http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/01/charles-pannunzio-holiday-shuffles-calendar.php
Uh oh, the Daily messed that link up. So here's my cached version (gotta be prepared, you know).
Posted at 11:24 AM Jan. 15, 2012 |
Updated: 5:28 PM Jan. 16, 2012 0 0
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How did you celebrate the four-day
holiday weekend?
If you were anything like me, you
worked on Friday and, unless something unexpected happens before this
afternoon, I'll be back at the office.
But today is a holiday for most
government workers and bankers, and some state employees have actually been out
since leaving work on Thursday.
Today is the day that Martin Luther
King Jr.'s birthday is recognized, although his actual birth date was Sunday.
As the most recent addition to the federal calendar, observance of the King
holiday remains hit-or-miss. For instance, I could pay a water bill in
Winchester today since city offices are open, but I'd have to wait until
Tuesday if I need to check on anything at the courthouse, since it has been
closed since 5 p.m. Thursday.
That's right, Thursday. That's
because Friday was Lee-Jackson Day, which honors Robert E. Lee and Gen. Thomas
J. "Stonewall" Jackson, and is observed on various dates in a number
of states in the South. In Virginia, Lee-Jackson Day was celebrated on Jan. 19
for a number of years before it was moved to the nearest Monday, giving many state
employees a three-day weekend.
I still remember the first time I
heard of Lee-Jackson Day. My mother dropped me off at the Medical College of
Virginia Hospital in Richmond one morning -- I am guessing now that it was Jan.
24, 1983 -- for a doctor's appointment. She told me to kill some time afterward
and she would pick me up at noon.
Having visited the state Capitol a
few times, I knew the lay of the land down there and figured the perfect place
on a cool, drizzly morning would be the state library. As I went to open the
door, I was surprised to find it locked. A little sticker on the door indicated
that the library was closed for "Lee-Jackson Day." I guess if I was
of age, I would have realized the ABC stores were closed too.
When discussion of a national
holiday to honor King began, his Jan. 15 birth date seemed like a logical time,
but it got wrapped up in the 1971 federal act that moved many observances to
Mondays so federal workers could get a three-day weekend. That's the same act
that gave us Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day and Columbus Day on Mondays,
rather than Feb. 22, May 30 and Oct. 12.
In Virginia, there was resistance to
adding a third holiday to the month of January, so the General Assembly
eventually decided to combine the King observance and Lee-Jackson Day into
"Lee-Jackson-King Day," which was first observed in 1985.
Obviously some of the resistance was
not because of the when, but the who. I'll leave it to the more scholarly, and
more opinionated, folks to discuss this juxtaposition, but pretty much nobody
was happy with the compromise.
After a decade and a half of the
shared observance, Gov. Jim Gilmore proposed the current split in 2000, with
Lee-Jackson Day marked on the Friday prior to the King holiday. The General
Assembly agreed to the change, which created even more of a patch-work
observance, as anyone who tried to visit a government office on Friday could
attest.
Lost in this entire discussion is
the reason for the holiday. Hopefully those folks who have the day off will pay
King tribute, either by attending one of the local celebrations of his life or
by participating in a service project.
That's a nice way to honor a legacy.
• Charles Pannunzio is assistant
managing editor of the Northern Virginia Daily.
