A former Indiana mayor who won four terms in the 1930s and 1950s is proving less popular with modern-day city leaders, who say they probably won't name a new government center for him because of the jokes his moniker could inspire.
Harry Baals is the runaway favorite in online voting to name the new building in Fort Wayne, about 120 miles northeast of Indianapolis. But Deputy Mayor Beth Malloy said that probably won't be enough to put the name of the city's longest-tenured mayor on the center…
"We realize that while Harry Baals was a respected mayor, not everyone outside of Fort Wayne will know that," Malloy said Tuesday in a statement to The Associated Press. "We wanted to pick something that would reflect our pride in our community beyond the boundaries of Fort Wayne."
It's true, not everybody is going to fully appreciate Harry Baals and what Harry Baals was capable of. Not just as a politician — who would not back down even when squeezed hard by opposition — but also as a family man — who enjoyed a pleasant nuzzling. In some ways, you could say that there were two Harry Baals. Obviously, the people Fort Wayne love both of their beloved Harry Baals. The name is ubiquitous there, where cries of "Harry Baals" are constantly rolling off people's tongues and slipping into people's ears. But you can't expect everybody to feel that way. The Harry Baals are an acquired taste.
So, I guess they'll have to go with the second place option: Gangrenous Anal Pustule, Jr. Government Center.
No comments:
Post a Comment