On Monday, November 9, he middle school students of St Joseph School in Baltic, CT visited the Supreme Court and State Capitol Building in Hartford as part of their study of US history and government. They sat in the Supreme Court building, which is over a hundred years old, and learned the history of the beautiful architecture and fixtures as well as the judges themselves by a friendly, well informed tour guide, who told the students that he had attended twelve years of Catholic school in Waterbury. What he failed to say was that exactly one year earlier, the Supreme Court handed down a decision legalizing same sex marriage in this very courtroom.
Next the students toured the Capitol building and admired the soaring dome, which is undergoing renovation, and the meticulous and expensive restoration of the original art deco painting on the walls. In front of the Nathan Hale statue, the tour guide asked the students who Nathan Hale was, and thanks to their oral presentations in class, they responded, that he was a patriot who served as an American spy during the Revolutionary War . Hale was caught and hung by the British, saying, "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country".
Students from Canterbury recognized the new statue of valiant school principal, Prudence Crandall who opened her schoolhouse doors to African American girls in the mid 1800's and endured violence and threats from her neighbors.
In the Representatives Chamber, the students asked questions of Representative Chris Coutu, of the 47th General Assembly District (Norwich, Canterbury, and Scotland). A parent asked questions about tuition tax credits, stating that each child in Catholic school saved their district thousands of dollars. Rep Coutu fully supports this, however being the minority party, he has little hope of this initiative passing.
Another parent asked about reversing the controversial law of last April which confirmed the Supreme Court ruling on homosexual marriage, again, Rep Coutu was equally pessimistic about a minority party's ability to pass a marriage-friendly bill since the Constitutional Convention ballot initiative failed last November. A Constitutional Convention would have offered an opportunity for an amendment reaffirming traditional marriage, making unconstitutional. Part of the bill would have forced schools like St Joseph's to teach homosexual marriage as normal in their classes. This part of the bill was defeated however, by pro-family representatives.
One shining success mentioned by Rep Coutu was the defeat of 1098 which would have replaced pastors in Catholic Churches with lay boards of governors. "Ten thousand Catholics gathered in front of the Statehouse in protest of this bill" said Rep Coutu, and thus this bill, which targeted Roman Catholic churches only was defeated.
Rep Coutu is one of very few Republicans in Connecticut House of Representatives, elected amid a sweeping defeat of his fellow Republicans in national elections, and the election of Barack Obama as president. He is upbeat and feels that the election of 2010 will mirror the Republican Revolution of 1994 when the nation reacted to President Bill Clinton's radical agenda. Recent polls indicate that he may be right.
This prediction did not seem to bother longtime Senator Edith G. Prague (representing the 19th district since 1994)seemed rather complacent about her position in the Senate, Senator Prauge is pro-abortion and actively opposes family values legislation in the Senate. She explained how the senators vote and instructed the children on how to conduct a mock vote on a longer school year, something the Obama Administration is considering. The Senator's initiative lost, perhaps a sign of things to come.
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