Our Flag Was Still There?

Town Hall Turret Saturday morning

You sagacious local types may have noticed the official town flag disappeared sometime on Friday afternoon, and as of this morning was not yet back in its perch.  As usual the wind was to blame.

Of course this past weekend was peak time for all the returning clients to our lifeblood, our salvation, our reasons for being: UMass/Amherst, Amherst College and yes, even Hampshire College.

 Amherst Town Flag

Although Amherst is 256 years old the official town flag only became a reality two years ago, but don't ask why wheat plays a major design role since it was never an Amherst thing even back in the good old pre higher education agrarian days.

The Chamber of Commerce picked up the tab for six of the flags ($88.48 each), with one going to hang in the Boston Statehouse Hall of Flags.

One of the many reasons I fight so hard for the 29 commemorative American flags to fly every 9/11 rather than every five years (on "milestone anniversaries"), is precisely because of our returning students.

To those of us who were old enough to drive on that stunning day no symbolic reminders are necessary.

But if you were age six and under -- as many thousands of incoming college freshman were -- nothing adequately captures the misery of those moments forever frozen in time, when those majestic towers of glass and steel vaporizing before your eyes.

While some in Amherst -- okay, maybe only one -- view the American flag as a symbol of "terrorism and death and fear and destruction and oppression," to the vast majority of us it represents hope.

An ideal worth trumpeting -- especially on the saddest anniversary in our recent history. 

Let The Contest Begin

Aaron Hayden (center in sweater) Chair of Amherst Select Board

Yes, the local political season has already begun -- even though nomination papers for the March 31st Annual Town Election are not due at the Town Clerk's office until February 10.  

Doug Slaughter, current Finance Committee and Town Meeting member, has taken out papers for the one lone seat on the 5-member Amherst Select Board.

Current Chair Aaron Hayden's seat is the only one up (next year two seats will be up) but he is about to pull a President Johnson and announce that will not seek nor accept the nomination for his seat in the upcoming election.  Not that Select Board candidates are nominated by a party.

Doug Slaughter as member of Finance Committee (standing)

So no, at the moment, even if Mr. Slaughter turned in his nomination papers with the 50 required signatures, we do not really have a "contest."  Not yet anyway.

Interestingly (at least to me anyway) Slaughter voted in favor of my 2007 Town Meeting petition to fly the commemorative American flags annually on 9/11 (that lost by a two-thirds vote), as did recently elected Select Board member Andy Steinberg.  

And the two current long-time Select Board members Alisa Brewer and Jim Wald have always voted "yes" when the Chair allowed the Select Board to come to a vote on it. 

Mr. Hayden always voted "no" and as Chair, last year, did not even allow the SB to vote on it. 

Back On Top Again

 ARPS School Superintendent Maria Geryk

Amherst School Superintendent Maria Geryk has regained the coveted #1 position as highest paid town employee (technically the "schools" are a legally separate entity) at $158,000 up from $147,000 and now eclipsing Town Manager John Musante who briefly leapfrogged her last week with his Select Board approved 2% raise bringing him to $150,628.

But you have to wonder what the impact -- using the school's favorite buzzword these days, equity --  would be if all school employees received a 7.5% raise?

Between the Regional and Elementary schools total salary costs in FY15 is $32.5 million, so that generous raise would have cost taxpayers an additional $2,437,500 -- to a school system already sky high in average cost per child to educate:  $18,388 per elementary student and $18,026 for Regional student vs state average of $13,636.

Although her current $158,000 salary after 4 years now at the helm only matches exactly the incoming salary for Alberto Rodriguez back in 2009.  After an annoying blogger made public a document showing Rodriguez was taking a total of 40 days off in his first year as Superintendent, combined with internal criticism about his management style, Rodriguez parted ways with Amherst after only 8 months. 

Geryk is now closing in on the last Superintendent with any longevity, Jere Hochman, hired in 2003 (at just over $130,000).  Hochman lasted five years, voluntarily leaving for his old stomping ground Bedford Central School District (N.Y.) with a slight pay increase to $262,000.

When Hochman was first hired his $130,000+ salary raised eyebrows, nowhere more so than the Town Manager at the time Barry Del Castilho.  The Select Board suddenly gave Del Castilho a mid-contract raise of $10,000 to sooth his ego.

