THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2003 Federal rules prohibit naming or renaming a geographic feature in honor of a deceased person within five years of the date of death, The Arizona Republic reports. That means a proposal to change Squaw Peak near Phoenix, Arizona, to Piestewa Peak in honor of Lori Ann Piestewa, 23, the Hopi woman killed in action in Iraq will have to wait until at least 2008.
The U.S. Board of Geographic Names also has a rule that requires a close association between a name and the person. Piestewa grew up on the Navajo Reservation hundreds of miles away from Phoenix, a board official said.