A Capitol Idea
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Saturday, January 5, 2008
By Loretta Park
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
After four years and $226 million, Utah rededicates a landmark with panache
SALT LAKE CITY -- Bells of all sizes reverberated in the 92-year-old Capitol rotunda during the rededication ceremony Friday.
Jessica Sume, 12, of Ogden, plans to tell her children someday about ringing her two bells as part of the opening ceremony.
"It will be an awesome story to tell," Sume said.
Sume is a member of the Community United Methodist Church Ringers of the Light Youth Bell Choir.
Davis, Roy and Fremont high school students also participated with the area bell choirs performing in front of dignitaries in the renovated $226 million building that took four years to complete.
The ceremony, which was open only to those with tickets, was held on the 112th anniversary of Utah entering the union. The public is invited to tour the Capitol from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. beginning today until Friday.
"I like the acoustics," said Derek Myler, a Roy High School senior. "They're awesome."
"It was way awesome to be part of history," said Jessica Morton, another Roy High School senior.
The rotunda was filled with music from the bell choirs, International Children's Choir, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra at Temple Square, 23rd Army Band and the Cathedral of the Madeleine Choir.
The song, "Into Light," was written for the rededication ceremony. Dr. Katherine Coles, Utah's poet laureate, wrote the words, and Kurt Bestor wrote the music. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang the song.
The rotunda was also filled with lobbyists, local leaders, former and current legislators, former governors, congressmen, state employees, and church and business leaders. Big screen TVs were placed strategically throughout the rotunda, so no one missed any of the program.
Pastor Charles Petty, with Ogden's Second Baptist Church, gave the invocation.
"We pray, as we reopen this renovated building that there will also be a renovation of minds and attitudes for those who serve now and those who will serve in the future; and this building will serve as a reminder of such commitment," Petty said.
Gov. Jon Huntsman honored former Sen. Haven Barlow, R-Layton, whose work "spanned a third of our state's history and the administrations of six governors."
Huntsman said he cannot wait until the Legislature begins, so he can hear again the "red-hot debates on transportation funding on a Friday afternoon and see students dancing to the strains of the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the junior prom on a Friday night."
The Capitol can withstand an earthquake now because of the renovations, "but she cannot withstand citizen neglect," said Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem. Residents, he said, need to get involved, and he welcomed them back to the Capitol.
House Speaker Rep. Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, talked about the history of the Capitol and how today's leaders can learn from former leaders who were willing to look past "the most recent poll in deciding what direction to proceed."
Utah residents voted against a property tax increase to fund the building of the Capitol in 1909. But the Legislature "authorized a $1 million bond and appropriated $750,000 from the general fund to move forward with the construction of the Capitol," Curtis said.
Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Christine M. Durham said, "It was no accident that this building contains places where all three branches of government -- the Legislature, the executive and the judicial -- deliberate. It is a visual lesson in the complexity and the simplicity of the American vision for the government of and by the people."
The dedicatory prayer was offered by President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"This is the official house of the people of Utah," Hinckley said. "May it be preserved from the elements of nature. May wisdom dictate all that is said and done here. May the people whose building it is feel free to wander its halls and marble staircases, admiring its resplendent beauty."
Admiring its beauty is what many did after the ceremony. Former Sen. David Steele, R-West Point, and his wife, Sharon, were among those who wandered the halls and peeked in the State Room.
"It just sparkles," Sharon Steele said. "The docent in the State Room spoke with such tenderness about the room, you know she loves this building."
"I barely walked in (the rotunda) and my first impression was this room is so beautiful," said Katrina Gibson, wife of Rep. Kerry Gibson, R-West Weber.
Marsha Dee, wife of Rep. Brad Dee, R-Washington Terrace, said she was "overwhelmed by the grandeur and the beauty of it all."
"I've always loved the Gold Room," said Centerville Mayor Ronald G. Russell. "I can't wait to see it."
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