Epiphany

Today marks, or at one time marked, the Feast of the Epiphany, which itself marks the end of Christmastide, those Twelve Days of Christmas memorialized in the carol of the same name. Christmastide in Kentucky, at least here on the south shore of the Ohio River near Milepost 606, has not been marked by any winter-like weather as of yet. We had a few flakes of snow fall for about five minutes back in late October, then no more until Christmas night when the snow fell for about ten more minutes, twenty minutes more on the 26th, and since then only promises, including one for Monday, when snow has been predicted to fall once again here in the nation's 16th largest city (according to some).

Monday will also commence the first full week of the second term of our experimental government commonly known as Louisville, or Louisville Metro. Neither name is correct or appropriate. The official name of the government of our burg is "Louisville-Jefferson County Metro." Its chief magistrate should properly be called the Mayor of Louisville-Jefferson County Metro. Our mayor, the longest serving mayor of the former City of Louisville (due to a constitutional amendment giving him one term of five years rather than four), as well as the longest serving mayor of the present government, that record currently standing at four years and six days (and counting), generally chooses to omit any reference to the former county in which he serves as Commander-In-Chief.

Jefferson County, as some may know, is commonly referred to as one of the three original counties of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the other two being Lincoln and Fayette. While I appreciate, as a resident of Jefferson County, such an accolade, it isn't technically appropriate. The Commonwealth of Kentucky, as an entity, dates to the summer of 1792. At the time of Kentucky's official entry into the Union, the territory it occupied was divided into nine counties, not three. In addition to the creation of Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln in 1780 (all signed into law by the then-governor of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson), Nelson was formally created from Jefferson in 1785, taking that territory which lay south of the Salt River; Bourbon from Fayette, and Madison and Mercer from Lincoln in 1786; and finally Mason from Bourbon, and Woodford from Fayette in 1789. These nine counties should properly be the "original" counties of Commonwealth of Kentucky. They were all originally part of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the state from which Kentucky seceded in order to join the federal union.

Travellers [or travelers] were once reminded of their entry into the territory once (and properly still) known as Jefferson County by signs located at points of entry, such as on I-64 and US60 at the Shelby County line, on I-65 and Preston Highway at the Bullitt County line, on I-71 and US42 at the Oldham County line, on Taylorsville Lake Road (KY155) at the Spencer County line, or on Dixie Highway (US 31W-US60) at the Hardin County line. [Curiously, there are no welcoming signs to our Metro entity if one is travelling from the state of Indiana into Louisville]. Those point-of-entry signs now read "Welcome to Louisville Metro, the 16th largest city in America." Neither phrase on either side of the comma is correct. The signs should read either "Welcome to Louisville-Jefferson County Metro, the 27th largest city in America" or "Welcome to Jefferson County, the 16th largest city in America and home to Louisville-Jefferson County Metro." Of course, Jefferson County is not a city, so the latter statement makes no sense. Thus only the former statement, proclaiming us (as the United States Census does) the 27th largest city in America, is appropriate.

I am curious if America's 15th, real 16th, and 17th largest cities (Columbus, Ohio; Austin, Texas; and Memphis, Tennessee; respectively) go so far as to claim themselves as such at points of entry? I've been to Columbus recently, but I didn't notice such a proclamation. If a reader knows, please share such knowledge. At some point, it can be only hoped that Louisville's mayor, in a moment of epiphany, some comprehensive recognition of the true meaning of such a statement, will throw of these shackles of our government's erroneous self-promotion and delusion and restate for all the world to see our true nature, the true count of our citizens, the true souls of our community.