Hot Springs should retain national park logo, Ross says

By The Associated Press

HOT SPRINGS — Congressman Mike Ross is urging the National Park Service to back down on its request to cancel the city of Hot Springs' trademark for "Hot Springs National Park."

The city uses the national park logo throughout the resort town and on promotional materials.

"I'm hopeful that the National Park Service will recognize how silly this petition is, and rescind their opposition to the logo that the city of Hot Springs has used for many, many years," Ross, D-Ark. told The Sentinel-Record newspaper.

The logo does not delineate between the national park itself and the city, and the federal agency said in a filing that the two should be kept distinct.

Part of the park lies inside the city and part of the city is located inside the park.

The Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission five years ago obtained a trademark on the city's logo, which it started using in 1987. It features a diamond with "Hot Springs" written in it and placed over a rectangle, the bottom of which says "National Park - Arkansas."

"You can tell the park superintendent and you can tell the director of the National Park Service that I have a congressional office in Hot Springs, and on my letterhead I list my address as Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, and nobody's going to tell me to take that off my letterhead," Ross said.

Hot Springs National Park Superintendent Josie Fernandez said the government is working to protect the name of the park.

"The filing is to request a cancellation of a federal trademark of a logo that bears our name and is not being used by us," Fernandez said Tuesday.

But Ross said he's heard many complaints from residents concerned about the parks agency's actions.

"I believe that we've correctly registered our opposition to this silly nonsense, and hopefully will receive a positive response from the National Park Service," Ross said.

The city and Hot Springs National Park have had a "good, productive relationship" for 176 years, he said.

"It doesn't make sense to me that the National Park Service would not want Hot Springs promoting the National Park," Ross said.

For more information see Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.