Live Free or Die

 A symbol of freedom and a symbol of the cost of freedom

Assuming all 1,664 men Missing In Action from the Viet Nam War are dead, it is still of paramount importance to fly this black flag as a reminder that--all these years later--their final outcomes are still unknown.

Yesterday the town put up a new, larger POW/MIA flag to fly in tandem with the larger US flag purchased last year and originally scheduled to fly only on ceremonial occasions, but now flying daily...as it should.

MIA

Bare flagpole Sunday morning

So it's not often the town center flag makes the weekend police logs, but some of you may have noticed the big new pride and joy of Francis Scott Key went missing early Saturday evening.  No, it was not Pat Church; just an equipment malfunction.  The original fasteners from the smaller flag couldn't handle the extra force created by such a big beautiful flag flapping in the wind.

 Big new US flag, small POW/MIA flag underneath

Old Glory was taken down and I'm told required three officers to properly fold, and went back up this morning.  Meanwhile the larger POW/MIA flag that flies underneath the American flag is still MIA.  Until found, or a new one ordered, the smaller one that accompanied the previous, modest sized US flag will fly, looking more like a postage stamp compared to the big one above it.

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our nation and the continuing 150th anniversary of the Civil War, where President Lincoln championed a "new birth of freedom", perhaps the town should take up a collection to buy a b-i-g-g-e-r POW/MIA flag to remember the 1,664 Americans listed as "missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam war."

And See If Anyone Salutes

Amherst Town Hall 

I've never been a huge fan of Flag Day because it seems a little too contrived--you either respect the flag 24/7 or you do not. In fact, a few years ago I asked the Select Board to trade Flag Day for 9/11 as one of the days the 29 commemorative flags are allowed to fly in town center, thus keeping the six-day restriction in place.

Some of you may have noticed the return of the flag on Town Hall. It disappeared a couple years ago when the building exterior was undergoing repointing and town officials simply got out of the habit of putting it up.

The flag first appeared soon after 9/11 when Amherst was taking a PR drubbing over ill-timed flag disparaging public comments made just 12 hours before civilian aircraft turned the Twin Towers into dust.  At the time Select Board member Anne Awad voiced her displeasure with the Town Hall flag saying it looked like somebody was trapped inside the building and using it to draw attention to their plight.

Perhaps a subliminal result of endless footage aired of helpless civilians trapped on the upper floors of the towers waiving their clothing to get first responders attention.

Last year the town also purchased an extra large flag for the main pole in town center--but only on the same occasions the 29 commemorative flags are allowed to fly.  Now I'm told that BIGGER flag will start flying 24/7 (after I complained a few years ago the town added illumination to the main pole) every day, except for when the weather is particularly inclement.

Bigger American Flag flew for Memorial Day

That starts as soon as town officials can find the b-i-g-g-e-r POW flag that accompanies the b-i-g-g-e-r American flag.  Let's hope they find it by July 4th.
Actually let's hope they find it today as the current flag is a tad, err, TATTERED. 

  UPDATE: 2:15 PM Yeah!

 

New flag is up. LONG may she wave

Occupy Sends the wrong signal

Don't like

My digital journalist buddy Mary Serreze, who covers Northampton like I cover Amherst, posted this photo on my Facebook wall after I commented about this obnoxious incident on hers, knowing it was an act of disrespect deserving of further mention.

And as she already pointed out, the Occupy Northampton folks also disrupted a Northampton City Council meeting last night, thus showing disrespect for our government at all levels.

The American flag belongs to all of us, all 100%! Men and women have died and will continue to die for the freedoms it represents, including the freedom to use it disrespectfully. Yes, flying the flag upside down is a legitimate way to signal distress, but dragging it on the ground is distressing to the vast majority of Americans from all socioeconomic backgrounds.

As the noisy crowd of perhaps 100 passed around us, my 10-year-old daughter took note of the American flag being used like a dust mop and said "Why are they doing that?" "Because they want to get our attention," I replied.

As my Chinese friends would say, "Be careful what you wish for."

