by Matt Hutton

GALESBURG - U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he is determined to draw as much focus as possible to Abraham Lincoln’s bicentennial celebration next year.

“We’re going to try to call the attention of the nation and the world to the 200th anniversary to the birth of Abraham Lincoln, who I think was our greatest president,” Durbin said Monday at Knox College.

Durbin was in Galesburg to announce the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition will receive $490,000 in new federal funding, as part of an appropriations bill signed by President Bush in December. Any federal money received will require a dollar-for-dollar local match.

The Looking for Lincoln project promotes economic development and tourism. The coalition is a group of Illinois communities — 24 central Illinois counties have applied to participate in the program — that all have ties to the history and legacy of Lincoln.

Durbin said the attention on Lincoln has increased recently with the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas debates being celebrated this year, his bicentennial next year and the popularity of the Lincoln Museum in Springfield.

“There’s a heightened interest in Lincoln. What I tried to do is to build on that interest and to make sure that the entire Lincoln story was told,” he said. “So we can direct those interested in his life to the places of significance. ... For those who are trying to find the real meaning of Lincoln’s life, it leads to the understanding that the early part of his life was in preparation for his real greatness.”

Durbin is focusing on where the 16th president spent his “formative years” and wants each community to be able tell its own story. Visitors tracing his history would then be able to visit a number of different areas to get a complete view of the his time in Illinois.

Projects that would be eligible for the federal funding include preserving buildings from Lincoln’s era, buying signs to direct visitors and designing tours, but the senator stressed the idea behind the program was to let each community decide what would work best.

Funding for projects will be awarded on an annual basis, with requests made in the fall and money allocated in the spring. A five-member board, made up of members from the Looking for Lincoln board of directors, reviews project applications.

“What we’re looking for is initiative and leadership on the local level,” he said. “Each community is building its own program.”

Mayor Gary Smith, who also serves on the Galesburg bicentennial committee, said it was “great to have the senator in town,” and he looked forward to learning more details about the program requirements and how to take advantage of it. The bicentennial committee will meet again this Friday.