 Town Meeting Annual Warrant 2004

Hwei-Ling Greeney brought an advisory petition to Town Meeting demanding the Select Board roll back the raise.  Article #38 passed 81-71, but the Select Board simply ignored the will of Town Meeting.

Of course in 2007 when Town Meeting voted to oppose flying the commemorative flags on 9/11, the Select Board routinely cites that shameful vote for an excuse to keep the flags down 4 out of 5 years.

This past year the Amherst Regional Public Schools have been in disarray over racial incidents, one particularly mishandled event which led to the High School closing down for a day.

And according to the Mass Dept of Elementary & Secondary Education neither the Regional Schools or Elementary Schools are making much progress toward their target goals.

Regional Schools 1-10

Elementary Schools 2-10

After a year like last year, what kind of a message does it send to reward leadership with a whopping 7.5% raise?

9/11/14

AFD Central Station 9:00 AM 

So another anniversary has come and gone.  Well, gone if you mark the duration of the attack:  Stunning in its savagery, unimaginable in the extent of damage inflicted in under two hours. 

The 13th anniversary remembrance at AFD Central Station brings it all back, a ritualistic reinforcement of grief.  The Chaplain's prayer, the ringing of the bell, police and fire personnel standing at attention and of course the heartrending bagpipes playing Amazing Grace.

 

AFD Central flag at half staff

My time in town center with one of the commemorative flags this year was perhaps the most unique out of the past 13 years.  A homeless individual, one of Amherst's usual suspects, came over and was being a nuisance.

He started by pulling out a lighter and acting as though he was going to set my flag on fire, and followed up with nasty, loud "expletive deleted" that would have made President Nixon blush.

All of which is protected by the First Amendment (okay, maybe not burning my flag, but burning his own).

Thus it reaffirmed for me the unique power of that glorious rectangular cloth of red, white and blue.  The freedom it so nobly represents, even though that freedom can be, at times, inconvenient.

 

After receiving four separate complaints from downtown businesses APD had a chat with my homeless friend

Remember

"... that these dead shall not have died in vain."

About the only thing I left out in my brief polite presentation to the Amherst Select Board Monday night is how cowardly it is to simply pocket veto the question of allowing the commemorative flags to fly on 9/11 tomorrow, on the unlucky 13th anniversary of that devastating day.

A cowardice that flies in the face of the ultimate sacrifice paid by over 400 first responders who rushed headlong towards the stricken Twin Towers and the Pentagon when everyone else was rushing away.

AFD Central Station 9/11/13  (This year ceremony starts at 9:00 AM)

A Day To Remember

Downtown Amherst Labor Day morn

Considering how arduous was the struggle to bring about sane regulations to protect the rights, health and safety of everyday workers, Labor Day is indeed something to remember.   And to celebrate, even though it should be tinged with reverence and respect for those who died in the endeavor.

Labor Day is one of only six days the Amherst Select Board allowed on the list of holidays worth remembering with commemorative flags in the downtown, at their infamous September 10, 2001 run-of-the-mill Monday night meeting.

Amazingly 9/11 is still not on the list.  Well at least not on the "annual" list.  The town grudgingly allows the commemorative flags to fly on 9/11 every five years on "milestone anniversaries," with the next one not until 2016.

How many of the almost 3,000 Americans murdered that morning were everyday working folks going about their daily work routine?

Between police, fire and military a day probably does not go by without someone dying in the line of duty.  That awful morning we lost 343 firefighters, 60 police officers, 55 military personnel, 15 EMTs and 3 court officers.

But the vast majority of casualties were just civilian workers both blue and white collar.

Slaughtered in cold blood on a Tuesday morning that deserved to be in the record books, but for a different reason:  A stunningly crystal clear blue sky, one of those majestic dying days of summer, which started off without a care in the world ...

If the town can annually fly the commemorative flags on Labor Day, and even more somber days like Memorial Day,  the worst attack on American soil in our entire history certainly merits the same level of respect.

A deserving protocol paid for in the most pernicious currency possible:  the vaporized blood of thousands of innocent Americans.

Power of Positive Thinking

Amherst Town Hall:  Flying the UN flag for over 40 years

After the controversial year in the Amherst public schools, amplified by mishandling, it's obvious they could use some Public Relations input.  But I'm not so sure a traditional PR flack is the answer -- especially when it's only a part-time position.

