Anne Hutchinson Bridge - Has a Good Ring To It

This is the second time around for Rep. Rice's bill to rename the Sakonnet Bridge. I've heard Sen. Gibbs state that it should remain as it is. A tribal official also wants to preserve the bridge name (guess the river isn't enough).
Last year Amy intro'd this bill & anticipated no problems when she rec'd agreement from Rep. Loughlin to back it. Silly girl. After she told him she'd write a letter to the Tiv. Town Council asking for support. Rep. Loughlin did an about face (hmm, maybe this has to do with his military background) & had his own "new bill" to rename it after a Tiverton resident placed on the agenda & her request never made it to the agenda. The fight was on! True political machinations at their worse!
This yr. his bill is to keept the current bridge name. The Portsmouth Council has supported her bill. Rep. Loughlin's bill is to keep it as the Sakonnet Bridge.
So, we'll all call it the Sakonnet Bridge (or the Portsmouth Bridge) anyway. Just like we refer to the Pell Bridge as the Newport Bridge or the Jamestown bridge rather than Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge. Honoring an unusual and influential Colonial woman is a good thing. I believe that it has a good chance of passing. But will the guv veto??
BTW, I think Amy actually wrote this herself (or a very capable aide). No spelling errors, no grammar problems. Amazing what a little education can do for a person (spell-check doesn't hurt either).

What is the significance of naming the Sakonnet River Bridge after Anne Hutchinson, the founding mother of Aquidneck Island?

It would mean that our state would finally have a bridge named after a woman — a powerful female figure and natural leader who defied a Colonial government that stood for religious persecution.
It would mean that Rhode Island would recognize Anne Hutchinson as a pioneer for rights that we hold so dear: religious freedom, female equality, and civil liberties for all people.
It would mean that our state would join Massachusetts and New York — states where Hutchinson made only a relatively marginal impact — in honoring a woman who played an integral role in the history of Aquidneck Island, our state, and our nation.
Nearly 400 years ago, in a time when women were subjugate to men, Anne Hutchinson refused to compromise her beliefs that all people should be afforded the basic rights to freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and freedom to worship. She founded Portsmouth in 1638 and is listed on the Rhode Island Secretary of State’s Web site as the first founding woman of a town in North America.
Anne Hutchinson is to Aquidneck Island what Roger Williams is to mainland Rhode Island. With the many memorials dedicated to Roger Williams, I find it surprising that there is any opposition to naming one bridge after one of the founding members of our state, particularly since only 10 percent of Rhode Island’s buildings, etc. are named after women.
In the last 15 years, Rhode Island has continued to honor living legends with the naming of the Claiborne Pell Bridge and the T.F. Green Bruce Sundlun Terminal in Warwick. Honoring a worthy person such as Anne Hutchinson who is vital to Rhode Island’s history is just as important as recognizing those significant Rhode Islanders who are still with us.
While I do understand that most Rhode Islanders will continue to refer to the bridge as the “Sakonnet River Bridge,” it is important to note that Anne Hutchinson’s name is synonymous with the Sakonnet River, as Hutchinson and her husband built their Common Fence Point home very close to where the bridge is currently located. My legislation to name the new bridge the “Anne Hutchinson Bridge” has been endorsed by the Portsmouth Town Council, the League of Women Voters, the Women’s Fund and Rhode Island historian Patrick Conley and I urge every resident of Aquidneck Island to support this measure to commemorate a truly great woman who changed the face of history.

Rep. Amy Rice