ATHENS — What seemed a sure thing two weeks ago—the renaming of a portion of South Jefferson Street from U.S. 72 to Durham Drive in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—hit a snag Monday night when Athens City Councilman Jimmy Gill’s motion died for lack of a second.

Members of the local branch of the NAACP and many of their supporters who attended the council meeting showed visible signs of impatience with yet one more delay in the two-year process to name a street for MLK.

City Public Works Director James Rich made a presentation with slides of an approved $2 million extension of Durham Drive in Breeding Industrial Park and recommended as an alternative that the spur, which would loop around Steelcase to intersect with Roy Long Road, be named for Dr. King.

He said the new street would run past a multi-recreational facility now being developed to be named for Gill. The road extension is also in an area that is poised for heavy development with the purchase of an additional 53 acres to extend Breeding Park and so would offer the visibility that the NAACP has said it wants, Rich said.

“This will be the southern access from the Huntsville-Browns Ferry Road interchange to Breeding Park,” said Rich. “There is sewer going in south Limestone and a lot of development is coming to this area.”

Councilwoman Milly Caudle agreed with Rich’s recommendation.

“The basic issue has been visibility, insuring enough exposure to honor the memory of Dr. King,” she said. “It seems like this is a resolution of that issue.”

NAACP member Wilbur Woodruff, who has headed the committee to name a street for MLK, agreed that Rich’s proposal was good—but didn’t go far enough.

“Whatever the council wants to do is what I want to do,” said Woodruff. “But why not (named for MLK) all the way from U.S. 72 to Roy Long Road? It’s a pretty visible stretch (the extension), but it’s only two-thirds of a mile long and it’s only visible from one side of Steelcase.”

Woodruff talked about overcoming the “stigmas” of the South, all the way from physical punching in the state Legislature to vestiges of racial inequality, which he said were drawbacks to development.

“We’re trying to step into the 21st century,” said Woodruff. “We need to put aside our personal agendas.”

NAACP President Benard Simelton expressed frustration with the proposed alternative and accused the council of “backing up” from the South Jefferson Street renaming, which the he said had been suggested to his organization by the city.

“We will march on until victory is won in this situation,” said Simelton. “We want a vote of affirmation on South Jefferson Street.”

Business owners Ralph Freehauf, who owns Cinemagic Theatre, and Lula Bell George, who with her son, owns and operates a Nationwide Insurance office on South Jefferson Street, complained of the expense they would face in changing addresses. Freehauf said if business owners have to change their addresses, then the city should compensate them for their expense.

Gill, the only African-American member of the City Council, said that he believed Rich’s recommendation to be a workable solution. “I believe it is visible and will have a lot of traffic once it’s built.”

Gill said from what he is hearing in from people in his church, they agree that a “memorial” designation and signage would be sufficient to honor Dr. King on South Jefferson Street without businesses having to change addresses.

“The city can’t pay for anyone’s moving expenses,” said Gill. “It’s against the law. That puts that question to rest.

Council President Harold Wales suggested tabling the matter until NAACP representative could meet with Rich on his recommendation. However, at the urging of NAACP officials, the council went ahead with the vote. Wales asked for a second to Gill’s motion to rename South Jefferson Street, but the motion died for lack of a second.

Mayor Dan Williams encouraged a new motion that would allow the council to vote at the next meeting to “put this matter to rest. I think Mr. Rich’s proposal is a way to do this and get on the business of this city.”

Wales spoke up to explain what appeared as a turnabout from his position of favoring the renaming of South Jefferson Street two weeks ago.

“I respect Mr. Simelton and hope he will think this is in the best interest,” said Wales. “Two weeks ago I would have voted on this, but six weeks ago someone on this council asked me if I had been down there and talked to those people (business owners). Since then, I’ve gone to see them all. And I have to ask myself why I should do something where Mrs. George is the loser…It’s taken two years to get this going, two years of hammering away on this. It took Dr. King and lot longer than two years to get the Civil Rights movement started. I want to do what’s right, but it’s wrong to take their street away from them.”

Councilman Ronnie Marks asked if he could go ahead and introduce a resolution for action at the July 16 meeting to name the Breeding Park extension for MLK, because he said if it were to be introduced at that meeting, unless it got unanimous council approval to suspend the rules, it would have to lay over yet another two weeks.

At first Simelton balked at the suggestion, but then acquiesced, and Marks introduced the motion.



Council synopsis coming in Wednesday’s edition.