Daniel Boone's Name Dropped From Ky. Road

Associated Press ^ | 08-06-03

[Brian S]

By ROGER ALFORD Associated Press Writer

HAZARD, Ky. (AP)--In the eastern Kentucky mountains that Daniel Boone helped carve out for settlement two centuries ago, his name and reputation remain larger than life.

Festivals honor the rugged, buckskin-clad frontiersman. Businesses, towns, even a national forest are named after him. But to the chagrin of some, Boone's name is being stripped from the main highway through his adopted homeland in favor of congressman Hal Rogers.

``Nothing against Hal Rogers, but I think we're getting a little carried away naming things after politicians,'' said Mike Mullins, head of the Hindman Settlement School in Knott County. ``Hal Rogers' day will come and go, just like my day will come and go, but Daniel Boone will be remembered forever.''

Rogers, a Republican from Somerset, has represented eastern Kentucky in Congress for 23 years and helped obtain the $13 million in federal funding that allowed the state to eliminate tolls on the road.

The decision to rename the parkway was announced in June at a ceremony in which Rogers participated in the symbolic toppling of a toll collection booth.

Transportation Secretary James Codell III said at the time that Rogers ``has done many great things for southern and eastern Kentucky'' and the highway was renamed in his honor to thank him for that.

``With anything you do, everybody has different opinions,'' said Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokeswoman Selena Curry. ``Some people like it, some people don't.''

Rogers, in a written statement from his office Tuesday, did not address the public debate about renaming the road.

``It's a tremendous honor to have this parkway named after me,'' he said. ``I am humbled.''

Already, signs renaming the road Hal Rogers Parkway are going up, and the old Daniel Boone Parkway signs will come down next year after maps are reprinted.

But Boone's enduring folk-hero status in Kentucky is not so easily removed. He built his reputation as the model of the American frontiersman in the 1770s for his exploration and settlement of the state, including the hacking out of the Wilderness Road, and his stirring exploits in defending early encampments from American Indians.

And his name can still draw tourists. Every fall, thousands of people gather at the Daniel Boone Festival in Barbourville to celebrate the man's life and times, dressing in coonskin caps and parading around in buckskin clothing.

One eastern Kentucky newspaper, The Floyd County Times of Prestonsburg, said renaming the road is a silly honor that Rogers should decline.

``For all of Rogers' ability to bring the gravy home from Washington, it pales in comparison to the legendary life of Boone,'' the newspaper said.

But The Big Sandy News of Paintsville said Rogers deserves having the highway named after him because of his impact on the region socially, environmentally and politically. ``We ought to be naming our kids after the guy,'' the newspaper said.

Susan Ramos, an economic development specialist in Booneville, said most people she's heard from are upset by the name change.

``Hal Rogers is a wonderful man, and he's done a lot for this region, but renaming that road is going to hurt more than it's going to help,'' she said.

``We're grateful for all the money he has gotten for the region, especially for tourism. But taking Daniel Boone's name off that highway is going to hurt tourism. It was a bad decision.''

AP-NY-08-06-03 0453EDT

[Zavien Doombringer]

Raise taxes, build another turnpike!

[Arkinsaw]

Hal Rogers? Sheesh. Stupid.

[Huck]

Rogers, a Republican from Somerset, has represented eastern Kentucky in Congress for 23 years and helped obtain the $13 million in federal funding that allowed the state to eliminate tolls on the road.

Aaah yes. The Red states. Champions of limited government. This is the real rub. The states are all willing accomplices in the confiscation and redistribution of wealth.

[Puppage]

Daniel Boone's Name Dropped From Ky. Road

Oh, good. I feel safer already.

[NonValueAdded]

Not humbled enough to just say no.

[WorkingClassFilth]

In my world, if Mr. Rogers was smart, he'd give the heave-ho the the highway naming gig quick like a bunny.

He could, after all, stand on the 'sacredness' of history and wrap himself in the American flag while making headlines as a selfless civil servant, a humble man, a patriot.

Somehow, though, I don't think that this Mr. Rogers lives in my neighborhood.

[af_vet_rr]

Hal Rogers is an idiot - just another self-serving politician who likes to hear his name everywhere. Looking around on the web, he is no Daniel Boone.

[jriemer]

*** FOX NEWS FLASH ***

AMERICA ORIGINALLY NAMED AFTER AMERIGO VESPUCCI
CHANGED TO MS-LAND AFTER BILL GATES

*** FOX NEWS FLASH ***

That's kind of innatity this "renaming" business has come down to.

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

This is a side issue, but Daniel Boone once said:

"Many heroic exploits and chivalrous adventures are related to me which exist only in the regions of fancy. With me the world has taken great liberties, and yet I have been but a common man. It is true that I have suffered many hardships and miraculously escaped many perils, but others of my companions have experienced the same."

Some of those guys he refers to were my (and many other people's) ancestors, who built forts and blazed trails right along side him, but they have NOTHING named for them, and no one is even aware of their lives. Still, though, this is a huge faux pas to rename that famous road for a congressman! I don't think it'll happen.

[Mears]

I've never been to Kentucky but if I was a tourist in the area I might buy a postcard with Daniel Boone Highway on it but Hal Rogers Highway,never.

[mhking]

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[BluH2o]

Well at least they didn't name it after Martin Luther King ... every city in America, it seems, has a MLK something or other.

[dansangel]

It's very sad, but it sure beats "Cynthia McKinney Highway" - I *gag* every time I see that.

[Guillermo]

In the United States, the People get what they want.

In the United States, the People demand Big Govermnent, and they get it, no matter where they are.

In Theory, most of the People are for "small government," but in reality they vote out of office politicians who would deliver on that promise.

[eyespysomething]

My husband's maternal side of the family is descended from D. Boone by way of Nathan Boone. My 2nd son is named Nathan, and my 3rd son's mid-name is Daniel. Enough name dropping...

This is so silly, its like changing the names of schools named Geo. Washington and such because they were rich white men. To hell with the fact that they were the founding fathers of our country, they were rich white men who owned land and slaves.

C'mon kids we're going on vacation to see the Hal Rogers Highway - exciting!

[thtr]

The states are all willing accomplices in the confiscation and redistribution of wealth.

In all fairness, the people of Kentucky also pay federal taxes and certainly have a right to expect that some of it be returned to the state for road improvement. 13M is chicken feed compared to the 10B that went to Boston for the “big dig”.

[BaBaStooey]

Bud Schuster, anyone?

[AAABEST]

It goes to show where America is headed. We're removing the name of a great American hero from a highway and replacing it with the name of a pork barreler who robs the treasury.