Ruthless dictator won't get a street name

The staff at Grand Coulee’s city hall are still scratching their heads over this item.

City Clerk Carol Boyce received a letter recently asking the city to not rename Main Street to “Ziaur Rahman Street.”

They were wondering who thought the city was going to do so.

The letter was signed by Bangladesh Ambassador M. Ziauddin of Washington D.C.

“It has been recently noted that initiatives are being taken to name streets, roads and important parts of cities and towns in the USA after Major General Ziaur Rahman who in 1977 had unlawfully seized power in Bangladesh,” Ziauddin wrote. “The naming of the street in the land of justice and freedom — the United States — to commemorate and honor a ruthless military dictator is indeed shocking. It is against democracy and liberalism that both our two countries hold so very dearly.”

The letter got a chuckle last Tuesday night from the city council, who had never considered renaming the street.

And who could spell the name, anyway?