Naming park after Hearst rankles group

SanLuisObispo.com

February 22, 2008

A Central Coast advocacy group doesn't want the state to add the word 'Hearst' to the name of San Simeon State Park, saying William Randolph Hearst 'represents the worst in American culture.'

The State Park and Recreation Commission is set to consider the renaming at its Feb. 29 meeting in Chatsworth.

Nick Franco, superintendent of the district that includes the state park, said commissioners broached the idea of the name change in August. The proposed new name -- Hearst San Simeon State Park

State Park -- would give recognition to Hearst family contributions to San Simeon State Park, according to parks officials.

The park now includes W.R. Hearst Memorial State Beach, a park-and-pier area at San Simeon Bay that used to be a stand-alone park.

But Jack Ellwanger, founder of PelicanNetwork, a 5,000- member volunteer group that supports cultural and natural history education, is protesting the name change.

In a Feb. 13 e-mail to Louis Nastro, assistant to the commission, Ellwanger said PelicanNetwork's members oppose the proposed renaming because of William Randolph Hearst's 'misdeeds.'

'His ignominious career includes the creation of yellow journalism, which he practiced on an enormous and scandalous scale; he deliberately deceived the American public with lies to create an international war, and he conducted a shameless raid on rare European artifacts' used to build and furnish Hearst Castle, Ellwanger wrote.

To add Hearst's surname 'to the lovely landscape of the San Simeon State Park would be a travesty,' he said.

Franco said PelicanNetwork and other members of the public had several opportunities to comment on the proposed name change.

However, the Big Sur group didn't participate in several earlier public meetings at which the name change was discussed, Franco said, including the commission's own session in Morro Bay in August.

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