Rename It Rooster Cogburn Airport

Over the past year or so you have published a number of letters from writers grumbling about the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ naming the Orange County airport after John Wayne. Most of the criticism seems to focus on the actor as a person and not on the roles that he played on the screen. One writer contrasted the numerous wartime heroes he portrayed on the screen with the absence of any armed forces service during World War II. More than one letter writer has suggested changing the name to Eddie Martin Airport in honor of the Orange County aviation pioneer.

I believe the root cause of all the disagreement is a failure to distinguish between the actor and characters he played. Although there is a lack of consensus about John Wayne’s conservative politics, there is at the same time a universal admiration for the characteristics of initiative, courage, individualism and leadership portrayed in the roles he played.

If the airport could be renamed for one of the roles he played, I believe it would satisfy both his supporters on the right and his detractors on the left. I would like to suggest the name of the character he played in the motion picture “True Grit” that won him an Academy Award in 1969--that of Rooster Cogburn. An added dividend is that if the name of the airport were changed to Rooster Cogburn Airport, instead of to another name, it wouldn’t even be necessary to get rid of the larger-than-life bronze statue of John Wayne in the airport lobby.

JOHN FERGUSON, Orange