A Symbol of Hope

Editors Note: Amherst does fly the American flag on the Town Common and Police/Fire stations 24/7 365 days a year.

The town purchased "commemorative flags" (currently numbering 25) in the summer of 2001 using tax money assigned to the veterans department commemoration fund, and on the night of September 10, 2001 created a policy restricted them to only six occasions per year, one of which is Memorial Day.

The commemorative flags were allowed to fly on 9/11 on the first anniversary in 2002 and again in 2003 but not in 2004 thru 2009.  Amherst Town Meeting in 2007 turned down my "advisory" article  to the Select Board (as only the Select Board has authority over the public ways, so it's their call) by an astonishing two-thirds vote.

Under public pressure the Select Board in 2009 came up with a "compromise" based on the Town Meeting vote, saying that since one-third of Town Meeting supported the flags they can go up once every three years. So they flew in 2009.

Then in 2010 Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe (who voted in favor of the flags flying annually when she was a town meeting member) turned down my annual request and came up with another compromise only allowing the commemorative flags up every five years or what she called "milestone anniversaries".

Thus the commemorative flags flew in 2011 on the tenth anniversary and are currently not scheduled to fly again until 2016.

"A groundswell of people"

On the night of September 10, 2001 during a two hour discussion about everything both good and bad our flag represents, the most over-the-top statement came from a UMass professor and town meeting member who sacrilegiously branded our flag "a symbol of terrorism and death and fear and destruction and repression."

As she returned to her seat, a grandmotherly flag supporter said sternly, "Shame on you!"

On the night of August 27, 2012 Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe did not even vote on my request to fly those flags on 9/11, instead opting to pocket veto the idea. And as part of the excuse Ms. O'Keeffe seems to suggest that nobody in town cares whether the flags fly this year or not.

Shame!

Because I think she's wrong, and so does the media and every person I've encountered on the street over the past few days.

Just since Monday this sad story has been published with prominent placement in The Daily Hampshire Gazette, The Amherst Bulletin, Springfield Republican (note 100+ comments), WGGB Ch 40 and WWLP Ch 22 local TV, FoxNews national website and tomorrow morning on their national TV show, Fox and Friends.

And most sadly, one of the articles was picked up and published on the September 11th Families' Association website.

The Amherst Select Board routinely meets again on September 10, the eleventh anniversary of that infamous Eve of Destruction meeting. Let's hope they come to their senses and allow the commemorative flags to send a signal that in Amherst, like everywhere else in this great country of ours, we do care.

Deeply.

Amherst Firefighters Union supports flying the flags!

Amherst Flies Commemorative Flags

 Commemorative flags went up this morning, but will come down on Tuesday

Yeah, for Labor Day.

Labor Day is not really a festive party-hardy kind of care free holiday, it is supposed to "commemorate" the struggle -- punctuated by violence -- to bring about safer working conditions for the tired, huddled masses of workers via unions.   Strength in numbers.

How many employees trudged to work on that stunningly beautiful  morning almost eleven years ago, reporting for duty to the Twin Towers or police and fire houses in New York City, or the Pentagon, or Logan International Airport, never to return?

How does it make them feel?!

9/11 Déjà vu

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.

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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?"

9/11/12

Amherst Town Center 9/11/11

The Amherst Select Board, as keeper of the public ways, will hold a Public Hearing on 8/27 to decide if 29 commemorative flags can reappear in the downtown this coming 9/11 to remember 3,000 lives snuffed out in a heinous sneak attack that forever changed…everything.

And it's not you I'm concerned about ever forgetting that awful morning.

You remember exactly where you were, what you were doing when those cryptic first reports leaked out about something unusual happening in lower Manhattan.  Or that first moment you switched on the television to whatever station you were watching the night before and that stunning image of those majestic towers billowing black smoke filled the screen.

My God...how could you possibly forget?

No, it's the younger generation I'm worried about.  Those who were too young on 9/11/01 to grasp the severity of the wound inflicted on the American psyche. 

Under current town policy regulating/restricting the flags to six holidays, they can fly on 9/11 only during "milestone" anniversaries, meaning every five years.  So last year on the tenth anniversary, the first time I did not have to go before the SB with my annual request (which was denied for years on end), they did fly.

But now they will not fly again until 2016, on the 15th anniversary.  In 2020, another off year, the freshman class coming to UMass/Amherst will not have been born on 9/11/01

Those 3,000 slaughtered Americans are just as dead this year as they were last year, and still deeply deserving of our reverence: not just one-out-of-five, but every year.

