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Graham Excited About Street Honor
By David Dorsey | ddorsey@news-press.com
Earnest Graham decided to hold a fundraiser for his charity in conjunction with having a Fort Myers street named after him the weekend of May 15-17.
But first, the 1998 Mariner High School graduate and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back needed assurance that the renaming of the street would happen.
Graham received that promise early Monday evening at a Fort Myers City Council meeting, as the council unanimously agreed to pull $1,200 from the council's contingency funds to cover permitting and other fees.
"I want to thank Lisa Martin for her overwhelming gesture," Graham told the council members. He took a day trip to Fort Myers in order to attend the meeting and drove back to his Tampa home afterward.
Martin, a resident of Graham Avenue in the Jefferson Park neighborhood, petitioned the council to rename her street to Earnest Graham Avenue last year.
The council approved the street name change - there are just two homes on it - in February. "It's kind of like a dream," said Martin, a self-described rabid Bucs fan who also attended the meeting. "It's finally starting to seem real." Graham said he had visited Martin's neighborhood and would relish this honor. "I'm definitely appreciative of everything," Graham said.
"It couldn't be in a better place. They've got a playground there for the kids, and it's in a good neighborhood." | 
