(A) The first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791.
(B) The Bill of Rights recognizes, affirms and protects fundamental human and civil rights for which persons of all races have struggled for thousands of years.
(C) To preserve the rights and freedoms secured by the Bill of Rights, the nation’s forefathers, and hundreds of thousands of men and women serving at the police agencies and Armed Forces of the United States, have sacrificed, suffered and died.
(D) The rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights deserve perennial celebrations; the sacrifices made to protect the Bill of Rights deserve eternal remembrance.
(E) In the county, there has been no regular formal observance of a special day commemorating the ratification of the Bill of Rights. Several of the original states refused to ratify the Constitution without an express Bill of Rights.
(F) To commemorate the Bill of Rights with a special day would honor the fundamental rights it enshrines and the sacrifices made to create and preserve these rights, and would proclaim these rights to the citizens of the county, to the nation and to the world.
(G) (1) A copy of the Bill of Rights shall be conspicuously posted at the county courthouse and provided to all citizens upon request. December 15 of every year is designated Bill of Rights Day in the county.
(2) All government agencies are encouraged to observe the annual Bill of Rights Day in a manner that brings to mind the meaning and importance of each of the ten articles contained in that Bill.
(3) The first annual commemoration of Bill of Rights Day was on December 15, 2001.
(BC Res. 2001-46, passed 11-29-2001)