To the Editor:

When I was a child, I learned that S.O.S. was a distress signal for Ships at Sea (Save Our Ship).

Today, it could be a distress signal for citizens of Selma (Save Our Street name).

My family and I arrived in Selma in 1974 and residents of Sylvan Street were concerned because the name of Sylvan was changed to Martin Luther King Street.

I could understand that it gave the people a sense of pride. However, little has changed on the street.

The people who live there, in most instances, appear to care less about the appearance of their street. As the years have passed, more streets have been renamed, and because it wasn’t my street, it was of little consequence to me.

I remember demonstrations regarding a name change for Nathan Bedford Forrest Homes (N.B.F. Homes) and yet even today, I will hear people using the title N.B.F. Homes, and the change has made no difference in the condition of the area.

We have had to change our address several times before arriving here in 1974, and every time there has been a multitude of problems to overcome.

At one meeting concerning the name change (April 10), I heard the mayor say his reason for including Summerfield Road beyond Highland Avenue was a matter of public safety.

I do not understand his logic.

Our street is on the map already, Boynton Street is not. Part of Small Street was changed to L.L. Anderson. Try to find L.L. Anderson on the most recent map provided to local motels.

Citizens of Selma, if you think this will be the last street in Selma to come “under fire,” I don’t.

Your street may be next! S.O.S.

Myra C. Waddell