Wells High School?

It's the new thing.  Jefferson, Hoover and Wilson Elementary schools are no longer in Corvallis either.

www.nps.gov/people/idabwells.htm

The existing Wilson/Wells HS is likely to be replaced by an entirely new building on the same site in a couple years so a name change is actually quite timely. 

And as someone with some Newberg/Society of Friends heritage I always thought using their religious identity as a mascot for a public school was an odd - not to mention an uninspiring - choice. Even George Fox U doesn’t use “Quakers” as their mascot. 

Now Jaguar, Husky and Wildcat Elementary Schools.

Jaguar is a Native American word, which literally means, "he who kills with one leap."  That sounds like a little much for an elementary school. 

The Jaguar cars were originally named the SS Jaguar, but the SS was dropped once World War II started for obvious reasons.  

Then, of course, there is the Bollywood classic, the Jaguar, which involves the SS once again and is very violent.

Husky Elementary School is offensive to fat people.

Wildcat is a derogative name for spiritualism or Christianity that incorporates spiritualism.  The Arizona Wildcats were named Wildcats, because of a writeup from a sportswriter from Occidental College.  That sportswriter derided Arizona for the law that did not allow alcohol to be consumed in Tucson at the time and then called them "Wildcats."  The University of Arizona, who either did not know or wanted to own the word, purchased a bobcat to serve as a mascot for the school before the school's next road trip to Southern California.

Wildcats was a football movie about gender and racial discrimination that involved full frontal nudity.

Needless to say, I am deeply offended and demand change!

But really, is change so difficult? Is it better to preserve tradition at the cost to some who are offended than to move forward and learn from the past?

Take the Washington Redskins football team. Clearly offensive. Clearly many years of tradition. Is it so difficult to say to those who are offended that we hear them and that we want them to feel included in this society rather than used as symbol by those who ravaged their lands and destroyed their way of life? 

I guess the question we have to answer is what does it say about us when we hear others cry out and we choose to do nothing. 

And if we decide to name a school/street/building/park after Dr. Seuss (or whomever) only to find out twenty years from now that he was a misogynistic, slave holder, evil man, then I hope we have the fortitude and wisdom to choose a new name.

It's just a name. It isn't the thing itself.

Goldie Hawn was the Jackie Robinson of HS football movies.

Oregon is either French, Native American or Spanish or a mixture of the three.  Due to its vague and ambiguous etymology, the state's name is a very safe one.

I think that Corvallis should start worrying about naming things after Lane County is renamed.  Until then, all of this is comical.

For those that don't know, General Joseph Lane was the first Governor of Oregon Territory and was one of Oregon's first two Senators.  In 1860, he ran with John C. Breckinridge on the pro-slavery Southern Democrat ticket against Lincoln.  After Andrew Johnson gave a speech in the Senate against succession, Lane accused Johnson of selling "his birthright" as a Southerner.  Lane was sympathetic to the South but did not fight, instead retiring to his ranch 11 miles east of Roseburg.  Lane was accused of illegally keeping at least one slave on his ranch until possibly 1878.  Joseph's son, John, fought for the Confederacy.  The other Lanes (Joseph had 10 children, including John) were a mixed bag.

The Federal Reserve Act was huge to the success that the United States of America enjoyed for several decades.  It was subsequently politically weaponized.  But it was a great move at the time. 

The FTC was great, as well.

The Keating-Owen Act outlawing child labor was great, even if it was subsequently struck down.

The Purchase of the United States Virgin Islands was great.

The vetoes to attempt to continue to legal immigration from Asia and Eastern and Southern Europe were great.  But the WASPy/masonic/KKK/anti-Asian, anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish sentiment ultimately won out, as Congress overrode one veto.  There was a notable "Yea" vote from Oregon's own Harry Lane, General Joseph Lane's grandson.

The National Defense Act and the Naval Act were both great pieces of legislation.

His veto of the Volstead Act was inspired.  Congress overriding his veto was stupid.  WASPy/masonic/KKK/anti-Catholic sentiment, again.

Point 13 of Wilson's 14 points was great.  Wilson's proposal to end World War I was the correct one, but he contracted Spanish Flu in April 1919, which gave France more influence and power.