SAD UPDATE

President Obama and Governor Patrick have ordered all state and federal flags to half staff to remember, honor and commemorate those killed in the Aurora, Colorado senseless mass murder.

The few, the proud...

 Downtown Amherst 8:45 AM

So this morning, not quite as early as usual, the 29 commemorative flags returned to their lofty perch in the downtown to commemorate Patriots' Day, one of the few (six) "holidays" the flags are allowed to fly free and proud.

Seven days if you count 9/11, but then Amherst only allows that commemoration once every five years, so this will not occur again until 2016, on the fifteenth anniversary.

President Bush called 9/11  "Patriot Day" when signing an executive order for the American flag to fly at half staff every 9/11 for as long as the republic stands, joining only a handful of days remembered in such a mournful way.

Annually, as it should.

Free Tibet, 9/11 & Kamikazes

Twenty two coffins on Amherst Town Common

Twenty two small coffins comprised one of the more graphic props utilized yesterday for the march from Amherst to Northampton commemorating the start (1959) of the Tibetan struggle for independence from China.  They graphically represent the number of individuals who have committed ritual suicide--many in the past year--by one of the more dramatic means of death:  self immolation.

And just so you could not miss the connection, some of the coffins carried a placard with 22 thumbnail photos of the victims, reminiscent of the first mug shot/bulletin issued by our federal government showing the 19 hijackers who plowed commercial jets into the Twin Towers, Pentagon and a field in Shankesville, Pennsylvania.

All depends on your perspective I guess, or "whose ox is being gored:"  The US military considered Divine Wind kamikaze pilots "fanatics," while Japanese comrades considered them heroes.  The 9/11 hijackers thought they were doing divine service to Allah, while we consider them ruthless killers, dupes of puppet master Osama Bin Laden.

 Free Tibet demonstration  3/10/12 near the spot where Greg Levey immolated himself in 1991

Suicide is self-imposed death, and self-imposed death is suicide.  What's the difference between setting yourself aflame for a political objective or strapping a bomb to your torso and detonating it in a public place for a political objective?  (Well, besides taking out innocent bystanders.)

A flag is a far more benign but still powerful symbol for reaching directly into the hearts of onlookers, and the more rational sides of their mind.  Our Select Board, in addition to issuing a proclamation supporting the Free Tibet struggle, allowed their flag to fly in front of Town Hall and going forward will do so annually on this anniversary.

 Flag of Tibet flies under the UN flag at Amherst Town Hall

Yes, this is the same Select Board that voted to allow 29 commemorative American flags to fly in Amherst downtown to remember the anniversary of 9/11 only once every fifth year. 

Maybe this September when I go before the Select Board to request the flags fly on 9/11 I will call it the "Free the Flags" movement.

Death from above

USS Arizona 12/7/41

"Some fine Sunday morning..." Colonel Billy Mitchell (1924)

“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (12/7/41)

USS Arizona today

“With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounded determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.” (12/8/41)
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Amherst 12/7/2011

Never too much

29 Commemorative Flags now adorn downtown Amherst

Usually, Amherst forgets a sanctioned occasion or two for unfurling the 29 commemorative flags to observe the "official" holidays our--at the time overly PC--Select Board approved on the night of September 10, 2001, an ever-so-routine meeting in the People's Republic.

But this weekend we have the opposite case, where they put them up for an occasion not on the list: Columbus Day. Not that I'm complaining. Anything we can do to adorn the downtown is fine by me--and nothing is dressier than the American flag basked in brilliant sunlight.

Now if I were the critical type I'd point out that the town goes out of its way to commemorate someone accused of starting the genocide and enslavement of Native Americans, but this coming 9/11 will refuse to fly these very same flags to remember 3,000 Americans slaughtered on a stunningly gorgeous Tuesday morning, simply because they were Americans.

And if I were the really critical type, I would now roll my eyes and murmur, "Only in Amherst."

Never give up

For which it stands

Over 150 citizens gathered to remember the Civil War service of 5 black Amherst residents

For the second late summer Sunday in a row Amherst hosted a rare solemn ceremony to remember war, something the outspoken town does rather routinely, but usually from only one perspective: anti war.

Last week we honored, remembered and cried for 3,000 Americans slaughtered ten years earlier in a two-hour killing spree unprecedented in our history--especially since civilians comprised over 90% of the casualties.

Today we gathered to remember and honor five black soldiers from Amherst who fought in the Civil War, another unprecedented event in our history--the costliest conflict ever when measured in American casualties.

