Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 18, 1995 TAG: 9501180092
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: VIRGINIA EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
The answers to that question and others like it made for interesting listening Tuesday night as more than 150 people packed Liberty High School's auditorium at a public hearing about proposed names for Bedford County roads.
County roads, which are identified by state route numbers, have to be assigned names before Bedford's 911 system starts in 1996. The Bedford County Planning Commission has been working since early last year to name the roads.
Tuesday, planning commissioners asked residents to voice their opinions about names before the commission makes its final decisions this month.
More than 100 signed up to talk, prompting commission members to limit speakers to three minutes each. As each speaker approached the microphone, the ticking of a timer could be heard over the loudspeaker as if it were the final round of a quiz show.
Some of the debate was over historical significance.
One man wanted U.S. 460 through Bedford to be named after a Confederate general rather than be known by its proposed name, the Lynchburg-Salem Turnpike.
Another group asked for Virginia 122 to be called Moneta Highway south of Bedford and north of Virginia 24. They argued that the proposed name, Booker T. Washington Highway, has more in common with Franklin County than Bedford.
Bobbi Jennings drew big laughs when she reminded the commission that it had named her previously unnamed road Desperation Trail.
She asked that the road be called Capitol Hill Road.
Then there was the Poor House Road question. Almost half of the audience attended for that heated debate, which pitted mostly newer homeowners against longtime residents.
Virginia 714 has been proposed to be known as Falling Creek Road, but many know it as Poor House Road, a name it has held since the county built its first nursing home, or ``poor house,'' there in the 1830s.
County Commissioner of Revenue Faye Eubank lives on Virginia 714. She spoke for the Falling Creek advocates.
``I remember my grandfather dreading the possibility of being put in the poorhouse,'' she said. ``It was not something to be proud of.
``If it were a desirable name, that would still be its name, instead of the Bedford County Nursing Home.''
Saying that she feared "Poor House Road" signs could lower surrounding property values, Eubank said, ``This address is not going to die with us. I want this property to be something my grandchildren can be proud of.''
Lucy Peak was on the other side of the road debate. ``Poor House Road is a name that has been in our vocabulary all our lives,'' she said. ``Our parents and grandparents lived on Poor House Road proudly all their lives.
``Have the residents who think that the name Poor House is derogatory to them lost sight of why we are naming these roads? You don't have to be a dog to live on Dalmatian Lane and you don't have to be poor to live on Poor House Road.''
Peak and others worried that rescue workers who now know Virginia 714 as Poor House Road will have to look up Falling Creek Road on maps, slowing their response to emergencies.
Whatever the commission decides to call Virginia 714, chances are each side has enough supporters to drag the name change into an appeal.
County residents have 30 days after the commission makes its decision to appeal to the Board of Supervisors.
All appeals must be accompanied by a petition signed by at least 60 percent of those living on a road.
Once the Board of Supervisors has heard appeals, a one-year moratorium on changing road names will take effect.
Road names are available at all Bedford County libraries. The county will begin installing signs in March in Big Island and will work its way south and west until all county roads have signs, probably in March 1996.
Suggested names for major county roads are as follows: U.S. 460 between Botetourt County and Bedford will be called Colonial Trail Highway. From Bedford to Lynchburg, 460 will be named the Lynchburg-Salem Turnpike.
Virginia 24 will be known as Stewartsville Road west of Virginia 43, which is called Glenwood Drive. Where Virginia 43 and 24 run together, both roads are named Glenwood Drive. Closer to Lynchburg, 24 will be called Wyatts Way.
U.S. 221 will be called Forest Road.
Virginia 122 will be Big Island Highway north of Bedford. South of Bedford and north of 24, it will be known as Booker T. Washington Highway. South of 24, it will be called Moneta Road.
Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.