FWIW, here is the text of
a letter from Mr. Yost of USBGN to the Board of Selectmen of Carroll, NH:
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January 15, 2010
Ms. Bonnie Moroney, Chair
Town Board of the Town of Carroll
Selectman's Office
School Street
Carroll, New Hampshire 03595
Dear Ms. Moroney:
This is in reference to a proposal that the U.S. Board on Geographic Names has received, to change officially the name of Mount Clay in Coos County to Mount Reagan. The U.S. Board is responsible by law for standardizing geographic names for use by the Federal government and its members must approve any new name or name change before it can appear on Federal maps and publications. Because local acceptance of a name is very important to the Board, and because we presume the geographic feature in question is of significance to your community, we would like to know the opinion of the Town of Carroll Board of Selectmen regarding this issue.
Although the name Mount Clay has appeared on Federal maps since at least 1896, the New Hampshire State Legislature in 2003 passed House Bill 82, changing the name for State use to Mount Reagan. The U.S. Board was advised at the time of the State's actions; however, the change could not be considered at the Federal level because the intended honoree was still living. President Reagan passed away in June 2004, and so the required five year waiting period has now passed. Former State Legislator Mike Harrington is asking that the Board now make the change official for Federal use. We have enclosed for your review a copy of the proposal, along with a Geographic Name Recommendation Form to facilitate a response from your office. We also encourage you to share this request with any other office or organization that you believe might wish to comment.
As you can likely appreciate, the Board's policies discourage changing any name in long term published use. The Board also prefers to recognize local usage and preference, so although the name was changed by the State over six years ago, we would like to know if the new name has come into widespread use within the local community. For example, have road signs and maps been updated, and do hikers and other individuals who are familiar with the summit refer to it as Mount Reagan? Has there been overwhelming support or objection to the change? Any information that you can provide to assist the Board in its deliberations would be very much appreciated. We have also asked the government of Coos County, the New Hampshire State Geographic Names Authority, and the U.S. Forest Service to comment on the issue. As soon as all parties have had an opportunity to provide recommendations, we will present the proposal to the U.S. Board for discussion and a decision.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter and we look forward to hearing from you. If you have any questions or to submit your recommendation, we may be contacted by mail at the address above; by telephone at (703) 648-4552; by fax at (703) 648-4549; or by email at <
[email protected]>.
Sincerely yours,
[signature]
Lou Yost
Executive Secretary
Domestic Names Committee
U.S. Board on Geographic Names
