Alaska News

Online petition to rename Ohio peak for Palin emerges

The Ohio vs. Alaska mountain name change game continued Friday -- only this time Denali wasn't actually involved, but instead Ohio's tallest peak.

A White House petition was filed Thursday by a person from Texas only identified by the initials "M.R." to change the name of Campbell Hill, the tallest peak in Ohio, to "Mount Sarah Palin" in honor of Alaska's "most famous governor," the petition states.

"Campbell Hill is a testament to the men and woman (sic) who strived to reach its well manicured, landscaped peak, some never to return," the petition states. "If the people of Ohio feel it is their right to name Alaska's highest mountain, then it would only be fitting for Alaska to rename Ohio's highest peak."

Campbell Hill stands at a mere 1,550 feet, while Denali stands at 20,310 feet. The petition would need 100,000 signatures by Oct. 3 to prompt a response from the White House. At 3:25 p.m. Friday, it only had five.

Anyone age 13 or older can start a White House petition online -- the form can be completed in four steps. Around 11:30 a.m. Friday, there were only 85 open petitions, including ones to keep Britney Spears in Las Vegas, designate the Black Lives Matter movement as a terrorist organization and to apologize to Japan for the 1945 nuclear bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The "Mount Sarah Palin" petition follows the renaming of Mount McKinley to Denali, a decision announced Sunday by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. Ohio is the home state of 25th President William McKinley, whom the mountain was previously named for.

Megan Edge

Megan Edge is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News.

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