WASHINGTON - When something like Cripple Creek shows up on a US map, Roger Payne springs into action. As chief of the US Board of Geographic Names, Mr Payne arbitrates disputes over what people can call hollows, deserts, streams and mountains.
Cripple Creek is a case in point. There are 67 Cripple Creeks around the US and no one had ever objected until now, when a disabled person in Texas asked to call a nearby stream by that name to honour the handicapped. Advocates for the disabled objected.