By William Edwin Baxter
During the George Floyd riots almost three years ago, the WOKE movement was in full force. The Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians had to change their team names after several decades of existing under those names. Statues of Christopher Columbus, Robert E. Lee, Francis Scott Key, and Saint Junipero Serra were vandalized or torn down. Brand names like Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Mrs. Butterworth were censored. WOKE is trying to censor John Wayne out in Orange County, California. A couple of years ago, a petition was circulated to rename the John Wayne Airport, Orange County to its original name, the “Orange County Airport.” This would entail taking down the statue of John Wayne inside the airport terminal. WOKE’s radical reasons were because of things John Wayne said many years ago which came off to some as being racist. The Orange County Airport was renamed John Wayne Airport, Orange County; in 1977 to pay tribute to the famous movie star who had passed away that same year. I strongly disagree with WOKE’s reason for wanting to rename the airport again, and remove his name from the title, and his statue from the terminal. However, I did sign the petition for my own reasons, which are completely different from WOKE’s. As the name “John Wayne Airport” circulated about, the airport’s destination moniker began to fade away and cause confusion. The destination is and always will be Orange County, because it is Orange County which owns and operates the facility. As the destination name, “Orange County” faded away under the “John Wayne Title,” more and more people started to affix city names to the airport, most of which is the City of Santa Ana. Few people have even called it the “Anaheim Airport.” Maybe if the facility went back to being called the Orange County Airport like it was before 1977, all the confusion and phony city monikers would disappear.
Notice the title of the airport’s Facebook page, The Official Website, and the signs that are posted outside JWA all read: “John Wayne Airport, Orange County. So why are there a lot of idiots out there still calling this facility the Santa Ana Airport? Santa Ana is like Riverside and San Bernardino. These three cities are oversized county seats which only draw local commuters. As far as drawing out-of-staters and international crowds, Santa Ana, Riverside and San Bernardino couldn’t fill a photo booth at Knott’s Berry Farm. Riverside’s Airport only has small planes like the Fullerton Airport. Last I saw, San Bernardino Airport only has one airline flight to Guadalajara. Mexico. Long Beach is a big city which is the Number #1 Seaport on the West Coast and it draws international crowds. The Long Beach Airport isn’t much bigger than Steamboat Springs Airport (Colorado). Then there is Anaheim, which draws massive international crowds. All Anaheim has is a private airport owned by “Orange County Steel Salvage (ANA Airport Code).” The air facility is located on this company’s property which has a helicopter pad for company helicopters, an air strip for private charter jets. I am not even sure ANA is still open. So, you are going to tell me that the City of Santa Ana is in need of a big International Airport with three terminals and over 10 airlines? I don’t think so. The County of Orange as a whole (Who owns AND operates the John Wayne Airport – Orange County) does need an airport that big. The reason for this “Santa Ana” nonsense is probably because JWA’s airport code is SNA which is derived from Santa Ana. The IATA assigned this code to this airport before I was born, when most of Orange County was open country and Santa Ana was the only decent sized town and the closest major city. This is not the case today. Today the Metropolitan Designation for Orange County is “Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine (Metropolitan Division),” and Irvine is the closest major city. The airport is surrounded by Irvine, Costa Mesa, and Newport Beach, and is located in Unincorporated Orange County. Mail to Unincorporated OC goes through the Santa Ana Post Office, because it’s the county seat, but the airport is not part of the Santa Ana municipality. John Wayne Airport – Orange County is a Regional Airport of the entire “Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine Area.” Anaheim and Irvine draw more outsiders than Santa Ana. So, if you have to rename the John Wayne Airport because of the resolution, it should go back to “Orange County Airport,” and not the “Santa Ana Airport” as that is a joke. Orange County should be the name on ALL Airport Monitors in the country.
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