Nicely done. I think it was Deniis Miller who said "Why is it in this country just in the last ten or twenty years we give the smallest minority, with the strangest ideas, the loudest voices?" We always have to recognize the religious, social and political heritage of this state and this nation. Historical revisionism runs rabid as we attempt to get those in the past to conform to our post-modern perspective. Michael Newdow and the ACLU's attempt to remove religious reference from public life is just as silly as the effort to rename Mt Diablo and rename the constellations.
Brian
Honorable Members:
In regards the proposal to rename Mount Diablo:
I am a lifelong resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, and am personally familiar with numerous local features and place names. The history of this region of the country is vividly, and sometimes colorfully, illustrated by the names attached to various regions, features and structures found throughout our area. Prominent roadways whose routes can be traced to the earliest European explorers are vividly named El Camino Real (The King's Highway) and Alameda de las Pulgas (Boulevard of the Fleas). No one, insofar as I am aware, has suggested renaming these on the basis of anti-royalist sentiment or an aversion to pestiferous insects.
Now we are presented with the proposal in the above-mentioned docket to rename one of our area's most prominent and magnificent features, Mount Diablo. This mountain, the second tallest in the bay region, from the peak of which may be had some of the most distant view on our planet, is a landmark familiar to all who live in this area. In addition to lending its name to numerous organizations, businesses, parks and community features, "Diablo," as it is affectionately known, is home to vast numbers of wildlife, including several rare species seen in few other areas. Outdoor activities, including but certainly not limited to hiking, biking, horseback riding, camping, astronomical observation, bird watching, archaeology and historical investigation, are all carried out on the slopes and valleys of this magnificent peak.
Numerous mountains in this region are given, or retain, the names that were associated with them among the indigenous people of this area. In the south bay area, Mount Umumum (Hummingbird Mountain) is a very prominent example. Other peaks are named for individuals of greater or lesser historical interest, often surrendering the "official" nomenclature to more pedestrian but popularly employed local names. To my knowledge, there has been no outcry to replace the name of Mount Hamilton, whose name honors a rather obscure local minister, with a name devoid of religious overtones.
Mount Diablo stands isolated in its magnificence, apart from the surrounding ranges, its peak rising tall above the lesser hills, visible from almost everywhere in the bay area, a landmark that serves to orient one from the Sacramento River delta to the south bay area, from the peninsula in the west to the Central Valley in the east. It is a valued treasure in our local landscape.
Let us give the Devil his due, and his mountain. For the sake of history, of poetry, and of simplicity, reject the suggestion to rename Mount Diablo.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter,
John Welsh
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Received on Sun Apr 10 09:52:58 2005