What the town and schools really need is a PR savvy department-head-level position, filled by a person with common sense who can give recommendations to executive decision makers BEFORE they make a major faux pas.

Cancel "West Side Story" because it offends a 17-year-old Hispanic girl?  Condone the  only High School production of "Vagina Monologues" in the nation and allow teen aged girls to shout the "C-word" at the top of their lungs (what's next, the N-word?).

Not just "no," but "Are-out-of-your-fu@king-mind" kind of No.  A booming, resonating NO that gets the attention of a clueless PC Superintendent and prevents a public relations disaster played out on a national stage.

The Town also needs such a gatekeeper, perhaps even more so than the Schools.  At least the Schools have a mayor-like leader who pretty much does as she wishes and to Hell with diffident School Committees.  

In town government power is schizophrenically split between the part-time amateur elected overseers, the venerable 5 person Select Board, their appointed CEO the Town Manager and the doddering white clan of 254 do-gooders, Town Meeting.

Refuse to fly commemorative American flags on 9/11?  Well you might as well ban a July 4th Parade or place a tax on Boy Scouts selling Christmas trees. 

Monumental mistakes even a Madison Avenue flack would have trouble smoothing over.

Main Street USA

Amherst downtown 6/14, aka Flag Day

On the night of September 10, 2001, less than 12 hours before the world changed, the Amherst Select Board had closed the contentious public hearing concerning 29 commemorative flags flying in the downtown and they were discussing the matter among themselves before coming up with a list of days to commemorate.

After Anne Awad had grudgingly stated she would support only July 4th for the extra flags to fly Select Board chair Carl Seppala, when giving his fuller list, said in a somewhat exasperated tone, "Well, they do call it Flag Day."

Flag Day probably gets a little lost since it comes smack in the middle of  two flag centric events: Memorial Day and July 4th.  Sort of like having a birthday a little too close to Christmas. 

Any day, however, is as good as another when it comes to honoring our flag -- and the boundless sacrifice it represents.

You Can Always Go ...

 Children's Memorial Flag (in red)

Downtown Amherst is a tad more colorful at the moment with the bright red Children's Memorial Flag flying from the flagpole near Town Hall and the strip of lawn between the pole and the historic old brick building sprouting colorful pinwheels.

April is "Child Abuse Awareness Month," and the Northwestern District Attorney's office and the town are doing their part to make folks aware.  The same tagline used for terrorism probably applies equally well to suspected child abuse:  "If you see something, say something."

DPW workers forgot to take down one of the 25 or so commemorative flags that went up for a few days to remember Patriot's Day.   Probably because it blended in to the Bank of America color scheme.  Maybe after Labor Day they will forget to take them all down until, say, September 12.

 A lone commemorative flag in the heart of the downtown

The League of Women Voters book sale is coming to the town common this weekend, and workers have already erected the huge tent.  This annual event, marking its 66th year, predates the annual Farmers Market or weekly Sunday anti-war protests by decades. 

Amherst League of Women Voters subscribe to the Big Tent doctrine

 Sweetser Park fountain, bone dry

And while the Gazette certainly got all excited on Friday about Sweetser Park fountain bumbling again, it did not last long: the pump died.  DPW Chief Guilford Mooring said a new one should be installed by this coming weekend.

Sweetser Park fountain in Amherst bubbling again after remaining dry all last summer http://t.co/zYAIRKRg1q
— GazetteNET.com (@GazetteNET) April 26, 2014

Hard To Forget

Amherst's famous commemorative flags honoring Patriot's Day

If you were there as it happened or simply watched as the visuals first started rolling in, the scenes becomes permanently etched in memory:  those unmistakable sounds, smoke rising, chaos, people screaming, the wail of emergency vehicles reverberating off multi-story buildings, punctuated by a fear of the unknown.  Who did this and why?

For "college aged youth" currently attending our esteemed institutes of higher education in one of the best college towns in America, Patriots Day will forever be remembered, because last year terrorists unleashed death and destruction in the heart of Boston.

Especially since it occurred at an event that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit, in a sport many still consider "pure".

And in patriotic Massachusetts, where pretty much everyone considers Boston, "our fucking city."

So flying the commemorative flags in downtown Amherst to remind us all of the terror we endured that day is hardly necessary.  We remember.  We always will.

