Our first president, George Washington, was born on February 22, 1732. Today, George Washington’s birthday is celebrated as a national event annually on the third Monday of February.

Appropriately choosing President’s Day for tonight’s citizen forum, Sean Moir and Rich Brake, will present their initiative, “The Devon Petitions: Community Solutions for a Better Tredyffrin” tonight at Saint Luke Lutheran Church, 203 North Valley Forge Road, Devon, 7-9 PM. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.

Moir and Brake are convinced that “there’s a way to stay true to your principles, sometimes disagree but in the end be able to forge common ground that can move Tredyffrin forward.”

The friends took a two-step approach in designing the program. First, they asked community members to answer a simple four-question survey that asked for ideas on how to improve the local economy and the schools. The second part of their community solutions plan includes tonight’s presentation of the survey results in a town hall-style meeting to exchange ideas and discuss some of the big issues facing our community.

I think that George Washington would have supported the Moir-Brake citizen forum approach to open discussion and debate. As Washington told the officers of the Army on May 15, 1783, “If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”

I encourage everyone who is reading Community Matters to come out tonight to support this citizen forum for community discussion. In discussing their expectations for the meeting tonight, Moir wrote, “We’re hoping to engage a broad segment of the community in a constructive dialogue about important local issues, and if we’re lucky, it’ll be a conversation that continues and develops over time.”

A good way to celebrate President’s Day, I hope to see many of you at Devon Petitions: Community Solutions for a Better Tredyffrin.