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Librarian creates Valentine’s contest
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning County’s law librarian has created a contest that combines the February themes of Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day.
“They’re right next to each other on the calendar, so let’s put them together and see what we get,” said Susan McGrew, the law librarian, explaining how she came up with the contest idea.
In the contest, which is open to the public, participants are invited to match numbered presidential love quotations on a library wall display with the names of the U.S. presidents who authored them by writing the quote number next to the author’s name on the entry form.
McGrew researched the quotes for the contest, which has a noon Tuesday – Valentine’s Day – entry deadline.
The participant with the most correct answers will win the grand prize: a small box of Whitman’s chocolates with the presidential seal on it, which flew aboard Air Force One, according to eBay.
If there’s a tie, a random drawing will determine the winner.
All contestants get a Hershey’s Hug or Kiss.
“I like to promote the law library and to bring people in,” McGrew said, explaining why she created the competition. “Why not give them something to do that’s a little bit different?”
“It creates conversations” among law library visitors who might not otherwise speak to one another, she added.
“It adds a sweet voice to Valentine’s Day,” said Atty. Richard Schwartz of UAW Legal Services, a law library visitor, who said he would participate in the contest.
The listed former presidents are George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Harry S. Truman, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
Most of the quotes are from letters the presidents wrote to their wives, but one is to a mistress, McGrew said.
“They were not necessarily written while they were in office,” she added.
“I retain an unalterable affection for you, which neither time, nor distance, can change,” one of the presidents wrote.
The law library, which has been operating for 110 years, is open for public use.
It has been in the same fourth-floor location since the Mahoning County Courthouse, 120 Market St., opened in 1911.
The law library is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.