Just as flying those same commemorative flags on 9/11 is unnecessary if done simply to remind us of the horrific destruction unleashed on our homeland that awful morning.  How could any of us possibly forget?

But what if you were only 5-years-old and shell shocked adults sheltered you from the devastating images live streaming out of Manhattan, Washington D.C. and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania?

This coming September the incoming 5,000+ freshman at our Colleges and University will, for the most part, have been only five years old on the morning of 9/11/01 -- too young to remember the chaos, sorrow and sheer terror that covered our country like a coroner's sheet.

Induced by the worst attack on American soil in our entire fucking history.

The commemorative flags are not scheduled to fly in downtown Amherst until 2016, to remember the 15th anniversary.   And then not again until 2021 for the 20th anniversary, when the incoming freshmen classes will not even have been born on that ignoble day.

Thus, collectively, the malicious memory starts to fade -- like Pearl Harbor.  And then suddenly, some fine morning as we busily go about our daily routine, it happens.  Again.

Flying the commemorative American flags in downtown Amherst every 9/11, as we do every Patriot's Day (and Memorial Day), will serve to honor the memory of 3,000 slaughtered innocent Americans and to remind us that evil exists.  It will always exist.

And without vigilance, evil triumphs.

Local Election Fever

 

Noon today, Amherst town center.  Note Select Board candidates don't even bother

With actual town-wide contests on the ballot, Tuesday's election will draw twice the voter turnout as last year's snoozer.

Although, that's not saying much since last year Amherst -- where even the H is silent -- saw a pitiful showing at the election booth of only 6.6%; compared to 69% the previous year for the Presidential contest (which in Massachusetts is not much of a contest).

And with two of four Select Board candidates firmly representing the status quo establishment vying for two open seats, and with each voter allowed to vote for two candidates, Finance Committee Chair Andy Steinberg and Amherst Housing Authority Chair Connie Kruger are nothing if not unbeatable.

The other two candidates -- John Boothroyd and Helen Berg -- can flip a coin to see who's last. Although considering her eccentricities, let's hope it's Helen Berg.



When it comes to the Select Board race -- after the tumultuous years of Czar Anne Awad, his lordship Gerry Weiss and t-shirt tosser Rob Kusner -- the last six years have been pretty smooth sailing.

Well, other than the perennial national embarrassment over censoring the commemorative American flags in the downtown on 9/11.

So I'm quite comfortable with Steinberg and Kruger assuming top leadership roles in town government, as it's not like "changing horses in mid stream." 

The School Committee is a different matter altogether.  Amherst has champagne costs with lite beer results.  And the PC problem, also a PR nightmare, of racism and bullying has been an issue for many years; an issue the current School Committee has done nothing to solve.

So I'm more than up for giving an outsider a chance -- especially since Vira Douangmany is not your usual white-bread upper middle class automaton, and her husband owns a small business.  Maybe now the connection between expensive school costs bringing on high property taxes in a town that has a tiny commercial tax base will be understood.

The Amherst Redevelopment Authority is dead but if it is ever revived it wouldn't hurt to have a stakeholder with some passion on board, so I will be voting for Paige Wilder, even though we strongly disagreed on the Gateway Project.

Phillips Street was the only area in the Gateway that was officially ruled "decadent" (making it easier to take by eminent domain) by a certified consultant, so maybe some day the ARA will take the  street, flatten it, and build something we can all be proud of.  That is, if they ever meet again. 

Same can be said for Amherst Housing Authority.  While I would strongly disagree with Tracy Lee Saraia Grace Boutilier's quest to take Echo Village Apartments by eminent domain (they are not considered "decadent") she would still bring an impassioned outsider perspective informed by experience.

Ah, Town Meeting -- that overwhelmingly white, overly educated bastion of democracy. Until Amherst grows up and switches to a more professional Mayor/Council it's the only game in town (what the gambler said about a rigged operation).

I can't argue with the recommendations of Sustainable Amherst, but I find it interesting the long-time Town Meeting members they did not endorse:  Media mogul Isaac BenEzra, landlord Richard Gold, Nonny Burack, Rob Kusner, Mary Wentworth to name a few. 

Matthew Cunningham-Cook (the UMass student who brought us the $15/hr Minimum Wage article slapped down by Town Meeting last week), also fails to garner an endorsement, which, after the recent debacle is more than understandable.

