Prior to Ray H. Jenkins election as Knox County Republican Party Chairman, the Immediate Past Chair pushed for the scheduling of the 2009 Knox County Lincoln Day Dinner. The dinner has always been scheduled for a Friday or Saturday evening. Not this year, former party chair Irene McCrary, Circuit Court Clerk Cathy Quist, Law Director Bill Lockett and Clerk Foster Arnett scheduled it for Tuesday April 14, 2009.

A local Abraham Lincoln historian called me outraged, he thought that I could change the date. I immediately informed him that I was no longer on the Executive Committee. It seems that the reason that this date was chosen instead of a Friday or Saturday is that 144 years ago this year on April 14 is the anniversary of his assassination. On April 14, 1865 President Lincoln was assassinated at the Ford’s Theater by John Wilkes Booth. This decision by McCrary, Quist, Lockett and Arnett to have the dinner on the anniversary of his assassination is unconscionable.