Marine Ordered to Stop Name Auction

[thedrifter]

Marine Ordered to Stop Name Auction

By ESTES THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A North Carolina-based Marine was ordered Tuesday to stop an online auction in which he promised to legally change his name to whatever the highest bidder wanted it to be.

Sgt. Cody Baker, 29, could have become "Mr. Clean" or even "Finest Freshest Fastest," but he was told the auction violated military rules against commercial endorsements, said Camp Lejeune spokesman Lt. Col. Curtis Hill.

"Completion of this auction would be a commercial advertising slogan on Baker's uniform, which would create the appearance of the Department of Defense endorsing that entity," Hill said.

The highest bid had reached $30,000.01, offered by the Web site .www.FreebieStore.com .

Baker, a native of Pell City, Ala., had said he wanted to raise money for college, support his wife and infant son, and help an orphanage in Thailand for children affected by AIDS.

The auction, on Baker's personal Web site, started July 20 with a $5 bid to name him "Mr. Clean." Other bids wanted Baker to change his name to "George Bailey of Bedford Falls" and "Mr. Right."

An online coffee company bid $26,333.31 to have Baker's military name tape carry its slogan: "Finest Freshest Fastest."

Baker has since informed bidders in a message on his Web site that the auction violated federal regulations.

"Therefore, the auction of my naming rights ends at this moment," Baker wrote. "Thank you all for your support and encouragement along the way. It was a fun ride."

Baker had been stationed with the 1st Marine Air Wing in Okinawa, Japan, but was recently transferred to the 2nd Marine Logistics Group at Camp Lejeune, a coastal Marine base in North Carolina.

On the Net:

Baker's Web site: www.choosemyname.blogspot.com/

Ellie

[Zulu 36]

I'll bet he is the cumshaw man where ever he goes.

[thedrifter]

December 13, 2006
A New Name for Sale? No Way for a Marine
By BRENDA GOODMAN

In a year that has been tough on military families, at least one marine’s mother got some relief from her worries yesterday.

The Marine Corps quashed her son’s plan to change his name at the behest of the highest bidder on his Web site, ChooseMyName.com.

“My mom, not being very business minded, didn’t really see the value in changing my name,” said Sgt. Cody C. Baker, 29, a logistics specialist based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. “She said she would be praying for me.”

Had someone from the Marines not advised Sergeant Baker that a federal law prohibits military personnel from making commercial endorsements, he said he might have been called Oprah Winfrey, King Taco or even Mister Right.

“The Marine Corps is another world,” Sergeant Baker said. “It’s very strait-laced.”

Before he called the auction off, the online company FreebeeStore.com had offered $30,000.01 to Sergeant Baker to change his name to FreebeeStore.com.

The second-highest bid, $26,333.31, from an online coffee company, would have renamed him Sgt. Finest Freshest Fastest.

Sergeant Baker said he was hoping to raise money to buy a house, start his own business and pay for the college classes he hoped to take when he discharged in a year. He also pledged some of the money to help an orphanage in Thailand.

“From start to finish it was about 15 minutes in my head, and then I kind of started up the Web site,” Sergeant Baker said. “I’m always kind of thinking of story ideas, movie ideas; it just kind of came forth out of my entrepreneurial spirit.”

Ellie