A sad day for a beautiful bridge

The East Huntington Bridge is one of the prettiest bridges along the Ohio River. I have to say "one of" because I haven't seen them all. Many, but not all. The inverted Y with the support cables provides a beautiful scene, day or night.

Too bad the bridge is about to fall victim to the fate of many publicly owned facilities around here. As of tomorrow, the bridge will be renamed the Frank "Gunner" Gatski Memorial Bridge in honor of the former Marshall football player and NFL Hall of Famer.

This is too much. Meaning no disprespect to Mr. Gatski, who died last year, but what in the world did he have to do with the bridge? With Ohio River history, commerce or natural studies?

This mania for naming everything that's nailed down and half of what isn't for people plugged in to the local power structure has gone too far.

Unless I am specifically directed to do otherwise, I will always refer to the bridge as the East End bridge. Just as I refer to the Gallipolis Locks and Dam, not the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam. In the future, I might even refer to the West 17th Street bridge instead of the Nick J. Rahall II Bridge.

Let stadiums and playing fields and athletic buildings bear the names of athletes. The river should belong to the people who live along it or contribute to its science, art and culture.

Or perhaps a war hero. There are Medal of Honor recipients from this area, and their names go on dinky little bridges over dinky little rivers.

Again, no disrespect to Gunner Gatski, but there are probably a dozen people whose names should have gone on that bridge before his.

Actually, I was expecting either Jay Rockefeller or Arch Moore to get his name on that bridge someday. But now neither will.

There's nothing wrong with a generic name that tells people where something is. The East Huntington Bridge served that purpose. Now the East End bridge or the 31st Street bridge or the Proctorville bridge will.