Activist, Georgia mayor clash over renaming street for Obama

VALDOSTA, Ga. (AP) — A civil rights activist clashed with a Georgia mayor over a proposal to rename a street for former President Barack Obama.

The Valdosta Daily Times reports police escorted 80-year-old Rev. Floyd Rose from a Valdosta city council meeting Thursday after Mayor John Gayle said he kept talking beyond his public comment time.

Rose wants Forrest Street renamed to honor the nation's first black president. He says it was named in 1883 for Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Ku Klux Klan leader.

Gayle said petitioners need to follow a new ordinance, but Rose said it was designed to thwart the name change. It says only one signature can come from each parcel along a road, so multiple signatures from a single apartment complex don't count.

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Information from: The Valdosta Daily Times, http://valdostadailytimes.com/