JEFFERSON CITY - It's been about four years in the making, but Sunday a portion of Highway 160 near Highway 60 (from the intersection of Mount Vernon Street to a half-mile south of the intersection of West Sunshine Street) will be named after Rabbi Ernest Jacob.
Springfield State Representative Sara Lampe became upset after seeing the name of a KKK group on an Adopt-A-Highway sign in the area to be named after Rabbi Jacob.
Lampe tells KTTS News any group or service club can get their name on a highway sign saying they pickup trash along that portion of road, but it takes someone very special to have a section of highway or a bridge named after them.
Lampe says records show Rabbi Jacob loved humankind.
In 1938 he was arrested and imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp. After he was released, he and his family fled to England and eventually found their way to Springfield in 1939.
While In Springfield, he served as a rabbi for both the traditional and liberal congregations in the area. Jacob also taught European history at Drury University.
He died in 1974.
Sunday's ceremony will actually take place at Temple Isreal along Farm Road 193 in Rogersville, because Lampe says there is not enough room where the memorial highway sign is going up where people can be safe from traffic.
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