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Illinois History Week Pays Tribute To Daniel Cook Last Wednesday's issue of the McHenry Plaindealer carried a story concerning the action of the school board of District 156 against rehiring of the high school head football coach, Bill Day. According to reports, the reason given for the firing erf Mr. Day was "a poor win and loss record." Whether the citizens of McHenry believe this is a good enough reason to fire the football coach is debatable. The board, however, does have the right to hire and fire coaches as they desire. These actions have no effect on teacher tenure. The actual voting record and procedure which came to light in this action gives us some room to wonder about the operation of the board. There are seven members of the school board. According to most accepted procedures, the president of a body does not vote except in the case of a tie vote. Therefore, in the important issue of deciding the future of a man's job, there should have been six votes available to represent the people of the school district. However, the vote was 2-1 not to rehire the coach. That leaves three unac­ countable board members. Two could not make up their minds on how to vote (abstained) and the third was absent the night of the meeting. It is conceivable that had the three missing votes been for rehiring, the vote would have been 4-2 in favor of retention. We defend the right of any governing body to vote their con-, science yes or no on any issue - but we do think they should vote. School operation in McHenry is a multi-million dollar operation and the citizens of McHenry have a right to expect those who represent them to make intelligent decisions on all matters of policy and operation of our schools. We fully realize a member must be absent from a meeting now and then. But to be present and not vote does not represent the people of the district. We hope in the future, members of the board will weigh carefully decisions which the board must make - and then vote. Unless we can have no less than 100 percent of those persons present at a meeting voting either yes or no, we cannot have 100 percent representation on the board. We hope we see less "no decision" voting in the future. L.E.L. SERVICE NEWS U.S. Air Force Sergeant Arnold J. Schmitt, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald J. Schmitt, 5113 N. Beacon Hill, McHenry, has arrived for duty at K.I. Sawyer AFB, Mich. Sergeant Schmitt, a weapons mechanic, is assigned to a unit of the Aerospace Defense command. He previously served at Udorn Royal Thai AFB, Thailand. The sergeant is a 1970 graduate of McHenry high school. Illinois will be 155 years old Dec. 3 and Gov. Dan Walker has proclaimed Nov. 26-Dec. 3 Illinois History Week. Historical and civic organizations will hold com­ memorative programs and display special exhibits of history-related memorabilia. Illinois State Historian William K. Alderfer has suggested that among these should be a tribute to Daniel Pope Cook - the first man to propose statehood and for whom Cook county was named. Illinois would even­ tually have become a state, of course," Alderfer says, "but Dan Cook's energetic interest in the idea shortened the time by at least a year or two." Cook was only 23 years old when he made his statehood proposal and he spent the remaining ten years of his life in the service of his state. John Reynolds, Illinois' fourth governor (1830-34), described that brief career: Cook "rose high, shined bright and died soon." Daniel Pope Cook was barn in Scott county, Ky. in 1794. State Historian Alderfer points out, however, that there has never been a definitive biography written of Cook and none of the standard reference works gives the exact date of his birth. At the age of 19 Cook began to study law in the office of an uncle, John Pope, U.S. Senator from Kentucky, and in 1815 he moved to Kaskaskia, the territorial capital of Illinois. There, the following year, he was appointed auditor of public accounts and served as clerk of the territorial legislative. Cook purchased a part mterest, with Robert Blackyrell, in the Western Intelligencer-the territory's only newspaper- and becanrfe one of its editors. The work entailed by all of his job/apparently did not keep the energetic Cook fully oc­ cupied because early in 1817 he went to Washington, D.C., to seek a federal appointment. He was successful in getting an assignment from President James Monroe to carry diplomatic papers to John Quincy Adams in London where Adams was serving as minister to the Court of St. James. One of the messages asked Adami to return to the United States to become Secretary of State. Cook returned on the same ship with Adams and evidently a close friendship developed during the seven-week trip (June 15-Aug. 6). Back in Washington, Cook attempted to secure an ap­ pointment as secretary of the Territory of Alabama but failing to do so he decided to return to Illinois. On Nov. 20, 1817, the Western Intelligencer carried a note that "Daniel P. Cook, esq., returned to this place on the 18th instant." In the same column above this brief announcement