"Henton Drive" plan advances, despite abstentions

A proposal to rename Marguerite Street as "Henton Drive" won a second reading from the Blytheville City Council, Tuesday night, but it took an affirmative vote from Mayor James Sanders to make it happen.

Councilman John Musgraves motioned to suspend the rules and read the ordinance by title only, with Councilman R.L. Jones seconding the motion. Because the motion was to suspend the rules and not read the proposed ordinance in its entirety, it required a vote of the Council; a simple offer to read the ordinance would not have initiated the vote.

Councilwoman Missy Langston, Councilman Stan Parks and Councilman Kevin Snow all abstained, while Jones, Musgraves and Councilman Tommy Abbott voted in favor of reading it by title only.

"This is the second reading only? Yes," Abbott said when voting.

Though it was a 3-0 vote, City Attorney Mike Bearden said the abstentions were essentially "no" votes, making it a tie. Sanders cast the tiebreaking "yes" vote allowing City Clerk Connie Mosley to read the measure, which is now one reading away from a final vote if offered next month.

The proposal was read once at the January meeting with no opposition, but a recent email from the family of Marguerite Coppedge, forwarded to fellow Council members by Langston, lobbied against the name change. The email detailed the street's history and contributions by Marguerite Coppedge, who like Henton, was a longtime educator in the Blytheville School District.

According to the City Council's rules of order and procedure, each member can abstain from voting "if he or she has not participated in the preceding discussion of the question and that if that member briefly states the reason for the abstention." None of the three council members listed a reason for their abstention during the meeting, nor was there a discussion at the table prior to the vote, only from audience members during the public comment period.

After the meeting, Parks told the Courier News that he abstained because he wanted more information.

"Kevin Snow informed that an email was sent out today concerning it and there was another article in the paper and I had not seen either of them at this time," Parks said. "I want to see all the facts before making a decision. I don't know what the content was in the email, who it was from. I haven't seen the paper. I came straight from work here (to the Council meeting). I want to have all the facts before I make a decision."

Langston told the CN that she abstained because she wanted an opportunity to speak with the families involved concerning the new information.

Snow said since he didn't participate in the discussion, he was able to abstain.

He said he is "100 percent in favor of recognizing Mr. Henton," but he wants more information and to look at all potential avenues to do so. Snow believes Henton merits such an honor, but he wants to make sure the Council is going about it the right way for all involved.

Snow noted, just because someone has been gone for a period of time, the worthy individual shouldn't lose the honor of having a street, building, etc. named after them. He added there is also some question whether the 12-member Planning Commission had a quorum when voting 3-1 in favor of the Henton Drive proposal. Snow wants to check with members of the Planning Commission.

This morning, Planning Commission Chairman Jim McClain said he declared a quorum without objection.

Snow said he spent quite a bit of time researching Coppedge at the library Saturday and found she did a lot for the school.

According to the family's email, Marguerite Coppedge and her family were longtime residents of Blytheville, and she still has a grandson and great-grandchildren living in Blytheville.

The email says Marguerite Street was part of the original land that Joe Pride Sr., her father, bought when he first moved to Blytheville more than 90 years ago, and he developed it into the area known as Pride Addition.

"Although we are pleased to see that the council wants to honor a respected educator, we hate to see it come at the expense of the memory of another outstanding and dedicated educator whose family were such longtime residents and played a role in early growth of Blytheville," the family wrote. "Surely a street which is not already named after someone could be chosen instead."

The family said Marguerite instilled a love of Latin in many of her students, and she coached a number of them to victories in the Mid-South Latin tournament each year.

During the public comment period Tuesday night, Gene Henton's wife, JoAnn Henton, was disappointed with the attempt to keep the street name unchanged.

"I was astonished to pick up the newspaper and read 'Henton Drive plan runs into a roadblock,' and some of the new information may cause the councilpersons to have a change of heart," Henton said.

She said, though the Planning Commission is looking at rules for renaming streets, there are none at this time. Planning Commission Chairman Jim McClain has said the potential new rules wouldn't affect the "Henton Drive" proposal, which won the board's approval in January.

"I can't understand why it would go this far," Mrs. Henton said. "If there was a problem, the mayor should have notified Mrs. (Maggie) Murphy, who collected over 700 names in 100 degree weather."

Mrs. Henton then held up several newspaper clippings, from November through February, saying that objectors should have come forward before now.

Meanwhile, also during the public comment period, Murphy maintained the proposal should move forward.

"They (the Coppedge family) probably never would go up in the hood," Murphy said. "Whoever these people she is talking about probably never would build over there. But Mr. Henton lives on that side of town and it was just an honor for him."

Murphy feels she has done all she was told to do to make it happen.

"Some of y'all on the City Council don't go in certain areas to know about Marguerite Street, probably don't know where Marguerite Street is at," Murphy said. "It's the hood. Our church is over there, but I don't see a problem. This one family shouldn't have a problem with it because they've given them 90 years."

Also during the public comment period, Anthony James Welspom said when the issue first came up, everybody said it was a good idea. He said the city should be honoring the ones living here now.

Welspom suggested there is a racial component to the attempt to block the move.

"The person that started this stuff, may God have mercy on their soul," Welspom said. "There better not be one uprising between black and white because somebody is playing politics. This better get fair justice. I ain't got to call names, but you know who you are."

The ordinance will be up for the third and final reading at the March City Council meeting.

mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com