Good Afternoon and welcome again to our kick-off luncheon. We had hoped to have this luncheon on the site of the Peralta, but nevertheless we hope everyone will take advantage of the guided tour of the adobe sometime today. We are gathered here to begin the repayment of a debt long overdue-a debt to history. Sequestered a few hundred feet away, a building of adobe mud has stood for nearly two centuries: a silent observer of our city, it stood when Napoleon ruled over continental Europe and a philosopher-statesman named Thomas Jefferson presided over a fledgling experiment in democracy on the Eastern seaboard of this continent. Its intrinsic value is as little or as great as we citizens of San Jose wish to give it.
Before presenting our speakers, I would like to introduce a few of those gathered here. [See page #2]
Our first speaker is widely regarded as the most popular public figure in our valley: he has also been called affectionately the “Sam Yorty of the North” for his affinity with the friendly skies of United. Yet I feel it can be objectively stated, that between he and Dionne Warwick, San Jose has received a new and thoroughly positive image. He has been a great aid to this committee, he’s a friend of Peralta, and he also happens to be the Mayor of San Jose. It’s a pleasure to introduce – Norman Mineta.
In Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” it is suggested, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Our next speaker seems to qualify on at least two out of three. He has served both unofficially and officially as the custodian of much of our history and our culture. In the perspective of time, a hundred years from now, when all the politicians and civic leaders and chairmen of committees have been long forgotten, they will remember him. Ladies and Gentlemen, Clyde Arbuckle.
Thank you Clyde; thank you Mayor Mineta. I believe those of us gathered here realize that the time for procrastination is long gone. A British statesman put it rather well:
“We can only pay our debt to the past by putting the future in debt to ourselves.”
To conclude the program, I would like to thank all the members of the committee for their hard work. And I would particularly like to express my appreciation to John McEnery and John McEnery III for giving me the day off so I could attend this function.
Thank you and good afternoon.