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Lincoln bronze to grace Mt. Vernon siteBy Stephen Anderson Dedication of a statue of Abraham Lincoln in front of the 5th District Appellate Courthouse in Mt. Vernon and related events, co-sponsored by the Illinois State Bar Association, are scheduled Thursday, Sept. 18. Centered on celebration of the 150th anniversary of the courthouse, the day's highlight will be unveiling of the nine-foot-tall bronze statue by Ohio sculptor Alan Cottrill. Commemorative events will begin at 10 a.m. with a panel presentation of the first in a series of lectures on Lincoln the Lawyer. Lunch will follow in the courthouse. From 1 to 3:30 p.m., justices of the Illinois Supreme Court will sit in formal session to hear arguments in two criminal cases. The dedication and unveiling ceremony will begin at 3:30 p.m. Bruce D. Stewart, chief justice of the 5th District Appellate Court, will introduce fellow justices and provide opening remarks. Other speakers include ISBA President Jack C. Carey of Belleville, Second Vice President Mark D. Hassakis of Mt. Vernon, and Chief Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald of the Supreme Court. A performance of the Southern Illinois University Children's Choir will precede unveiling of the statue. A reception for justices of the Supreme and Appellate Courts will begin at 4:30 p.m. in the Mitchell Museum. A Lincoln sculpture by Cottrill in Joliet came to the attention of Mark Hassakis, who invited the artist to Mt. Vernon for meetings with a commissioning committee. Hassakis joined the city's Lincoln Bicentennial Committee in creating an Abraham Lincoln Sculpture Project and starting to raise funds to cover the estimated cost of $90,000. Cottrill's rendering, based on photographs by Matthew Brady and others, is of Lincoln about 1857 during the period in which he appeared at the Mt. Vernon courthouse, which then was the seat of the 3rd Grand Division of the Supreme Court. The sculptor said he hoped to portray Lincoln with "a complex expression" of "emotive content" that viewers will recognize. Next on the ISBA's schedule of Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial observances is completion of a bust of the 16th president by sculptor John McClarey, whose studio is in Lincoln. The bust, titled "Prairie Lawyer, Master of Us All," will be presented to the Illinois Supreme Court on Monday, Jan. 12, in Springfield in connection with observance of the 100th anniversary of the court's building. Representing Lincoln as he looked as a Springfield lawyer in 1860, before his election as president, the bust will be a gift to the people of Illinois from the lawyers of Illinois.
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