SAD UPDATE:
#AmherstMa Select Board pocket vetoes flying flags on 9/11. Did not even take a vote. No commemorative flags in the downtown this 9/11.
#####Tonight at 8:00 PM the Amherst Select Board, like a previous Select Board did almost 11 years ago, will decide the fate of 29 commemorative flags: to fly or not to fly, on the most depressing anniversary of my lifetime, 9/11.
Currently SB policy is to allow the commemorative flags, which do fly every Memorial Day and five other holidays, to fly on 9/11 once every five years or what SB Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe referred to as "milestone anniversaries."
On the night of September 10, 2001 about 12 hours before the first plane struck its intended target in New York City, I closed my brief presentation with a question: "Do you really want to be remembered as the politicians who voted against the flag?"
And tonight I will leave this Select Board with another simple question, "Do you honestly believe 9/11 is only worth commemorating once every five years?"
14 comments:
Every time I mention where I attended school I am asked "How crazy is Amherst?"
It's happened on interviews, at party-occasions, even a wedding and two funerals. This is not good for the image of Amherst.
Do you think the board will realize the irony of not flying the flag; as this right is protected by the men and women who wear the flag on the shoulders of their uniforms?
So, like, can they prevent me from standing and holding a flag on 9/11?
No, and I will be in town center with my Ground Zero flag so there will be at least one extra flying that day.
Eleven years ago the AP reported correctly what happened the night of September 10 on the early morning of 9/11 (goes to show what a slow news day it started out as).
CNN and Fox News picked up the story, but incorrectly stated the town was restricting the rights of private citizens to fly flags.
I get the same thing when I mention I live in Amherst. People give me weird looks, ask how weird is it up there? I just shrug and tell people we were from out of state and had no idea what we were getting into. We had to put our kids in private school, we both work outside of Amherst, shop outside of Amherst. We love our house and a couple of our immediate neighbors, but the rest of the town...not so much.
An Amherst resident on business in Oklahoma City posted a comment to the Gazette Amherst forum around 10:00 AM on 9/11 saying how "embarrassed" he was to be reading USA Today '50 State Roundup' and the only thing for Massachusetts was the vote the Select Board had taken the night before, restricting the flags.
Another prominent local business person sent me a one word response last night after I tweeted the Select Board decision: "Shocking."
What percentage of the population do you think supports this? It surely can't be the majority!
Ten years ago it would have been more; today, however, the numbers in Amherst who would support this stingy, embarrassing policy is a tiny minority who do not have the spine to make those opinions public.
For example, the only two people who spoke last night at the "public hearing" supported the flags, and SB Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe also admitted hearing from two other citizens via email who supported the flags.
Remind me- are they up for labor day each year? (in that keeping them up for a few more days is no big inconvenience/cost factor)
I still love the fact that the Amherst tree dept was hanging an advertising banner across South Pleasant Street immediately following last year's snow event-
Amherst- Where the lack of common sense prevails!
"We had to put our kids in private school."
Spoken like someone born into money.
"Oh yeah, we didn't have choice, we had to buy a Mercedes."
Right but for some strange reason that even the crazy citizens of Amherst can't figure out, we choose to live in Amherst, MA.
Sounds like you've found your home town,
Yes, they are up for Labor Day. Alisa Brewer even
mentioned that, saying even though she was a union member she's not sure why the town would fly them on that holiday.
How many other towns fly the flags on 9/11 each year?
I drove thru Easthampton, Southhampton and Westfield today, and all theirs were up, so I can't imagine they will be taken down between now and 9/11.
Let us know what you find in these three towns when you drive through them on 9/11.
It isn't even truly important regarding what other towns fly the flag that day. Amherst, containing 3 schools and being a large town for the area, has a high percentage of ROTC students, as well as other veterans and those who were affected by the tragedy.
The town flies the flags for much less important holidays, such as labor day. It should fly it after the requests of Larry and other citizens for 9/11.
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