Controversy over 'Negro Mountain' reveals urban-rural divide
18th century tribute fuels 21st century debate
February 20, 2011|By Julie Bykowicz, The Baltimore SunGRANTSVILLE — — Bryant Bunch, who came from Prince George's County to attend college here at the far end of the Maryland panhandle, first saw the sign on Interstate 68 while traveling with a carload of friends a few years back.
He remembers their reaction: Does that say what we think it says?
Maxine Broadwater, born and raised on a farm outside Grantsville, and the town's librarian for three decades, recalls the first time she ever gave the name a second thought. It was the early 1990s, and people passing through had stopped at her library to ask about it.
Her thought: Why would that bother anybody?
Those disparate reactions to "Negro Mountain," the name that 18th-century settlers gave to the Garrett County landmark, have found their echo in Annapolis, where a Senate panel will begin debate this week on whether it should be changed.
Several Baltimore lawmakers are pushing to retire "Negro Mountain" as an outdated relic of a less sensitive time. Legislators from Western Maryland, who say the name honors an early African-American hero, want it left alone. A Senate hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
The debate highlights a divide between rural and urban lawmakers that frequently rears up in the 188-member General Assembly.
"How about they take care of Baltimore's crime and drugs, and leave the mountains to us," said Del. Kevin Kelly, an Allegany County Democrat. He says to rename the mountain would be to rewrite history.
Historians believe Negro Mountain, which crosses the border into Pennsylvania, was named in the 1750s in honor of a black frontiersman who died in the French and Indian War while defending white settlers in a fight with Native Americans.
In most accounts, the man's name was "Nemesis," and he was a volunteer soldier fighting with Col. Thomas Cresap.
If the mountain is meant as a tribute, Del. Nathaniel Oaks says, it should bear the man's name, not his race.
"It's the right thing to do," said Oaks, a Baltimore Democrat. "The mountain was named during a time when we were considered property and our names couldn't be put on anything. It's time to put a face to the place."
Sen. Lisa Gladden, who majored in history at Duke University, said her intent is "to update history, not change it." The Baltimore Democrat said she has been "bothered" by the name since she first encountered it on a field trip here for new legislators in 1998.
To fix this he is now trying to break the Unions for state employees, who make on average 25% less than their corporate counterparts. :c 
Most of the stuff for the oil sands is now being built overseas instead of in unionized shops here, where my Dad used to work. He's now on month eight without work thanks to the government and big business twits. <_<
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