Article from KOTA News!
Whitewood may rename Hooker Street
Updated: Nov 27, 2007 07:46 PM MST
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Makenzi Henderson
A northern hills town of little more than 800 people, makes national news as some residents want to rename a street.
Hooker Street, in Whitewood, was named after the Civil War union general, Joseph Hooker.
But a local city improvement organization and a pastor, want the street’s name changed because they said it puts a negative damper on the city’s positive growth.
But many streets are named after civil war generals and some residents said, when put into context, Hooker Street is just another street.
“If you drove into town and you immediately went right to Hooker Street, maybe you would think that kind of odd. But as you drive through the streets and you have Custer, Meade and Sherman, and then you come across Hooker, then it seems to kind of fall in line,” said Marty O’Dea, Whitewood building inspector and life-long resident.
A name change would only affect one resident, and six water bill accounts. But people from across the US sent their emailed opinions.
“We never ever intended or could have imagined it would become a national news story,” said Brenda Lindstrom, the Whitewood finance officer.
The City Council said it will talk to residents and review their comments to make the decision.
“I just have faith in the council that they are going to take care of their citizens and do what’s right and listen to the voice of the people. I certainly don’t think anything negative has resulted,” Lindstrom said.
The Whitewood City Council will review the renaming issue at their December 17th council meeting. You can make comments on the Whitewood Blog Web site.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Pastor Baer…I know you’ve taken a lot of heat over this Hooker Street story, but hopefully you will continue the good work you’ve been doing in your community. I think Horizons is a great program and we’ve already seen some very positive changes happening in our communities. Keep up the good work and if you need some encouragement check down a few blog posts (”We are interested in your opinion???”) to see some positive comments!
Dawna/Sanborn Central
November 29th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Dawna:
Thank you for the positive note. After reading today’s Rapid City Journal editorial, it’s pretty hard to stay positive.
I had have contact with a newspaper reporter in Tennessee who lives on a Hooker Street in Tenn. He had written an entertaining column about the situation.
I sent him a copy of a response I’ve sent to some college newspapers that have picked up the story (a portion of which is posted in what the RC Journal posted as a single paragraph response to today’s editorial). I received a nice response from him and from a college newspaper editor who read my response.
I’ve had thoughts about dropping out of the Horizons group because I’m only a distraction right now from any quality progress on anything. I’m still not sure if I’ll continue. I’ll see if this blows over.
It’s been hard to think about much of anything else with e-mails, etc. continuing to interrupt and corrupt my thoughts. I’m trying to think about other things like getting the angel tree and church helping programs for Whitewood going. I sent an e-mail to the blog leaders and others in our Yahoo group. Hopefully, they will post something about that here soon.
It’s taken an emotional toll too. I could see that in the harsh response I gave to the person who posted as “Hooker Street” on a different thread. I need to go down there and apologize to them.
David