While waiting for Day 3 of Freedom School to get started this morning, I encountered Freedom’s CEO, Scott Flanders, as we were both filling our glass with ice.

We greeted each other, and then I mentioned to Scott that he occasionally pops up in our reader comments online at TribTown.com.

How so, he asked.

I explained that the The Tribune and some members of the Seymour High School Class of 1970 suggested that city somehow honor Seymour native John Mellencamp when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this winter. Honoring him with a street name was suggested by the paper and later by Mellencamp’s classmates.

That idea, I explained, led to one online viewer claiming that the whole idea stemmed from Scott doing lunch with the Coug’s people and that Scott was pushing that agenda on the newsroom.

Scott chuckled, pointed out the idea of he and Mellencamp’s people talking was at least plausible since Scott had once worked in the music industry, leading the Columbia House Co. as CEO, and that he had met Mellencamp, but he also quickly added that no such lunch or conversation had occurred and that he had not talked with Mellencamp or his people about it.

And I can assure you that Scott has pushed no such agenda — or any other agenda — on our newsroom.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to TribTown.com.

It didn’t take long for people to start slamming Mayor Craig Luedeman for bringing an idea to the Seymour Common Council on behalf of the Seymour High School Class of 1970.

The idea is to change the name of Community Drive to John Mellencamp Way as a means of honoring the Seymour native and their fellow classmate. The timing of course coincides with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducting Mellencamp on March 10.

The mayor’s link to the proposal first surfaced online at TribTown.com Monday with the posting of a story that outlined his plans for his first State of the City that night. The story hadn’t been posted long before the nayayers started responding with reader comments in opposition to the idea. It came as no surprise to me.

When The Tribune editorialized in December that such a tribute would be fitting for Mellencamp, many negative reader comments and letters to the editor followed.

I should add, though, that the first two comments posted on Tuesday’s story were supportive of the idea. Then the boobirds started in.

Most of the negative comments came from local folks, or at least people who identified themselves as being from the area. Most of those in favor were from elsewhere, including a woman from Australia. Of course, there were postiive comments from local people as well.

Maybe that most local comments were bad and most out-of-the-area comments were good illustrates why some aruge such a tribute for Mellencamp should be made — the Mellencamp-as-tourism-magnet crowd.

Whether you like or dislike John Mellencamp and his music, there’s no doubt many people around the world do like him. And many of them visit our community because they like him and his music.

But a tribute to Mellencamp should be about more — much more — than cashing in on his success. It should be about acknowledging a hometown boy — a “Small Town” boy? — that’s done good. That seems to be what the SHS Class of 1970 has in mind. Nothing more, nothing less.

What do you think? You can vote online at TribTown.com. I received an e-mail today from a woman who says she grew up in the Houston area of northwestern Jackson County. She said she’s a DJ on a Denver radio station and planned to read January Wetzel’s story over the air and encourage people to vote online at TribTown. We’ll see.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks for logging on to TribTown.com.