Public Service Recognition Week, 2008
This coming week in the U.S. is Public Service Recognition Week. Everyone should celebrate this important week. To help you, the Public Employees Roundtable at the Council for Excellence in Government has created a 24-page "How to Celebrate Handbook."
From the "Did You Know?" section of the Handbook:
- The National Institutes of Health began in a single attic room with one doctor searching for a way to prevent the spread of cholera.
- Two employees of the National Bureau of Standards invented the neon light.
- The first person to set foot on the moon, Neil Armstrong, was a public employee.
- Government scientists, tired of ironing clothes, developed technology to make cotton fabrics as wrinkle resistant as permanent press fabrics. Credit is due researchers working at the Agricultural Research Service.
- Alexander Graham Bell, father of the telephone, worked as an agent of the Census Bureau.
A fine example of dedication to public service is Smokey Bear. Often incorrectly called "Smokey the Bear," Smokey Bear is a character in a long-running public service campaign to prevent forest fires. According to Wikipedia, "Smokey's forest fire prevention campaign has reduced the area lost annually from 22 million to 4 million acres (89,000 to 16,000 km²)."
Government agencies and laws have played an important role in supporting Smokey Bear's efforts:
The fictional character Smokey Bear is administered by three entities: the United States Forest Service, the National Association of State Foresters, and the Ad Council. Smokey Bear's name and image are protected by U.S. federal law, the Smokey Bear Act of 1952 (16 U.S.C. 580 (p-2); 18 U.S.C. 711), which provides for actual imprisonment for those who manufacture goods depicting Smokey Bear without having secured a license from the government. [Wikipedia]
If these licenses were auctioned, they would provide precedent for the auction of radio spectrum licenses around the world.
Tags: bears, licenses, public service