DISH, Texas

By DAVID SIMS

First part of the town of Salem, Massachusetts broke off and changed its name to Danvers to avoid association with the infamous witch trials.

There was Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico. Then Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, and Joe, Montana, as well as half.com, Oregon.

Now there's DISH, Texas. All capital letters, as specified in the contract.

EchoStar Communications Corporation, its DISH Network satellite TV service and the town of Clark, Texas, announced today that the town of Clark has accepted DISH Network's challenge to rename itself as part of the DISH City Makeover.

As of today, Clark, Texas, a small tight-knit bedroom community located a half hour north of Fort Worth, Texas, has legally changed its name to DISH, Texas. In exchange, DISH Network has agreed to provide every household in the town of DISH 10 years of free basic satellite TV programming, including equipment and standard installation.

Frankly it's not a huge stretch for the town of 125 proud citizens to rename itself. According to The Handbook Of Texas Online during the 1840s Clark, on State Highway 146 sixty miles northwest of Beaumont in northeastern Liberty County was known simply as part of Sam Houston's Grand Cane plantation on the Trinity River. The Grand Cane post office, established in 1846, was renamed Ironwood in 1869.

In 1900 the Ironwood post office was renamed Clark at the suggestion of postmaster Randolph Fields. So it’s not exactly like, say, Jerusalem changing its name or anything.

The Clark Town Commissioners voted to rename the town DISH Tuesday evening at a packed town hall meeting. Clark, first incorporated as a town in 2000, is a rural agricultural and ranching community as well as a bedroom community for commuters who work in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

"We are all very excited about our new relationship with DISH Network," said Bill Merritt, Mayor of DISH, Texas. Free TV for the next ten years doesn't hurt, either.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of," L.E. Clark, the town's founder who in May lost an election by a single vote told the Dallas Morning News. He challenged the results in court and lost, and some locals told the newspaper they think Merritt is changing the town's name out of spite.

Under the terms of the agreement, DISH Network agrees to provide every household within the city limits America's Top 60 programming package for 10 years, free standard installation and a free digital video recorder satellite TV receiver. Town signs will be changed to reflect the town's new identity, including the signs at the town hall, the town entrance, and all of the city limit signs.

Interestingly, Merritt told the Morning News that "I don't have satellite TV now, I had DISH network several years ago and I decided it wasn't worth the money. Why would I pay all that good money for those infomercials?"

Printers are already at work on the "Comcast, Texas" signs the town has ordered for delivery in ten years' time.

David Sims is contributing editor for TMCnet.

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