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The Roanoke Times (Virginia)
DANVILLE - Members of the Minister's Alliance of Danville and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference want to change the name of the city's Stonewall Recreation Center .
"We feel with the recent loss of life in Virginia for freedom that Stonewall Center should be changed to a name that has made the city of Danville a better, loving community for all citizens," the Rev. Avon Keen said in a news conference Monday .
They would like to name the center after the Rev. Judy Fallen, who worked with youth in the Camp Grove area of Danville, off North Main Street, for years.
"We hope the city will do the right thing, as it has in the past," Keen said. "What we see across the nation at this time that most communities are removing all relics of the Civil War that are symbols of hate. We are trying to do the same in our community."
The Stonewall Recreational Center used to be part of a school that opened in 1915 and closed in 1978, Program Director Charlene Presley said.
Parks and Recreation Director Bill Sgrinia said that the facility is heavily used daily by children and by adults with impairments.
To change the center's name, a petition must first be filed with the city. None had been filed as of Monday , said Danville City Manager Ken Larking.
Fallen could not be reached for comment.
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