Man gets boost in campaign to name Phoenix mountain to honor vets

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By DEANNA DENT
Cronkite News Service

PHOENIX (Wednesday, Oct. 29) _ It isn’t the tallest or most popular mountain in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, but Lanny Brent says it can be an important symbol for the many who pass it each day.

Brent, a Sun City resident and veteran, wants to name this Veterans Mountain. While city of Phoenix officials don’t support the idea, he’s hoping the Arizona State Board on Geographic and Historic Names will grant his request when it meets next month.

The mountain, which has no name at present, overlooks the Piestewa Freeway as it cuts through the preserve in north Phoenix.

“It’s to have something permanent that people can drive by and say, ‘That’s Veterans Mountain,’ and be reminded of all the sacrifices and services that all the veterans of our nation have given,” Brent said.

Brent, who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, has spent six months looking for the site and filing paperwork with the state board, including notices giving city, state, federal and tribal governments and opportunity to submit comments.

Brent has a letter of support U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. But a letter from the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department, while not objecting to honoring veterans, raises concerns that naming this mountain will lead to an influx of other such requests.

“It opens up every mountain, peak and summit to naming,” David Urbinato, a department spokesman, said in a telephone interview.

The letter on file is from Phil Richards, chair of the Parks and Recreation Board, who wrote Mayor Phil Gordon that Phoenix Mountain Preserve is the most acceptable name for the area.

But Brent’s campaign got a boost Wednesday when two state lawmakers and a group of veterans joined him at a news conference at the Arizona State Capitol.

Rep. Jerry Weiers, R-Glendale, said creating Veterans Mountain is a more permanent honor than a memorial at the Capitol.

“A mountain is something that is our country, is our state,” Weiers said.

Sen. Linda Gray, R-Phoenix, ticked off named mountains such as Shaw Butte and Camelback, Shadow and Lookout mountains.

“They all sit in the preserve, so it’s quite honoring that we find an unnamed mountain peak and name it in honor of our veterans,” Gray said.

Joe Tassinari noted that he and other Vietnam veterans were spit on and disrespected when they returned from duty.

“We still have trouble getting respect,” Tassinari said. “But you know what? It’s getting better, and this mountain is one way of showing respect.”

Brent got his first look at the mountain Wednesday, when he accompanied a reporter to the preserve after the news conference. Before that, it had been a spot on a map.

“I look at this one and I like it,” Brent said. “It’s a nice mountain and it stands out, and that is what I want to achieve.”

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CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-MOUNTAIN-VETERANS: Lanny Brent of Sun City points to an unnamed mountain in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve that he is pushing to have named “Veterans Mountain.”  Brent, a veteran, said he wants the mountain to serve as a permanent memorial to past, present and future veterans. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Cronkite News Service)