Highland Lakes host Declaration of Independence reading

VERNON — The Fourth of July means various things to many people but the prime reason for the Fourth is honoring the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the establishment of a new and positively free nation.
The sixth annual reading of the Declaration of Independence was read by attorney and Highland Lakes resident Ron Berutti on July 4 at the lake community’s clubhouse. Before the actual reading, Berutti summarized some of the events that led up to the historical happenings of the time like the tyranny of King George, the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Lexington and Concord.
“A silence has befallen the Lake Room,” smiled Berutti as he prepared to read the revolutionary document.
Berutti also commented the group of about 60 has grown every year for the past six.
“Now it’s not just my family but other interested individuals,” quipped Berutti.
The Declaration of Independence written by a 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson was divided into three sections according to Berutti. Part one of the document is the intellectual formation, citing the fact that people are born and created equal whether that is in the finest of houses or in a street gutter. We are all equal period. The second part of the Declaration listed the grievances of the colonists to the King, while the third section stressed how the new citizens were done with the tyranny even if a fight was necessary.
There were 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence with New Jersey representatives of the Continental Congress being Abraham Clark, John Hart, Francis Hopkinson, Richard Stockton and John Witherspoon.
After the reading, a lively discussion ensued with several interesting observations and interpretations. Berutti and several audience members discussed how freedoms and independence developed to include blacks through the work of Frederick Douglas and Martin Luther King and women and the right to vote fought for by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
The revolutionary idea of freedom lives on. A choked up Berutti recalled his own grandfather’s escape from communism to the freedom of the USA.
According to Berutti, on this special holiday, the 4th of July, it is self-evident that the purpose of government is to keep people free and protected, not to rule over them.