Another Amherst Flag Raising

Alan Snow gingerly places flag of Japan in holder on Town Hall turret

Flag of Japan to honor delegation from Kanegasaki Sister City

 

Flag of Japan side-by-side with Amherst town flag

Old Glory, state, town, and the flag of Japan

Rising Sun Over Amherst

To commemorate the arrival tomorrow of middle school students from Kanegasaki, our Sister City for past twenty years, the flag of Japan now shares a town hall turret with Old Glory and the Massachusetts state flag.

Not far from Amherst Town Hall the weathered United Nations flag flies from a dedicated pole, and underneath the flag of Tibet recently flew freely to symbolize a yearning to be free.

But of course this coming 9/11, the commemorative American flags will not be allowed to fly in the downtown.

Oh say you can't miss

Amherst Town Center Sunday 12:25 PM

Amherst has broken out the really BIG ceremonial flag purchased last year to accompany the 29 commemorative flags in the downtown on the six holidays they are allowed to fly.  Friday of course the big one went up to honor and remember Memorial Day, so tomorrow it will be at half staff from sunrise until noon.

Today, as they have done for almost 40 years, the anti-war protesters showed up at high noon.  Although not as many as Occupy Amherst turned out yesterday, their longevity underscores a resolve that's hard to beat.

Weird lady shows up sporadically but keeps to herself (much to the relief of organized protesters).

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.

A simple symbol

Borrowing from the Air Force "missing man formation" to honor the fallen, the Child Welfare League of America designed a hard-to-miss Children's Memorial Flag. The town put it up Friday in solidarity with National Child Abuse Prevention Month (April.)

Nice gesture. (Now if we could just lose the UN Flag)