Hopewell firemen taking part in Inauguration Day parade

Steve Webb and Jason Read were picked for the honor of participating.

By Ruth Luse
   Two firefighters from Hopewell have been selected to participate in today’s Inauguration Day parade for President George W. Bush.
   The parade is set to begin at 2:30 p.m. in Washington, D.C.
   Steve Webb and Jason Read — volunteers with the Hopewell Fire Department — were chosen by the director of the Lincoln Highway National Museum and Archives, Galion, Ohio.
   Mr. Webb said Tuesday that he and Mr. Read have been told they will be marching in the fourth division, after the Air Force section. He thinks the parade should last until after dark.
   How did the local volunteers get picked to participate in today’s event?
   For two years, starting in 2000, Museum Director Craig Harmon traveled across the country following the Lincoln Highway, from New York City to San Francisco in a 1964 Maxim Open-Cab 100 foot ladder truck.
   Along the way, Mr. Harmon stopped at firehouses in towns along the Lincoln Highway, and met firefighters. When he stopped in Princeton looking for a place to locate his truck so he could elevate the ladder and fly the American flag along with the flag of the museum, Mr. Harmon was assisted by Mr. Webb, who is a fire inspector with the Fire Marshal’s office in Princeton Borough. The two have been communicating via e-mail ever since.
   In December, Mr. Harmon, who drove his fire truck in the 2001 Inaugural Parade, received notification that his organization had been selected to participate in the 2005 Presidential Inaugural Parade. The parade theme is "Celebrating Freedom-Honoring Service."
   Mr. Harmon choose two firefighters from each state along the Lincoln Highway, to represent their states. Mr. Webb, who was contacted last Wednesday (Jan. 12) and notified of his selection, is no stranger to Washington DC, or presidential inaugurations. He is a former federal police officer with the United States Capitol Police, the organization that provides security for members of Congress and the Capitol Complex.
   When Mr. Harmon informed Mr. Webb that he was having a hard time getting another person willing to participate from New Jersey, Mr. Webb mentioned Mr. Read, who not only is a member of the Hopewell Fire Department, and chief of the Amwell Valley First Aid Squad in Ringoes, but also an Olympic Gold medallist in last summer’s Olympic games in Athens. Mr. Read won his medal in the Men’s Eight rowing competition.
   When contacted with the offer, Mr. Read, who was in Atlantic City conducting a speaking tour of schools in South Jersey, jumped at the chance to participate with his friend, Mr. Webb.
   The pair will carry the United States flag as well as the New Jersey flag alongside the fire truck, which has been named, "The Spirit of Liberty." Riding on the truck along with people dressed as George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette and Abraham Lincoln will be actors John Travolta, Nicholas Cage and Mickey Rooney.
   All of the firefighters will be dressed in the "turn-out" gear they wear when fighting fires.