AUBURN, Calif., May 18 (UPI) -- Officials in Auburn, Calif., say they are debating whether they must name a new city park after its deceased benefactor -- a white supremacist.

The estate of William Shockley this year donated 28 acres of prime forested land to Auburn on the condition that it be named "Nobel Laureate William B. Shockley and his wife Emmy L. Shockley Memorial Park." City officials agreed to the name before discovering from activists that Shockley, the inventor of the transistor, believed African-Americans are inferior and should be paid not to reproduce, The Sacramento Bee reported Monday.


Now, city officials say they are in a quandary over whether they can legally deny the condition.

"Public lands should not have strings attached," Auburn resident Karen Tajbl told the Bee. "Would the (recreation district) accept 1,000 acres of open space on the condition it be named 'William Joseph Simmons Park?'" referring to the modern founder of the Ku Klux Klan.

"The best thing the community could do is have a picnic in the park and invite people of all IQs and races to offset Shockley's racist beliefs," said Eric Peach, an environmentalist who supported taking the park along with the name.