LETTER: Stop negating the north; there is no 'South Walton'

I agree with the writer of “Borders matter” (letter, Aug. 8), but perhaps she should take her own advice.

After correcting the writer of the Green Berets article on the proper dateline for Sandestin, she signed her letter with the location “Eastern Lake, South Walton.” There is no South Walton County on any Florida map. The proper term would be southern Walton County.

There is North Dakota and South Dakota and North Carolina and South Carolina, but when speaking of a region of a county, state or nation in conjunction with that entity’s name, the correct term is “southern” or “northern.” This was taught in grade school in the 1960s.

Those who are privileged and proud to live in the southern part of Walton County need to stop negating the northern part of the county. We may have less expensive homes and more unpaved county roads, but we, too, pay our taxes.

Even our Walton County commissioners have erred in this matter by placing those gaudy blue “Welcome to the Beaches of South Walton” signs (at a high cost to taxpayers) at every entrance to Walton County, replacing perfectly good signs that were there for years. The northern part of Walton County has no tourist beaches. How many beachgoing tourists enter Walton County on U.S. 90 as opposed to Interstate 10 or U.S. 98? A very low percentage, I imagine. And of that percentage, many of them might have taken a wrong turn.

Yes, borders do matter.

— LINDA DAVIS

DeFuniak Springs