Attorneys, judges recite words of freedom
Jul. 3—In anticipation of the 246th anniversary of the founding of the United States, members of the Hunt County Bar Association, along with judges from the county's state district courts and county courts-at-law, participated Friday in the reciting of the Declaration of Independence on the steps of the Hunt County Courthouse.
"This is the eighth year we have done this," said organizer Katherine Ferguson. 'We missed it in 2020 due to COVID."
Ferguson was among eight individuals who volunteered for the event, with each attorney taking a turn at reading from the founding document.
Prior to the reading, Ferguson lead a small crowd that had gathered for the Pledge of Allegiance. She then prefaced the reading by offering a brief comparison between the Declaration and the Bill of Rights.
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, setting the 13 colonies on the road to freedom as a sovereign nation.
The event was sponsored by the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, which has been presenting readings of the Declaration of Independence since 2010.
During 2016, for the first time, the readings were conducted outside of the courthouses in each of the state's 254 counties.
