Kentucky Road Name Change Angers Kin of Daniel Boone

Louisville, KY, Courier-Journal ^ | 08-23-03 | Alford, Roger

[Theodore R.]

HAZARD, Ky.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Hal, we love ya, you've done a good job, but change the name back, dude.

[Alberta's Child]

One of the defining characteristics of sh!tty Third World countries is that they name buildings, monuments, and other things like that after people who currently hold the office in power that has given them their names.

Mr. Rogers is probably going to regret that he accepted this "honor," because people who resist this idea are going to do whatever it takes to get the name changed back. No matter how effective you are as an elected official, it's hard to maintain your popularity ratings when there are vandalized or destroyed road signs with your name on them all over your district.

[whereasandsoforth]

Rogers is a republican: So noted.
Patton is a democrat: No need to mention in article.

OTOH, this will not be a boone to Roger's career.

[itzmygun]

Being from the State that gave you:

Robert C. Byrd High School
the Robert C. Byrd Highway
the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam
the Robert C. Byrd Institute
the Robert C. Byrd Life Long Learning Center
the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Program
the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope
the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing
the Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse
the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center
the Robert C. Byrd Academic and Technology Center
the Robert C. Byrd United Technical Center
the Robert C. Byrd Federal Building
the Robert C. Byrd Drive
the Robert C. Byrd Hilltop Office Complex
the Robert C. Byrd Library
the Robert C. Byrd Learning Resource Center
AND
the Robert C. Byrd Rural Health Center,

I can honestly say that naming things after politicians enrages me.

[pointsal]

Hal...just another over-inflated ego.....
Put the REAL NAME back on the Highway.

[randog]

We had a similar situation in my town some years back when the MLK crowd was shopping around for a street to rename (apparently naming a new street after MLK wasn't good enough). They proposed renaming a large business street (in a latino neighborhood, no less) that was named after one of the town's early ranchers (the street ran through what used to be his ranch). The rancher's descendants vigorously opposed the proposal, and after some wrangling, the MLK crowd moved on. They eventually got a 1-mile strip of the highway out of town renamed.

[mtbopfuyn]

It's not as if there's only one road in Kentucky that they had to take it from a national hero. In 4 years no one will know who Rogers was but in a 100 years everyone will still know who Boone was. Put the Boone road signs back where they belong.

[Theodore R.]

everyone will still know who Boone was

I know you did not mean literally "everyone." With today's dumbed-down instruction, Daniel Boone is no longer taught in most American history texts. He is considered an irrelevant white male. Emphasis instead goes on novelists like Alice Walker and "poets" like Maya Angelou. Boone is out!

[Zipporah]

"Rogers is a republican: So noted. Patton is a democrat: No need to mention in article. "

My first thought.. what is the reason? Patton is a total loser I'll be SO glad when he's gone-hopefully we won't have YET ANOTHER idiot demoncrat sitting as governor.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Supposedly, I'm a blood relative (not descendent) of Boone (his mother and one of my gr grandmother's were sisters).
From what I've read about Boone, I don't think he would have cared one way or another to have had a street named after him. For the early pioneers, actions spoke louder than street names or other such stuff.
That being said, aren't there any streets named Elm or Market in the illustrious Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood that could be named in his honour.
Besides, in the future, the only Mr. Rogers anyone will remember is Fred Rogers, right along with Sesame Street.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Do we not care about our history, about our founding fathers?"

Eh?

I sympathize with the family and agree that they should not have changed the name of the road but founding father? Daniel Boone? Do they mean founding father of Kentucky?

[Verginius Rufus]

Naming things after living politicians is not a good idea generally, even if we have a long history of doing it in America (Jamestown was named after the reigning king of England, and Washington, D.C., was so named while George Washington was still alive).

If the leftists have their way, kids 50 years from now will have no idea who Daniel Boone was. One of the widely used college textbooks for American history, David Goldfield's The American Journey, for example, devotes all of 15 words, less than half a sentence, to Daniel Boone: "the fabled Daniel Boone, who had blazed the first trail for white settlers into Kentucky."

[John Doe #1]

I like your play on words..."not being a boone to Rogers'
career"....
A few years back (I believe it was on NBC) they did a hidden camera expose on Hal Rogers in AZ calling it a
"BOONdoggle junket". Surely Governor Patton wouldn't have gotten confused and thought this was a new title for modern day "Pioneers".

[Cloud William]

If the leftists have their way, kids 50 years from now will have no idea who Daniel Boone was.

You bet. Daniel Boone's name is too well associated with an evil firearm, y'know...

[ccmay]

Any politician who allows something to be named for him while he still holds office is evil beyond redemption, and deserves the Mussolini treatment.

I don't think anything should be named for any politician until he has been dead for five or ten years.

-ccm

[stripes1776]

Ok, so let's destroy all memory of the past. The next move is to rename Washington, D.C., because Washington died a long time ago, and there are no more British soldiers to fight. Besides, that Columbia part reminds of Columbus who everybody knows deserves no respect for spreading evil Western Culture.

What modern "hero" will we rename it too? How about Cher, the District of Streisand?

[Republic If You Can Keep It]

OK, Ky. Freepers!

Time to organize a referendum drive! Put the issue directly before the people.

[LTCJ]

This is a travisty. I hope the congressman will do the right thing and speak up to refuse the honor. We've too much to lose in forgetting our history, particularly just to be playing to contemporary politics. This stinks worse than a dead coon.

And I be saying that even if it didn't involve my uncle, five generations removed.

[Theodore R.]

In the spirit of compromise, KY can name the highway the Boone-Rogers Parkway!