The following editorial was submitted by St. Lawrence County Legislator James Reagen, who represents Ogdensburg.

Fifty years ago, I opened a book in the Ogdensburg Public Library and learned that a British soldier bayoneted a 16-year-old boy just a block away on Ford Street during a battle in Ogdensburg during the War of 1812.

The book introduced me to the unique role our community played in American history. Later, I learned about how native American warriors from Fort La Presentation raided frontier villages in the Mohawk Valley during the war between England and France for control of North America.

Over the past half century, I’ve learned about how Ogdensburg was once a place where pirates walked the streets, Irish veterans of the Civil War schemed to invade Canada to swap it for Ireland and bootleggers ran illegal speakeasies at bars like The Place, Nigs and others during Prohibition.

That’s why I’ll be voting yes on May 18 when voters go to the polls to decide on a referendum that will decide whether we save our library, preserve our community’s heritage and stand up for what’s best in Ogdensburg.

The referendum will give each of us an opportunity to speak out on what direction we want for this special place we call our home.

I believe it will be an opportunity to decide what kind of community we want to leave to our children and grandchildren, one that sees value in our heritage, our institutions and the unique characteristics that have made Ogdensburg a special place for families for almost three hundred years.

The Ogdensburg Public Library has helped introduce hundreds of thousands of Ogdensburg children to the joys of reading since the first library opened its doors in 1828.

Our library is a place where many of us have learned that buildings come and go, businesses have flourished and then failed, but what has made Ogdensburg special is the families who have worked together during those three centuries to carve a community out of a patch of wilderness and who have fought to make it a place where we can raise our children and grandchildren.

Ogdensburg has never been about a bunch of old buildings that exist for a little while over the course of centuries before declining and falling. The reason so many of us chose to raise our families in this special place where the Oswegatchie meets the St. Lawrence is because of the people who make it such a special place to live.

Yes, Ogdensburg residents have always enjoyed fighting among ourselves about matters like politics and taxes, but we recognize that we have always been able to come together when it really matters. Whether it’s gathering together to cheer on the football team against Massena or massing by the thousands in front of city hall to defend our prisons, Ogdensburg has always recognized that what makes us unique is we care about each other and enjoy living in a place where our neighbors look out for each other.

It’s our library that has helped introduce each new generation to the unique stories of our past that has helped instill pride in our community. It’s our library that has served as a repository through the centuries that has helped us pass on the stories of our families to each new generation to help them understand the challenges our ancestors faced despite civil and world wars, depressions and plagues and a host of other calamities through the course of our history.

On May 18, we have an opportunity to remove our library from the political football field that has caused longtime friends to turn their backs on each other. During this referendum, we can insure that our library will always be a special refuge where our children and children’s children can discover how the written word can transport them to distant lands or even the stars.

When we cast our ballot, we can make a statement that we want to preserve our history, save our heritage and insure that future generations will always know what makes Ogdensburg a special place we call our home.

James E. Reagen

Ogdensburg