Updated: 10/12/2009 10:46:45 AM
With little notice and not much fanfare the Sumter County Aviation Board took a step that is now a big controversy.
They decided to change the 92 year-old name of Souther field to Jimmy Carter Airport.
The people who work here and the people who have personal histories tied to this place, are not happy.
Americus resident Kay Guttenberg is one of them.
"I am extremely unhappy...that's putting it mildly."
And she is not alone.
"I've not heard anybody that's in favor of this."
Everywhere you turn, there are reminders of the proud past of this airfield.
After all, this is one of the oldest airfields in the country
Over the years it has been important in the allied war effort. Starting in World War I.
Mike Cochran, an instructor who works at the airport, knows the history well.
"It began in 1917?this site was put here to train cadets to become pilots."
During the interwar years, the airfield became known as a place to be for the daredevil pilots known as barnstormers.
The most famous of these was Charles Lindbergh.
"He soloed here in 1923" said Cochran.
It was his first solo flight, a full four years before he would become the first to cross that Atlantic alone.
During World War II, Souther field once again became important to the allied war effort.
As they did a generation earlier, locals again pitched in to help, like Kay Guttenberg's family.
"My father, W.K. Farber, was an instructor out here at Souther field. And my aunt was a dispatcher."
In the years since the war, Souther field took on a new purpose.
Today it is a general aviation airport.
"We do annual inspections, 100 hour inspections, repairs. Anything in the maintenance line we do" says Airport Manager Franklin Williams.
Opponents say that being against changing the name is not based on any dislike for President Carter.
"There's a history. It's been here 92 years."
They're simply hoping that in the end, they'll again be able to fly the friendly skies from Souther field.
As they always have.
