705. Puzzle Solved!

When I posted entry #704 back on October 10th, I never dreamed that it would go unanswered for such a long period of time. I've been quite busy with other things and have basically ignored the blog with the puzzle unsolved. October 2011 was one of my worst months as far as visits are concerned, scoring only 651, a number which has been surpassed in all but the earliest months of the blog nearly five years ago.

But I know that several of my 651 viewers in October were some of my seven faithful readers, several of whom regularly make attempts at solving the puzzles. A number of them, including one whose surname provided us with one of the answers, let me know they had given it the old college try but eventually gave in.

A sweet irony is that five of the people with whom I have spoken to about the puzzle are directly related to the theme of the puzzle, and a sixth wants to be as he is a candidate in next year's elections.

Today all the puzzling came to an end as one of my dearest friends, identified only as Garton in his response, came in with the answer. He later expanded on the answer in a phone-text, finally identifying the theme.

Garton, whom I call Michael, and who, at least on Facebook calls himself Eli, offered most of the street-names as well as identifying the groups.

To wit, Democratic Metro Council members, Republican Metro Council members, and the mayor. Remember, the title was street names in the news. Most of you might know that I have been preoccupied for just over a year with the redistricting of the Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Council based on the returns from the April 1, 2010 United States Census. The answers to the questions are streets in Louisville-Jefferson County Metro which happen to coincide with names of Metro's elected officials.

Here are the answers:

GROUP ONE - Democratic Council members.
#1 - Johnson Road in Eastwood; Johnson Street in Butchertown; Councilman Dan Johnson (D-21).

#2 - Hamilton Avenue; Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton (D-5). The mills are located on Barret Avenue in the 500 block, just north of East Broadway.

#3 - Butler Court off Klondike Lane; Butler Road in Shively; Councilwoman Marianne Butler (D-15).

#4 - James Road off Phillips Lane in the old Ashton-Adair area, once famously declared "blighted" by the Regional Airport Authority; another James Road near Lindsay Avenue in Clifton; Councilman David James (D-6).

#5 - Henderson Avenue and Lane in SW Jefferson County turns out to be something of a mistake. It is a private road off Dixie Highway which appears on very few maps; Henderson Avenue in the Prestonia neighborhood off Belmar Drive; Councilman Bob Henderson (D-14).

#6 - I made an error here as it is a street and not an avenue. Owen Street; Councilman Tom Owen (D-8).

#7 - Welch Drive, off Penile Road; Councilwoman Vicki Aubrey Welch (D-13).

#8 - Ward Avenue in Middletown; Councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh (D-9), hence only half-credit. To my knowledge, there is no right-of-way in the Metro area named Pugh.

GROUP TWO - Republican Council members
#1 - Fleming Road near Atherton High School; Fleming Avenue in Clifton, not far from James Road; Councilman Ken Fleming (R-7).

#2 - Benson Court and Benson Lane, both off Deering Road as mentioned; Councilman Stuart Benson (R-20).

GROUP THREE - Mayor of Louisville-Jefferson Coumty Metro
#1 - Fischer Avenue in Germantown; Mayor Greg Fischer (D-Louisville). Struck Avenue is now called Rufer Avenue.

*****

Thanks for playing and thank you to Michael for getting the answers.