Letter: Floyd Lamb doesn’t warrant park honor

Wednesday, May 14, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

In his SUN column of April 30, O'Callaghan says the move to give Tule Springs Park its original name back amounts to kicking convicted felon Floyd Lamb while he's down. Perhaps we can forgive that twisted logic by considering that O'Callaghan and Lamb obviously are still good friends. But it's still twisted logic.

A lot of us voters felt "kicked" by Lamb when we learned of videotapes showing him stuffing hundred-dollar bills into his shirt as he sold us all out to what thankfully turned out to be an undercover federal agent. Having a park named in a person's honor is among the highest tributes that person could ever hope for and the vast majority of us still think it's outrageous and offensive to have a state park named after such an individual, regardless of what he did before he turned into a crook.

Further, O'Callaghan's contention that there is a "rush" to change the park's name is nonsense. Bills similar to this one have come up in every Legislature since 1985. A 12-year effort hardly constitutes a rush. And he implies that the good ol' boys' efforts in thwarting the bill each and every time are OK with him. This year, it's Lamb's old buddy Bill Raggio who is threatening to defy the will of the voters and scuttle the bill.

Dennis Mitchell, KKLZ Radio