S.F. ballot will get Bush-sewage measure

SAN FRANCISCO, July 18 (UPI) -- A measure to name a city sewage plant for President George W. Bush has qualified for the November ballot in San Francisco, officials said.

A group calling itself the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco said in June it had collected enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot, and then turned the signatures in to elections officials July 7.

The Department of Elections Thursday informed the group it had collected enough valid signatures -- so city voters will be asked in November whether to change the name of the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Organizer Brian McConnell said the campaign to pass the measure will be a grassroots affair, just like the campaign to get it on the ballot. McConnell -- who said he came up with the idea while drinking beer with friends -- acknowledged in June "it's a silly idea in some people's eyes" but he said "this is the way the democratic process is supposed to work."

San Francisco Republican Party Chairman Howard Epstein says he will fight to defeat the measure.

"There's no use other than to make these nut cases feel good," Epstein said. "It's typical San Francisco crazies."