USPS Publication Number 16300
T h is C o m mu n i t y N ewsp a p er is a pu bl ica t ion of E sca m bia / S a n t a Rosa B a r Assoc ia t ion
Se r v i ng t he Fi r st Jud icial Ci rcu it
Section A, Page 1
Vol. 19, No. 10
Visit The Summation Weekly Online: www.summationweekly.com
March 6, 2019
1 Section, 8 Pages
A debate has sprung up over what to the name the new Pensacola Bay Bridge, which is currently under construction and due to be completed in 2021. The two names considered for the bridge honor General Daniel “Chappie” James (above) and Florida State Senator Philip Beall Sr. (below). Beall was a State Senator for the Pensacola region and James was the first African American to be awarded the rank of four-star General.
What's in a name?
The push to recognize a Pensacola icon by Kaitlyn Peacock
With a completion date set for 2021, the new bridge over Pensacola Bay will soon have more than just concrete trucks rumbling over its roads. As construction continues, a question has risen into the public mind: what will this new bridge be named? The current bridge, known in the community as Three-Mile Bridge, is officially named the Philip D. Beall Memorial Bridge. Opening in 1960, it was given a lifespan of about fifty to sixty years and has endured storms, constant road traffic and even being hit by a barge. The new bridge will have six lanes, dedicated walking paths and improved lighting. Without action from the legislature, it will also be named the Philip D. Beall Memorial Bridge, as the name will pass from the old bridge to the new. Beall’s grandson Kirk Beall has advocated for keeping his grandfather’s name on the bridge. Another name has been suggested for the new bridge, however. General Daniel “Chappie” James Jr. was a proposed namesake for the bridge, with support from Santa Rosa County, which ruled unanimously to support naming the bridge after James. Cris Dosev, chairman of the Chappie James Memorial Bridge committee, said the name was suggested to him by his wife. After he posted a happy birthday to James on social media, the response he received was overwhelmingly positive and made him consider just how important James was to the community at large. To honor James, he proposed the name for the bridge and formed a committee to support the name and to raised funds to build a memorial park near the bridge. The memorial park would include a statue of James and a display of an F-4 Phantom II, a fighter jet that James flew in the Vietnam War.
Dosev said there are many reasons to want to honor James, but primary among them is because he was a Pensacola and national hero. “The paramount reason, more than any other reason, is that he is a hometown hero,” he said. “Here you have a gentleman who was born I want to say a little over a mile away from the landing of the bridge. He was raised here, his mother and father raised him in a time of segregation and yet he achieved one of the ultimate military achievements. He became a four-star general, the first black four-star general.” James was born in Pensacola in 1920 the youngest of seventeen children, only seven of whom survived to maturity. In 1975, he became the first African American man to receive the rank of four-star general, the highest rank in the military. Coming from humble beginnings, he flew combat missions in the Vietnam and Korean Wars and was activeduty for World War II as a part of the Tuskegee Airmen. Approximately two weeks after retiring, he died of a heart attack without the chance to return home. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. “Not all towns have the heritage we have, the military heritage,” he said. “We claim to be one of the firsts, the first settlement, and here we have the first African-American four-star general.” Beall, meanwhile, was a lawyer from Pensacola who went on to be elected to the Florida State Senate
representing District 2 in 1934. In 1943, he was made president of the Senate, but he died of a heart attack later that year. His son Philip D. Beall Jr. went on to be elected in his father’s place representing District 2. Beall was instrumental in transitioning the first bridge spanning the Pensacola Bay, known as the Thomas A. Johnson Bridge, from private to public ownership. For this, the current bridge was named in his honor in 1962. Problems arose in the naming of the bridge when local governments were asked to decide the name. The entities involved with the bridge are Escambia County, Santa Rosa County, the City of Pensacola and the City of Gulf Breeze. While Santa Rosa County has supported naming the bridge after James, the Escambia Board of County Commissioners recently formed a committee to open discussions about the name to the community. Escambia County’s District 4 Commissioner Robert Bender proposed the committee as a way to let the community know they can have input on the bridge’s name. “It’s about being transparent, it’s about being open, it’s about letting the community know that there is a naming opportunity for the bridge,” he said. “It’s really about the process and allowing the people to have input.” Bender said he wanted the decision to be decided somewhat quickly to ensure that preparation for the naming can be done. The committee in support of James said they would need time to raise money
for the memorial, which would be separate from the funding for the new bridge. A timely decision would also allow the committee to celebrate as James’ 100th birthday approaches. “This is almost a centennial event,” Dosev said. “It (the bridge) is going to be completed more than likely in the same year that would have been General James’ 100th year. It’s sort of neat because, more than likely, will last another hundred year. In the big scheme of things, it’s the quintessential American story. But, unlike a lot of people’s successes that we recognize for material goods or wealth, this one was dedicated to the defense of a country that when he was a young man would deny him a place even at a counter at a diner. That’s a big deal.” Bender said he is not for or against any particular name, though he does understand the growing support for James and respects that Pensacola has a large military community. Mostly, he said he wants the bridge to represent the rich history of Pensacola, along with allowing the community a chance to speak on this issue. “I think we have an opportunity here,” Bender said. “This is the third bridge that’s gone in there and we have so much history just around that. I’d like to see that included as well; that you can see where DeLuna’s ships sank, were anchored during the hurricane, and we can see where battles took place in North Hill and East Hill. We have so much to share that this could really be a wonderful way to let people who are just coming in that they’ve reached here
WE’RE SOCIAL
(Pensacola) and to share some of our history and certainly some of the accomplishments of some of the people who were born here, including General James.” Concern of continuing the Beall name on the new bridge has risen when it was revealed that Beall proposed a bill in 1935 barring African Americans from voting in the Democratic primaries in several Florida cities, including Pensacola. Another suggestion was to split the name between Beall and James, but it has also been said that there is a precedent since the renaming of the Thomas Johnson Bridge that when a new bridge is constructed, it receives a new name. The committee offers community members a chance to offer suggestions and to voice their opinion on what they think the bridge should be named. Bender said his aim is primarily to let everyone know the name is up for debate and to allow them a place in that debate. “I don’t want this to pull our community apart,” he said. “The idea is that we bridge the community together and that’s why I felt that having a joint committee was a good original idea; to have a committee that did seek the public’s input, to come together and form the name.” County Commissioners will meet again on March 7, when Bender has requested they announce their representative for the bridge naming committee. Community members interested in giving their opinions may submit written communication to the committee and attend open public meetings.
CONNECT WITH US ON SOCIAL MEDIA