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.

Searingly Powerful Symbols

Belchertown Civil War monument, Town Common

The two hour public hearing in the quaint little college town of Amherst regarding the flying of 29 commemorative flags in the heart of the downtown had a particularly dramatic moment: a UMass professor branded the flag, "A symbol of terrorism and death and fear and destruction and repression ... it's nothing to be proud of."

And no, she was not talking about the Confederate battle flag.

Ironically enough terrorism, death, fear and destruction would rain down from the brilliant blue skies only 12 hours later, the worst foreign attack on American soil in the entire history of our nation.  But that was almost 14 years ago, and life goes on.  For us. 

Because of my -- some would argue "in your face" -- insistence the commemorative American flags be allowed to fly every 9/11 to honor and remember the 3,000 slaughtered that day, a "deal" was brokered.  

Kind of like the deal brokered in South Carolina to move the Confederate battle flag from the State Capital building to a nearby historic monument.

Select Board Chair Gerry Weiss proposed they be allowed up once every three years to reflect the shameful 2007 Town Meeting vote that rejected my request by a two-thirds majority.  So in 2009 they did fly in the downtown. 

But then it occurred to new Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe that the restrictive deal would prevent the flags from flying on the 10th and 20th anniversary.  

So when I went to the Select Board in 2010 with my annual request, not only did they say "no" (although two-of-five voted "yes") to that year, but they then changed the "once every three years" to once every five for "milestone anniversaries".

So that's why the commemorative American flags are not allowed to fly this coming 9/11, but will fly next year on the 15th anniversary of that awful morning.

Simply because the politicians seem to think there's still a (significant) number of citizens who could agree with the UMass professor from all those years ago.   

It's time to change both those deals brokered over the flying of flags.

So typically Amherst, so very sad

Only in Amherst would town officials fly the rainbow flag in town center to celebrate gay marriage but reject flying American flags in the downtown on 9/11 to commemorate the 3,000 Americans killed (many of whom were gay) on that awful day.

On May 10, with no discussion, the Amherst Select Board voted unanimously to replace the United Nations flag (Yes, Amherst is one of a handful of municipalities that routinely flies the UN flag) in front of Town Hall with the Rainbow flag to celebrate the second anniversary of the State Supreme Court decision legalizing same sex marriage in Massachusetts.

Last night over two-thirds of Amherst Town Meeting voted down the following resolution:

“To see if the town will strongly urge the Select board to allow the 29 commemorative flags to fly downtown (at half-staff) every 9/11 for as long as the Republic stands to commemorate the most devastating attack in our history.”

On the night of September 10, 2001 when the Amherst Select Board was setting the policy for when the commemorative flags could fly, Umass Professor Jennie Traschen branded Old Glory“…a symbol of terrorism and death and fear and destruction and repression.”

As she ambled back to her seat, Phyllis Daley said in an angry motherly tone: “Shame on you!”

A sentiment that now applies to Amherst town government.

A Final (And Future) Request

"The People" wish to weigh in ...

Memo:  Amherst Select Board

Re:  Citizen Petition to fly the commemorative flags every 9/11

The Town Clerk informs me all the signatures required for requesting that you place the 9/11 commemorative flags advisory question before the voters on March 25, 2014 were certified.

I would ask that you take up official discussion of this at your next scheduled meeting Monday, September 16, while the awful anniversary is still fresh in our minds. 

As you know this petition now has to be acted on by you at least 90 days prior to March 25.  

I would also point out that you have until close of business tomorrow to call a Select Board meeting for Monday, September 9 ... in time for allowing the flags to fly this coming 9/11.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter.

Larry Kelley

Those Darn Extremists

 Amherst Town Room, Town Hall

So the accusations are starting to fly faster than quail frantically fleeing the hunter's birdshot.

The venerable Amherst Bulletin in today's editorial has strongly suggested I am an "extremist" for wishing to fly commemorative flags in the downtown to remember, commemorate, honor the 2,997 citizens slaughtered that awful day. 

