Full Text of HR0503 97th General Assembly
HR0503 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives are pleased to congratulate the City of Ottawa | 4 | | on the dedication of the Ottawa Radium Girls Memorial; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, A statue of a radium worker will be dedicated on | 6 | | September 2, 2011 at the northwest corner of Clinton and | 7 | | Jefferson streets, the former home of Luminous Processes; the | 8 | | life-size statue is to serve as a memorial to the women who | 9 | | worked at the Radium Dial and Luminous Processes factories in | 10 | | Ottawa and consequently died from radium poisoning; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, The bronze statue is of a woman holding flowers to | 12 | | symbolize hope and life in one hand and paintbrushes in the | 13 | | other; the statue was designed by Bill Piller, a Mendota | 14 | | sculptor; his daughter, Madeline, became fascinated with the | 15 | | story while researching a class project and began raising | 16 | | pledges to create the monument; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, The Radium Girls were young women who worked at | 18 | | the Radium Dial and Luminous Processes factories in Ottawa, | 19 | | starting in 1922; young women were excited to work for
Radium | 20 | | Dial: the workplace was nice, the work was fun, and the pay
was | 21 | | great; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The women were paid by the piece to apply paint | 2 | | neatly
and evenly to the numbers on clock faces; to ensure | 3 | | thin, even,
accurate strokes, the dial painters were instructed | 4 | | to "point" the brush
frequently by licking its end, not being | 5 | | aware that the radium
used to make the paint glow would soon be | 6 | | discovered to be a very
dangerous radioactive substance; they | 7 | | also had no idea that by lip
pointing their brushes they were | 8 | | ingesting enough of it to cause
painful, crippling cancers and | 9 | | death; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, In 1925 Radium Dial became aware of the | 11 | | occupational danger of
radium radiation exposure; Radium Dial | 12 | | workers were examined by the
company, and although many women | 13 | | already showed signs of radium
poisoning, they were never told; | 14 | | and | 15 | | WHEREAS, In 1934, 7 women, who would become known as "The | 16 | | Society of
the Living Dead," began a series of legal battles to | 17 | | win financial
compensation for their radium poisoning; each
one | 18 | | received small financial settlements; therefore, be it
| 19 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 20 | | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 21 | | we congratulate the City of Ottawa on the dedication of the | 22 | | Ottawa Radium Girls Memorial and honor the brave women who | 23 | | fought to change working conditions in the State of Illinois; |
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| 1 | | and be it further
| 2 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 3 | | presented to the City of Ottawa as a symbol of our respect and | 4 | | esteem.
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