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Opening Arguments

Foul Ba

The city's difficulties with a certain mayor's name have gone national. Here's the Associated Press version of the story on the MSNBC site:

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.

Good Lord. "Tee-hee. Harry Baals. Snicker, snicker. Guess they'll be scratching that name, huh? Har-de-har-har." It's like being in junior high again. Haven't heard a sophisticated joke that funny since the iPad was introduced.

So what if we're the "target of late-night television shows"? Dimwits will get their chuckles, and Fort Wayne will become better known. I heard a good idea on the radio this morning: Fort Wayne should name the building after Harry, then make a killing with T-shirt and sweatshirt sales. Just think about all the money that's been made with the (snicker, snicker) Ball U shirts.

Comments

gadfly
Wed, 02/09/2011 - 6:26pm

Harry Baals is approaching 8300 votes with the help of National news and Twitter. Now if we could get Opening Arguments, coverage of the story Instalanched! Wow!

littlejohn
Wed, 02/09/2011 - 11:31pm

I'm with gadfly. Hairy balls it is! Some people just can't take a joke.

Harl Delos
Thu, 02/10/2011 - 2:52am

If his name isn't good enough for the civic center, maybe they need to tear down and replace the Harry Baals bridge on Bluffton Road right there by Hall's.

Harry used his name to his advantage and to the city's. When he called on people in other cities, they would take his calls, just to be able to tell friends and associates they'd just gotten off the phone with Harry Baals. He ended up with friends from coast to coast, many of them doing favors for Fort Wayne. I even remember Dear Abby mentioning her friend, Harry Baals, in her advice column.

It might be difficult for a preteen with the surname Baals to deal with teasing, but if city administrators cannot show one of Fort Wayne's most popular mayors his dues because they are cowards, they probably are far deficient in other ways as well.

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