Retrospect: Quayle visited Mercer County

Thirty years ago this week, a vice presidential candidate made a visit to the area.

The Oct. 12, 1988, edition of The Commercial Review featured coverage of Republican Dan Quayle visiting the Eldon and Ruthann Eichenaur farm near Celina, Ohio, as part of a campaign swing through the buckeye state.

“Farmers in Mercer County are no different than farmers in Indiana or anywhere else,” Quayle said, touting his Midwestern roots as compared to Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts. (Quayle is originally from Huntington.)

He told those gathered that he and presidential candidate George H.W. Bush were primed to lead farmers into the 21st century.

“We don’t need government to come in and tell farmers in Mercer County what to grow, how to grow it and when to harvest,” he said.

He said the Ronald Reagan administration had been successful in holding down interest rates and inflation.

Quayle promised no grain embargoes, saying the country was still recovering from the embargoes put in place by President Jimmy Carter’s administration.

An area minister and former farmer hoped that promise would be fulfilled.

“We don’t need any more embargoes,” he said. “That will kill the farmers.”

The event featured a performance by the Celina High School band as well as a hog roast.