Vernon Ehlers: “This resolution commends Charles Schulz, better known as ``Sparky,'' creator of the Peanuts comic strip which ran for…”

“This resolution commends Charles Schulz, better known as ``Sparky,'' creator of the Peanuts comic strip which ran for nearly 50 years, which continues to be appear in reruns, and is extremely popular with all ages in this country. The comic strip appears in 2,600 newspapers and 21 different languages. It is estimated that 350 million readers in 75 different countries read the strip. Mr. Schulz announced his retirement in December 1999, and he died shortly thereafter on February 12, 2000, in Santa Rosa, California. His death came just hours before his final Sunday strip ran. He personally drew the final strip, as he had every strip over the previous 5 decades, refusing to let anyone else draw the characters created, because, he said, ``The strip is me and I am the strip.'' In his farewell message printed in the strip, Schulz wrote, ``I have been grateful over the years for the loyalty of our editors and the wonderful support and love expressed to me by fans of the comic strip. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy; how can I ever forget them?'' Well, we will never forget them either, and we are grateful to you, Charles Schulz, for enriching our lives with these wonderful characters.”