By Randal Edgar
Journal State House Bureau

It's not every day that a Republican in the state House of Representatives submits a bill and gets a unanimous vote of approval, but North Kingstown Republican Laurence W. Ehrhardt managed to do it last week.

Ehrhardt submitted a resolution that called for Feb. 6 to be designated Ronald Reagan Day in Rhode Island.

Feb. 6, of course, marked the 100th anniversary of Reagan's birth.

"I have now lived under 13 presidents of the United States," Ehrhardt told his fellow lawmakers. "Some of them I remember better than others, but certainly President Reagan is one of the more outstanding ones."

"He took office in very difficult times and I remember ... he made people feel good about themselves and made people proud to be an American. It's a very important thing to keep in mind these days, we have no limit of problems that we have to deal with, but he did a lot of good things that we should remember him favorably for."

The resolution passed 61 to 0.