This one's for you

Firefighter James Rice, who answered his "last call."

Governor Patrick has ordered the American and Commonwealth Flags lowered to half-staff on Friday, December 30, 2011 from sunrise to sunset in honor of Firefighter James Rice of the Peabody Fire Department, who died in the line of duty on Friday, December 23, 2011.

A fitting tribute indeed

W.D. Cowls Building Supply

My Facebook and corporeal buddy Cinda Jones emailed yesterday to inquire if anyone would take offense if she lowered the huge flag in front of the business her dad built with the blood of his bare hands, to a position of mourning.

"No, lower away," I instantly replied. Because there's a b-i-g difference between, say, Amherst College lowering their majestic flag on the hill for former employees who pass away and a dutiful daughter doing so over the sudden passing of a beloved father, friend, mentor and by all accounts icon in our town's rarest of breeds: entrepreneur.

If America was built on anything, it was family values. So when a family's respect for their father bends the unenforceable rules of flag protocol, safe bet the Founding Fathers would have no complaints.

Paul Jones obit

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

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.

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.

This one's for you Major David L. Brodeur

AFD remembers: three of their own now in service, and Major Brodeur.

Although you made the ultimate sacrifice a few days before the gates of Hell sprung wide open to welcome the unholy madman who set you on a collision course with destiny, rest easier knowing--along with your friends and family--our nation will never forget your devotion to duty in the never ending mission to keep our citizens safe.

Town flag inches forward

Although it seems to be taking longer than the American Revolution, the Amherst town flag quest received positive feedback at the 4/20 Select Board meeting, even from Alisa Brewer who was a tad crabby about the process a couple months back.

Although you have to wonder what she meant by the Amherst schools not being interested in purchasing town flags considering their devotion to American flags, since state regulations do require an American flag in every home room.

The six town flags will cost $88.48 each and costs will be covered by the Amherst Chamber of Commerce ($530.88) and the Amherst Rotary Club will cover the slightly more expensive one for the State House Great Hall of Flags.

Nationally renowned designer Barry Moser has agreed to volunteer his professional artistic talent to design the flag (based on citizen submissions earlier in the process) as long as the town can wait until the fall. And since it has been this long in the making...

Capture the flag

Perhaps the Select Board should have figured it out when not a single citizen bothered to enter the "design an official Amherst flag" contest last November and only with extra PR outreach did they manage a hand full of designs.

Obviously Alisa Brewer is tiring of the typical Amherst process for getting things done. Now she can appreciate how the typical entrepreneur feels when trying to open a business in Amherst, only to get exhausted jumping through all the hoops.
The Children's Memorial Flag will fly once again at Town Hall in April under the, umm, UN flag.

Flags are powerful symbols--for good (Old Glory) or evil (Nazi swastika). This "contest" is indeed a telling symbol of 'All Things Amherst'.




For a better view of all six entries click this link

Here's to you Cpl Frank Buckles

America's last veteran of World War 1: "The war to end all wars."

By Presidential decree

Patriotic Deja Vu (all over again)

January 2011

So back in 1988 Tae Kwon Do debuted as a "demonstration sport" in Seoul, Korea--a nation that takes Martial Arts deadly serious. My kicking karate buddy Arlene Limas, from the tough town of Chicago, won an Olympic gold medal.

Standing on the elevated podium the exuberant lanky Polish/Mexican lady in her crisp white uniform patiently waits for the sound system to play the "Star Spangled Banner"...and waits, and waits.

Finally, she single-handedly starts singing our national anthem acappella--quickly joined by friends and family in the crowd--and shorty thereafter by almost everybody in the cavernous arena.

And that was 13 years before the world changed. At the normally routine Buckingham Palace changing of the guard, on an extraordinary afternoon just after 9/11, our former enemy for the first and only time in their exceedingly long history struck up "The Star Spangled Banner."



A Brit newspaper reported

This one's for ALL of you

For the majority of family men or women who are rapidly approaching retirement, the routine work grind becomes a winding down process: use up sick days, vacation time or personal days--especially around Christmas, when a major New England storm is bearing down on your workplace.