We do have a handful of other students running for Town Meeting, so in all likelihood some will be successful.  Of course Town Meeting drags on until June, so it will be interesting to check their attendance records after UMass lets out.  

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News

Let The Race Begin

Finance Committee Chair Andy Steinberg

Andy Steinberg is first to announce his candidacy for the five member Amherst Select Board, our executive branch of government. As an entrenched insider -- i.e. Town Meeting and Finance Committee -- Steinberg, a retired lawyer, is a slam dunk for one of two open seats.

Especially since he touts "collaboration and transparency" on a shortlist of his priorities.  Who can argue with those?

And as a Town Meeting member he voted in favor of flying the commemorative American flags every 9/11.  Well okay, maybe that one will cost him a few votes.

Interestingly enough, he's probably the only North Amherst/Cushman homeowner who does not have a "Stop The Retreat" lawn sign prominently displayed in his yard.  So yeah, that too may cost him a few votes since NIMBYs usually patronize the ballot box.

If they really possessed political power, however, they would not have been so unceremoniously blown out of the water at the last Town Meeting.

It's been a while since two incumbents both decided to retire from their Select Board seats, thus the field this coming election (March 25) is pretty wide open.  Fitting I suppose, since Stephanie O'Keeffe and Diana Stein both won their seats almost six years ago in a strongly contested election (5 candidates) but at the election three years ago neither had competition.

The odd thing about an election with two open seats is a voter gets two votes.   Thus like-minded candidates usually form an unofficial team, quietly telling their ardent supporters to throw their second vote to candidate B.

Theoretically Candidate A can have only 750 entrenched supporters as does Candidate B; but with each telling their supporters where to throw their second vote both candidates end up with a whopping 1,500 votes.

Thus making it tough on lone-wolf Candidate C, an outsider who tells their voters to "bullet vote"  (don't cast second vote) with a respectable 1,000 supporters,  but still ends up coming in a distant third.

Whereas if voters were only allowed one vote, Candidate C would have come in first.

Since there's no Proposition 2.5 Override or change-our-antiquated-form-of-town-government Charter issue on the ballot, voter turnout will be in the usual range ... dismal.

Over the past five years annual spring town elections averaged a pathetic 15% turnout (with an Override question on the ballot, 2010 had a 32% turnout) while the 2012 November Presidential election garnered a 69% turnout.

In addition to the two Select Board seats other town wide contests for three years seats include one seat on Jones Library Trustees, one  seat on Amherst School Committee, one seat each (for five year term) on Amherst Housing Authority and Amherst Redevelopment Authority (that did not meet once in the past year).

As usual the Town Meeting Moderator position is up (although Jim Pistrang has a 20 year lease). And Town Meeting will have the usual rotation of eight seats per Precinct up for three year terms (80 total) and a dozen other shorter term seats contested.

Amherst currently has 17,851 registered voters.

In his own words ...

United We, Sort Of, Stand

UN flag flies 24/7, 365 days a year in front of Amherst Town Hall

One of the earlier political "firsts" for the loquacious little town of Amherst, trumpeted nationwide via the Associated Press (because print media loves "firsts") a generation ago, is still visible to this very day flying only yards from Town Hall.

And still talked about by Town officials.

Last Monday, with little comment, the Amherst Select Board voted unanimously to declare October 24 "United Nations Day" in Amherst.

Just as 40 years ago Amherst went all out to celebrate the anniversary (started in 1948) by becoming the fist "town" in America to "permanently" fly the UN Flag at their seat of government.

New York City and Los Angeles also fly the UN flag but they are, um, cities.

The late 60s and early 70s was a time of nationwide political upheaval -- especially in "college towns" -- mainly focused on the Vietnam War. Thus the anti-war movement found fertile ground in Amherst, "where only the h is silent".

And to this day, in town center, the weekly vigil for peace still holds court starting at high noon.

The fly the blue flag movement started with Mrs. Robert McGarrah, "housewife" of a UMass professor (naturally), who collected over 500 signatures in November, 1972 on a petition presented to the Amherst Select Board.  The first week of December the SB voted unanimously to approve the idea.

 11/12/72

And as we know from the festering controversy over flying commemorative American flags on 9/11, which is banned four-out-of-every-five years, the Select Board alone has final say over the public way.