was Cook's one-paragraph inauguration of his campaign for statehood, beginning: "While we are laboring under so many of the grievances of a territorial, or semi-monarchial government, might not our claims to a state government be justly urged?" In the next week's issue Cook stated his case for statehood with a 1,700-word letter signed "A Republican." Territorial Governor Ninian Edwards supported the proposal and on Dec. 10, 1818, by Nathaniel Pope, the territory's non-voting representative in Congress and an uncle of Daniel Pope Cook. The resolution making Illinois the twenty-first state of the Union was signed by President James Monroe Dec. 3, 1818. Cook's fellow Illinoisans had been so confident that statehood would be granted that they had already elected their first state officials in September. Cook ran for the prospective state's only seat in the U.S. House of Represen­ tatives. He and his opponent -- John McLean, another young lawyer-held a series of joint debates in the southern part of the territory. One listener - Orlando B. Ficklin, who later THANKSGIVING FEAST - The classes of Miss Nash and Miss Karp at Landmark school celebrated Thanksgiving in a special way. The classes made butter, cornbread, applesauce and pop­ corn. Dressed in Indian and Pilgrim costumes, the two classes sat down to share a Thanksgiving feast. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD HORNSBYS family centers -- OPEN DAILY 9 til 9 SUNDAY 9 til 6 McHENRY MARKET PLACE, 4400 W. Rte. 120 SANTA r ^ FRIDAY, NOV. 23rd 11:00 • 3:00 SATURDAY, NOV. 24th DEC. 1,8,15, & 22 1:00 to 4:00 SUNDAY, . NOV. 25, DEC. 2,9,16, & 23 £ 1:00 to 4:00 -PLUS- FREE CANDY & BALL0NS FOR THE KfOS Santa makes his offical entrance to McHeniy this week-end and has stocked our store full for boys and girls of all ages. We have the largest and most complete selection of toys in the McHenry land area. served with Abraham Lincoln in Congress - said that the Cook-McLean debates were superior in interest and oratory to the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 40 years later. McLean won the election by 14 votes and served out the remainder of the Fifteenth Congress-from Dec. 3, 1818, to March 3, 1819. Although Cook failed to become Illinois' first elected congressman, the General Assembly appointed him the state's first attorney general. He served only from March 5 to March 15, 1819, when he resigned to campaign for the seat in Congress. Cook was elected Illinois'^ second congressman and served in the Sixteenth through the Nineteenth Congresses (1819-27). Cook, who was in poor health, did not campaign in 1826 but his opponent - Joseph Duncan, a major general in the War of 1812 - canvassed the state thoroughly and won 6,322 to 5,619. At the end of his term Cook decided to visit Cuba with the hope of improving his health. He was also given a diplomatic assignment in­ volving the threat of an in­ vasion of the island by forces from Mexico and Colombia. His health did not improve and Cook returned to the mainland in June. After reporting to Washington, he came back to Illinois. He was suffering from PAGE 17 - PLAINDEALER-WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1973 tuberculosis and in August went to his former home in Kentucky where he died Oct. 16, 1827. In summarizing the brief and brilliant career of Daniel Pope Cook, State Historian Alderfer added several more points: Cook's family connections played an important role in that career. In addition to having John and Nathaniel Pope as uncles, he married Julia Catherine Edwards (1821) - the oldest daughter of Ninian Edwards, one of Illinois' first two U.S. Senators. Another family connection was that the wives of John Quincy Adams and John Pope were sisters. For Your Information Dear Friends, After a family experiences a bereave­ ment, it is often suggested that the family move slowly in attending to various legal and financial matters. These will involve such persons as the attorney, the bank, the in­ surance counselors, and their best advice should be sought. In matters that do not require an immediate decision, the passing of a little time may encourage the right decisions to be made. Respectfully, PERFECT BALANCE . . . Celia A. Dellavalle, of Portland, Me., a student teacher in Brunswick, was on her way to work when a car she was attempting to pass swerved into the passing lane. "It happened so fast, I don't know what happened" she said. The car ended up perfectly balanced on top of the pro­ tective barrier between lanes of 1-295. The car traveled 100 ft. along the top of the barrier before coming to rest. i Are You New In | | McHenry Area ? $ 5 * * * * * * | * * * •••••••••• Do You Know Someone new? WE WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND A ROYAL WELCOME TO EVERY NEWCOMER TO OUR AREA ! ! ! ! ! CALL JOAN STULL 385-5418 DORIS ANDREAS 385-4518 & PETER AiJISTEN & SON FUNERAL HOME rOj % KOYML WELCOME McHenry, I l l inois 335-0063 * KNOW YOUR AREA-ROYAL WELCOME DOES IT BEST J iQQ&i THURS.N0V29* 9-6 FRL NO* 30-9-9 SAT. DEC.1-9-6 tuktlneckxkeco |« JACKETS Rea*2o f 13 JEANS reg.$i5 ill e mMAWA liMilED 1220 N. GEfE N ST McHENLY,iLL6°o50