Ohio newspaper calls for Mount McKinley to be renamed Denali

Alaska Dispatch News ^ | 7/16

[nickcarraway]

Efforts to change the name of the highest mountain in North America from Mount McKinley to Denali have been going on for decades.

William McKinley, who would go on to be the 25th president of the United States, was governor of Ohio when the peak was named for him -- a connection that’s meant name-change efforts were stalemated in an on-again-off-again rivalry between Ohio and Alaska on the subject. An Alaska congressional delegation would introduce legislation to give the mountain back its Koyukon Athabascan name; an Ohio representative would block it.

When Sen. Dan Sullivan, who has extensive ties in the Buckeye State, was elected last fall, observers wondered whether he could get Ohioans to relent. Sullivan joined on as a sponsor to legislation from Sen. Lisa Murkowski to change the name, but a competing bill from U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs ensured the usual stalemate would continue this year.

We know it's not McKinley, but is Denali the right name for our mountain?

Now, though, proponents of the name change might have an ally with even more effective Ohio connections: The Columbus Dispatch.

In an editorial published Thursday, the newspaper of Ohio’s capital city weighed in, arguing, “Ohio’s congressional representatives should let Denali be Denali.”

“It’s time to end the perennial defensive action against Alaskans who want to allow one of their state’s grandest natural features to be known officially by its real name,” the unsigned editorial read, calling procedural moves to block the renaming “ a rather unseemly effort on behalf of a politician who never set foot near the mountain and had no known interest in it.”

[nickcarraway]

I wonder when they will rename San Francisco?

[TigersEye]

When is Ohio going to get rid of that old racist name Columbus?

[Gator113]

McKinley led the nation to victory in the Spanish–American War...might that be the reason for the change?

I am quite bored with calling our planet, Earth...it sounds dirty to me.

[Dagnabitt]

So this is what a "cultural revolution" is like?

Hope ours has a lower body count that China's.

[Crystal Palace East]

.... And this just in to our WINO Radio Newsroom,

Native American and Eskimo voters in Fairbanks, Alaska have just voted to change the name of the State of Ohio to “Rehnota.”

300 years ago the Kickapoo and Seneca Native American Tribes both lived in what is now Ohio, and the word “Rehnota” has the same meaning in both their tribal languages.

It means “Stupid.”

[catman67]

So does this mean that McKinley was a Confederate?

[From The Deer Stand]

And, don’t forget, the very Liberal city of Madison, Wisconsin was named after a slave owner. Maybe the Libs should change that city to Caitlyn.

[bigdaddy45]

Interesting responses here. Normally conservatives are generally anti-politician. I can see naming a man made object (airport, etc.) after a politician... but a mountain? Did McKinley discover it? Was he the first to climb it? No. The only reason it was called McKinley is because a gold prospector who found it was a fan of McKinleys. And you can bet if it was “Mt. Wilson”, or “Mt. Roosevelt”, conservatives would be leading the name-changing charge.

I think Denali is a much cooler name anyway.

[minnesota_bound]

I would rename the mountain to: Bob
It is a friendly name.

[bert]

for all practical purposes, the name is already changed

[chaosagent]

for all practical purposes, the name is already changed

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You’re right. We spent 5 months in Alaska in 2008, and never heard it called McKinley, only Denali.

[alancarp]

Done. White House announced the change today...on a Sunday...while Congress is on break...to remove the name of an assassinated Republican President. Of course they did.