The five veterans are all buried in West Cemetery, where its most famous occupant, Emily Dickinson, tends to overshadow all the other deserving souls buried there. Not today however.

Raymond Brooks, a Native American, and great-great grandson of Christopher Thompson

Bob Romer, Veterans Agent Steven Connor, Reynolds Winslow, Dave Ziomek

Charles Thompson: upstanding citizen of Amherst and the USA

Amherst's "Sacred Dead Tablets" in storage

Amherst 9/11/11

Amherst Town Center 8:30 AM through 10:45 AM

Ground Zero flag accompanies the 29 commemorative flags in downtown Amherst

Amherst Fire Department helps with Big Y American flag

The biggest flag to ever fly over the Amherst town common

Stan Durnakowski holds the Ground Zero flag

Mass Live Springfield Republican reports
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1:00 PM through 2:15 PM

Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe addresses the crowd

Amherst Police and Fire come to attention

Couple lost in thought, gazing at the large flag on the town common

4:30 PM through 6:00 PM

Interfaith service Grace Church

Twin Towers of Light 8:45 PM through 12 Midnight

Twin Towers cast shadows on the flag

Final flight

Amherst downtown commemorative flag

Exactly ten years ago, at the mundane Monday night Select Board meeting, in the atypical quaint New England town of Amherst, a typical ideological clash played out over the fate of 29 commemorative American flags, branded by critics as "militaristic", and "a symbol of terrorism and death and fear and destruction and repression," or "it's not something to be proud of."

But a passionate defender of the flags said the most disconcerting thing of all, his voice tinged with anger: "You desecrated those flags! When you took those flags down, you might as well burn those flags." As I drove home that night, I wondered about how to undo the desecration of an American flag?

The next morning a massive, monstrous desecration unfolded--stunning beyond anything any of us could even imagine . The flags went back up at half staff that mournful morning and continued to fly until the day after Thanksgiving, when they came down on a particularly raw overcast day, after the cold wind whipped them like a boxer pounding a speed bag.

I then realized the flags were destined to wear out, and, like the Twin Towers, disappear in smoke and fire. A baptism that would undo any perceived desecration but leave behind nothing to remember. So I decided to preserve just one, and embarked on a quest to cure a sacrilege without sacrificing the cloth.

On the night of December 1, less than three months after the sneak attack, Ground Zero was still smoldering and New York City was bathed in an almost purifying white light from a full moon hanging in a cloudless sky. Security was extraordinarily tight, with every street heading to Ground Zero guarded by police and military--some of them wielding machine guns.

I had told the flag's story so many times that evening it became a well rehearsed elevator pitch. Finally, one taciturn beat cop managed to get me down to the sacred ground, helping me hold the flag for my nervous wife to capture in her fist attempt at using a digital camera, and then silently escorted us back to a somber crowd watching from behind police barricades.

My parting words to him were a kind of a therapeutic promise. The Ground Zero flag would fly in Amherst town center one last time, "on the day Bin Laden is captured or killed--preferably the latter." It was the only time he almost smiled.

I retired early and missed President Obama breaking the joyous news about the death of the monster who masterminded 9/11. So tomorrow I will do as I have done annually since the first anniversary: mark the time of the attack standing in Amherst town center holding an American flag.

Only this time--with a very special flag. A promise kept...albeit late.

Columnist Izzy Lyman remembers the "Eve of Destruction."

Borne back ceaselessly into the past

In 2001 wi-fi emitters did not get in the way of the commemorative flags

Ten years ago today the color drained from downtown Amherst as 29 red white and blue flags were removed from their perches on a gorgeous late summer Labor Day, no different from the mid-August Monday morning when they first flew to "test the apparatus," but looked so good the veterans agent decided to keep them flying.

Ten years ago today the congestion in downtown Amherst had returned to a busy peak after a seasonal summer of slumber. College kids came and went in all directions, while harried shopkeepers set a busy pace trying to keep up.

Today, Labor Day, the flags flew again. Ten years ago they were not scheduled to fly on 9/11...but did. At half staff. This Sunday on 9/11 they are scheduled to fly. Briefly.

On Top Of The World

High atop Mt. Washington

Ten years ago today the immediate future could not have been more promising: My martial arts/fitness business of almost twenty years had just completed its best one ever, my time up Mt. Washington was a personal best on this--my tenth consecutive climb--and the cortisone shot in my left hip, administered on June 11, the day domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh was put to death by lethal injection, seemed to have turned the tide in my debilitating battle with arthritis.

