Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 17, 1995 TAG: 9506210026
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
Like being remembered in your owners' hearts - and maybe everyone else's maps - forever.
Joe and Honey, two good-natured strays, worked their way into Denise A. Jupinko's heart beginning nearly two decades ago. Now their names may be remembered in perpetuity as "Joe-Honey Hollow" in Montgomery County's rugged Sugar Grove community.
Since last summer, Jupinko has sought to officially name the nameless 60-acre hollow after her dogs.
Jupinko, who is a substitute teacher, and her husband, James B. Irwin Jr., a printer, live in Tucson, Ariz., but have owned the wooded New River Valley mountain land for 11 years. They fell in love with the scenery during an end-to-end hike of the Appalachian Trail in 1980.
This week, Jupinko had her first major success, when the Montgomery Board of Supervisors gave its OK to the name by a 5-1 vote. Only Supervisor Joe Stewart of Elliston objected, because he said places shouldn't be named after dogs.
Jupinko still needs approval from the state archivist's office, from the state Transportation Department and from the U.S. Board on Geographic Names; it's a bureaucratic process that should take the rest of the year, at least.
"It is a little complicated but it will be well worth it if I'm successful in this," Jupinko said. "They mean so much to me."
Joe-Honey Hollow, if added to the federal government's 39,716 official geographic names in Virginia, could make toponymic history, according to Roger Payne, executive secretary of the federal board.
"To my knowledge, there's no precedent to this case. We have another that's right behind it in New Mexico," Payne said. "I don't know how it's going to come out, I really don't. The hyphen might be a problem."
The board discourages the use of hyphens and long names in its rulings on some 400 to 600 geographic names a year. It also has a commemorative naming policy that requires that a person be dead for a year before something is named after him; it doesn't apply to dogs. About 40 percent of the board's cases are for unnamed landforms.
"Geographic names can be a highly emotional issue," Payne said. It's important that everyone uses the same names, particularly for emergency services, such as search and rescue operations. That's why, though the federal board has no power over a state's geographic naming, in practice the federal and state governments work together.
Within one month of being approved, the name is entered into a national automated names system. Then, the next time a federal map for the area comes up for a reprint, the mapping agency automatically checks the database for updates. The map editor still has the final say on whether a feature like Joe-Honey Hollow would appear on the next version of, say, the U.S. Geological Survey's map of the Pilot quadrangle.
A check of Virginia's current index of landforms, courtesy of acting state archivist Conley Edwards, shows five places with "Joe" in the name, but no "Joe-Honeys." There's Joe Doss Hollow in Washington County, Joe Graham Hollow in Bland County and plain old Joe Hollow in Bath County. There's also Joes Knob in Patrick County and Joe Bolar Draft in Bath County.
The federal board relies primarily on local use and acceptance of a name. That's why obtaining local-government and neighbors' approval is important. Jupinko now has both: She earlier obtained letters and signatures from the seven landowners in the immediate area, located about five miles southeast of Christiansburg.
Those neighbors include Lynn Nystrom, who owns Tanzy Hollow - named for a flowering weed that's supposed to repel mosquitoes - to the immediate east of the Jupinko-Irwin property off Bow Hill Road, below Pilot Mountain. "As the owner of five dogs, I can understand it," Nystrom said.
James and Nancy Winfrey of Proclamation Lane, located just to the west, wrote a note, as did the other neighbors. "We are dog lovers and really understand your decision," the Winfreys wrote. We "only wish more people would love their pets half as much."
Joe, a German shepherd mix, and Honey, a long-haired dachshund mix, both found their way to Jupinko after tough times. "Joe was a stray dog who lived on the streets before I took him in. Honey was literally a wild dog who had had puppies in the woods behind our house before we took them in," Jupinko said. "I really firmly believe that you cannot spoil [such pets] ... They never take you for granted."
Jupinko and Irwin love animals. They also have five cats, a hermit crab and a "very tame ground squirrel."
Joe lived to the ripe old age of 17 before passing away three years ago. Honey is going strong at 14. "She still takes three walks a day," Jupinko said. "She enjoys our hikes into the desert."
Both dogs - referred to as "puppies" throughout their lives by Jupinko - visited the Sugar Grove property annually with the couple until entering their doggie dotage of recent years. "They were both great hikers and they took to camping like ducks to water," Jupinko said. "They really had great times down there in Virginia."
by CNB