Published: July 16, 2008 10:46 pm            

MARK BENNETT: Plenty of room for logo and city seal, once the date’s corrected

TERRE HAUTE — Some problems are easily fixed.

Take the fuss over the length of Tuesday’s All-Star Game and the fear that pitchers could damage their arms by, well, pitching in an exhibition contest. Major League Baseball’s commissioner should listen to the concerns, study the amount of money fans paid to watch what became a 15-inning classic and the amount of money the players are paid to play, and just tell the pitchers to pitch until someone wins.

It’s as simple as Clark Griswold fixing the newel post with a chainsaw.

The same goes for the debate over the use of the “A Level Above” logo on the City of Terre Haute’s new Web site.

The site, built by new Mayor Duke Bennett’s administration, heightens the prominence of the official seal of the city — which features the image of Fort Harrison and the date 1812. Meanwhile, the “A Level Above” logo — a widely recognized branding initiative involving several local economic development groups — now rests on the bottom half of the home page.

In response to criticism from City Councilman Rich Dunkin over the logo’s initial absence from the Web page and its omission from a podium the mayor spoke behind last week, Bennett insisted there was no plan “to do a mass removal of the logo from city entities” and that it remains on city vehicles, letterhead, doormats and other items.

The administration does, though, intend to give greater emphasis to the city seal, Darrel Zeck, public affairs director, told the Tribune-Star’s Arthur Foulkes. “The history of the seal goes back a lot farther than the history of this logo,” Zeck said, “and we understand the intent of this logo. That’s why we’ve still maintained it.”

A resolution to one part of this situation is uncomplicated and necessary.

The new Web site carries the city seal in the upper left-hand corner, inside a broad blue banner that is otherwise empty, except for the mayor’s name and some small search and contact boxes. There is plenty of vacant space inside that banner to drop in the “Terre Haute, A Level Above” logo, with a one-click link to other local entities that use it. The mayor should say, “Folks, it’s a valuable concept that got its start way back in 2000, got developed by a local firm, involves significant amounts of donated hard work and resources of local people, and employs a clever play on the French translation of Terre Haute (“high ground”) and the town’s aspirations. Let’s get it right back up there.”

It is only logical, and efficient, for the city to resume lofty use of an existing marketing tool widely used by other civic groups and agencies. The logo is modern. Its close proximity would greatly complement the seal, which reflects one part — albeit an important part — of Terre Haute’s distant past. “A Level Above” deserves the prime spot it's held, and shouldn’t be downplayed as a remnant of the previous administration.

As for the seal, it holds its own complexities.

At its heart is a depiction of Fort Harrison, a military post whose commanders included two future presidents — William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor. Above that picture is the fort’s name and the year 1812. Fort Harrison was built in 1811. The battle of Fort Harrison — when Taylor, 15 Army soldiers and some civilians repelled an attack by reportedly 500 Native Americans — occurred in 1812.

To be historically accurate, the seal should read either “Fort Harrison 1811” or “The Battle of Fort Harrison 1812.”

Four years ago, the Vigo County Historical Society board of directors, urged by local attorney and military history buff Hal Johnston, crafted a resolution asking the City Council to correct the seal’s date to 1811, according to Marylee Hagan, the society’s executive director. The councilman they were working with, Chuck Miles, has, sadly, since passed away.

Johnston, who considers Fort Harrison’s legacy “a real historical treasure,” still thinks the correction should be made. In an e-mail Wednesday from the Middle East, where he’s serving as a major in the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Johnston wrote of Fort Harrison, “Although [1812] was the year of its defense by Captain Zachary Taylor, I have always felt that we could at least get our history correct on the seal.”

He also said Fort Harrison was more spacious than the picture in the seal, according to his research of similar forts of that era.

Those glitches could be traced to other glitches in the seal’s original adoption process. The Terre Haute City Council approved a new city seal on July 3, 1899, calling for “a cut or representation of Fort Harrison, [and] underneath it the inscription ‘Fort Harrison, 1812.’” A few old-timers who were actually alive back in 1811 and ’12 could’ve clarified the dates and the history for the council in 1899. But, instead, the seal remained just a few sentences inside a book of City Council minutes. Nobody bothered to turn it into a reality until 1937.

That’s when the city clerk found the 1899 resolution in an old book of minutes. His discovery led City Councilman William W. Barnes to re-introduce the idea, as-is, and it passed on March 5, 1937. Thus, the resulting seal, still with us today, reads: “Fort Harrison 1812.”

Resolving the discrepancy isn’t so simple. The current City Council could resolve to change the date, said Chou-il Lee, the city attorney who uncovered that 1937 resolution on Wednesday. But the seal’s depiction on all physical items — from letterhead to city flags — would have to be redone. “So there would be costs associated with it,” Lee said, “but I think that’s an issue for the council, if they’d want to address that.”

Maybe the seal should just show Fort Harrison and its name, and use the date of the city’s founding alongside the outer wording: "City Of Terre Haute Indiana.” Well, that’s tricky, too. The city was platted in 1816, incorporated as a town in 1832, and declared a city in 1853.

Where’s Clark Griswold when you need him?



Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.

        

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