For Release: Immediate Press Contact: Eric S. Barao ESB Productions (401) 455-2340 ESB Productions Develops a Historical Tour of the RI State House PROVIDENCE, RI (March 21, 2001) - ESB Productions has recently completed a website development project for the Rhode Island government; a historical tour of the RI State House. There are three ways to take the tour...by using a floorplan layout, a pictorial gallery, or by taking the complete room-by-room tour. The site was featured in a recent Providence Journal article. You can visit the site by clicking the link below: www.rilin.state.ri.us/statehouse Providence Journal (2/26/2001) by Edward Fitzpatrick & Ariel Sabar Journal State House Bureau You can now tour the State House without having to dodge lobbyists or climb marble stairs. On Feb. 15, the General Assembly Web site added an "online tour" of the grand building. The cyberspace presentation includes 38 color photographs from the three floors of the State House, plus detailed descriptions and tidbits of trivia. For instance, did you know that the Independent Man -- the bronze figure atop the State House -- is 11 feet tall, weighs more than 500 pounds and has been struck by lightning 27 times? The online tour comes 100 years after the General Assembly first met in the State House. It also comes a year after a Brown University study ranked Rhode Island last among the 50 states in using the Internet to communicate with residents and offering online government services. The Legislative Press Bureau has been working on the online tour for about a year now, publicist Dana DelSignore said. "It's such a gem," DelSignore said of the State House. "So many people live near it or drive by it every day without coming in. Hopefully, this opens the door for them." Michael Kilmartin -- director of Legislative Data Systems, which hosts the Web site -- said the online tour will be especially helpful for people who aren't physically able to visit the State House. "It also holds tremendous educational value for students and teachers, who are some of the most frequent visitors to the State House," he said.