But, like the vast majority of public safety officers, John (Jack) Maguire, age 60, doesn't fit the profile. And as a result he will never again hug his wife, celebrate the major milestones of his three grown children, or regale friends and neighbors at a backyard barbecue.

The 34-year veteran Woburn cop, also like the vast majority of police officers, had never outside of routine practice fired his gun in the line of duty.

The night after Christmas, in the middle of a blizzard, he broke that record--firing it for the first and last time.

The burden for a public servant like officer Maguire is that they serve the general public. To make a mistake using lethal force is unthinkable, thus they think v-e-r-y judiciously...and thinking s-l-o-w-s reaction.

But when dealing with a malevolent misfit who has nothing to lose, that brief pause can be fatal. Such is the thin blue line that protects us all--a line that has now grown even thinner.

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Governor Patrick Duval has ordered by decree the American and state flags in the Commonwealth to half staff often over the past year to honor the passing of public servants from Massachusetts. The men and women range from politicians to police officers and, of course, the military.

And yes, all of the younger ones were men who died in war--two of them World War II Veterans whose remains were only recently recovered. ##############################################

FINAL ROLL CALL

Cpt. Harold Brown killed in action in Afghanistan
Former Lt Governor and State Senator Sumner Gage Whittier
Former House Clerk Wallace Mills
Former Minority Leader, Francis W. Hatch
Sergeant Robert J. Barrett killed in action in Afghanistan
World War II Veterans Corporal Richard Loring and Staff Sergeant John Farrell
Former House Member Frances Alexander of Beverly
Sergeant Joshua D. Desforges killed in Action in Afghanistan.
Former House Member Ralph E. Sirianni
Former House Member Nancy Caffyn
State Police Sergeant Douglas A. Weddleton who died in the line of duty
State Representative Robert Nyman
Spc. Scott A. Andrews killed in action in Afghanistan
Corporal Paul Fagundes who died in the line of duty
Pfc. Clinton E. Springer II, who died in Afghanistan
Jonathan M. Curtis who was killed in action in Afghanistan
Middlesex County Sheriff James V. DiPaola
First Lieutenant Scott Milley who was killed in action in Afghanistan
Sergeant James A. Ayube, II killed in action in Afghanistan
Pfc. Ethan Goncalo who died in Afghanistan
Officer John Maguire Woburn Police Department killed in the line of duty
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May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face.May the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, May the Lord hold you in the palm of His hand.

Flag Day: There they go again...

(9/27/09) The Select Board added that day for the 250th Parade

UPDATE: 11:20 AM The flags are now up in town center (yeah, behold the power and all that). And they will stay up until Bunker Hill Day, June 17. Although now that the state is thinking about nixing that hack holiday, maybe the Select Board will nix it as well for the flying of the flags. Until then the casual observer passing through town center will mistake Amherst for a quaint, patriotic, Rockwell kind of New England town. Mistake indeed.
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Original Post 10:00 AM

So for the second time in six years town center is barren of the 29 commemorative American flags on Flag Day. And no, I do not think it's a conspiracy hatched by flag haters or any sort of political statement, they just, quite simply, forgot.

Now you know why I tried to trade Flag Day for 9/11 a few years ago as one of the six official days the commemorative flags could fly with the rulers of the public way, our venerable Select Board.

Back in 2004, the last time this happened, I biked through town center and Selectman Gerry Weiss held the only extra flag out that day, in the upside down position (sign of distress), to protest the war in Iraq.

And at the time I said that scene perfectly illustrates what our flag represents: the precious right of individuals to protest government policies.

You can steal the flags, damage the flagpole but...

A Umass collegian columnist pointed out today how bad it looks for Umass students in general for some drunken Nitwits (probably students) to steal the US and POW flags that fly daily from the (former) pole in front of American Legion Post 148 in Amherst town center.

He closes with the hope that the flags will be returned (thus telegraphing that he's a naive, doe- eyed, cub columnist.)