Formally Requesting Assistance to use the US Vice-Presidential Seal on a New Gravesite Monumnet to Properly Honor Schuyler Colfax

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4,�pVI'ff��1 Q � r, RESOLUTION NO. A RESOLUTION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, FORMALLY REQUESTING ASSISTANCE TO USE THE U.S. VICE - PRESIDENTIAL SEAL ON A NEW GRAVESITE MONUMENT TO PROPERLY HONOR AND COMMEMORATE THE DEDICATED PUBLIC SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY AND TO CIVIL RIGHTS BY SCHUYLER COLFAX, 17TH VICE - PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES GX" the South Bend Common Council recognizes that on January 14, 2013, the City Council unanimously adopted Resolution No. 4226 -13 honoring the first Speaker of the House to ever be elected Vice - President of the United States, Schuyler Colfax, and declared his birth date March 23rd as Schuyler Colfax Day as an annual event to be celebrated by "...fostering greater attention and reflection upon some of the many Constitutional reforms which Schuyler Colfax dedicated his life to for so many years" in South Bend, Indiana; and G)a the Common Council further recognizes that on Saturday, March 23, 2013, at the first Schuyler Colfax Day Celebration which commemorated the countless contributions made by Schuyler Colfax in championing the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments; the deteriorating condition of Schuyler Colfax's final resting place in the City of South Bend's oldest cemetery, City Cemetery, was witnessed first -hand and it became known that there are no funds for its perpetual care; and G," on June 24, 2013, the South Bend City Council unanimously adopted Resolution No. 4263 -13 which called for among other things, the establishment of an Action Plan for South Bend's Historic City Cemetery and called for the restoration, enhancement and preservation of Vice - President Colfax's final resting place so that visible and sustainable improvements would be made by the 2nd Schuyler Colfax Day to be held in 2014; and G},1,,4, it is our understanding that pursuant to Presidential Executive Order 11649 and Title 18 of the United States Code § 713, permission to use the official seal of the Vice - President of the United States on a Vice- President's gravesite monument must be granted by the federal government; and CA" on July 16, 2013, Carol S. Nichols, an officer and member of the Schuyler Colfax Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution of South Bend, Indiana, sent a letter to President Barack Obama, Vice - President Joseph Biden and White House General Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler officially requesting permission to have the Vice - President of the United States official seal placed on a new gravesite headstone which would more properly honor and commemorate the public service to our nation by the 17th Vice President of the United States Schuyler Colfax; and GW)" the South Bend Common Council notes that the federal government granted a similar request which resulted in a granite headstone with the Vice - Presidential Seal engraved thereon which was publicly dedicated on July 17, 2002, to honor U.S. Vice - President Charles Curtis, with his final resting place being located in Topeka Cemetery in Topeka, Kansas, which is depicted below: