ShareThisYou know times are tough when our government is so broke we can't afford to fly the American flag outside city hall anymore. Might as well just roll over and show the world our soft, pink underbelly, right?
OK, so that's not exactly what happened, though that didn't stop the news from getting the city of Clearwater, Fla., into the likes of USA Today and beyond.
The story: Some 59 American flags have been flying in Clearwater at buildings ranging from busy libraries and fire stations to government offices the public rarely sees.
After complaints on the condition and maintenance of some of those flags -- and around here, folks who have served in the military, fought in wars and generally sacrificed tend to keep an eye on such things -- the city began a review of the flags, all of which sounds pretty city-business-as-usual.
As part of the review, city staff also looked at whether it was necessary to maintain all 59 flags, given the sorts of staff and budget woes that -- it is not an overstatement to say -- currently plague the nation.
Add to the mix the flagpole at the Clearwater Memorial Causeway, which was temporarily taken down after folks complained the flag wasn't properly lighted, as is required of flags displayed at night. Officials were trying to figure out how to do that without blinding drivers.
In the end, city staffers considered putting 13 flagpoles on the chopping block -- notably not at fire stations or prominent buildings or places where we regularly sing the national anthem, but at less publicly attended spots, like the city nursery where they keep plants, or places where other flags are nearby.
Didn't matter which flags they were talking about. We The People responded by the hundreds, angry, outraged and calling for heads. (It was even worse than the reaction to Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean's decision to give her top deputies fat raises in the midst of scary economic times. Didn't matter if it might ultimately save the county money -- perception, particularly the let-'em-eat-cake kind, was everything.)
"So long American flag. City can't afford you," the headline on one Web site read, making it sound like Clearwater was so strapped for cash the city put patriotism out on a card table at a yard sale just to keep the street lights turned on.
"It's my understanding it went throughout the world," City Manager Bill Horne says of the Great Flag Flap (my moniker, not his.) "I'm sure in Afghanistan they heard about it."
In the aftermath, Horne took it on the chin for not informing a blind-sided City Council what was happening with the flags, and he apologized.
Horne understands how such news could resonate, and badly, with the many who responded to those Old Glory stories. He has some cred here: A former Air Force colonel, Horne flies the Stars and Stripes at home.
So the City Council and mayor reacted swiftly to avoid being unfairly named Most Unpatriotic City in America and this week reassured The People that, in Clearwater, the flag still flies high.
Did something good come of this kerfuffle? Sure.
It gave The People a chance to say that even in a grim economy when no program is too precious, no job safe from scrutiny, we're not willing to sacrifice everything. Oh, and in case you're wondering: Don't mess with the U.S.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service www.scrippsnews.com)
Must credit the St. Petersburg Times
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