This year’s Lincoln Day Dinner took place over the weekend at the Event Center, and in addition to the silent auction of a number of donated items, the focus of the evening was song, prayer, and inspiration.  Special guest speaker Major General Brian Tarbet spoke powerfully on his experience in the armed forces and his views on the Founding Fathers. 

At the outset of the evening, Oneida County’s Bob Crowther welcomed Republican voters, candidates, and guests to the dinner by explaining a bit about the connection between Lincoln and Oneida County.  “In 1863, Congress passed the Act creating the Idaho territory, and President Lincoln signed it…Two years later, in 1865, is when the Welsh immigrants came into the Malad Valley.  And that’s why we tie ourselves to the Welsh—even if you don’t have any Welsh heritage and just make your way into the valley, we still call you Welsh.  Is that okay?” Crowther laughed.  Republican Region Representative Trent Clark announced from the audience that the Oneida Republican organization was actually the very first Republican organization in the Idaho Territory.

Bob Crowther, along with his wife Anne hosted the Lincoln Day event, with Anne reading aloud the poetry of Dotty Evanson and Jan Myers.

 Crowther also connected the Welsh origins of the valley to the night’s events.  “One of our sayings I like is that Wales is ‘the land of song.  To be born Welsh is to be born privileged.  Not with a silver spoon in your mouth, but music in your heart and poetry in your soul.’  So tonight, we’re going to have some music and some poetry to go along with your evening.”

The colors were posted by members of the American Legion Ernest W. Jones Post 65 (Rick Madsen, Garry White, and Max Huggins), after which the pledge was given and Emily Christiansen and Carrie Jensen sang the national anthem.  

“We wanted to focus the evening on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration, so we’ve done it a bit differently this year.  We’re going to introduce all of the candidates, and you’re welcome to visit with them after the dinner, but we won’t actually be hearing from them.”

D27 Senator Kelly Anthon, Representatives Douglas Pickett and Clay Handy were introduced, as was Paul Ross from the D27 Cassia County Central Committee.  Trent Clark was present as Idaho Republican Region Chair. Representatives from Mike Crapo and Jim Risch’s offices were present as well.  County officials Bill Lewis, Ken Eliason, Brian Jeppsen, Leigh Love, and Kathleen Atkinson were also present.  Bryan Kerr is the Republican Committee Chair, supported by Karen Kerr.

Hess Pumice and Hess Lumber and Home Center were thanked specifically for their help with the event. 

Candidates running for office were then introduced, and you can find their names listed in an article on page 8 of this paper.

After dinner, Bob Crowther introduced the poetry portion of the evening, by explaining that “Every year at the Welsh Festival, we name a bard.  I went to three of our former bards and asked them if they would write a poem about the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and they did.  In just a couple of days, the came up with a couple of wonderful poems, which are on your table.”  The poems of Dotty Evanson and Jan Myers are reprinted in this paper on page 3.  Former Bard Cory Webster was also present to recite from his work, as well as lead the crowd in a sing-a-long of the American classic “This Land is Your Land” with additional verses. 

Cory Webster performed several of his poems with musical accompaniment, and added several verses to the classic “This Land is Your Land.”

 Following the music, Dave Colton spoke by way of introducing Adjutant Gen. Brian Tarbet, whom he served under in the Utah National Guard. 

“No idea how I get into these things,” Colton laughed.  He began by explaining that despite being in the service for twenty-five or thirty years, he had never seen an adjutant general before—“didn’t even know what one was.”  However, “In 2000, Major General Brian Tarbet came on board.  And it didn’t take long before he knew who we were, and what our mission was.  He came to a lot of our functions, and gave us some pep talks on the way.  He was all around there for us.  I remember the day we went to Iraq and climbed up on that plane, and General Tarbet came up behind us and he called the air crew together.  He told them ‘these guys are going into harm’s way, so take good care of them,’ and they did.  While we were in Iraq we lost one of ours to a rocket attack.  When we got back, we had the memorial service for this gentleman, Anton Holt from Atlanta, Georgia, over in Wendover.  And General Tarbet was there, and presented a flag from the soldier’s field in Tooele.  General Tarbet was always there for us, and part of why he got to know us so well was so much was happening in the Global War on Terror.”  Colton noted that Utah was one of the most heavily involved states during the GWOT era.  “It was an extremely busy time for General Tarbet.  He came on board in 2000 and retired in 2012.”

