Looking to honor the city’s veterans and emergency personnel, the city of Bonney Lake is moving forward on plans to rename the section of Sumner-Buckley Highway that winds its way through town.

“That name has nothing to do with the city,” Councilman Mark Hamilton said at the Sept. 6 council workshop. “It’s no longer the road between Sumner and Buckley.

“Here in the city of Bonney Lake we should be able to name our own streets,” he continued. “And it should be something other than the name of two smaller cities.”

Instead, the plan is to rename the small stretch of highway, which runs from state Route 410 to Angeline Road, Veterans Highway, in honor of those who have served.

The idea to rename the city’s portion of the highway first surfaced last spring, but was shelved for more discussion. But with the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Hamilton said he began to think again about the idea.

“There’s a group of people in this country that has given a hell of a lot and that’s the military, our veterans,” he said. “This is, in my mind, the decade of the military. Not just the military, but their families.”

Hamilton said while the city tries to find a space and money to create a memorial and monument for veterans, this could be a good first step.

“I think it’s just something it’s time to do,” he said. “I just figure why we are waiting?”

Councilman Donn Lewis, who served 34 years of active duty and two years of reserve duty with the U.S. Air Force, said he “absolutely” supports a name change.

“I think it’s something that’s been needed for a long time,” Lewis said Sept. 7. “A lot of vets have gone unrecognized for too long.”

This will be a small way to remember them and honor them in some way,” he said.

There was unanimous support from the city council to rename the road and Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman said with the city’s memorial to former Fire Chief Dan Packer already on that stretch of road, it could also be a way to honor all the cities heroes, from military to police to fire and other first responders.

“I think it’s a great idea,” he said.

When the issue was first raised, the city received pushback from the mayors of Sumner and Buckley, but Buckley Mayor Pat Johnson said this week that what Bonney Lake called the road through their city limits.

“That’s their right,” she said. “I just hate to see historic names changed.

“We start losing our history when we start changing names like that,” she added.

But the Bonney Lake council addressed the issue of history as well, saying the road was named by a surveyor simply because those were the two cities it connected, though with the addition of 410 through the region, it is no longer the main route.

Bonney Lake Mayor Neil Johnson said he was in support of the name change and would like to see it happen as soon as possible because he felt it would “go a long way” to getting a permanent veterans memorial.