Wednesday 9 February 2011

Fort Wayne City Officials Too Chicken Sh*T to Name New Govt Center after Harry Baals

Perhaps some people may find may headline a gratuitous use of profanity.

Maybe it is.

But I think it captures the mindset of these officials in Indiana that are too damn sensitive. This is the caliber of character we’re producing in this country. We have too many PC conscience, self absorbed wimps in places of government leadership.

CBS News reports that 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.

The issue is pronunciation. The former mayor pronounced his last name "balls." His descendants have since changed it to "bales."

Supporters said it's unfair that the former mayor can't be recognized simply because his name makes some people snicker. But opponents fear that naming the center after Baals would make Fort Wayne the target of late-night television jokes.

"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."

More details here