DALLAS — Pain is both easy and hard to remember.
“Like a blanket over him at all times, it just kind of hangs,” said Attorney Mike Laux.
Laux represents the family of Santos Rodriguez.
“You don’t have to be in Dallas very long -- these days at least -- to be familiar, to know what happened to Santos Rodriguez,” said Laux. “Dave was 13 at the time, watching his younger brother and just a horrific situation.”
On July 24, 1973, David Rodriguez’s brother, Santos Rodriguez, was murdered by a Dallas Police officer who suspected him of burglary.
Santos was only 12 years old.
David saw it all.
“His life has been defined by something that was done to him, to his brother at a very early age,” said Laux.
Now, 50 years later, Laux said the Rodriguez family is finally nearing some resolution -- in part because of ongoing attempts from the city to try and make things right.
The city's most recent effort? A proposal from Dallas City Council member Jaime Resendez that Jim Miller Road be renamed Santos Rodriguez Road from Highland Road and Great Trinity Forest Way in the Pleasant Grove area.
On Thursday, Dallas City Council discussed that proposal, and heard comments from Laux and area residents.
Some residents said renaming Jim Miller Road could cause confusion, and that it would impact residents and businesses alkie.
"Businesses have to rename everything," complained one resident who spoke at the meeting.
Other speakers said Santos should be remembered in the Uptown Dallas neighborhood he lived in, and not in Pleasant Grove, which faces its own reputation rehabilitation struggles.
"We sympathize with the family," said Yolanda Williams of the Pembleton Trinity Forest Neighborhood Association. "But if you google Pleasant Grove, Texas, we’re reminded every day of the things that occur on our streets daily. We’re working really hard to try to make Pleasant Grove pleasant again... We don’t want to be reminded of what happened 50 years ago.”
Williams also told council members that renaming the portion of the road would take away from the legacy of former Dallas County Commissioner, Jim Miller.
"The significant impact is we would be replacing the historic history of someone who contributed to the county and the city with Mr. Rodriguez, who doesn’t have any association with our community,” said Williams.
In the end, the city council sided with residents and voting down the proposal.
"Obviously, we disagreed with several of the speakers in opposition to the proposal, but we understand their perspective,” said Laux.
In a statement, council member Resendez promised to keep looking into other options for a future Santos Rodriguez Road.
"It’s disappointing, but this is part of the process," Resendez said. "We’ll continue to receive community input and see how it goes at the CPC [City Plan Commission] level.”
The Rodriguez family, meanwhile, is exploring other ideas of their own, such as a scholarship for youth.
“That’s what we’re focusing on right now, trying to see how Santos Rodriguez name can be used not as a reminder of tragedy but rather as a promise of a future,” said Laux.
It's a promise that Laux said David hopes will help ease the pain of remembering that tragic day.
Said Laux: "He gets his spring back, so to speak, by turning this around, by making this a positive."