Although Dr. Johnson warned me not to celebrate until after three months had passed. Thus I anxiously looked forward to September 11, hoping it would come quickly and go painlessly.

My Amherst Bulletin monthly column that last Friday in August, published a day before the Mt Washington Road Race, was a patriotic pitch for continuing to fly 29 small American flags in the downtown. As columns go it pretty much wrote itself, as words flow easily when defending true beliefs.

Amherst's Veterans Agent had purchased the commemorative flags that summer with Town Meeting approved tax monies. But, this being Amherst, the usual gang of left-wing zealots were appalled that Amherst would dare to resemble an All American small town right out of a Rockwell illustration, even if only for special occasions.

Town Manager Barry Del Castilho had reacted to the brewing controversy in typical bureaucratic fashion by placing on the Select Board agenda a public discussion for when and how long the flags could fly. After all, the five-member Select Board is in charge of "public ways" and even though the lightpoles acting as flagpoles were privately owned by Western Mass Electric, they were set in town property.

Since the Select Board did not meet around Labor Day the next available night for this routine Amherst drama to play out was September 10, the 'Eve of Destruction'.

That evening, after a spirited two hour discussion, the board decided to keep the flags down and to allow them up on only 6 annual occasions. The next morning, after watching those shimmering towers disappear in an enormous cloud of smoke and debris, a familiar throb returned to my left hip. A double dose of pain on the day I had hoped for no surprises.

UMass professor Jennie Traschen provided the best known sound bite (dubbed the "Ill-timed quote of the century" by the Wall Street Journal) from that still innocent long ago evening in Amherst Town Hall, when real world realities were already bearing down on Ivory Tower illusions: "Actually, what the flag stands for is a symbol of terrorism and death and fear and destruction and repression."

Ten years distant I would edit Ms. Traschen's incendiary words ever so slightly: "Actually, what terrorism stands for is death and fear and destruction and repression." And it requires our constant vigilance.
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(Now at age 56 with both hips and one knee fashioned from titanium--the same material as my bike frame--all working together perfectly, I've envisioned ascending Mt Washington one last time before that final fade to black, but not coming close to my 1:32 finish ten years ago. Last weekend, however, at the 39th annual Mt Washington Hill Climb, Ned Overend won the race with an almost record time of 55:03. He did it on his 57th birthday. So who knows, my personal best from a decade ago may yet fall.)

The week that was: Swedish babies to 9/11

Caroline Degel, looking like a Swedish mother

UPDATE: (Saturday morning)

So low and behold the Daily Hampshire Gazette managed an exclusive interview with the beleaguered Swedish mother in the midst of her 15 minutes of infamy, who states her time in Bueno y Sano only amounted to four minutes, not ten; and her boy is actually two years old, not one.

Since the police report only gave her surname, "Degel," the intrepid Gazette actually had to do some leg work--or these days--more like finger work on a keyboard to track her down.

The article itself reaffirms my initial reaction that the RP ("reporting person"), although in this case apparently a group of people, overreacted by calling 911 rather than seeking out the parent or simply waiting an extra minute or two for her to return.

Branding her a "bad mother" and following up with "people like you shouldn't have children" also reaffirms my initial thought that they were those ubiquitous Amherst know-it-all's who probably do not have children of their own.

If my now 4- year-old was awakened too early in her nap cycle back when she was 2, there was Hell to pay.

I also found it a tad tacky for the newspaper to simultaneously use this overblown incident in their weekly "Gazette News Quiz" appearing on the highly visible break page:

A Swedish woman caused quite a stir in Amherst earlier this week when she left what on the sidewalk for a few minutes?

(a) Photos of her marriage to Tiger Woods
(b) Five pounds of Swedish meatballs (which are illegal in Amherst)
(c) A miniature daschund
(d) Her 1-year-old son

Notice even the "correct answer" is incorrect, and they misspelled dachshund. I guess since the exclusive interview was done only on Friday, the News Quiz editor did not have enough time for checking copy.

A Swedish publication scoops the Gazette with interview of an obviously pissed off husband/dad.
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Original post: (Thursday evening)

For a weekly newspaper the greatest gift is time. When the presses do not run until Wednesday afternoon you have time to check and recheck copy for news that happened over the weekend or even timelier events occurring at the beginning of the week; an extra margin of time to ponder the perfect headline and dwell even harder about where to position the story.

Because in news, as with selling real estate, location matters.

So I waited with anticipation early this morning for the weekly Amherst Bulletin to see how they would handle the non story that sparked national and international attention: Amherst's abandoned--but only for ten minutes-- Swedish baby story.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette placed it on Tuesday's front page under a foreboding headline: "State to look into report of baby left in stroller."