Well I suppose if I'm in the same camp as the Amherst firefighters, who issued a strong statement of support for flying the flags every 9/11, that's okay with me.

And Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe borderline resorts to libel/slander in the same Amherst Bulletin front page article by strongly suggesting I purposely, willfully "exploited people's misunderstanding and oversimplification of this issue."

Interestingly the article closes with an exchange between O'Keeffe and an ardent flag supporter who thanked her for clarifying the complications, but even so, still thought the commemorative flags should fly on 9/11.   Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Last night around 10:30 PM WWLP Ch 22 News put up another flag flap story stating unequivocally that I "questioned the patriotism" of Amherst and town manager John Musante on my Fox & Friends live appearance on Sunday morning.

They even interviewed an Amherst resident who was aghast that I would dare to question their patriotism. Only thing is I never even remotely suggested that. The interviewee  probably got it from the Gazette coverage where Ms. O'Keeffe is complaining about uninformed viewers questioning her patriotism.

Bu you would think the reporter could have at least watched the five-minute-30-second Fox interview, or maybe contacted me for comment/fact checking. She had been stalking me on Twitter for the past two weeks, so it's not like it would have been hard for her to reach me.

I notice this morning the story has been pulled from wwlp.com

A Tragic Reminder

Tip of the North Tower, after the fall

Memo: Amherst Select Board
Re: Annual Request to remember/honor 3,000 murdered Americans

Since the Select Board will not have a "Public Comment/Question" period on Monday, August 19 and since the SB only meets one more time prior to that stunningly sad anniversary, please consider this a formal request to place on the August 26 agenda for public discussion the unresolved issue of allowing the 29 commemorative flags to fly in the downtown on 9/11/13, the 12th anniversary of the most heinous attack on American soil in our entire history.

Furthermore I would request 9/11 be added to current list of six days the commemorative flags fly annually.

I would also point out that one of those approved occasions is Memorial Day, not exactly "celebratory" -- but a national day of mourning and remembrance for those who perished protecting our most cherished freedoms.  

One of which is to "petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Thank you,

Larry Kelley

#####

From: Stephanie O'Keeffe
To: Larry Kelley
Cc: Select Board ; John Musante ; David Ziomek
Sent: Sat, Aug 17, 2013 2:07 pm
Subject: Re: 9/11
Larry --

If any Select Board member supports the request that this be put on the 8/26 agenda, I will schedule it and let you know.

Take care.

Stephanie

#####

From: Larry Kelley
To: stephanie
Cc: selectboard ; MusanteJ ; ZiomekD
Sent: Mon, Aug 19, 2013 7:41 am
Subject: Re: 9/11

Stephanie,

Since I am now getting numerous inquiries could you please announce at tonight's SB meeting one way or the other whether flying the flags on 9/11 will be placed on the 8/26 agenda? I know tonight's meeting is only a single issue affair concerning the Town Manager's evaluation but I did note the item "Calendar Preview:Upcoming Meeting Plans" on the agenda.And 9/11 is upcoming.
Thanks, Larry

#####

 Somewhat stunning reaction on Facebook, ghost of Jennie Traschen

MassLive reported last year's fiasco

9/10/01

9/10/12

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

Blood Evidence

 Murdered Ambassador Chris Stevens

Even though prior to my appearance on Fox News, hate mail had already started pouring in over town officials catastrophic decision to ground the 25 commemorative flags on 9/11, the national news network did screw up the flashy graphics overlayed on my live interview, thus allowing Town Hall to paint this as an intentional right wing conservative vs left wing liberal issue (rather than a right vs wrong) best exemplified in the national media by Fox News and their counterpart CNN.

Of course I was quick to point out that even the venerable CNN screwed up this sad saga of the commemorative flags eleven years ago when they mistakenly reported the town was restricting the rights of private citizens to fly American flags.  A report that was aired only hours after the Twin Towers crumbled.

