by Adam Ghassemi
SPRING HILL, Tenn. – The playground at Evans Park is modern, but there's one piece tied to history.
"Casey's Castle" is dedicated to 8-year-old Casey Sneed who died during a 1998 ice storm when she slipped and fell, causing a trailer to fall on top of her.
The park is named after, Noel Evans, who served as Spring Hill Elementary principal for decades. In 1997, he lost his job because of allegations of sexual harassment. Evans ended up killing his wife and then himself.
Now Sneed's older sister, Jennifer Sneed-Vance, wants the park renamed.
On Change.org she writes, "While the 30 years of service given by Noel Evans is appreciated, the unanswered accusations later in his career and a murder-suicide hardly make him someone who should be honored."
"I ask that the park's name be changed to Casey's Castle Park to honor the little girl for which it was built," the post went on to say.
Some Spring Hill residents, like Flo Grabowski, hope both families can be honored through compromise and communication.
"We all love this park," she said. "The people in the community who are torn between the two sides would want that as I would want that. I would encourage those families to do that."
Spring Hill's Mayor Michael Dinwiddie wasn't aware of the online petition Thursday. He said the city's Board of Alderman may consider the proposal if there were a lot of signatures, but there is no way to how they would vote.
We were only able to speak with Jennifer Sneed briefly by phone Thursday. She reason behind this is to honor her sister.
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