But I was pleased to see the non story, although still appearing on the front page, relegated to a tiny corner, bottom right, well below the fold. Lousy placement. And the almost as important headline was changed to something far less foreboding: "Cultural differences lead to trouble in Amherst."

God knows Amherst practices cultural sensitivity. Take for example the top story they did chose to place in the prized, above the fold, lead position: "A small but devoted Muslim congregation gathers in Amherst." And later in the lengthy article disclose the group would take part in an interfaith march in Amherst on the fast approaching 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Well I'm glad they found something, umm, non controversial to bump the Swedish baby caper?

A simple act of kindness

With the anniversary of that dark day but a month away, and the recent catastrophic loss of 30 American soldiers ardently doing their job still fresh in our memory, please consider a donation to assist two men who have already paid their dues but now find the government lacking when it comes to repaying them for their service.

Do it out of compassion, Christian moral values or plain old self interest. Because when the guardians start to fall, who is left to protect us all?

Americana deja vu

Time travel, that staple of science fiction debunked by science fact, is easily accomplished from Amherst with a 35 minute drive north up winding Rt 63 any clear summer evening--as long as it's on a weekend.

Like video rental stores, phone booths or typewriter repair shops, drive in movie theaters are an All-But-Dead breed. That did not, however, hinder the enjoyment for hundreds of folks of all ages who descended on the Northfield Drive In last night, one of only a few such outposts of family entertainment left in New England.

And you could not ask for a better feature attraction than "Captain America: The First Avenger."

Ah the good old days, when bad guys--all dressed in black--were really, really bad; and the good guy bedecked in red, white and blue, was especially virtuous. As usual our hero had perfect timing to save New York, his city of birth, from a devastating sneak attack.

Where oh where was Captain America ten year ago when New York City needed him most?

Oh, say can you see

Amherst unveiled a sparkling new, m-u-c-h larger, American flag measuring 8 ft by 12 ft on the main pole in town center during Flag Day observance--one of the six holidays the 29 commemorative flags can fly. Unfortunately the new flag is also a "ceremonial" one and will only fly on those same 6 holidays: Labor Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Patriots Day and of course the 4th of July.

The other 359 days a year Amherst will display the much smaller 5' by 8' flag. And unlike last 9/11 or the one before that, the 29 commemorative flags and the nifty new larger one will fly this coming 9/11 (and every five years thereafter), the tenth anniversary of the saddest spectacle in most Americans collective memory.

What so proudly we hailed

The town remembered--having forgotten Patriots Day last month--to put up the flags this morning for Memorial Day, one of the six annual days the 29 commemorative flags are allowed to fly. This year, unlike last year, they will also be allowed to fly on 9/11, the tenth anniversary of the worst attack on American soil since the founding of our great nation.

Construction workers never need to be reminded to show respect for our flag

A very unfortunate "compromise"

Cairo Queen (busy bee) returns!

Mother Mary Streeter (owner of TM's chatty listserve) Carol Gray--aka Max Headroom

Apparently the fix was in at Monday's Town Meeting Coordinating Committee election, those stewards of the aging institution charged with streamlining the process; kind of like cowboys trying to herd cats.

Naturally the first thing I do with a town meeting member name (even before Googling it) is run it through my "Hall of Shame" upload from four years ago. You know, the more despicable night in Amherst Town Meeting when two-thirds of the body voted against flying commemorative American flags in town center to remember the most devastating attack on US soil in our history.

Amazingly (I say that with sarcastic intent, hence italics) all three show up: Carol Gray, Pat Holland, and Harry Brooks.

So yes, this is the same Pat Holland who led the Jones Library subcommittee along with Carol Gray charged with an "evaluation" of 30 year award winning Director Bonnie Isman, a process that bordered on harassment and spoiled her well earned retirement.

Ms. Holland paid the price as she was recently rejected in her reelection bid, even though she was both an incumbent and the sitting President of the Jones Library Board of Trustees.

And someday when Carol Gray has the courage to actually place her name on a ballot she too will pay the price. This time she ducked retribution by using the ancient Egyptian stealth method of running a whisper campaign otherwise known as "write in."

Out of a total town meeting attendance of 196 only 49 bothered to vote, with Mr. Microphone Harry Brooks getting 37, Ms. Holland 36 and the Queen of Cairo 30. About as pathetic a voter turnout as a typical Amherst local election. The price of apathy.

Yeah, let's hope the American flag in the corner gets to stay