What to Know
- A Florida man wants the "provocative" name of a local body of water in his hometown changed.
- Barry Zimmerman has started a campaign to have Lake Horney changed in the city of Lakeland.
Residents who live near Lake Horney in Lakeland, Florida, will be polled on whether they want to rename the lake to keep others from snickering.
The Lakeland Ledger reports that resident Barry Zimmerman, frustrated with salacious jokes connecting Lake Horney with its unfortunate homophone, petitioned the U.S Board of Geographic Names to rename it in honor of Alfred Lodwick. Lodwick was an aviation pioneer who built a military pilot training program in Lakeland during World War II.
Despite their affinity for Lodwick, most city commissioners didn't want to touch the thorny issue, concerned it would arouse other requests to rename civic monuments, landmarks and roads.
The city doesn't have authority to rename the lake. That's up to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names, which only asked the city's opinion.
