I read an article in last Sunday's edition of the Press Democrat regarding the renaming of Kelseyville.

It seems a group called Citizens for Healing, C4H, has taken the suggestion of an unnamed retired lawyer to submit a proposal to the Board of Geographic Names, or BGN, to change the name of Kelseyville to “Konocti.”

The article states that the board has the authority to change names which are “determined to be derogatory or offensive.”

The local Board of Supervisors will be asked to comment on the name change and the decision by BGN might occur in August or at the latest, by the end of the year.

Although I live in Clearlake and have no pony in this race I have to admit I was gobsmacked by C4H making this end run around allowing the Kelseyville community to decide this issue.

I agree that the actions of Kelsey and Stone were egregious, but you can’t change history, you can only add more information, so that everyone can have all the pertinent facts. Add another plaque which describes their crimes to the monument already there.

And as for naming the town “Konocti” … we have enough Konoctis around the lake already.

I’m sure tribal historians could come up with something better. How about a Pomo word for “Place-where-people-made-an-end-run-around-the-community”?

Carolynn Jarrett lives in Clearlake, California.