EASTON, Pa. – Officials have renamed a bridge in Easton after a longtime state legislator.<\/p>\n
The 13th Street Bridge over the Bushkill Creek in Easton was renamed after the late Rep. James Prendergast, according to a news release from State Rep. Robert Freeman\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
From 1958-78, Prendergast served 20 years as state representative for the 136th District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
He was elected by his colleagues in Harrisburg for several terms in House Democratic leadership, including as majority whip, caucus chairman and administrator, according to the news release.<\/p>\n
Freeman\u2019s office says he was a Marine Corps veteran of World War II where he received the Navy Cross and two Purple Hearts.<\/p>\n
He later became an attorney in Easton. He died April 29, 1985.<\/p>\n
\u201cJim was always willing to help the people of Northampton County and I learned quickly that he was a dedicated and respected legislator in Harrisburg,\u201d said state Rep. Robert Freeman.<\/p>\n
Freeman, who represents the 136th District, sponsored the bridge-naming legislation.<\/p>\n
Members of Prendergast\u2019s family attended the ceremony and were joined by state Transportation Department officials, as well as local and state officials, including state Rep. Tim Brennan, D-Bucks, who co-sponsored the legislation with Freeman, according to the news release.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo serve is the heart of citizenship and the mark of a life lived meaningfully,\u201d Brennan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important to recognize, today and everyday, that the good lives we enjoy as Americans is only possible because of such men and women\u00a0who selflessly serve their country and communities. Representative Prendergast was an exceptional example of a life lived according to these values.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EASTON, Pa. – Officials have renamed a bridge in Easton after a longtime state legislator. The 13th Street…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[14201,153,155,154,2181,14200,5634,14202],"class_list":["post-20594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-13th-street-bridge","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-easton","tag-james-prendergast","tag-pennsylvania-house-of-representatives","tag-robert-freeman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}