Major General Brian Tarbet, U.S. Army (Ret) then spoke.  “Let me tell me why I felt the urgent need to go check on the Air Guard—to keep an eye on him,” he laughed, gesturing to Colton.  In a similar vein, the General joked that due to the recent tension between Idaho and Utah over water and fuel, he felt the need to clarify that he had married an Idaho girl, and she was there with him as a show of good faith.  His mother, furthermore, was born in Grace, Idaho.  His brother-in-law Chris Stewart was a Lincoln Day speaker in Oneida County recently.

The General showed a film montage from Saving Private Ryan in which Ryan has been instructed to “earn it,” in reference to his life, which had been purchased at the cost of many others.  “That process of earning began with our Founding Fathers,” Tarbet said.  “One cohort that didn’t get recognized properly were our Vietnam vets.  Would you gentleman stand please?” Tarbet said, directing the members of the American Legion present to rise for applause.  “I have a special fondness for these guys,” he said.  “My brother was one of them.  He passed away last year from Agent Orange as a result of that conflict.”

Tarbet then oversaw a moment of silence for the 13 American Servicemembers recently killed in the line of duty in the conflict with Iran.  

“It’s a nasty business.  The concern you get as you look at this tonight—I feel good tonight.  I’m with good people.  I’ve been fed well.  I’ve been educated and entertained.  I’ve been uplifted.  But in about half our country, that’s not going well.  We’re shooting Charlie Kirk.  We’re electing socialist mayors in New York.  And many of our youth think socialism is a good idea…There are people that are concerned every moment about deaths in Gaza, but have said nothing about the forty thousand killed in Iran over the past few weeks.  They say nothing about what happened in Israel on October 7 two years ago.  Not a peep.  That’s concerning.  We need to be more balanced than that.”

“They’re complicit, but they have the media filling them with only half the story, and that is not enough.  We’re rolling in here on a beautiful birthday celebration—250 years.  I told Chief Colton, the National Guard is 390 years old this December—we are in fact the oldest service, I’m sorry Navy guys!  That’s a lot of heritage.  That’s a lot of sacrifice.  And we need to celebrate it.  We need to put our arms around it and say, ‘yes, thank you. We have a shared history.’”

Tarbet related a story about his grandmother from Smithfield.  Six of her boys were in uniform during WWII.  That was pretty common, he noted.  Many served.  “It was a sense of shared sacrifice.  Today, that percentage is less than one.  Significantly less than one.  So it’s not a shared sacrifice anymore.  We’re at war tonight and most of the country isn’t aware.  And maybe they don’t care, unless it affects them at the pump.  And that’s a real concern, it is.  Many of you here are in the agriculture business—you get too little, you pay too much, and this is not helping you.  But we’ve been at war for 50 years, and nobody recognized it.  We need to see life as it truly is, not as we would like it to be.”

Tarbet specifically called to those in the audience under 30, who had “a lot of work to do to educate your peers.  In a very real sense, the world will soon be yours, and it is such a gift. The genius of those founding fathers is remarkable.  I look at what they spun off, and what is being spun off in Washington, D.C. today and there’s no comparison.  When people talk about a new Constitutional Convention, I shudder.”

“It was mentioned earlier tonight that when they signed that paper they committed treason.  Nobody would have given us a chance against Britain, none.  But they persevered.  They fought and lost and learned and lost again and fought again and came through.  These were remarkable men.  The soldiers that served with them at Brandywine and South Carolina, it was remarkable.  We hold these truths self-evident, that all men are created equal.  That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  That’s all we really want, isn’t it?  Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  What a rich gift has been given to us. Reagan said ‘freedom is a fragile things and it is never more than one generation away from extinction.  It is not ours by way of inheritance.  It must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation…Those who have known freedom once and lost it never get it back.  In a very real sense, it is up to us now.” 

Tarbet concluded his remarks by saying, “America is not a place, it’s an idea.  We need to protect, and preserve, and cherish that idea.”