Perhaps the best reason (besides the one of righteousness) town officials should have know better this time around. "Those who fail to learn from history..."and all that.

So it comes as no great surprise that CNN would remove evidence from a crime scene, read through it for news tips, and then use that information to tell a story that, indeed, needed to be told:  the lousy security for our murdered ambassador in Libya.

Even though CNN promised the family of Chris Stevens nothing would be reported until his personal journal had been returned to them, the news network went ahead with a story anyway, using the vague attribution "sources familiar with the Ambassador Steven's thinking".

But CNN would not have found those sources if not for his private journal, taken from the scene of a crime.

Fifteen years ago the ABC News program Prime Time Live aired a hidden camera segment exposing poor food handling at Food Lion supermarket chain.  The corporation brought suit for trespass and fraud since the reporters used phony resumes in seeking employment with the target company.  Notice the suit was not for libel/slander, where "truth is the ultimate defense."

But a jury agreed and slapped the premier news outlet with a $5.5 million judgement, which was soon thereafter reduced to $315,000.  On a federal appeal two years later, the jury verdict was thrown out. 

Sure BIG corporations acting badly are a juicy target for investigative watchdog journalists and bloggers, perhaps only eclipsed by exposing BIG government acting badly.  And in the case of murdered Ambassador Stevens, there's more than enough blame to go around.

Like Watergate, the real story is not the original act --a two bit break in -- but the cover up after the fact.  In this case CNN should have come clean in their original report about a serious issue the public certainly had a right to know:  inept security for an ambassador in a volatile region who clearly had security concerns, and probably made them known to someone higher up the ladder.

And just like Dan Rather's botched report on President George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard eight years ago, the watchdogs who watch the media -- blogs -- continue to beat the drums on CNN's ghoulish lapse in judgement, aptly dubbed "disgusting" by a usually diffident State Department.

Trust is a reporter's most powerful ally.  If CNN did not keep their word to Ambassador's Stevens family, how can any nervous source now trust them when they promise -- in exchange for vital information -- to keep the whistleblower's name secret?

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.
##############################################

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.

Can't Forget

 Commemorative flag flies from downtown utility pole

The commemorative flags went up in the downtown yesterday at the crack of dawn to mark Labor Day, and for the first time in 14 years I hope they come down on Tuesday.

That way, when they go back up on Thursday or early Friday morning it sends the clear signal that they are returning to their perch to remember 9/11, a morning unlike any in our history.

Today is one of those 9/11-like days: late summer, our little college town swelling in size with an influx of college aged youth, all under a severe clear blue sky.  The bright yellow sun slowly arcing east to west.

Perhaps if the weather had not been so stunningly beautiful that morning the untested kamikaze pilots may have had a tougher time hitting their otherwise hard to miss targets.

Yes, we could probably come up with a few "what if" scenarios that could have changed the outcome that fateful morning, which only adds to the sorrow. Life moves on -- it always does.

So when you see those 23 commemorative American flags in town center on Friday (no matter what the weather is like) pause for moment to remember our innocent dead, perhaps say a prayer.

And hope it never happens again.

The main town flag will fly at half staff on 9/11 as will all municipal flags nationwide

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."

"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!

This One's For You

One of the 29 commemorative flags commemorates Flag Day

Yes, the college town that allows its commemorative flags to fly only once every five years to commemorate the most horrendous attack on American soil in our entire 237 year history proudly flies them annually for Flag Day. And Labor Day.

Flag Day reminds me of the hack writer who thinks leading with the word "interestingly" will make the follow up material more interesting. If something is truly interesting the readers will figure that out quick enough if you simply let the story speak for itself.

In other words, every day should be Flag Day.

