Warren residents have a lot of ideas about what we should name the Third Avenue bridge.

One resident who has received 150 signatures from city residents to rename the bridge in memory of Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated earlier this year in Utah. Another suggestion is to name the bridge after the Blue Star Mothers in recognition of their work supporting local soldiers serving overseas.

This may sound hypocritical for a city named after someone who never lived here, but in our opinion if we are going to honor someone by naming a bridge after them that person should have made a local contribution. That isn’t meant to denigrate Charlie Kirk, whose assassination earlier this year certainty hit some area residents hard. But it’s hard to justify naming a bridge after someone who never lived here or even appeared here. In the case of General Dr. Joseph Warren, he was a part of the founding of our country and has been honored elsewhere in the country as well. Kirk and Warren are very different cases, in our view.

We tend to agree with Douglas Kearn, who said the bridge’s new name “should honor someone uniquely Warren. A bridge’s name should remind us who we are.”

At the same point, we shouldn’t rush to put a familiar Warren name on the bridge. There are some familiar names in Warren like Struthers or Betts whose names are honored with the names of theaters or buildings downtown. We’re sure there are some deserving names who played important roles in the founding or development of Warren that haven’t been honored yet. Nothing says this decision needs to be made in December, when Mayor David Wortman said the council could discuss the issue further. The bridge isn’t going anywhere, nor likely is the person or group for whom the bridge could be named. There’s no need to rush.