The hometown of the late Gene Roddenberry has honored its native son by renaming a local planetarium after him.

Last week the school board of El Paso, Texas, voted to change the name of The El Paso Independent School District Planetarium to The Gene Roddenberry Planetarium.

"I know so many people, myself included, who have been inspired by Gene's positive vision of the future. It's about time that he has a planetarium named after him," said John Peterson, director of the facility, who is planning an official dedication this winter.

The school board approved the name change after Tim Holt, president of the Texas Science Teachers Association, floated the idea on a science Web site and received nothing but positive responses from fellow teachers.

Roddenberry was born August 19, 1921, and lived in El Paso almost two years before his family moved to Los Angeles. He died October 24, 1991.

A story about the effort to rename the facility (which pre-dates the proposal's approval on Nov. 13) can be found at the first link below.