Rotary Meeting Hears Book Author November 12, 2019 The Ville Platte Rotary Club today (Tuesday) heard from Glen Duncan, the author of a new book "The Modern History of the Louisiana Pelican Flag". Duncan is a former journalist and a civil engineer. Duncan gave an interesting tale on the history of our state flag and how the current design came to be. Through his research, he discovered that an 8th grade F.F.A. student who prompted the state to amend a law on the official state flag in 2005. The flag at the time did not have the three drops of blood as required in the legal description of the flag's insignia. It shows the pelican wounding itself and shedding drops of blood to feed her young. Duncan began researching and discovered there were many different state flags and the state motto as well through the years. The motto is "Union, Justice and Confidence." He realized the pelican used in the state flag and motto came from one of three sources: Religious theme- The original "Pelican in Piety" showing the mother pelican feeding her young is still used in many Catholic scenes; Tradition or Folklore- research shows a news article going back to 1813 about pelicans in Louisiana; Masonic Symbol-the pelican is used in the 18th degree masonic symbol. It took about 100 years in 1902 for the Louisiana Secretary of State to publish the criteria of the state seal. Evangeline Parish Library Outreach Director Suzie Lemoine introduced the guest speaker. They were both guests of Rotarian Leonard Fontenot. Club President Nicole Wenger reminded club members to turn in the names of needy families for gift baskets. The annual Christmas Social is set for December 10.