Rebel voices on road: Proposed road-name change sparks anger

State Rep. Hans Dunshee is used to getting an earful from constituents about traffic, taxes and budget cuts. But lately, the Snohomish Democrat's in-box has been flooded with tirades of a far different sort.

Dunshee has been bombarded with hundreds of e-mails, letters and phone calls from Civil War buffs, descendants of Southern Confederates and others angry over his proposal to change Highway 99's forgotten name — "Jefferson Davis Highway No. 99."

Instead of commemorating Davis, president of the Confederacy during the Civil War, Dunshee wants to rename the route after an African American, William Stewart, who fought for the North and later moved to Snohomish, where he is buried.

"I don't know what your beef with Jeff Davis is," wrote Andy Roberts of Kansas, arguing the Confederacy was about preserving states' rights, not perpetuating slavery. "He was an American patriot," added Pamela Lee Boliew of Louisiana in an e-mail to Dunshee.
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State's rights? Do these people really believe that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery? Do they realy believe that people were willing to kill and be killed over state's rights? Or was it the right of the State to have slaves?

Jefferson Davis an American patriot? How twisted is that? He was a Confederate patriot and an American traitor. Did any of these people notice that Davis and pals attacked the U.S. and killed a hell of a lot more Americans that any terrorists ever did? I'll bet that they also believe that John Walker is a traitor and should be hanged. Walker, who never attacked the U.S.

Sorry, this has just been bugging me.