COAL GROVE – Area residents met at Paul Porter Park last night to show solidarity for the country, keeping to Abraham Lincoln’s 1858 acceptance speech for the U.

Wednesday, September 19, 2001

COAL GROVE – Area residents met at Paul Porter Park last night to show solidarity for the country, keeping to Abraham Lincoln’s 1858 acceptance speech for the U.S. Senate when he told the audience, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

Patriotic music by the Dawson-Bryant High School band and guest singers filled the air; and prayer to those affected by the tragic events of last Tuesday were offered as the participants joined hands at Coal Grove’s "Holding Hands for America."

"It is times like these that test the mettle of America," Lawrence County Common Pleas Court Judge Frank McCown, the keynote speaker, told the hundred plus people at the event.

McCown told the audience there is nothing "free" about the freedom Americans enjoy. The country’s freedom, McCown said, was paid for by the men and women who served their country in both war and peace. He said Americans do not enjoy freedom "because of courts or politicians" but because "veterans have put their lives on the line."

"Terrorism will be defeated," McCown said, "we American’s will stand united to stamp out terrorism."

As "Taps" echoed off of the hillside and children waved flags, Lawrence County residents showed their support for a nation at war.

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