VALDOSTA — The People’s Tribunal continues to strive towards having Forrest Street renamed to Barack Obama Blvd, but the effort has been met with some resistance. The group has obtained 144 signatures, but City Manager Mark Barber and City Engineer Pat Collins explained that more signatures were needed when Tribunal President Reverend Floyd Rose and local historian/Tribunal member George Boston Rhynes met with them last Tuesday.

The contention regarding the name stems from questions about whom the Street was named after, with The People’s Tribunal claiming it was named after Ku Klux Klan founder and Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

There are 284 parcels on Forrest Street, which stretches from Martin Luther King Drive to Inner Perimeter Road. The city says 171 signatures are needed for the name change to be considered, and many of the 144 signatures provided were not.

Rev. Rose plans to push forward.