The Carroll County Board of Supervisors were presented with a request from the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, (BGN) that originated with an interested party in the western Iowa region. Chair, Gene Meiners, says the request arose in an attempt to differentiate between the similar names of the West Nishnabotna, the east branch of the West Nishnabotna and the East Nishnabotna River. The supervisors were asked to change the east branch of the West Nishnabotna River to the Avoca River. Supervisor Dean Schettler knew right away who had made the request and had an immediate reaction.
Neil Bock says that he believes just changing it to avoid confusion is an exercise in futility. In fact, he adds, it would likely just create more confusion in the long run.
Meiners agrees, saying this would actually be counterproductive to reducing confusion and would result in additional costs for the county that are unnecessary. The supervisors discussed sending the request back to the BGN by marking the proposal as rejected. Meiners also asked that their comments be included in the rejection as well.
The name Avoca was requested because the east branch of the West Nishnabotna originates in Carroll County and ends in Avoca. The motion to reject was unanimously approved.
