DATE: Friday, February 28, 1997             TAG: 9702270004

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A16  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   49 lines

NAME THAT SCHOOL A SOLOMONIAN SOLUTION CHESAPEAKE MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN TWO DESERVING CANDIDATES.

The Chesapeake School Board will decide on a name for a middle school in the Deep Creek section, probably at its March 10 meeting. Citizens await that decision with intense interest.

The popular choice among Deep Creek residents is Charles S. Brabble Middle School.

Charles S. Brabble Sr. was a principal in that region for 44 years, before retiring in 1990. His father, John Brabble, was hired as a teacher-principal in Deep Creek in 1887 and served in schools there until his retirement in 1945. Together, father and son have served Deep Creek schools more than a century. Thus the name Brabble is synonymous with education in Deep Creek.

A School Board committee has recommended the name Hugo A. Owens Middle School.

Although he grew up in Deep Creek and has deep roots there, Hugo A. Owens Sr. is less familiar to Deep Creek residents than Brabble. Owens' service was to all of Chesapeake and also Portsmouth. In Portsmouth, where he opened a dental practice in 1947 and lived until returning to Chesapeake in 1962, his lawsuits led to the opening of local cemeteries, golf courses and City Park to blacks. Owens was one of the first two African Americans elected to the Chesapeake City Council, on which he served from 1970-'80, eight of those years as vice mayor.

Both Brabble and Owens are descendants of slaves. Both are eminently qualified to have schools named for them. Both have many supporters.

But there is only one school to be named at this time.

At a School Board budget hearing Monday, most people wanted to speak of their support for Brabble, not about dollars and cents.

J.T. Brescia, who said he has lived in Deep Creek 71 years and known Brabble for 44 of them, noted that Owens' ties are citywide, while Brabble is deeply connected to Deep Creek.

Brescia suggested naming the school Brabble-Owens. But the committee charged with picking a name doesn't want a hyphenated one.

A school is a local institution, and local residents should have a large say in naming it. The middle school should be named for Brabble.

Owens deserves to have his name applied to a building used by the entire city. The Chesapeake school administration building is named the School Administration Building. Better to rename it the Hugo A. Owens School Administration Building.

For lengthy and honorable service to Chesapeake, both men deserve lasting commemoration.

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