Dedication to Lady Bird
JULY 14, 2007 Listen to this Story
Web Resources
Town Lake is a park in Austin, Texas, that Lady Bird Johnson helped to create out of a flood zone in the early 1970s. There were attempts to name the park after her, but she declined. Weekend America went to Town Lake and asked people what they thought about dedicating the park to Lady Bird Johnson since her passing.
Following Lady Bird
One of Lady Bird Johnson's passions was landscape beautification. Sharla Hotchkiss of Midland, Texas shares her story about how Lady Bird Johnson's work inspired her to plant more trees. And in 1965, Lady Bird Johnson helped to push the Highway Beautification Act through Congress. One of the goals was to eradicate the visual clutter of road-side billboards. But the law has been weakened over the years. Weekend America talks with anti-billboard attorney Bill Brinton in front of some billboards in Jacksonville, Fla. Some 200 forty-year-old trees have been cut down to make the billboards more visible. We often hear of First Ladies taking on projects, but what sort of impact do they have in the long-run? Weekend America speaks with historian Myra Gutin, to find out what sort of difference recent First Ladies have made.
Special Web Audio
Ebby Halliday-Acres, 1987 Lady Bird Johnson Award winner, talks about confronting litterbugs (0:40).
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- Music Bridge:
- A Genuine Display
- Artist: Midwest Product
- CD: Telefon Tel Aviv Remix (Hefty)
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