It’s time for everyone to stand up and speak out about the proposed name change of Kelseyville.

To start with, if you were to change the name of Kelseyville, the taxpayers would be paying a tremendous amount to enforce the name change of state and county offices/districts and businesses, such as the Kelseyville Post Office, Kelseyville Schools and Kelseyville Fire Departments … just to name a few.

With the fire department it’s not just a simple statement of saying, “We will have a new sign on the building.” It’s having to remove all decals on every truck and every building and pay for new decals and labor to put them on.

Additionally, it will be changing all uniforms as well as badges and/or hats and anything else that has the name Kelseyville in it.

A good example of an enormous waste of government spending was years ago when the state changed the name of “CDF” (California Division of Forestry and Fire Protection) to “Cal Fire.” Sounded like a good idea from some idiot who got politicians to agree to it and then realized they had to change all the decals on every truck in the state along with new signs for every “CDF” building and all uniforms, badges, business cards, etc. for every one of those employees in the state.

The cost ran into millions of dollars and what did it accomplish? Half (if not most) of the people still refer to it as “CDF,” and the bottom line is what does “Cal Fire” stand for? You guessed it, “California Division of Forestry and Fire Protection.” They perform all the same duties, but wear a different name at the taxpayers’ expense.

Regarding all of the Kelseyville schools:

You might erase the name, but good luck trying to tell people that they can’t say “I grew up in Kelseyville” or “I went to school in ‘Kelseyville’” or “ I’m gonna run into Kelseyville to get groceries and fuel.”

You simply can’t erase history, good or bad. Are all Kelseyville graduates going to destroy their Kelseyville yearbooks? I don’t think so.

From a business perspective: Do the proponents of the name change think they can force local businesses like Kelseyville Lumber, Kelseyville Pharmacy, Kelseyville Food Center and Kelseyville Appliance to change their name? Again, that’s just a few of the businesses that have the name Kelseyville in them.

Any business that supports changing their name, just go ahead and do it!

Local businesses will be hit with a huge expense, again, not with just a new sign on the building, but changing any clothing, advertisements and business cards, emblems and decals on their vehicles, etc.

Again, this is an unnecessary change that will have no effect on people who will continue to refer to it as “Kelseyville.”

The Board of Supervisors does have the power to take a stand on this issue, the supervisors could be unanimous on their recommendation to the Board on Geographic Names.

Tim Prather lives in Cobb, California.