S-3534

S-3534.2 _______________________________________________

SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8035

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State of Washington 57th Legislature 2002 Regular Session

By Senators Hargrove, Snyder, Benton, T. Sheldon, Oke, Deccio, Winsley, Long, Horn, Hochstatter, Stevens, Swecker, Finkbeiner, Carlson, Roach, Johnson, Zarelli, Hale, Honeyford, Hewitt, Morton, Sheahan, Rossi, Rasmussen, Gardner, Spanel, McAuliffe, Fraser, West, Franklin and Haugen

HELD ON FIRST READING 01/25/2002.

TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO LIEUTENANT GENERAL WILLIAM J. LENNOX, JR., SUPERINTENDENT, UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY, WEST POINT:

We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

WHEREAS, The United States Military Academy today celebrates 200 years of providing leaders of character for our Army and a lifetime of selfless service to the Nation; and

WHEREAS, On March 16, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson signed into law a bill of the United States Congress authorizing the establishment of "a military academy to be located at West Point in the State of New York;" and

WHEREAS, West Point was originally created as an academic institution devoted to the arts and sciences of warfare, and later emphasizing engineering to serve the needs of the Nation and to eliminate the country's reliance on foreign engineers and artillerists; and

WHEREAS, Isaac I. Stevens, the first graduate of West Point's Class of 1839, served as the first Governor of the Territory of Washington, and organized and led the Northern Railway Survey that paved the way for the transcontinental railroads to Washington; and

WHEREAS, United States Military Academy graduates were responsible for the construction of many of the Nation's initial railway lines, bridges, harbors and roads, and surveys and mapmaking that were vital to the infrastructure development of our great Country and its State of Washington; and

WHEREAS, United States Military Academy led Army forces into the wilderness area that became the Territory and State of Washington, providing protection and development services until the civil authority was able to assume these functions; and

WHEREAS, West Point graduates have distinguished themselves in countless ways, from Olympic glory to receiving the Heisman Trophy, from receiving scores of Rhodes Scholarships to serving as some of the Nation's pioneering astronauts; and

WHEREAS, The United States Military Academy is preparing for its third century of service to our Nation - a future in which fighting and winning our Nation's wars remains the Army's primary focus; and

WHEREAS, The United States Military Academy must also prepare officers for peacekeeping duties as part of an ever complex world; and

WHEREAS, The United States Military Academy remains today an energetic, vibrant institution that attracts some of the Nation's best and brightest young men and women from throughout the Country and its State of Washington who, in the next two hundred years of service to this Nation, will face challenges different from those that have gone before them to make up the storied Long Gray Line; and

WHEREAS, The United States Military Academy continues its lasting commitment to its motto of Duty, Honor, Country;

NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the President of the United States and the Congress join with the state of Washington and other states in honoring the 200th Anniversary of the United States Military Academy at West Point in recognizing that the United States Military Academy is a living testament to the accomplishments of the United States throughout its history, and in recognizing West Point and its graduates as they move forward into the Academy's third century of service to the Nation.

BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, Lieutenant General William J. Lennox, Jr., Superintendent, United States Military Academy, West Point, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.