DOT backtracks

The movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" put the Georgia community of Juliette "on the map". The discovery of more than 300 corpses at a crematory put the town of Noble "on the map". A decision by someone in the Georgia Department of Transportation late last year took those and several hundred other place names "off the map".

In an effort to de-clutter the official state highway maps, the agency made the decision to eliminate the names of little-known communities all over the state, including our own Alexander, Munnerlyn, Rosier, Shell Bluff, St. Clair and Vidette.

After a lot of political fallout and a letter from Governor Sonny Perdue, himself a resident of tiny Bonaire, D.O.T. officials are backtracking and reconsidering their decision. The official maps which will be printed next summer will have most, if not all of the names restored.

We understand the need to update the maps on a regular basis, and we recognize the fact that many of the "deleted" communities are no more than just a name on a map. Some of them should be legitimately eliminated. But the broad sweep approach taken by those involved in last year's changes was clearly wrong. Hopefully, a more considered approach will be taken before the next maps are published. Decisions should be made on a case by case basis.

Schools, post offices, banks and businesses may disappear over time from Georgia's smallest communities. But that has no bearing on the important role they played in our state's history. They were here, and in some small way will always be here. They deserve to be remembered.