnson? He was traditional Jacksonian Democrat who was also a southerner. He was much maligned by the Radical Republicans of the time, who wanted to punish the South. It sounds like one Radical Republican is still after poor Johnson. Richard Nixon? Not all that bad in many ways. He arguably made some contributions to the country. Historians are kinder to Nixon than the general population.
I am not sure Corey realizes Prince William County is in the South. Andrew Johnson is not the enemy.
Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and at least 2 supervisors spoke up and said they couldn’t entertain that proposal at this time. Thanks goodness. Otherwise, the county employees would be taking February 12 and 22 as holidays and working on the Federal holidays while their families had the day off.
Does Corey speak to some evil god of bad humor or what? Corey, the gift that just keeps giving.
Just in case you don’t believe me….
“Presidents’ Day” (or was it President’s Day?) was a sneaky way to cut down the holidays from two to one in February and to throw the cover of ambiguity over whether we were celebrating Washington’s (we all can get behind that), Lincoln’s (still perhaps a sore spot in the Democratic, Calhounist South, whether they call themselves Democrats or Republicans), of Franklin Pierce’s birthday (let’s not and say we did).
If Mr. Stewart is saying that we should celebrate 12 February as Lincoln’s Birthday and 22 February as Washington’s Birthday (leaving to one side whether we clutter up the shortest month of the year with Reagan’s Birthday (6 February), it may be the first constructive idea the man has ever shared with us.
I still haven’t figured out his motive.
I secretly think he didn’t want to have to honor Obama or Clinton.
Frankly, I never thought of the holiday as being all the presidents. I always thought, as you suggest, Scout, that it was just a sneaky way to turn two holidays into one. The “Presidents” being Lincoln and Washington.
Stewarts original intent was to save the county money by knocking out 2 holidays.
Did Corey hit cocktail hour early?
How did he go from “save the county money and deny employees paid holidays” to lets just replace em with two other days? Is he looking for political kudo’s to add to his LG website? Even at that, I still don’t get it.
I had to chuckle yesterday when the Chairmen went on about Feb 12 and Feb 22….flashbacks to elementary school in those long ago days when above the blackboard went the images of Washington and Lincoln, and then on those specific birthdays, some classroom activity.
And he was right that it was Nixon who created the holiday…that was back in 1971 to align all Federal Holidays as much as possible to Mondays giving the three-day weekends. I sometimes think Nixon had the right idea since, come the gas shortage just a couple of years later, the three-day weekend was touted as a way to reduce use of gas. Stay home, stay off the roads.
@Scout
holidays from two to one in February
We solved that in New Orleans and other points south.
MARDI GRAS!