Ironically the petition stated:  "We can be patriotic citizens of the United States and a patriotic country in the world community."

Patriotic indeed.  

By Any Other Name?

So you have to wonder if the Gazette or Amherst Bulletin had today's memo put out by the Amherst Schools, would they still have used the above-the-fold banner headline "Amherst Schools Ban Nuts"?

Probably not.  But my guess is originally the schools had fully intended to BAN nuts, but after the newspapers made such a BIG deal about it, and those snarky comments on Facebook and Twitter started rolling in they, um, waffled.

So now it's not a ban -- God forbid Amherst ban anything other than flying commemorative flags on 9/11 -- it's a "strongly requesting" sort of thing.

Back in 1984 Amherst Town Meeting boldly declared us a "Nuclear Free Zone" to do their part on stopping nuclear weapons proliferation.  Probably would not have worked so well if Town Meeting had only "strongly requested" it.  

Wonder if the Gazette will print a retraction?

 #####

Breaking News Update. Stop the presses!  Superintendent Maria Geryk has sent out a follow up email saying "In response to feedback from families and community members, we will delay implementation until Monday, October 28."  Notice the word "ban" does not appear ...

 #####

UPDATE Saturday Morning (Geeze, I guess they did stop the presses.  Yikes!)

Oh Say Can You See (Or Not)

 

More like a postage stamp

UPDATE:  Two hours after publication a new -- slightly larger flag -- replaced the postage stamp one.

#####

Anyone remember last month when town officials were quick to use the "BIG-American-flag-on-town-common-flies-24/7" excuse to justify their inexcusable position to ban the extra commemorative flags on 9/11?

Let's hope the BIG flag is back by Saturday, for the AFD open house.  If not, how about flying the commemorative ones?

Meanwhile, last week at Fort McHenry:

"A flag so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance."

Photo by Lauri Hittner Finch

Devil In The Details

 Current tree with mirror (rt) is unstable.  New one will be near telephone pole

Flying the commemorative flags every 9/11 was not the only acrimonious issue on the Amherst Select Board's plate Monday night, as immediately before that embarrassing item they discussed the ongoing bitter battle over relocating a driveway at 666 South East Street, a public safety issue strongly endorsed by Assistant Fire Chief Don McKay.

After too long a discussion the Select Board, keepers of the public way, voted to allow Christopher Benfey and Mickey Rathbun to put up a mirror on the opposite side of their dangerous driveway to facilitate clear views of oncoming traffic up and over the hill.   But only after  "consultation" with the DPW.

Tech savvy member Aaron Hayden stated they should "be able to see all the way down to the South Amherst common" if the mirror is positioned correctly.

 Mickey Rathbun, Chris Benfey in the hot seat

The owners of 666 South East Street have decided not to move the driveway 60 feet to the north for economic reasons:   Tree Warden Alan Snow has not budged on the "replacement cost" for taking down seven trees, what amounts to a $6,000 fine.

This on top of an estimated $25,000 cost for a complicated driveway construction project.

At the Monday night SB meeting the DPW was disparaged as being "scornful" by Mr. Benfey and Mr. Snow was characterised as engaging in "unbelievable behavior."

Meanwhile yesterday the DPW removed a large old bush at the entryway to their driveway to "improve sight lines" for incoming traffic from busy Rt. 116. 

Tuesday: Bye bye big bush

Today

Select Board Rejects 9/11 Flag Question

 My view from the hot seat.  John Musante, Stephanie just-say-no O'Keeffe

UPDATE:  Tuesday 5:00 PM:

AP picks up the 9/11 flag flap story.  Again.

#####

The Amherst Select Board voted unanimously (5-0) tonight to reject a citizen voter petition reqesting they allow local voters to settle once and for all the nagging annual question of whether the commemorative American flags should fly in the downtown every 9/11 vs once every five years.

Yes, I said UNANIMOUSLY REJECTED.  Only in Amherst.

MassLive reports (as always, comments are the best)

9/11/14?

Amherst Town Center 9/11/11.  Commemorative flags will not fly again until 2016, unless

So I'm trying to anticipate the excuse the Amherst Select Board will conjure up this evening during the 7:15 PM flag discussion to reject placing on the local 3/25/14 election ballot the never ending question of flying the commemorative flags every 9/11, thus allowing the voters decide this issue once and for all.

