Calling on Cincinnati Chapter SAR members to reach out to their Ohio State Senator and House Representative to show support for the Fort Laurens Rebuilding Plan.
The letter from Thomas Hankins is below.
In addition, templates for the Senator and House letters are provided and attached.
To Assist you determine the name and address of your House Representative, there is a link below which you enter your address and it will provide your Representative and their address.
https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislators/district-maps
Letter of Call to Action from: Thomas Hankins
Compatriots,
I am a member of the Committee to rebuild Ft. Laurens. This committee has done extensive work on a site plan as well as a very detailed business plan that would assist in rebuilding Ft. Laurens.
Those of you who have been to the National Wreath Laying Ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier know that no fort structures exist.
Our plan is to reconstruct a full size fort that Ft. Laurens would have looked like in 1778 in the open field across from the Tomb. Between the endowment monies, donations and the log fund over $300,000.00 has been raised to build the fort.
We were hoping to have the fort built by 2026 but after 2 1/2 years of meetings unfortunately the Ohio History Connection which manages the Ft. Laurens site has denied us building the fort. A Bill was passed into law in 1915 and signed by Governor Willis states that the fort and earthworks must be built. OHC by law is required to do what the Ohio Legislature requires them to do.
Therefore we are asking each compatriot in your chapter to send these two letters to their respective Ohio State Senators and Representatives. The letters are already written and are in Word format. So all the compatriot has to do is fill in the information where necessary, print and mail the two letters.
All of the hard work is done and it’s only two letters to mail. They are not to be sent by email. It’s extremely important that you stress that we need the legislature support their obligation to require the fort and earth works be built.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me either by email or phone. My email is thankinsjr@roadrunner.com and my cell # is 740-501-5068 The Senate latter and the House letter are attached.
Thank you for your time and assistance on helping get Ft. Laurens built.
Warmest regards,
Compatriot Thomas Hankins
Committee to Rebuild Ft. Laurens Member
President
Hocking Valley Chapter
Ohio Society SAR
Ohio Semiquincentennial Commission Member
More Information about Fort Laurens:
http://friendsoffortlaurens.org/Fort_Laurens/fort_laurens.html
