By Frank Lewis
The Portsmouth Daily Times, Ohio
PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — Portsmouth Ambulance has followed in the footsteps of the Greenup County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Keith Cooper added the phrase -- “In God We Trust” to the backs of all his cruisers and that caught the eye of Mike Adkins, owner of Portsmouth Ambulance.
Now, when you see one of their new ambulances, you will see “In God We Trust,” on the backs of those vehicles as well.
“We’re trying to do it on all of our new trucks, In God We Trust” Adkins said. “It’s just something we believe in. It’s a very good gesture. We saw that the Greenup County Sheriff’s Department put that on their sheriff’s cruisers and we just kind of felt good about it.”
How has the response from the community been?
“I think a couple of our crews have had a couple of comments as they go back and forth and they reported back that they thought it was a great idea,” Adkins said.
Adkins said putting the phrase on the trucks is also to show community support.
“We’re living in a rough time and I just think it’s great,” Adkins said. “We’re all here to help the community. We’re a pre-hospital care provider and I just think anything that we can do to help the community, help the citizens, we need to do it.”
“In God We Trust” is the official motto of the United States. It was adopted as the nation’s motto in 1956 as an alternative or replacement to the unofficial motto of E pluribus unum, which was adopted when the Great Seal of the United States was created and adopted in 1782.
“In God We Trust” first appeared on U.S. coins in 1864 and has appeared on paper currency since 1957. A law passed in a Joint Resolution by the 84th Congress and approved by President Dwight Eisenhower on July 30, 1956 declared IN GOD WE TRUST must appear on currency. This phrase was first used on paper money in 1957, when it appeared on the one-dollar silver certificate. The first paper currency bearing the phrase entered circulation on October 1, 1957.
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(c)2016 The Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth, Ohio)