CENTRALIA — When the city of Centralia dedicates a monument today to the 1996 visit of President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and their spouses, it will be less about politics than the historical significance of the event.
The city will officially unveil the monument, which is already in place at the corner of Tower Avenue and Pine Street, at 6 p.m. today during a ceremony that is free and open to the public.
Everyone involved in the project, from politicians to city staff, say the monument is a commemoration of the fact that the country’s two highest executive officials will rarely, if ever, travel together again in the post-Sept. 11 world. It is not, they say, an endorsement of the Clinton administration.
“There will be some criticism, as this is politics, concerning the individual,” said Polo Enriquez, Centralia’s economic development director. “But it wouldn’t matter what president it was, or who the individual was. This is a very unique instance in time and I’ve made it a point to say we’re not talking about personalities here, we’re talking about circumstances.”
The monument itself stands about 4 feet tall, and is fashioned from black granite shipped in from China. Designed by the Centralia Historical Preservation Commission and commissioned by Sticklin Funeral Chapel in Centralia, it features an engraved presidential seal and a bronze plaque with an inscription that alludes to the significance of the visit.
Daniel LaPlaunt, general manager of funeral chapel and a member of the preservation commission, said the location, shape and composition of the monument all represent something.
The monument stands close to the same place where President Clinton, and a number of other prominent politicians and dignitaries, spoke from a stage on Sept. 19, 1996. Its shape resembles that of the presidential lectern, with the exception that it was built closer to the ground to accommodate children and those who are wheelchair bound, he said.
The finished product turned out better than anyone anticipated, LaPlaunt said, noting that it’s value is probably close to $5,000. He said the commission, steered by a three-person committee chaired by Rebecca Stabler, came to an agreement on the design within about five minutes.
“We certainly didn’t want it to look like something out of a cemetery,” LaPlaunt said. “It really is a beautiful thing.”
LaPlaunt, who was in the crowd when the presidential caravan rolled through almost 12 years ago, offered himself as an example of the desired separation of political opinion from historical significance when it came to the monument.
“I had to kind of divorce myself from all of that because I am not necessarily a big fan of the Clintons,” LaPlaunt said. “But that is not what this about.”
Centralia Mayor Tim Browning’s name is inscribed on the bronze plaque, though he said he had no hand in writing the inscription. His business was located on Main Street in Centralia when the bus tour came through town, he said, and he remembers it as a monumental occasion for everyone involved.
More than a decade later, he said the visit is important now not only because of the prestige loaned to the community, but because new national security measures all but forbid such an appearance.
It’s a sight no one, much less Centralia residents, will likely see again, Browning said.
“It’s exciting regardless of one’s political preference,” he said. “Probably, this is never going to happen again. … It was a historic day.”
Various estimates place the number of people who witnessed the presidential visit at anywhere from 16,000 to 18,000 people. Photos from the day show a mass of humanity clogging the entire downtown district, with members of the regional and national press smattered throughout.
The visit, which was stop on a tour titled “On the Road to the 21st Century,” was part of Clinton and Gore’s campaign to defeat the Republican challenger, Kansas Sen. Bob Dole. Two months later, Clinton was voted in for a second term, having received Washington state’s 11 electoral votes.
The idea to create a monument to the visit came sometime after the event, Enriquez said, though he isn’t sure when. He said that Chronicle columnist Gordon Aadland may have conceived the idea, and that former Mayor Bill Moeller was very supportive of it during his time on council.
Various city councils worked on the project over the years, with today’s dedication to be the culmination of those efforts.
“It’s the unique aspect of the presidential visit,” Enriquez said. “We may have at some time a sitting president here again, but he will almost certainly not be accompanied by the vice president and both spouses … Sept. 11 changed everything. No longer will we see, in my lifetime anyway, that kind of thing on a small-town street corner.”
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