Rainbow Greets Groundbreaking. Honest.

But for a shower, the rain stayed away from yesterday's ceremony. And as if on cue, a rainbow appeared over the construction site just as Senator Jack Reed was finishing his keynote speech, in which he called the new library ``the heart and soul'' of Burrillville and ``a spark to renovation'' of the Stillwater complex.

A rainbow. We couldn't have scripted it better.

Senator Lincoln Chafee also attended, and he also praised the citizens of our town and the countless people who have worked -- many without pay -- for more than a decade to realize this dream. OK, we say without pay. A member of the Library Building Committee who has been involved in the process since 1995 finally got his first payola: a hard hat.

A crowd of some 200 people attended the ceremony, way more than expected. Channel 12, The Providence Journal, and The Woonsocket Call, which made the ceremony the lead story in its Monday edition, were among the media outlets that covered the event.

Also praising the project in speeches were: Building Committee Chairman David Ketcham, Smith Trustees Treasurer Alan Chuman, Town Council Chairman Wallace F. Lees, State Rep. Raymond C. Church, State Rep. Edwin R. Pacheco, State Sen. Paul W. Fogarty, Beth Perry of the state Office of Library and Information, Mark McKenney of the Library Board of Rhode Island, and Carol Tucker, from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.


Check back soon for the full text of Senator Reed's comments.