Actually, I think I've been a unfair to Myles Horton. I just dug his autobiography out of a large, neglected pile of books in my office and discover that he gives much credit to Don and Connie West when discussing the start of Highlander, including the fact that one of them (he couldn't remember which) came up with the name of the school. Dr. Will Alexander had suggested that he get in touch with Don West when he expressed a desire to work with someone from the mountains. Let me quote a bit:

The two of us (Myles and Don) drove around East Tennessee in Don's old car. One night we ended up staying with Rev. Nightingale, who suggested we talk to Dr. Lilian Johnson. She wished to retire, and had a place in Grundy County near Monteagle that she wanted to turn over to someone interested in carrying on her community work."

He goes on to say: "We had just made up the name 'The Southern Mountains School' for our fund raising letter. After we moved down to Tennessee, we kept the same name until Don and his wife, Connie, decided we needed a better one. I didn't care what we called it, so when Don or Connie came up with Highlander -- I'm not sure which one of them thought up the name -- I decided it was right."

Further: "At the start, Don had wanted to go to Georgia, but when Dr. Johnson offered us her farm at Monteagle, that settled where we'd begin, and Don and I became co-directors." He admits: "Dr. Johnson was very critical of the school at first because she thought we were too radical."

At one point, there was some thought of moving the school up to "Allardt, in the Cumberlands near Kentucky." Myles then explains that "Don West decided Allardt was too far away from Georgia and that he would go down to a farm owned by his father to start another school. Don and I divided up what little we had -- less that two hundred dollars, a sack of beans, some flour and books. He put his share in an old car and drove down to Georgia."

I apologize for having overlooked this information last year, and I'm delighted that Hedy has set the record straight. The book, by the way, is titled The Long Haul, an Autobiography of Myles Horton, written with Judith and Herbert Kohl, published by Doubleday in 1990. I'll lend it to you, Rick, next time you come down this way.

Sandy