Fitting Tribute for Fallen Officer

GP officials push to rename highway for fallen officer

Commentary
by Bruce Felps

Sgt. Gregory Hunter set some serious and somber milestones during his career with the Grand Prairie Police Department.

He became the first black officer on the force in 1973 — wow, 1973 — and, sadly, the first officer, of any ethnicity, on the force to be fatally shot in the line of duty.

Now, according to an article in yesterday’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he could be the first of Grand Prairie’s finest to have a stretch of highway named for him.

Ed Gray, a member of the GP Planning and Zoning Commission, leads the charge to name the five-mile section of Interstate 20 that runs through the town for Hunter even though it’s already dubbed Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway and even though a street running near the Walmart where Hunter was killed already carries the officer’s name.

That street, though, lacks any address so what kind of street can it be, Gray kind of pointed out, and look, highways can have multiple names, according to the article, and cities have the right to christen the segments that run through their borders so long as the city pays for the road signs.

So, what are you waiting for, Grand Prairie? 2073?


Bruce Felps owns and operates East Dallas Times, an online community news outlet serving the White Rock Lake area. He honored a different Hunter, his dearly departed and sorely missed shepherd-chow mutt, by christening a section of his skin with a commemorative tattoo.
 

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