Flag Flap Deja Vu

Town flies flag daily (as does every municipality in Mass)

On August 27, almost exactly a year ago, the Amherst Select Board refused to allow the commemorative flags to fly in the downtown on 9/11.  Since the issue was officially on the agenda that night a simply majority vote could have made it happen.  

Two of the Select Board members (Jim Wald and Alisa Brewer) have previously voted in the affirmative and Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe as a Town Meeting member voted to support the annual flying of the  flags on 9/11.

Last year the SB did meet again on 9/10 (oddly enough they are not meeting on Monday September 9 this year) and I again appeared before them -- this time during 6:30 PM "Public Comment" -- to make a last desperate plea to fly the flags.  

But knowing they would not I also made a  request the board put this issue to rest once and for all.  

How?  

With a simply majority vote the Select Board can place an advisory question on the annual town election ballot.  I promised that night to abide by the direct decision of the voters.  I even returned to a Select Board meeting in March to remind them of the request.  They refused.  

So here we are ... again. 

Masslive/Springfield Republican reports

Larry Kelley plans to urge Amherst Select Board to reverse policy, display US flags on Sept. 11 http://t.co/TevMnZ02U8
— GazetteNET (@gazettenet) August 23, 2013

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.
####################################

(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.)

A Voice of Reason

Reynolds Winslow, Chair of the Human Rights Commission, tried to slow down the Amherst Select Board's rush to veto flying 25 commemorative flags in the downtown to remember the 2,997 citizens denied their human rights that awful morning.

To no avail.

Town officials will now invoke the 'West Side Story' defense to avoid placing the issue on the upcoming Select Board meeting of September 10, the eleventh anniversary of the more infamous SB meeting of 9/10/01. 

When the national media picked up the story of "West Side Story" under fire in Amherst (1999) by a vocal minority for alleged racial stereotyping  and the debate decibels had risen to ear shattering proportions, school officials cancelled the play ...not because they agreed with the critics but because the strident debate had become to distracting.

Now this flying-the-25-commemorative-flags-on-9/11-once-every-five-years story has taken on a life of its own.  And the real loser is the town.

Masslive Springfield Republican covers the story in catchy, but fair and balanced, way

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

The People's Republic WILL remember

The original page one story 9/11/01 was below the fold, but prominent enough to get the A.P.'s attention as it went out over the national wire around dawn. Here we are seven years later and it's above the fold. Go figure.


UPDATE: 10:30 Am: Love the photo the Republican website is now using. It's funny because this same photographer took a photo of my daughter Kira a couple weeks back at the Westfield fair that made the Front page of the Republican. And I instantly remembered him from this photo shoot from 4 or 5 years ago (but he did not remember me)

Today (7 years later) Front Page Spfld Republican article

9:45 PM

So with relatively little discussion the Select Board voted 2-1 with 1 absent (and 1 relocated to South Hadley) to allow the 29 commemorative flags to fly on 9/11 for the first time in five years.

Ms. Brewer sort of tried to make a deal with me (what the Hell am I the official flag spokesperson?) to accept His Lordship’s compromise allowing the flags to fly once every three years but I made no promises. My main goal was to get them up every 9/11, so at least they are guaranteed to fly this Thursday.

As expected Alisa Brewer and Stephanie O’Keeffe voted “yes” and Diana Stein voted “no”.

From Stephanie’s blog illuminating their Select Board packet for this evening:
• A written statement submitted by Gerry Weiss (who will not be present at the meeting) about the commemorative flag issue, recommending that they be displayed on September 11th every three years beginning this year, as a compromise measure reflecting the one-third of Town Meeting members (and the assumption that they represent one-third of the community) who voted to support urging the Select Board to display the flags annually on that date

Details of the Amherst Fire Department’s September 11th ceremony plans at Central Fire Station, involving assembling at 9:55 a.m., ringing a bell, lowering the flag to half staff, a minute of silence, prayer by a chaplain, “Amazing Grace” played by a piper, ringing a bell and raising the flag

an unprecedented historical tragedy

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.

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?!