Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
(Stock photo)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Just exactly what U.S. Highway 6 should be called in Utah is in dispute, but the Department of Transportation says there is no money allocated for new signs anyway.
From coast to coast, U.S. 6 is named the Grand Army of the Republic Highway in honor of the Union Army. But state lawmakers last year decided to rename it the Mike Dmitrich Highway in honor of the retired legislator, angering the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
The group's national president has written to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert objecting to changing the name.
The highway name "preserves the heritage of the Grand Army of the Republic," said group officer Eric Richhart, of Magna, whose great-great-grandfather was a Union soldier. "It was through their efforts that the Union was saved and our country is what it is today. It is a piece of history that cannot be overlooked or denied."
Currently, two signs in Utah -- one each near the Colorado and Nevada borders -- announce the Grand Army of the Republic Highway. UDOT spokesman Adan Carrillo said the Legislature didn't allocate any money for new Dmitrich Highway signs.
The Grand Army of the Republic was a fraternal organization formed by Northern Civil War veterans and later succeeded by the Sons of Union Veterans. Starting in the 1930s, the Sons of Union Veterans asked every state along the route from Massachusetts to California to name it Grand Army of the Republic Highway.
The state Legislature named its section of U.S. 6 in a bill passed in March 1949 with $150 available for signs. But the law for the Grand Army highway name vanished when state transportation law was recodified in 1963, said state law librarian Jessica Van Buren.
A regional UDOT official has said any future signs would take the Dmitrich name.
It's unclear why the law disappeared, though Van Buren said it could be because it was written more like a resolution than a statute.
State Sen. David Hinkins, R-Orangeville, who sponsored the new name bill, said Dmitrich deserves the honor because "he put 40 years in with the state as public service. He traveled (the highway) a lot, pretty much back and forth to Price every week."
But he also said he "wouldn't have a problem with honoring soldiers, for sure."
Rep. Mike Morley, R-Spanish Fork, who was the House sponsor of the Dmitrich bill, has suggested a double billing.
Richhart said that would be fine -- as long as veterans get top billing on any shared signs.
------
Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
