FORT DRUM - The U.S. Army's Fort Drum sprawls across frigid northern New York, just miles from the Canadian border and directly in the path of fierce arctic winds that blow in unrelentingly from the north, laden with endless snow and ice.

At least that's the impression many 10th Mountain Division soldiers have when they arrive at this upstate New York Army post - an image possibly perpetuated by the post's weekly newspaper, “The Fort Drum Blizzard.”

But no more. The newspaper is changing its name as part of a redesign and Fort Drum officials decided to run a contest to pick a new one.

“We received some comments recently that calling our newspaper `The Blizzard' may reinforce old stereotypes about Fort Drum, that it's always cold and snowy,” said Karin Martinez, Fort Drum's command information chief.

On Thursday, the paper published its five finalists - plus a commanders' wild card choice: “The Summit,” “The Fort Drum Patriot,” “The Northern Post,” “The Pinnacle,” and “The Mountaineer.” The wild card choice is “The Mountain View.”

The post has published a weekly paper continuously since 1957, when Fort Drum was still called Camp Drum, said editor Lisa Albrecht.

The Fort Drum Blizzard is published 50 times annually and has a circulation of about 10,000, she said. Its news and editorial content are controlled by the Army. Otherwise it's not much different from a civilian community weekly, providing Fort Drum soldiers with news and announcements along with articles about Army and defense department initiatives and career, family and personnel issues.

The paper was called “The Sentinel” from its first edition until September 1998, when it was changed to “The Blizzard” to pay tribute to the 10th Mountain Division's World War II soldiers, who first trained as an alpine unit in Colorado and eventually made their fame in the mountains of Italy, Albrecht said.

That maybe it was time for another change quickly became clear, said Martinez, even if the impression left by the newspaper's name isn't entirely inaccurate.

Nearby Watertown's nickname is “Snowtown USA” because it gets about 101 inches of snow in an average winter. On the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, the area is prone to quick-forming “lake effect” storms that can produce heavy snowfalls in a short time. In February 2007, one such weather system dumped from 7 to 12 feet of snow on the area over a 10-day stretch.

But the lake also has a moderating influence on temperatures, which average about 21 degrees during the winter and typically reach into the high 70s during the summer.

After announcing the contest a month ago, Martinez' office received 106 suggestions from soldiers, their families and even civilians.

“We gave every suggestion its fair due. We went through every single one. Some were really easy to eliminate,” Martinez said.

Like “The Fort Drum Straight Skinny” and “The Mountain Yodel.”

“People really cared about this ... having a part in naming it. It was exciting to have such a response,” she said.

Mostly, the choices were based on how the name sounded and whether it properly represented Fort Drum and the Army, Martinez said.

After the staff narrowed the list to 12 choices, the short list of suggestions was sent to the division's command, which is presently deployed to Iraq. Commanders there voted on their three favorites and Martinez included them in a Top 5 for the final round.

Readers can vote for their choice through July 8. The winner will be announced in the paper's July 17 edition, Martinez said. The person who submitted the winning name will receive a gift basket from the post's Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation office and be featured in an upcoming issue.

The paper's new name will not debut in the masthead until Sept. 25, when the overhauled paper is launched.

Fort Drum isn't the first community to worry about its image as a cold destination. North Dakota lawmakers have tried twice unsuccessfully - in 1947 and again in 1989 - to drop the word `North' from the state's name over concerns about public perception.