Sure they will mention the shameful 2007 Amherst Town Meeting vote by a whopping 96-41 not to fly the flags annually.  And that advisory resolution had requested they fly at half staff, which completely negates the argument that the commemorative flags are  "too festive."

Kind of hard for the average person to misread the intentions of twenty nine 3' by 5' American flags at half staff.

And I'm sure one of them will argue that governance by referendum can be a dangerous thing.  Would slavery had ended 150 years ago if it were put up to a popular vote at the time?  Or would women have been given the right to vote in 1920 if it had been decided at the ballot box?

Of course the counter to that is we are Amherst, the only town (according to Tracy Kidder) with a "foreign policy." So sure, historically speaking the townspeople would have done the right thing.

As they will do on March 25 if the Select Board has the courage to allow this festering issue to come to a vote.

After all, they seem to love the tagline:  "Amherst, where only the h is silent."  Then why not let the people speak?

Let's Take A Vote

Shanksville Pennsylvania 10:04 AM 9/11/01

 As Flight 93 streaked toward Washington D.C. that fateful morning, passengers huddled in the back of the plane realized they had become unwilling conscripts in a suicide mission. So they decided to do something about it. 

But before they made their desperate, valiant attempt to retake the plane, they did something as American as apple pie: they took a vote.

Men and women from all walks of life decided -- in the most democratic manner possible -- to go to war defending their country.

Although they fell short of the objective that awful morning, their supreme sacrifice saved scores of fellow Americans and represented the first tactical victory in "the war on terror."

So I suppose it's fitting that the Amherst Select Board agenda for Monday night's meeting was finalized on Wednesday afternoon, the 12th anniversary of the most heinous attack on American soil in our entire history.

The Select Board will act on a voter petition I handed in two weeks ago with more than the requisite number of signatures, requesting they place the "only in Amherst" controversy of flying commemorative flags on 9/11 before the voters this March 25.

(Last year's annual town election had a 7% turnout.)

Whether you think the commemorative flags should fly annually on 9/11 -- as they do on Memorial Day -- or agree that once every five years is sufficient, surely we can all agree there's no harm in confirming that with "The People."

After all, isn't that one of the most cherished rights our flag represents?  

"We the People," cordially request ...

Why are you standing here with a flag?

 

9/11/12 (Photo by Helen Thelen)

Today the provincial Amherst Select Board will hold a special meeting in the Town Manager's office at 3:00 PM to approve a one-day liquor license for Top Of The Campus, an upscale UMass bar; the Planning Board will meet in Town Hall at 7:00 PM to discuss medical marijuana zoning issues; and a "touring exhibit" about Guantanamo Bay, a prison for suspected terrorists, debuts at UMass .

Just another late summer day in the bucolic town of Amherst.

Well, except for the Fire Station ceremony at 9:45 AM at Central Station, in the heart of the downtown.  Unfortunately children will be in school and most of their parents will be at work.  Although town center will still be vibrant with college aged youth.

One of the blessings of being a "college town."

In other words, kind of like it was on THAT day 12 years ago.  Except for the ringing of the bells.  The constant clanging of the bells of St. Brigid's Church indicating something was terribly, terribly wrong. 

The main flag in town center will also be at half staff as ordered by Governor Patrick earlier today, even though President Bush made it a permanent day for the American flag to sink to a position of mourning.

And yes, as I have done since THAT day, anytime the town refuses to fly the 29 commemorative flags downtown I will stand in town center with an American flag starting at 8:46 AM for a two hour period to mark the time of the attack.

To remember the slaughter of over 3,000 Americans (if you count the workers who later died of diseases resulting from their rescue efforts at Ground Zero) murdered, simply because they were Americans.

The Select Board seems to think the commemorative flags are too "festive" even though we fly them on Memorial Day.  But if the commemorative flags were flown at half staff (as they did on the late morning of 9/11) it would be hard for anyone to misinterpret that.

Starting only a few years ago, without fail, a college aged youth would approach me curiously and ask why I was holding an American flag in the center of Amherst?  I would say, "Do you know what day this is?"  And they would respond with whatever day of the week it was.

"No, what is today's date?" After a brief pause, their facial expression would change as they would slowly nod their head up and down.

"Oh yeah ... 9/11."