Butt of jokes

JACKSON, Ga. -- People who grew up in Butts County laugh at all the jokes. Like how they're not backward, just a little behind.

But when a local disc jockey started a campaign to have the name of Butts County changed to something tamer, this rural county 40 miles south of Atlanta erupted in a feud.

Tempers are short in this county of about 20,000 people, home to Georgia's death row, its first state park and not much else. Many have had enough of the daily indignities of living in the county Butts.

"It's so embarrassing to tell people you're from Butts County," said mechanic Melinda Sealey. "You don't even know."

But the name change has proved far from easy for Don Earnhart, owner of WJGA-FM, who started the push on his local radio show, arguing for a new name in between church announcements and his on-air swap meet.

Getting ready for a call-in show about a new name for Butts County, Earnhart rattled off the insults people have hurled his way since he first brought up the idea at a county commission meeting.

"I hope you're ready to get tarred and feathered and run out of town with me," he joked. "People are really in a fuss about this."

And they were. For a full hour, Earnhart fielded calls from passionate Butts County fans, most of them insisting the nation's only Butts County should remain.

The silver-haired DJ insists he isn't embarrassed about the name. He's lived here all his life, jogs through town most days and even employs a local mayor to do play-by-play broadcasts for the high school football team.

Economic effects

But Earnhart thinks the county name is keeping Butts from enjoying the economic growth of its neighboring metro Atlanta counties. Textile mills, once major employers in Butts, have mostly left. An outlet mall looking for an Interstate 75 location scouted Butts County but eventually chose a site a few miles north.

"We catch so much flak, and it's holding us back," Earnhart said. "You hear the name, Butts County, Ga., and it conjures up an image of a doublewide with a car up on blocks in the front yard.

"Let's say I'm a manufacturer trying to get my shareholders to invest in a plant. And the plant's in someplace called Podunk, Mississippi. You see what I'm saying?"

Understandably, not a single business in the county uses the Butts name. The county name doesn't even appear on the county courthouse. The only high school in the county took the name of the county seat, Jackson.

"If people say they're not embarrassed of it, why aren't they using it?" Earnhart said.

Later, at the town square, a few locals who listened to Earnhart's show were furious he even suggested a name change. They want to stick with the name out of tradition.

"Most of us are proud of it," said Anne Smith. "If you don't like Butts County, take your butt and move out."

The county was named for Capt. Samuel Butts, who raised a militia for the War of 1812 and was killed by Creek Indians in Alabama two years later. Little is known about the man, and historians aren't sure he ever stepped foot in what became Butts County in 1825.

No other county in America is called Butts, and a search of atlases did not turn up any incorporated cities with that name.

But people in Georgia are familiar with former University of Georgia football coach Wally Butts -- no kin to Samuel Butts. The coach's name graces the school's athletic hall of fame along with that of former coach Harry Mehre. Locals are always careful to pause in the middle of the name of the building -- Butts-Mehre.

Some in Butts County say it's time Butts changed its name to something less snicker-inspiring. The candidates include Indian Springs, after the state park, or Creek, after the Indians who lived here first.

"Name it anything besides Butts!" cried Edward Maddox, who gets the tag on his Chevy Blazer renewed at his sister's house in nearby Spalding County to avoid the Butts plate. "I'm too embarrassed to ride around with 'BUTTS' on my truck."

Earnhart says there's a silent majority in Butts who feel the same way, but they're being out-shouted by Butts fans in the local paper and at county commission meetings.

The radio host canceled his next planned radio show about the matter -- callers are so opposed to changing the county name that he doesn't see the point. Instead, he'll attend the next county commission meeting and tell them the name change failed his call-in poll 20-6. Earnhart expects the issue will be dropped.

"I suppose this will be something for the next generation to debate," he sighed after signing off the air. "That dream has been dashed."