8/26/21 State Environmental Officials Dedicate 'Kurt Point'

8/26/21 State Environmental Officials Dedicate ‘Kurt Point’

SUNBURY – Former state Senator Franklin Kury was celebrated Thursday at the observation area overlooking the Susquehanna River. Kury Point was named in his honor in 2016.

Observers said its been fifty years since Sen. Kury drafted the historic amendment to Pennsylvania’s constitution that guaranteed environmental rights for generations to come. In honor of that achievement, dignitaries from throughout The Valley gathered at Kury Point in the Shikellamy State Park Marina Thursday.

DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn says the naming of Kury Point has special meaning based on a famous picture of Kury holding bottles of clean and polluted water: “Kury Point is where the west branch and the north branch of the Susquehanna come together, so it represents clean water; and it’s in a state park so it represents the public trust, lands owned by the citizens of Pennsylvania. So it’s a big day today.”

Joining the celebration was former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille, who wrote a 158-page decision in a landmark case in Washington County to uphold Kury’s legislation several years ago. Castille said, “I think the people that are here see the beauty of Shikellamy State Park and they realize the work that Franklin Kury has done – not just for here but for the whole state with that constitutional amendment that he sponsored – it’s going to live in history.”

Kury thanked his wife and the many others who helped him through the years. Hs remarks were followed by a standing ovation: “I am absolutely excited and humbled by this. I had no idea that anything I did when I went to the legislature would have such a memorial fifty years later.”

Kury compared politics to a game of football. He said, “It’s not a one-man sport. You need lots of teammates to get things done.”