There was a short confrontation at our March 1 pre-Council meeting Open Forum with a citizen who was upset that the City did not lower its state and national flags out of respect for the three Minnesota National Guardsmen who were killed in Iraq in early February. In response to the confrontation, I prepared the following opinion-editorial article for the Eden Prairie News to explain the rationale behind the decision to keep the flag at full-staff. This article will run in the Thursday, March 10 edition of the Eden Prairie News. This is your preview.
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Flying the Flag
Scott H. Neal, City Manager
At the March 1 meeting of the City Council, the Council received a request that I think is worthy of additional community discussion and input. The request came from a citizen who asked the city to lower its U.S. and Minnesota flags to half-staff to observe a period of mourning for three Minnesota National Guardsmen recently killed in Iraq. The City had not lowered its flags and the citizen wanted this perceived slight to be remedied.
I explained to the Council why the City did not lower its flags. Unlike the recent order to lower flags in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami that directed flags on �all public property� to be lowered to half-staff, the Governor�s directive concerning the lowering of flags for the National Guardsmen was specifically directed to flags at the State Capitol complex and surrounding state properties. It was not directed at flags flown by cities, counties, schools, or private property owners. I noticed many flags at half-staff, which is the prerogative of the owner of that flag, but the Governor�s flag directive was precise, and it did not include flags outside of State grounds.
There is legal guidance concerning the display of the national and state flags. United States Code, Title 4, Chapter is the United States Flag Code. It goes into great detail about how, when, and where to fly the flag correctly. In Section 7(m), the Flag Code goes into great detail about how and when to fly the flag at half-staff. In the U.S. Flag Code, only the President and the Governor can order flags to be flown at half-staff. If not so ordered, all flags are to be flown at full staff.
In addition to depending on the U.S. Flag Code for direction on how to fly the national and state flags, I have also looked to the American Legion for direction on all matters relating to flag protocol. There might be no other group in our country with more moral authority to render judgments on how to fly the flag than the men and women of the American Legion.
In its official flag protocol statement, the American Legion states quite clearly that: only the President of the United States or the Governor of the State may order the flag to be half-staffed.� That�s a pretty clear statement that the decision about when to fly the flag at half-staff is not up to the City Manager. But, the Legion flag protocol goes on to make what I believe is a very important statement: �The honor and reverence accorded this solemn act [lowering the flag to half-staff] is quickly becoming eroded by those individuals and agencies that display the flag at half-staff in inappropriate occasions without proper authority to do so.�
I couldn�t agree more with the American Legion on this last statement. I think that many people and organizations are drifting away from the �honor and reverence� of lowering the flag to half-staff. Many people see lowering the flag to half-staff as a public act of empathy or commiseration for fallen veterans and their families, which are admirable and understandable motivations, but they are not what is intended by the act of lowering the flag.
To be sure, if Governor Pawlenty or President Bush, directs that state and national flags be lowered, we will lower them on all City of Eden Prairie property without question or criticism. If either the President or the Governor merely asks that flags be lowered, we will honor that request. But if neither the President nor the Governor orders or asks that flags be lowered, then the best course of action, in my opinion, on all matters relating to the display of the U.S. and state flags is to observe the American Legion flag protocol.
The citizens of our state and our nation are right to honor the lives and courage of 1st Lt. Jason Timmerman, Staff Sgt. David Day, and Sgt. Jesse Lhotka, even if we chose not to lower our flags for them. We are also right to honor other fallen soldiers from our state such as Pfc. Edward J. Herrgott of Shakopee; Infantryman Daniel McConnell of Duluth; Chief Warrant Officer Patrick Dorff of Buffalo; Cpl. Tyler Fey of Eden Prairie; Cpl. Demetrius Rice of Ortonville, and more than a dozen other Minnesotans who have died in Iraq, for whom there was no gubernatorial or presidential flag lowering directive. We grieve for them all and for all of their families as well. They fought under a flag at full staff. Just where it ought to be.
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