Arriving in town center at 9:30 AM for the Memorial Day Parade Ceremony I couldn’t help but notice the main town Amherican flag was, finally, brought down to its rightful position of mourning for this solemn day.Also noticeable: when Amherst wishes to allow town equipment in a Parade they pull out all the stops. And apparently Hadley did not hold it against Amherst for missing their Memorial Day observation as the Hopkins Academy marching band put on a great show.
Amherst Regional High School does not, of course, have a marching band (too militaristic)
The Amherst July 4’th Parade Committee made both events as did indefatigably piper Ryan Willey.
The photo below was taken at 1:45 PM. What's wrong with it? Let me count the ways. On Memorial Day the American flag goes down to half staff only from dawn till high-noon. And the US flag should never be lower than a foreign flag.
Great job Capt. Willey!
ReplyDeleteHe always does.
ReplyDeleteLarry- I thought of you when I saw a large flag flying at the Lowes construction site/ Bison Farm property today - it was on a company truck. It was very nice!
ReplyDeleteYeah I saw that too.
ReplyDeleteThere are like me out there than some could possibly know.
Meant to say "more like me."
ReplyDeleteI have heard the explanation for the fact that we have no marching band at ARHS. But, once again, it has nothing to do with a marching band being militaristic.
ReplyDeleteBut......
All observations on this blog, whether truthful or not, must contribute to the caricature that the Town Narcissist wants to draw of his home town, excuse me, the home town of the past five generations in his family, oh, excuse me, the home town in which he claims to be a self-appointed member of its aristocracy, with a greater right to be heard and listened to than anyone else.
Why would a man want to get so much attention from the people in a town that he claims on a daily basis to hate so much?
Well, ladies and gentlemen, after all,......
He is the Town Narcissist.
In the end, the world is all about Larry.
One reason the town doesnt have a marching band is because the crazy war we are in, on two fronts, takes up so much of the US budget that the town of Amherst cannot afford to hire enough music teachers. I am a music teacher that lives in Amherst!
ReplyDeleteC'mon Larry, don't let finding out the facts get in the way of promoting your agenda. That would spoil the fun.
ReplyDeleteToo militaristic? Ha! Ha! Ha! That's a good one!
Well I happen to know a long-time townie successful businessman who offered to donate all the uniforms a dozen or so years ago (back when the schools were flush with cash anyway) and that is what he was told.
ReplyDeleteAnd I believe at that time we had a Democratic President and no wars going on.
Indefatigable Ryan is tired this morning but, this is due to all the yard work not to piping. Thanks for the kind words Larry and Sam.
ReplyDelete-Ryan
Larry.. whats the good word on your police department ride-along??
ReplyDeleteMustve beena boring nite!
I'm still working on it.
ReplyDeleteIt was not "boring" in the least; but not riotous a situation either (otherwise you would have read about it in the Bricks and Mortar media today)
The only thing I instantly wing is these 'Comments'.
This current upload is getting plenty of hits, so I'm comfortable leaving it as my Front Page lead for a few more hours.
I like the new title, The Town Narcissist. Just the way you think shows your shallow, self directed world. "There are more like me out there than some could possibly know." This is like the republicans claiming to own family values.
ReplyDeleteHey Larry, is it possible that people who fly their flags are not like you, but just happen to believe in honoring those who died in their country's name. What the hell does that have to do with you, except maybe that you, too, think that way.
Good on ya mate, but broaden your view. It's not about you, not by a long shot. You are not the good old usa. Geez, Larry, have you ever even been in the service, let alone combat?
I still think you should put your money where your big mouth is and join the military.
Then I will respect you. Until then, you're just another chicken hawk, like the Dick cheney or W. or Rummy.
And don't give that 5:30 in the moring crap. What does that have to do with you facing real enemy fire? Nothing, zippo, nada.
Yeah, you could argue that W. served until we point out that there isn't any record of him showing up to his base, and then he got an early discharge so he could go to harvard business school. Yeah, I think that was an option for all of the grunts during Nam. "Ok, fellas, you can go to the Nam or go to Harvard. What's it gonna be?"
And then the town narcissist wrote back calling the blogger a nitwit and challenging him to meet at the gym at 5:30.
So predictable. It's ok. Just go back and look into the pool at yourself.
And once again my nitwit friend who did never show up at 5:30 AM Monday at my Club, I can't help but notice you are once again posting as "Anonymous".
ReplyDeleteBut you have the balls to talk about "facing real enemy fire?"
And I seem to remember CNN showing video of Rummy helping carry wounded personnel out of the Pentagon that awful morning (when all Hell had broken lose and more attacks were expected.)
Brutal comments...Larry I for one think that there are plenty of Narcissists in Amherst who would give you a run for the money as official Town Narcissist.
ReplyDeleteOnly a Town Narcissist would wrap himself in the flag and have his picture taken at Ground Zero.
ReplyDeleteMy wife snapped the photo (the first time she ever used a digital camera).
ReplyDeleteAs the photo clearly shows I was not wrapped in the flag; and I was assisted by a NYPD officer (can’t remember his name but it was definitely Polish). We were probably the ONLY civilians who made it down to "The Pile" that day.
THAT flag later flew over the State Capitol Building in Boston and the Capitol Building in Washington DC (you know the intended target of Flight 93.)
And THAT original photo was signed by Senator Edward Kennedy, Congressman John Olver, Governor Jane Swift, former FAA Chair Jane Garvey and yes, the President of the United States George W. Bush. THEY don’t autograph photos for “Narcissist” (or ‘Anonymous’ nitwits.)
It's Nitwit cowards like you who make me consider about going back to the good old days of not allowing Anonymous comments (but that would box out my friends Terry Franklin and the Grumpy Prosecutor Rich Morse.)
Or… you could show up at my Club this Monday morning at 5:30 AM and we can talk privately.
Nice photos Larry! Always fun to see the parade from the ground. It was nice to see an increase in people along the parade route again this year too!
ReplyDeleteHey Helen,
ReplyDeleteYeah, I noticed that too.
Patriotism is alive and well in our little town (in spite of what some Nitwits may think) .
We started attending the parade about 11 years old shortly after our oldest son was born. We were some of the only people along the parade route. Over the last 11 years, I've noticed an increase in attendence along the route, which really pleases me. I loved seeing at least one WWII vet in uniform along the sidelines this year.
ReplyDeleteThe VFW served coffee and donuts afterwards to anyone who wanted to attend. Always a nice group of people!