Good. First, long-established geographic names should not be changed. They are a nod to history and to tradition. Keeping these names is the conservative thing to do. Second, Reagan was a dismal, law-breaking President in many respects, achieving significance only by his readiness to engage with the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of perestroika. Reagan does not deserve the honor.
Arthur Mijares never saw it coming when he filed the federal paperwork to change the name of Contra Costa County's most famous landmark from Mt. Diablo to Mt. Reagan.
It's not that he's such a big fan of the 40th president of the United States. It's just that he believes, as a devout Christian, that naming a peak of such beauty and importance after the devil -- even in Spanish -- is "derogatory, pejorative, offensive, obscene, blasphemous and profane."
...In less than a month, more than 80,000 people have joined a Facebook group called "People AGAINST Re-naming Mt. Diablo to Mt. Reagan!!" The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, which will vote on the name change Tuesday, has been flooded with e-mail; the heated response runs nine to one against the idea, said Supervisor Susan Bonilla, whose district includes the beloved mountain.
Online comments -- and there have been thousands -- range from the sacred to the quite profane. It's hard to figure out just who Mt. Diablo's legions of supporters think is the real devil here: the gray-haired, retired rehabilitation counselor who would mess with history or the president he hopes to honor.
"I absolutely agree that Reagan was the Devil, and any monument that is dedicated to him is an absolute disgrace to anybody's sense of moral fortitude," fumed one post. "Per Nancy, just say 'no.' "
...Its name has long swirled with controversy. As legend has it, in 1805, Spanish soldiers were chasing a band of Bay Miwok who had escaped from a mission and apprehended them in a thicket at the base of a dramatic mountain. Darkness fell, and the Miwok disappeared.
When day broke, the mountain was shrouded in fog, and the soldiers realized that they'd been duped. So they dubbed the area Monte del Diablo, Thicket of the Devil.
"The name was transferred to the peak by non-Spanish explorers who associated 'monte' with a mountain and applied the Italian form Diavolo or Diabolo," according to the Save Mount Diablo website, which is dedicated to preserving open space on and near the mountain. Monte del Diablo first appeared on an 1824 map.
..."The name is historical," said Seth Adams, director of land programs for Save Mount Diablo. "Even though it's a linguistic mistake, it's got 200 years of history behind it. . . . Mt. Diablo is a special place in which people have invested huge reverence and love. They love it the way it is."
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