http://www.courttv.com/people/2001/0425/pryor_ap.html

Updated April 25, 2001, 4:00 p.m. ET

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — The Peoria City Council again has voted against renaming a city street in honor of comedian Richard Pryor — a debate that could resurface after a new council is seated next week.

Following an hourlong debate, the council voted 6-5 Tuesday against conducting a study on renaming South Sheridan Road to honor the Peoria native. Mayor Lowell "Bud" Grieves voted for the study but said he can see why people might object to honoring a former drug user who frequently used profanity in his act.

Council member Camille Gibson, who has said calls to her office have run more than 50-to-1 against the renaming, argued that drugs and profanity should not be glorified. 0 But the debate might not be over yet. Clyde Gulley Jr., a newly elected council member, has promised to reintroduce a renaming measure when a new City Council is seated next week.

Pryor, 60, suffered near-fatal burns in a 1980 fire linked to cocaine freebasing. He announced in 1991 that he has the degenerative nerve disease multiple sclerosis and now spends most of his time at home in California.
 
 
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