Wilkes County commissioners unanimously approved a resolution yesterday asking the N.C. Department of Transportation to name a 5-mile section of U.S. 421 in honor of racing legend Benny Parsons. Parsons is building a home in the Wilkes County community of Parsonville, where he grew up. He plans to live in the county and open a vineyard. Work on this request has been going on for several months, and the timing wasn’t linked to Parsons’ announcement last week that he is being treated for lung cancer. The 5-mile section would take in a stretch of highway between the Maple Springs community and the Watauga County line. Wilkes is putting the request on a fast track by faxing the resolution to the state in hopes that the N.C. Board of Transportation can consider it during Thursday’s meeting. A section of U.S. 421 in eastern Wilkes was named in honor of racer and team-owner Junior Johnson in May 2004. If the latest request is approved, drivers would travel on the Junior Johnson Highway on one end of Wilkes County and the Benny Parsons Highway on the other.(Winston Salem Journal)(8-4-2006)
