Amendments for state titles die in Senate

COLUMBUS (AP) -- There will be no official native fruit. No official amphibian or children's book author.
The Ohio Senate wrapped its two-year session this week without approving amendments to a highway bill that included more than 60 items unrelated to its original purpose.
Among them were honorary designations that would have named the pawpaw Ohio's official native state fruit, the bullfrog the official state amphibian and Hamilton native Robert McCloskey the state's official children's author.
The Great Serpent Mound, an American Indian ceremonial site in southern Ohio, also lost a chance to become the official state effigy mound, and a veteran lost his fight to designate Interstates 70 and 71 the Purple Heart Trail in Ohio.
"It was a very simple idea," said Jake Brewer, an 82-year-old World War II and Korean War veteran from Columbus. "To have it tangled up like this is just ridiculous."
Sen. David Goodman, a suburban Columbus Republican who introduced the highway bill with the purpose of renaming the interstates, said he was disappointed that it cleared the House but died in the Senate. Lawmakers tacked on too many other amendments, he said.
"The process sometimes gets the best of us," he said.