Biden - A Living Legend?

The good folks of Brandywine Hundred voted last month not to name their new elementary school after Delaware's long-serving senior-senator and now vice-president, Joseph R. Biden Jr; instead, the voters opted for the more parochial-sounding --  Hanby Elementary School.

Likewise, it's unusual to name anything after a politician or local hero until, well, they've passed.

For example, former Senator William V. Roth's name was bestowed upon the new Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Bridge (Route 1), a few years after his passing. Mr. Roth was instrumental in securing federal and state funds for this much-needed bridge and project.

So too, did the good people of Delaware celebrate a great trailblazer and civil rights litigator with the naming of the City/County Building on French Street in Wilmington after the late Louis L. Redding (btw, he also has a middle school named after him in Middletown - Redding Middle School).

Thus, we now have Mr. Amtrak himself conferred upon with the naming of the Wilmington Train Station in his honor.

Call me old-fashioned, but I find it a bit puzzling when politicians have buildings, schools and other things named after them while they are still living.