Petition Filed to Rename Dry Creek for Beloved Science Teacher

CALICHE CORNERS— Petition circulators report more than four hundred signatures—paws, claws, and thumbs—to rename the seasonal wash formerly known as Dry Creek after Miss Florence Newt, who retired last spring after thirty-one years explaining chlorophyll to anyone who would listen.

Proponents argue the new name, Newt's Run, sounds cheerier on flood bulletins and gives visiting relatives something pronounceable. Opponents, chiefly the Historical Jackrabbit Society, prefer tradition and warn against "rushing geology." Mayor Tortoise called the tone "spirited" and scheduled a listening session beside the bridge where students once released butterflies.

County mapping says the paperwork could clear by autumn. Meanwhile someone tied a modest ribbon to the trailhead post and left a mason jar of wildflowers. That is advocacy you can smell from the road.