DEAR EDITOR:

Naming public lakes, buildings, roads etc. after politicians, including judges (whether appointed at the federal level or elected by voters) should end. After all, if a certain name is attached to a public facility, others who are similarly “qualified” are slighted.

The only exceptions should be for those who purchase a name (naming rights) and for combat military persons who do not become politicians upon retiring from military service.

Consider this: Downtown Youngstown has two federal courthouses and a convention center, all within a few blocks of each other. The federal courthouses are named after federal judges, one of whom is not even from this area. None of these three facilities are named for the politician whose efforts funded them: Congressman Jim Traficant (even prior to his legal problems).

The two federal courthouses are essentially handicap inaccessible. Only a federal architect could get away with that.

The writer who intoned and implied that he would rather become infected from a mosquito bite at Mosquito Lake than face a plaque naming a past U.S. president at the water’s edge should be spared from his wish.

ATTorney CARL RAFOTH

Boardman